What is the first thing when we think about 'Marathas' Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Guerilla warfare or the war fought against the Mughals? But we often forget that in medieval India there was only one kingdom that had its own navy.
Based on this Navy Marathas didn't just maintain their dominion only on the entire Konkan coast but also suppressed all other naval powers including the Portuguese, the dutch, and Britishers.
So how did the Maratha navy come into existence and how did they maintain their domination on the coast of Konkan for nearly 100 years?
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| Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj |
The Navy is called Armor in Marathi. We had the raw material for the workers but the workers didn't know the technique to build a naval ship. So Shivaji Maharaj asked who knew this technique. So he asked a Portuguese by the name of Vegas to send his men and will pay them handsomely money to start shipbuilding.
But Maharaj told Abaji Sondev that whichever men you assign to work from our side. (Just imagine their ingenuity) Every man you will assign to the job should be very sharp. Maharaj said this because he knew that the goa headquarters of the Portuguese will find out that the Marathas are building a Naval ship, and they will definitely interfere. Two months later Viegas suddenly quit his job and left. Maharaj asked Sondev if he had done as instructed. Did you assign smart men? Abaji Sondev said not to worry Maharaj we've learned everything. And they started a factory.
While building ships Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj also made sure that the designs of their ships were slightly different from European ships. European ships were in deep waters, so the portion was quite deep. But Maharaj knew that the ships will remain near the coastal areas which were not so deep. So he built his ships smaller and flat bottoms so they can stay closer to coasts.
By doing this Shivaji Maharaji's Navy oppugned the Britishers and the Portuguese and European Navy. Shivaji Maharaj gave Marathas a grand navy and turned it into a profitable enterprise and well-organized. This is the reason why he is called the Father of the Indian Navy.
Some lesser-known facts about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
- Chatrapati Shivaji was the Sixth child of Shahaji Raje and Jijabai.
- Chatrapati Shivaji was an excellent Archer.
- Chatrapati Shivaji started a native " Rajyabhishek Shak" Calendar after his coronation.
- Around the year 1656 when he conquered the fort of Belapur, he decided to build his own navy two Portuguese men primarily assisted him to build his navy.
- Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ordered his biography to be written while he was still ruling.
- Chatrapati Shivaji had the Rajkosh composed for promoting the Marathi language.
- Chatrapati Shivaji offered 1,00,000 Frangipani(Chafa) flowers to Lord Someshwar after conquering the fort of Panhala.
- The birthplace of Shivaji Maharaj gained freedom in 1757- 77 years after his death.
He knew the importance of language to the culture of the kingdom.
When he came into power much of the daily duties works were performed in the adapted languages which came along with the invaders, the languages like Urdu and Persian had been used for the office work.
Chatrapati Shivaji freed his motherland and insisted on the use of the language of the land "MARATHI".
Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was the master of all fortification. Treated all the caste equal, expert in Ganimi kava (Guerilla warfare). Shivneri fort lies in the Junnar region born in this fort in 1630 but even after multiple attempts could not capture the fort Shivneri.
A visionary man and a great leader.
Janta raja means not only knowing the minds of our people but also knowing the mind of our opponent.
