Shivaji Bhonsle, also known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian warrior king and the member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out an enclave from declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. In 1674, he was formally crowned as the Chhatrapati (Monarch) of his realm at Raigad.
Shivaji established the competent and progressive civil rule with the help of the disciplined military and well structured administrative organisations. He innovated the military tactics, pioneering the guerrilla warfare methods, which leveraged the strategic factors like the geography, speed and surprise and focused pinpoint attacks to defeat his larger and more powerful enemies.
Battle of Pratapgarh:
In ensuing the Battle of Pratapgarh fought on 10 November 1659, Shivaji’s forces decisively defeated the Bijapur Sultante’s forces. The agile Maratha infantry and cavalry inflicted rapid strikes on bijapuri units, attacked their cavalry before it was prepared for the battle, and pursued retreating troops towards Wai. More than 3,000 soldiers of the Bijapur army were killed and two sons of Afzal Khan were taken as prisoners.
Unexpectedly, victory made Shivaji the hero of Maratha folkare and the legendary figure among his people.
Battle of Kolhapur
To counter the loss at the Pratapgad and to defeat the newly emerging Maratha power, another army, this time numbering over the 10,000, was sent against the Shivaji, commanded by the bijapur’s Abyssinian general Rustamjaman. With the cavalry force of 5,000 Marathas, Shivaji attacked them near the Kolhapur on the 28 December 1659. In the swift movement, Shivaji led the full frontal attack at the centre of the enemy forces while two other portions of his cavalry attacked the flanks. This battle lasted for several hours and at the end Bijapuri forces were soundly defeated and Rustamjaman fled the battlefield. Adilshahi forces lost about the 2,000 horses and the 12 elephants to the Marathas. This victory alarmed the Aurangazeb, who now derisively referred to Shivaji as the “Mountain Rat” and prepared to address this rising Maratha threat.
Death and Succession:
In the late March 1680, Shivaji fell ill with fever and dysentery, dying around 3-5 April 1680 at the age of 52, on the eve of Hanuman Jayanti. Some rumours followed his death, with Muslims opining he had died of curse from the Jan Muhammad of Jalna, and some Marathas whispering that his second wife, Soyarabai had poisoned him so that his crown can pass to her 10 year-old son Rajaram.
Shivaji established the competent and progressive civil rule with the help of the disciplined military and well structured administrative organisations. He innovated the military tactics, pioneering the guerrilla warfare methods, which leveraged the strategic factors like the geography, speed and surprise and focused pinpoint attacks to defeat his larger and more powerful enemies.
Battle of Pratapgarh:
In ensuing the Battle of Pratapgarh fought on 10 November 1659, Shivaji’s forces decisively defeated the Bijapur Sultante’s forces. The agile Maratha infantry and cavalry inflicted rapid strikes on bijapuri units, attacked their cavalry before it was prepared for the battle, and pursued retreating troops towards Wai. More than 3,000 soldiers of the Bijapur army were killed and two sons of Afzal Khan were taken as prisoners.
Unexpectedly, victory made Shivaji the hero of Maratha folkare and the legendary figure among his people.
Battle of Kolhapur
To counter the loss at the Pratapgad and to defeat the newly emerging Maratha power, another army, this time numbering over the 10,000, was sent against the Shivaji, commanded by the bijapur’s Abyssinian general Rustamjaman. With the cavalry force of 5,000 Marathas, Shivaji attacked them near the Kolhapur on the 28 December 1659. In the swift movement, Shivaji led the full frontal attack at the centre of the enemy forces while two other portions of his cavalry attacked the flanks. This battle lasted for several hours and at the end Bijapuri forces were soundly defeated and Rustamjaman fled the battlefield. Adilshahi forces lost about the 2,000 horses and the 12 elephants to the Marathas. This victory alarmed the Aurangazeb, who now derisively referred to Shivaji as the “Mountain Rat” and prepared to address this rising Maratha threat.
Death and Succession:
In the late March 1680, Shivaji fell ill with fever and dysentery, dying around 3-5 April 1680 at the age of 52, on the eve of Hanuman Jayanti. Some rumours followed his death, with Muslims opining he had died of curse from the Jan Muhammad of Jalna, and some Marathas whispering that his second wife, Soyarabai had poisoned him so that his crown can pass to her 10 year-old son Rajaram.
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