The Great Historical Dramas (The Lion of Maharashtra & The Last Mughal Emperor)

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Foreword It is usually admitted that the Maratha environment and Shivaji's ancestry made him what he was. Quite a few historians, however, find it difficult to explain as to why the Marathas burst- forth with the brilliance that they did in the 17th century 'unless one surrenders to the great man doctrine and attributes it all to Shivaji'. Born on 20th April, 1627 (9th March, 1630 according to another and less probable version) Shivaji rose like a meteor.

The land known as Maharashtra occupies a prominent place in the 17th century history of India. Like any other linguistic region Maharashtra is difficult to be defined, more particularly because the Marathas migrated from their ancestral land far towards north, south and the east, but according to G.S. Sardesai it is "a right-angled triangle of which one side is represented by the western coast-line from Daman to Karwar and the other from Daman straight east to Nagpur and Gondia.... the hypotenuse of this triangle would be an irregular line joining Gondia to Karwar and touching in its course the tours of Belgaum, Sholapur and Bidar". The people in the forest-clad hilly tract are naturally adventurous and hardy. A fair part of this region, with sufficient rainfall and fertile soil has very good crop of paddy, cocoanut, mango and palm, making life prosperous and happy. The whole tract, being inaccessible, is fortlike and also suitable for building fortresses. The hard life easily makes warrior out of a Maratha who is reputed for gratitude to friends and defiance of enemies eversince the days of Hiuen Tsang. Apart from geographical coherence the Marathas also have linguistic unity and over the ages such saints and savants as Joaneshwar, Hemadri, Chakradhar, Eknath, Tukaram and Ramdas, through their doctrine of Bhakti, emphasized the equality of all human beings as the common offspring of the same Father. Tukaram particularly was a contemporary of Shivaji and it was he than any other who inspired the Marathas to weld themselves into a people united in common aims and aspirations.

With the natural unity and cohesion the Marathas carved out a unique place for themselves in India's politics, more particularly in the politics of the Deccan. During three hundred years of Muslim domination through Delhi Sultanate, Bahamanies and their successor States, chiefly the Nizamshahi of Ahmad Nagar, Adilshahi of Bijapur and Qutbshahi of Golkunda, the warlike and faithful Marathas became a must in the employ of these foreign rulers in order to provide them a local base. Bargiri or the Maratha method of warfare, often described as guerilla warfare, made the Marathas most sought after soldiers in the Deccan kingdoms and equally dreaded amongst the Imperial forces of the Mughals. Thus, politically the Marathas were always significant but they didn't have their own independent kingdom.

This deficiency was made good by the Bhonsle family of Shivaji. The Yadavas of Deogiri, the Bhonsles of Verul or Ellora and the Nimalkars of Pheltan were the three ancient Maratha families. The Bhonsles traced the descent from the Sisodiyas of Chittor and the Hoyasalas of the Deccan, but for want of definite proofs it is difficult to accept either of the propositions with any amount of certitude. Babaji Bhonsle, the great grandfather of Shivaji, was an ordinary Patel but his two sons Maloji and Vithoji have often been spoken of as Rajas. Maloji succeeded in getting the hands of Jijabai, daughter of Nizamshahi noble Lakhuji Jadhav Rao, for his son Shahji and thereby the status and reputation of the Bhonsle family acquired a new height. Shabji collaborated with Malik Ambar, the extremely able Abyssinian slave, who was at one time, the effective head of the State of Ahmad Nagar. E.S. Sardesai sees a direct line of inspiration running from Ambar to Shivaji, through his father Shahji, who served under Ambar. In the battle of Bhatavadi, November, 1624, Malik Ambar's superior tactics and patient manoeuvring as well as Shah's genius checked the hitherto invincible Mughal armies and in this respect Ambar and even Shabji, can be regarded as military precursor of Shivaji in the Deccan.

Introduction Modern historians differ on the date of birth of Shivaji. Grant Duff says that he was born in May, 1662 at the fort of Shiv Neri. According to noted historian, Dr. Jadunath Sarkar, Shivaji was born on 10th April, 1627, while Govind Sakharam Sardesai's presumption is that he was born on 6th April instead of on the 10th. Tilak and others also agree with Sardesai's view. Shivaji was born to Lakhuji Jadhava's daughter Jijabai. Shahji son of Moloji, was his father. He spent his early eight years at the fort of Shiv Neri.

Maharashtra in those days was divided between two powers-the Mughal Emperor of Delhi and the Ruler of Bijapur. The sovereignty of most of the inaccessible regions of the land was in dispute. The Mughal oppression was increasing day by day. The emergence of Shivaji in such a gloomy period was just like the rising of the sun from dark clouds. He soon established his military armies by taking many forts and the court of Bijapur got alerted and declared him a rebel. On November 10, 1659 Shivaji killed Afzal Khan, the mighty general of Bijapur and gained victory over his forces. Now was the turn of the Mughals.

Mughal Commander Shaista Khan had taken Poona. In the dark night of April 5, 1663, Shivaji entered the palace where Shaista was sleeping as it was the fasting month of Ramzan. Suddenly cries and rattling of weapons were heard. Shivaji's men were putting the Mughal soldiers to sword. Shaista Khan could not resist them and took to his heels. Poona was now in the hands of Shivaji. The Mughul Emperor Aurangzeb then sent Raja Jai Singh to crush Shivaji. Jai Singh was given all civil and military powers. The gallantry and diplomacy of Jai Singh compelled Shivaji to surrender. A treaty was arranged According to the terms of Treaty, Shivaji fought for the Mughals when Jai Singh waged war against Bijapur. When the war was over, Shivaji appeared at the Royal Court at Agra before Aurangzeb who imprisoned him. How Shivaji managed to rescue himself from the captivity of Aurangzeb is a well-known episode of Indian History.

While studying various texts on the life of Shivaji, a question arose in my mind. Was he really anti-Muslim ? I came to the conclusion that he was not against the Muslims, but he was a staunch opponent of the Government which nourished communal hatred and was oppressing the Hindus. The orthodox Muslim historian Khafi Khan has accused Shivaji of treachery and has addressed him with vulgar language but at the same time he has confessed his admirations for some of his acts like paying due respect to the mosques, the holy Quran and the women. Khafi Khan states that whenever Shivaji found a Quran during his assault, he handed it over to his Muslim followers. He was always sympathetic to women prisoners.

Once, after the capture of the fort of Kalyan, Shivaji's followers imprisoned the beautiful daughter-in-law of Subedar Mulla Ahmad. Shivaji scorned the guilty soldier, begged apology from the lady and sent her safely to her relatives. Shivaji had recruited in his army the 700 disbanded Pathan soldiers of Bijapur. These valiant Pathans later fought for Shivaji against the Mughals. These incidents led me to believe that Shivaji was an idol of communal harmony. Nasim Bano is an imaginary character in this drama which I have created for highlighting the personality of Shivaji. Niccolao Manucci of Venice, the celebrated writer of Storia-do-Mogor, was Shivaji's contemporary and had met him near the fort of Purandar. The two impressed each other.

The play opens with the defeat of Shaista Khan and it consists of six scenes only.