35 Facts About Shahaji Bhonsle

Shahaji Bhonsle eventually became the chief general of Bijapur and oversaw its expansion.

Shahaji Bhonsle was the father of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire.

Shahaji Bhonsle was the son of Maloji Bhosale, a soldier who eventually became Sar Giroh and was awarded the jagirs of Pune and Supe districts in the court of Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar.

Shahaji Bhonsle married Jijabai, the daughter of Lakhuji Jadhav, another Maratha general in the service of Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar when both of them were children.

At the time of Maloji's death in 1622,26-year old Shahaji Bhonsle was a minor commander in Malik Ambar's army.

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Shahaji Bhonsle retained his jagir in the Pune region, which was disputed between Ahmadnagar and Bijapur.

Ibrahim Adil Shah II, a Muslim, was tolerant towards Hindus like Shahaji Bhonsle and saw Ahmadnagar as a buffer state between his kingdom and the Mughal Empire.

Amid these circumstances, Shahaji Bhonsle returned to Ahmadnagar in early 1628, under the patronage of Malik Ambar's son Fatah Khan.

The power of Ahmadnagar had been declining after Malik Ambar's death in 1626, but Shahaji Bhonsle held a higher position there than the one he held in Bijapur.

In 1629, Shahaji Bhonsle led a 6,000-strong cavalry against the Mughals in the Khandesh region but was defeated.

Shahaji Bhonsle retreated and took control of an area in the southern part of the Ahmadngar Sultanate.

Shahaji Bhonsle installed 10-year old Murtaza of the Ahamadnagar royal family as the titular puppet ruler and appointed himself chief minister.

Shahaji Bhonsle resided in Junnar and raised an army, which at its height included 12,000 soldiers.

Shahaji Bhonsle set up his capital at Shahabad and gained control of several large forts.

Shahaji Bhonsle lost control of several cities, including Junar and Nashik, and retreated to Konkan.

Shahaji Bhonsle was allowed to retain his jagir in the Pune region but was barred from living in that area as part of the Mughal-Bijapur treaty.

Shahaji Bhonsle was transferred to the southern part of the Bijapur Sultanate.

Shahaji Bhonsle spent the last 20 years of his life in the south, where the Bijapur and the Golconda Sultanates were trying to capture territories from the declining Vijayanagara Empire.

Shahaji Bhonsle was given the charge of Kolar, Hoskote, Doddaballapura, and Sira areas by Ranadulla Khan, in consultation with the Bijapur ruler Muhammad Adil Shah.

Shahaji Bhonsle chose Bangalore as his headquarters because of its secure fortress and good climate.

Shahaji Bhonsle was unable to retain control of this entire territory after the departure of the main Bijapur army.

However, in 1639, Shahaji Bhonsle appears to have been involved in a conflict against the Bijapur government.

Shahaji Bhonsle was part of an army led by the Bijapur general Afzal Khan that captured the fort of Basavapatna from Keng Nayak.

Shahaji Bhonsle presented his entire family, including his two sons by his second wife, at the Bijapur court.

Shahaji Bhonsle appointed several Brahmins from the Pune region to the Bangalore administration.

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In 1648, during a Bijapur campaign to support the rebellion of Nayakas against the Vijayanagara king Sriranga III, Shahaji Bhonsle was arrested for acting against the interests of Bijapur.

Shahaji Bhonsle started acting independently of the Bijapur commander Mustafa Khan and started negotiating with the Nayakas of Jinjee, Madurai, and Tiruchirapalli.

Shahaji Bhonsle was brought to the capital Bijapur in chains and forced to surrender the forts of Kondana and Bangalore.

Shahaji Bhonsle appears to have moved out of Bangalore, where his son Ekoji was stationed.

Shahaji Bhonsle himself was stationed at Kanakagiri, and his son Sambhaji was killed during a revolt by the chief of Kanakagiri in 1654.

Between the years 1659 and 1662, Shahaji Bhonsle travelled to Pune as a mediator between Shivaji and Bijapur, meeting his son for the first time in 12 years.

At his court in Bangalore, Shahaji Bhonsle patronized several scholars, including Jayarama Pindye, who composed Radha-Madhava-Vilasa Champu and Parnala-Parvata-Grahan-Akhyana.

Shahaji Bhonsle traveled from Nashik to Bangalore, and was introduced to Shahaji's court by a man named Shivaraya Gosvamin.

Shahaji Bhonsle makes grandiloquent claims, such as that "hundreds and thousands" of scholars and poets from all over the world came to Shahaji's court to seek his patronage.

Jayarama credits Shahaji Bhonsle with reviving Sanskrit language, and states Shahaji Bhonsle himself composed a part of a stanza in Sanskrit; his sons Sambhaji and Ekoji composed lines to test Jayarama's poetic skills.