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Dharmaveer Sambhaji, by Shreyas Limaye

sambhaji.gifSambhaji Raje Bhonsle (May 14, 1657 – March 11, 1689) was the eldest son of Chhatrapati Shivaji – founder of the Maratha Empire, and succeeded him as the Chhatrapati i.e. a Maratha Emperor, after Shivaji Maharaj’s death in 1680. Sambhaji Raje was born in a crucial phase of Hindu history and in spite of his gigantic sacrifice for saving the Hindu Dharma; he is relatively unknown compared to his father. As we celebrated his 350th birthday this May, this article is a small Shradhanjali (tribute) to the memories of this great warrior-ruler.

Childhood:

One of the facts worth mentioning is that Sambhaji lost his mother Sai bai at the age of 2. Hence he was brought up mostly by his grandmother Jija bai. Jija bai is usually eulogized as a model of ‘matritva’ (motherhood) and is credited with giving a great son to the India. Instead, she should be credited with giving two great men! Sambhaji was, by many accounts extremely handsome and immensely brave. He was proficient in 8 different languages and was a scholar of Sanskrit. In 1666, he was married to Yesu bai, and later the couple had a son – Shahu.

On June 6th, 1674 at the time of Shivaji’s coronation, he was declared as the prince of the Sovereign Maratha Kingdom. Many visiting dignitaries at the coronation ceremony have written about his acumen, intelligence, personality and, most important of all, modesty. As a prince, Sambhaji proved his bravery and military brilliance on more than one occasions. He led and won his first war in Ramnagar at the age of 16. During 1675-76 he led successful campaigns in Goa and Karnataka.However, even before coronation as a prince, an interesting event happened in his life - his first encounter with Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb! In 1666, under immense pressure from Mirza Raja Jaisingh’s (One of Aurangzeb’s commanders) 14000 strong armies, Shivaji conciliated with him and as a part of the peace agreement, went to Agra with little Sambhaji to attend Aurangzeb’s court. By Sambhaji’s own accounts (Daanpatra, 1680), Aurangzeb asked him to show wrestling before him to which Sambhaji refused. Anyways, in the court, Aurangzeb made Shivaji stand with the lowly commoners in his court, an intentional insult. Deeply offended, Shivaji stormed out of court and was promptly placed under house arrest. On August 18th, 1666 they made a miraculous escape from the house arrest and reached home safely.

Coronation:

On April 3rd, 1680 Shivaji left his mortal body. At the time of Shivaji’s death, there was news of impending attack of Aurangzeb’s army on Maharashtra and at such a crucial juncture, a strong leader like Sambhaji was need of the hour. In spite of a family feud at this crucial juncture, Sambhaji was able to ascend to his rightful place on the Maratha throne in 1681.

Visionary Decision:

Sambhaji’s first test as a leader came soon after his coronation. Aurangzeb’s eldest son - Muhammad Akbar – rebelled against him in 1681 and took refuge with the Rajputs. Under pressure from the vast Mughal army, Rajput leader Veervar Durgadas took Akbar to the court of Sambhaji. When the matter of offering assistance to Akbar came for discussion, most of Sambhaji’s courtiers opposed it saying that doing any such thing would invite Aurangzeb’s wrath and given the proportion between Mughal and Maratha armies it would be suicidal to involve in any direct confrontation with them.Hearing this, Sambhaji answered that; his father always envisioned the kingdom as ‘Hindavi Swaraj’ (Hindu Independence) and not merely as a Maratha kingdom. He also pointed out that a bigoted fanatic like Aurangzeb was anyways hell bent on destroying Hinduism and Akbar was mere pretext for attacking Rajputs. He insisted that he had no doubt in mind that even if they denied any assistance to Akbar, Aurangzeb would definitely descent upon them with all his force once he defeated Rajputs. Instead Sambhaji pointed out that it was wise to share the burden of the Hindu resistance with the Rajputs.

He also claimed with certainty, that if Aurangzeb followed Akbar in the Deccan, the proud Rajputs would continue their freedom struggle; eventually stretching Mughal armies. Thus convincing his courtiers, Sambhaji agreed to provide refuge to Akbar. This event reveals the visionary in Sambhaji. He had the brilliance to understand the true nature of the conflict and the courage to contribute in this Hindu freedom struggle against Islamic oppressors even with his comparatively meager resources. His convictions were proven correct beyond his own expectations. Aurangzeb indeed followed his son to Deccan. The Marathas targeted the trade routes of the Mughals and the ones that passed through Mewar were plundered. These disorders adversely impacted the finances of the Mughal Empire. In Budelkhand, Maharaja Chhatrasal intensified his struggle against Mughals. With the departure of major Mughal forces along with Aurangzeb; the proud Jaats – who were terrorized by the Mughals for centuries rebelled under the leadership of Chudaman - Zamindar of Sinsini ultimately resulting in the foundation of the Jat state of Bharatpur in Rajasthan. In Punjab, Sikhs under the able leadership of Guru Gobind Singh continued fighting Mughals as well.

