Why I Support Shivaji Maharaj’s Statue in Mumbai’s Arabian Sea….!!!!

As we celebrate yet another Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti, in Maharashtra there has been a debate going that why do we require a Shivaji Statue in Mumbai. We require jobs, education healthcare and infrastructure in the country. How is Shivaji statue going to solve the problem. Shivaji himself would have opposed of building of the statue over the cause of larger national good so on and so forth. While this arguments are valid and in the ideal society we should walk by the principles and the guidelines Shivaji Maharaj rather than creating Statues, but the fact remains that we hardly ever live in a idealistic world and thus to look at issues in a binary model is always almost impossible. Hence amongst all the noise about the statue I want to put why “I want” argument for the Shivaji Statue. But what has Shivaji done to the history of India, why he should be considered  amongst the greatest Indians to have taken birth and why is it necessary for the entire India  not only Mharashtra to respect Shivaji should be understood in greater depth. I am not an historian and hence don’t wish to go into chronologies of the events that panned out during Shivajis era. Greater than this is what the rule meant for the citizens of this country and larger masses as a whole in that period. Short glance on Chatrapati Shivaji Mharaj era for this is a must.  

Shivaji was born approx 400 years ago when virtually there was no indigenous king ruling in India. The Badshah of the Delhi sultanate was soon going to be the infamous Aurangzeb who was known for his extremely cruel attitude towards the Indian masses specially the Non Muslims. In the Deccan there was Adilshahi , Kutub Shahi and Nijamshahi, Almost all of the rajput kings were defeated or had surrendered to the Mughal rule. Vijaynagara empire had fallen after years of indigenous rule and under this circumstances was born a boy to Jijabi and Shahaji Bhosle. Shivaji Started his stint at the raw age of 16 by capturing his first fort and as they say rest in history. The landmark battles of Shivaji are nothing but miracles scripted in haven as the killing of mighty Afzal Khan, and defeat of Auranzebs uncle Shahistha Khan. Shivaji had just managed to stabilize his hold in Deccan when he was invaded by Mirza Raje an Aurangzeb loyalists who almost took away the entire forts won by Shivaji and asked him to go to Delhi and surrender.  The fact that Shivaji managed to escape from Agra is nothing short of miracle, a mystery unsolved to almost all historians till date. This escape is important as he not only escaped from there but successfully came back to Deccan now Maharashtra and rebuild the entire empire lost but  goes on  to enhance what he had lost before the capture by Jaysingh. 

He also realised that for indigenous powers to control India, controlling the seas was also important.  So he asked his men to learn ship building from the Portuguese, Dutch, English and Siddhi's  who were dominating the western coastline by then and started changing them at sea, thereby also creating the naval counter to the foreign rule. He almost single handedly reignited the idea that an Indian born person can make it to the thrown under the most hostile and unfriendly conditions. Hindavi Swaraj was an ultimate challenge to the Islamist Jihadi forces which had gained ground under Aurangzeb. He was the voice that thundered and roared in the Shyanyadris and the western Ghats surely but the tremors of which rocked the Delhi Sultanate. Shiavji died in 1680Ad at an young age of 50 not before laying the foundations of the Maratha empire. The death of Auranzeb starts a era of Maratha dominance and decimation of the Mughal forces that for the entire of 18^th century history of India can be viewed that of the Marathas, Mughal being the nominal Kings and Marathas being the actual rulers of India controlling the regions almost upto present day North west frontier providence sharing borders if Afghanistan. But all this would not have been possible without the vision direction and hardwork and foundation of one man “CHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ”. When the British annexed power they did it from Marathas and not Mughals is the fact unkonw to most.

How many of us outside of Maharashtra know about the Maratha history? Shivaji is been portrayed as a regional leader, mountain rat or at best a rebel warrior. It is high time we start respecting our leaders for who they are, because Shivaji stands as a symbol of successful indigenous answer to Islamic Brabarism that the world saw in the medieval ages. He taught us that India could once again stand up to the horrific invasions. Independent India has largely turned a blind eye to Shivaji Maharaj and discredited him of his due because it feels it is necessary to reject Shivaji to foster the secular believes of this country. The Bhagva was chosen by Shivaji because it stood for the essence of Hinduism and a direct answer to the Islamic foreign rule. The mention of the above lines is nowhere to hurt the sentiments of present day Muslims in India but only reflects the fact of the contemporary times. The medieval ages were all but the conquest to establish religious supremacy and Shivaji stands as the voice that echoed against it not just in the western ghats but the voice was so loud that it led to the eventual fall of the Mughal empire. Thus the religious freedom Specially what the Hindus enjoy in this land, some fraction of it has to be credited to the man we all Know as Shivaji Maharaj. Still it is petty that a figure such as his is not a part history to the students across India. As the history of India is incomplete without the Mughal rule the history of India will always be incomplete without Shivaji Maharaj. The man who reinstalled self respect in the defeated minds. 

It is about time we rise above the the regional politics and call Shivaji what he deserves to be called the the JANATA RAJA (ruler of the masses).The hopeless politics in India will not allow the history of Shivaji to be told the way it is and hence a staute does what we humans cannot not do, because the statue of the Great King in the now financial capital of  India will for generations create the curiosity about the leader who liberated India from the perpetual mindset of defeat and slavery and gave an indigenous thought to nation building. 

When we take our kids to this statue in the future we will unknowingly influence their minds about Shivaji and his works and spread awareness about the King who should have been not just familiar but a revered name in every Indian household and a giant statue will do what we as people have failed to do as Indians, recognize Shivaji as not just rebel but an INDIAN KING whose governance models, gorilla war tactics, secular attitude and resource management is nothing short of a template on which a modern nation state can be built.

To sum up history is important for the fact that people who don’t learn from history tend to repeat it and hence Shivaji is not only important to Maharashtra but INDIA as well. And the next time we see a statue of Shivaji in the Arabian sea and are asked questions by our next generation we would be compelled to read Shivaji history and pass on his vision of Indian state which was a direct challenge to the theocratic rule. JAYA BAHVANI JAY SHIVAJI ,HAR HAR MAHADEV!