Introduction to the Shivaji Series

 To understand Shivaji and relate his accomplishments to life at the dawn of the 21st century, it is essential to examine four distinct aspects of Shivaji’s rule. The Janata Raja exhibition at the 1997 BMM convention focused on the first two aspects.  The remaining two aspects  will be added as appropriate.
 

Acknowledgments

With grateful thanks, I have used the following documents while doing research on this series.

· Photographs of Sea Forts Government of Maharashtra
Thanks are also due to Sunil Deshmukh for providing me with some of the research material listed above. My wife, Jyoti Joshi, provided the inspiration for the Shivaaji project at the BMM convention and also helped with the design and display of the exhibits. It was her idea to incorporate graphics along with text. My daughter, Chitra Joshi, created the comparative timeline so that readers can relate to the events that took place in the West while Shivaji was establishing and strengthening his rule.
One last note before proceeding with the articles proper. An overwhelming majority of the Marathi population in Shivaji’s times was Hindu but the rulers were Moslem. In day-to-day life this fact had very little impact on commoner’s life. Indeed, at the village/local level, Moslems and Hindus got along quite well. Hindus worshipped Moslem saints and vice versa. So, any mention of the identification, Moslem or Hindu, does not imply any religious bias at the commoner level. The bias was very much evident at the political level – Moslems were the rulers and Hindus had to survive the often-tyrannical laws – such as religion-based differential in tax rates.  Part 1


Technical difficulties prevent us from combining Marathi and English words in the same sentence.  We would welcome suggestions from our web wizard readers.  In the meanwhile, I plan to show the original Marathi words in italics.
Illustrations accompanying the human jewels articles are copied with thanks from this text.  Sincere thanks are due to BabaSaheb and AmritRao Purandare