Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was one of the most liberal, sensible and broad-minded rulers in the history of India. There are a number of brave stories related to Shivaji and tales of victories were innumerable. But in spite of all this, there is always two schools of thoughts related to the greatness of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
There is one school of thought who considered him as a cruel dictator of his time while another school of thought judged him as anti-secular. He never compromised with his religious roots and tried best to revive all the positive facets of Hinduism in the society. Here is the list of Top 10 facts about brave Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
1. Origin of Name
It was the misconception that name of Shivaji derived from Lord Shiva. However, the fact is that it was derived from regional deity having the name as Shivai. He was worshiped like God by the people because of his good deeds and not by his name.
2. Secular in Nature
Shivaji is known as one of the secular kings in the history of India. There was a time when all the kings and kingdoms were sticking and following only their religious beliefs and not the concern with other religions, Shivaji was accommodating people from all the religions in his kingdom. The example of his secularism was that he had many Muslim soldiers in his army and even also gave important ranks to Muslims. This is against the common belief that he is a king of Hindu only.
3. Formed a huge army of 10000 soldiers
When his father died, then he left him the army of about 2000 soldiers which Shivaji increased up to 10000. He knew very well the significance of good and large army. He devises his war strategies after taken into the confidence of his Intelligence Unit. His intelligent unit is smart enough to devise the strategies like guerrilla warfare.
4. True Leader
Shivaji was the true leader in terms of handling his kingdom. He was military commander of his army and never encourage his troops to sacrifice their life for the sake of it. He is the person who led from the front. He always suggested his army to take the step back, regroup and then attack the enemy with full force. These tactics helped him to fought and won a number of battles.
5. Established Navy to protect Coastline
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is smart king of his time. He knew well that a naval fleet is required to protect our country from foreign invaders. Therefore to protect the country’s coastline, he formed the Maratha Navy who had experts of doing war in water even. Many kings of that time didn’t even think of this.
6. Respect for Women
He had a deep respect for women. Unlike many other kings, no one in his kingdom had the courage to dishonor any women. Even if any women were captured in the territories then she left without any harm. If any women came to him then he took every possible measure to safeguard the respect and honor of women.
7. Caring King for Common people
He was extremely caring king for the common people of his kingdom and never allow any injustice to them. He never allowed to raids on religious places and households. He did not give personal horses and weapons to any of his troops. All were given by the government at the time of requirement so that no troop man were misuse it. The weapons and horses looted by enemy forces after victory were properly accounted in his treasury.
8. Merciful King
He was one of the merciful kings of his regime. He welcomes the troops of his enemy if they surrendered and include them in his army. He judged the person from his skill rather than from his background. On the contrary, Shivaji was very cruel who did rape and molestation with women. He turned brutal with persons who did cruel things in his kingdom.
9. Nation First
Shivaji was fought for India first before his kingdom. His goal was always clear in his mind that nation took precedence over the kingdom. He wanted to establish a free kingdom in his free country. He always motivated his troops to fight for the nation rather than for any particular king.
10. Brave Shivaji
In one of the fight, he defeated Afzal Khan in the one-on-one battle. Though Afzal Khan was a veteran leader and stronger than Shivaji in strength as well as size. It was believed that they both met in a shed which allowed them to carry only a single sword. Shivaji was assured that Afzal Khan would attack him so he wore an armor underneath. The Persian general stated that Shivaji attacked Afzal Khan first while Maratha general stated just opposite to it.
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