Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was one of the bravest king ever in India.He was born to Shahajiraje Bhonsle and Jijabai on 19 February, 1630 in Shivneri Fort near city of Junnar , Pune district, Maharashtra.As he was born on Shivneri Fort,he was named after regional goddess Shivai,there was small temple of the goddess on the fort and can be seen till now.

Since ShahajiRaje spent most of his time outside of Pune, as he was one of the bravest gem in the court of the Shah of Bijapur,Adilshah,so he had given  the responsibility of Shivaji’s education was given to his most trusted ministers, they were Shamrao Nilkanth, Balkrishna Pant, Raghunath Ballal, Sonopant and a chief teacher Dadoji Konddev. whom Shivaji was trained in all types of military tactics and martial arts.

Shivaji was married at very young age to Saibai Nimbalkar in 1640.Shivaji was a born leader,he had his group of mavalas(friends basically),they used to play together and later on they only became his trusted ministers.Shivaji fought with the Shahs(Adilshah and Nizamshah) and even the mighty Mughals for the Swaraj (self-rule).He also maintained good relations with the clever Englishmen and the Dutch's and even the French.

Shivaji had developed a different type of warfare i.e guerrilla warfare,this is called Chapamar yudh in marathi.Basicaly in this type of warfare the small groups of maratha troops used to attack the mighty mughal forces suddenly in the middle of forest as the mughals were not familiar with the forest they used to get defeated easily or retreat most of the times.

Shivaji had also developed and maintained a strong navy as his empire had a vast coastline,which most of the Indian Kings failed to do so, he is also called the "Father of the Indian Navy". In those times developing navy was very difficult and above that even to maintain it was more difficult.For these reasons Shivaji had build two major forts in sea basically to control the sea,Sindhudurg and Vijaydurg.These forts describes the extraordinary far-sighted thinking of Shivaji maharaj.

Coronation of Shivaji maharaj was held on 6th june1674 at Raigad which was the capital of his kingdom.The Coronation was performed in presence of  Pandit Gaga Bhatt,who was renowned pandit of that times, in front of around 50,000 people.After which Shivaji was given the several titles of which one is Chhatrapati(paramount sovereign)and Haindava Dharmodhhaarak (one who uplifts the sanctity of Hinduism).

Shivaji died at the age of 52 on April 3, 1680, at the Raigad Fort, after suffering from illness of dysentery.Some say he had severe knee problem because of which he died.After Shivaji's death,his eldest son Sambhaji led the Maratha Forces.