46 Facts About Shahaji

Shahaji Bhosale was a 17th century Indian military leader who served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Bijapur Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire at various points in his career.

Shahaji brought the house of Bhosale into prominence and was the father of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire.

Shahaji was the son of Sargiroh Maloji Bhosale, a Maratha warrior and nobleman who had been awarded the jagirs of Pune and Supe, Ellora, Dheradi, Kannrad and some more villages in the districts of Jafrabad, Daulatabad and Ahmadabad by Sultan Murtuza Nizamshah of Ahmadnagar.

Later when Maloji and Umabai settled in Devagiri, Umabai went on to give birth to two sons, first of whom was Shahaji and second one was Sharifji, born two years later.

Shahaji was betrothed to Jijabai, the daughter of Lakhuji Jadhav, the Maratha Deshmukh of Sindkhed in the service of Ahmadnagar's Nizamshahi Sultanate, when both of them were children.

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

Ahmadnagar was involved in conflicts against the northern Mughal Empire and other Deccan Sultanates, and Shahaji kept switching his loyalty between these states.

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

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

Amid these circumstances, Shahaji 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 held a higher position there than the one he held in Bijapur.

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

Shahaji then left the Mughal service and began to plunder the region around Pune.

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

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

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

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

The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan personally arrived in Deccan with a large army, compelling Shahaji to leave northern Maharashtra.

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

The first, which Shahaji sided with, favoured resisting Mughal influence in Deccan.

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

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

Shahaji 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.

An army led by the general Rustam-i-Zaman Ranadulla Khan invaded Mysore with Shahaji serving as a subordinate commander.

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

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

The Bijapuri exercised little control over the Bangalore region, and Shahaji ruled the area almost independently.

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

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

Shahaji likely stayed at Kolar and Doddaballapura and spent summers at Nandi.

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

Shahaji beautified Bangalore by commissioning several gardens and built a palace called Gowri Mahal, which, according to popular tradition, was located in the present-day Basavanagudi extension.

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

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

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

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

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

However, the ruler of Bijapur doubted Shivaji's loyalty and Shahaji distanced himself from his son's actions.

The majority of historians believe that Shahaji did not support his son's rebellion.

Between the years 1659 and 1662, Shahaji 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 patronized several scholars, including Jayarama Pindye, who composed Radha-Madhava-Vilasa Champu and Parnala-Parvata-Grahan-Akhyana.

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

Jayarama presented 12 coconuts before Shahaji, signifying his knowledge of 12 languages.

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

Shahaji's tomb is located at Hodigere, near Channagiri in Karnataka.