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Dearest Darling friends,
Inspired by his mother who made him
believe he was meant to be a 'King', Shivaji, at the age of 15, with
some of his friends, had taken the oath of Swarajya, in a temple.
Accordingly, they set about their work. There was lack of resources.
Yet, they succeeded in capturing the forts in and around Pune, one
by one. More and more people started believing in the dream of
Swarajya that Shivaji had seen. As they saw his valiant efforts and
inspiring results, they started joining him and helping him. Shivaji
was accomplishing one mission after another with speed.
 Sometimes it was a fort that had to be
captured. Sometimes it was money to be raised. Sometimes it was a
planed and carefully executed attack on the Mughals. Village after
village, stories about him started dominating conversations. People
started naming their child, Shivaji! A stage was reached when
Shivaji had 60 Forts under him.
Aurangzeb,the mogul ruler at that time,
understood the danger from Shivaji, and sent his uncle Shaistekhan
to kill him. Shivaji in turn, killed Shaistekhan. After the failure
of his uncle, Shaistekhan, Aurangzeb sent his best person, Mirza
Raje Jaisingh, with a large army, to conquer Shivaji. Mirza Raje
Jaisingh, performed the task given to him to perfection, and
finally, Shivaji, to save his men from being killed, accepted
defeat, and offered to compromise.
In the treaty that followed, Shivaji,
had to give away 48 of his Forts. He was left with only 12 forts, of
which, only 2 were of strategic importance. Then followed a very
challenging period in Shivaji’s life. He was captured by the
mughals, prisoned, condemned to death. When everyone had given up,
Shivaji executed a daring plan which culminated in his escape from
the jaws of death in the prison, in Agra.
The period of Shivaji’s life, after
retuning from Agra, is very interesting. He did not burn with
revenge. He did not attack the mughals. He did not start expanding
immediately.
He contemplated on the mistakes he had
done earlier, and started to rectify them. He made his defences
strong. Farmers were taken into confidence, their difficulties
understood and taxation reforms followed. The percentage of crop
they had to give to the king as tax was fixed. The policy to help
the farmers during famine was determined.
The village monarchy tradition was
abolished, and many more such systems were set. In fact, the letters
that Shivaji had written at that time to his administrators are by
themselves,a study in top class management.
Having made the base strong, having
recreated the bonding with people, having won their total
confidence, Shivaji, after a period of two years, started to expand.
This, he continued even after his Coronation. By the time Aurangzeb,
himself, led his army to Maharashtra, Shivaji, had a total of 200
Forts under him, which spread from Gujrat to Karnataka.
My friend Rajesh Shetty, had sent this
wonderful little write up on Shivaji when I was going through a
tough period of my life. I was inspired by Shivaji and also by the
intention + efforts of Rajesh Shetty. It taught me how to guide
without guiding. It taught me courage, it taught me strategy, it
taught me to dream bigger than ever before. It taught me many more
things, but, my intention of sharing this story with you is
different.
They say, the beach is a beach. However,
to different people it means different things. To a balloon seller,
it is a business opportunity, to a police constable it is duty. To a
lover, this place is a blessing, to a painter it represents an
opportunity. All of them are right.
My dearest darling LSM readers,
what did you learn from this brief write up on Shivaji. What did
this article mean to you? Did it touch you somewhere deep within?
Did it transform you?
The best three responses get a
special gift of 'thank you' from us.
So, happy reading and happy
writing....Keep moving!
With love, prayers and best wishes,
naren
As I live...I learn
na...@lifeschool.co.in
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