Stretched in all directions, leaderless due to the absence of Aurangzeb in the North, weakened by considerable financial losses in these fights and utterly demoralized for want of decisive victory against Hindus in any of these fronts, Mughal power collapsed after the death of Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb’s death marked the end of Muslim hegemony in India and large parts of India were liberated by Hindus and remained free till the arrival of the British. One philosopher urges us, “Mind the corner where life’s road turns.” It’s as true about History. Indeed, demise of Islamic hegemony in India is an important event in the Hindu history. And in addition to the bravery of Marathas, Jaats, Rajputs and Sikhs, vision and courage shown by Sambhaji at this juncture played a significant role in making it happen.

War with Mughals:

Coming back to 1681, the short term consequences of Sambhaji’s decision were disastrous. Aurangzeb invaded the Deccan vowing to destroy the Maratha state. It was a disproportionate battle in all senses. Aurangzeb’s army was at least 8 to 9 times larger than Sambhaji’s. His whole empire was around 15 times bigger than Sambhaji’s. Sambhaji’s other enemies, like Siddi of Janjira and Portuguese of Goa sensed an opportunity and started raiding the Konkan coastline. But Sambhaji proved his mettle. In the period of 1683-86, he could be described only by the words – ‘warrior at his very best’! He resorted to classic hit and run guerilla tactics against his numerically superior enemies. He defeated the Portuguese in 1683. In 1684, he crushed Mughal prince Muajjam’s armies although Muajjam managed to escape. In 1685, he defeated the Siddis and recaptured Cambay Fort. He also conquered parts of North Maharashtra. With this victory, now Maratha kingdom was even bigger than it was at the time of Shivaji’s death!

In 1687, frustrated Aurangzeb changed his tactics. He defeated Adilshah of Bijapur and Kutubshah of Gowalkonda and annexed those kingdoms; thus encircling Marathas even from south. To make matters worse, there was a devastating famine in Maharashtra in 1686-87. Yet, Sambhaji denied any major victory to him.

Capture and Execution:

In early 1689, Sambhaji called his commanders for a strategic meeting at Sangameshwar in Konkan. In a meticulously planned operation, Ganoji Shirke and Aurangzeb’s commander, Mukarrab Khan attacked Sangameshwar when Sambhaji was about to leave the town. A small ambush followed and Sambhaji was captured by Mughal troops on 1 Feb, 1689. He and his advisor, Kavi Kalash were taken to Bahadurgad. Aurangzeb humiliated them by parading them wearing clown’s clothes. Later, Sambhaji and Kavi Kalash were tied upside down to camels with Mughal soldiers throwing stones, mud, and cow dung at them.

When they were brought face to face with Aurangzeb, the latter offered to let Sambhaji live if he surrendered all the Maratha forts, and converted to Islam. Sambhaji refused to convert to Islam, and instead sang praises of Mahadev. Aurangzeb ordered him and Kavi Kalash to be tortured to death. They were brutally tortured for over 40 days. The torture involved plucking of eyes, pulling out nails, scraping out large pieces of skin and dismemberment. After every torture, Aurangzeb would ask him if he had had enough and wanted to convert – but the courageous king kept refusing. bharat.gif

 Sambhaji succumbed to the cruel torture and was beheaded on March 11, 1689 near the confluence of the Bheema and Indrayani rivers at Tulapur near Pune. Despite the torture, Sambhaji refused to convert to Islam. In so doing he earned the title of Dharmaveer by which he is known to this day. His conviction for his faith is truly astonishing! Just imagine, had Sambhaji converted, it would have been a major blow to the Hindu freedom struggle in Maharashtra. Who knows, his conversion might have been the end of the entire ‘Hindavi Swaraj’ experiment of Shivaji. But the brave and wise ruler put his cause and faith above his life and died with his honor intact…nay…he died to keep our honor intact!

Even after Sambhaji’s death, Aurangzeb ordered to cut Sambhaji’s body into pieces and throw it into river water so that he won’t even get a decent cremation. Residents of nearby village named ‘Vadhu‘ jumped into the river braving the Mughal army, collected as many pieces of his body as they found, sewed them together and performed the final rites on his body.

Victory:

Sambhaji was succeeded as leader of the Marathas by his younger brother Rajaram. Sambhaji’s single heroic death unleashed an unprecedented unity and heroic spirit among the Marathas. Aurangzeb continued his grim war against the Marathas for another 18 years but could not destroy the Maratha state.

Aurangzeb spent the last 25 years of his life in the Deccan, in constant warfare to subjugate the Marathas. He died in 1707, right in Maharashtra, something Marathi people still take pride in! The torture to death of Sambhaji became a rallying call for Maratha resistance and spread of the Maratha Empire after Aurangzeb. In 1737, within 50 years of the torture and death of Sambhaji, Maratha armies entered Delhi and had re-established Hindu rule over all of western, central and much of northern India. It was the first time after 1192 – after Prithviraj Chauhan - that saffron flag fluttered with pride Delhi! The Maratha Empire would remain the foremost military power in India till they lost power to the British after 3 Anglo-Maratha wars, the last of which ended in 1818.

Shreyas Limaye is a PhD student in the Industrial Engineering department at University of Washington. He can be reached at Shreyas@u.washington.edu

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 1st, 2007 at 12:07 am and is filed under Hindu History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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