राज्याभिषेकाची निकड

As Shivaji's confidence grew bolder and his kingdom's extent kept expanding, a host of weighty questions began to press upon him, questions he could no longer set aside. Before following the course of events, it is worth understanding just why and how the need for a settled system of administration — and for the ceremony of coronation itself — came to be felt so urgently. Shivaji called together all his senior and most experienced counsellors and laid his mind bare to them; what he said may be rendered, in something like his own words, as follows. 'Today I have deliberately summoned you, my foremost and most seasoned advisers, for this reason: all of us together have laboured for twenty-five or thirty years to build this Swarajya, as you well know. Our authority commands awe from the ordinary people up to the Badshah himself. And yet this whole enterprise has never acquired a permanent, settled form. Whether it is the Badshah, or his officers, or the common people who follow their lead — even, at times, our own people — we are openly called thieves, brigands, rebels, upstarts. Yet the plain truth is that the order and prosperity that prevail in the territories under our control are not to be found, even to a hundredth part, anywhere in the Badshah's own dominions. And still his rule commands popular acceptance and legitimacy. We read in the Puranas of ancient sovereigns who performed digvijaya and ashvamedha sacrifices and held formal coronation ceremonies to mark their sovereignty. The Yadava kings of Devagiri too assumed titles such as Pratapchakravarti, Samastabhuvanashraya, and Mahamandaleshwar. Unless we too adopt some such formal recognition, our state will never be regarded, in the eyes of the world, as a lawful kingdom. We have already taken the title Chhatrapati and adopted our own royal seal, and we have appointed certain ministers, but none of this has yet been given a properly sanctified, religious form in practice. Aurangzeb tears down our temples and plunders our wealth, and still people accord him the honour of emperor; he sits upon the Peacock Throne and flaunts his sovereign majesty. Tell me, then, what remedy we should adopt, so that our Maharashtra-dharma may endure forever upon this soil of India.'

क्षत्रियत्व व सल्लागारांचे विचार

Shivaji went on: 'Even if we, sitting quietly at home, style ourselves Raja, will the people actually accept us as such? Some among us ask precisely this. We are not born Kshatriyas — indeed there is a common belief that true Kshatriyas became extinct in this Kali Yuga. How is this notion to be overcome? Mere birth in a particular lineage commands respect, while real valour, however manifestly displayed, counts for nothing — how is this popular delusion to be dispelled? Tell me this too.' The assembled Shastris, pandits, and ministers deliberated together and, in due course, gave their considered answers. The record shows that many people took a full and active part in this deliberation — Moropant Pingle, Balaji Avji the Chitnis, Jijabai herself, the saint Samarth Ramdas, and Paramanandbaba among them. Their recommendations, in substance, ran as follows. First, on a chosen auspicious hour, Maharaj should undergo the formal rite of coronation in the prescribed manner and ascend the throne, with Raigad established as the capital; learned pandits should be invited for the ceremony and waters from the sacred rivers brought for the rite, so that the enterprise might be given an openly religious character, and Swarajya formally proclaimed — so that the people would come to believe that India's servitude had ended, the Muslim conquest closed, and the ancient dharma of the land restored. Second, on this occasion he should adopt two particular titles — Kshatriyakulavatamsa ('crest-jewel of the Kshatriya race') and Simhasanadhishwar ('lord of the throne'). The first proclaimed that he stood foremost among Kshatriyas, an eminence won by his own valour; the second would make plain to the Mughal Badshah himself that here was another ruler who, exactly as he did, now possessed a throne — with an equal right to govern his people and administer his realm, so that whatever taxes and judicial orders he might decree would be recognized as lawful; and it carried the further implication that, God willing, this same valour might in time grow further, until he unseated the foreign usurper Aurangzeb from his throne and became sovereign of the whole country himself. Third, 'Maharaj' and 'Chhatrapati' should remain his titles in everyday popular usage. Fourth, since the Bhosale lineage claimed descent from the Sisodia Rajputs, proof of this should be obtained by consulting the genealogical records kept at Udaipur; his Chitnis, Balaji Avji, would travel there to arrange this, while Gagabhatta, the celebrated Shastri of Kashi, would be brought to preside over the whole ceremony and every step of it carried out under his guidance. Fifth, an Ashtapradhan — a council of eight ministers — should be formally appointed, the work of the kingdom distributed among them, and their respective duties and responsibilities laid down in writing. Sixth, since Persian was presently the language of the court, it should be replaced by Marathi, and suitable Marathi equivalents fixed for all the administrative and courtly terms then in use; this task would be undertaken by Raghunath Pandit Hanmante, who would in due course compile the Rajvyavaharkosh, a lexicon of state administration. Seventh, a new era — the Rajyabhishek Shaka — should be inaugurated, making Shivaji himself the founder of a calendar era. Eighth, the forts — both the land forts and the sea forts already built, together with new ones yet to be raised — along with the army and the navy, should all be brought to full readiness as the means of the kingdom's defence.

राज्याभिषेक समारंभ

All these various proposals that came before Maharaj were, in due course and as circumstances allowed, properly carried into effect. The master of the realm now formally became Chhatrapati. At this time Shivaji also fixed a standard form for all official correspondence of state; a single specimen document brought together every element listed above, written in Marathi, and this format remained the fixed practice of the Maratha state until its very end. At its head appeared the royal seal, the 'Pratipachandrarekheva,' and it carried woven into its text all the titles Shivaji had now assumed. The wording of that specimen document ran thus: 'Swasti Shri Rajyabhishek Shake 1596, the Anand Samvatsar, Jyeshtha Shuddha Trayodashi — Kshatriyakulavatamsa, Shri Raja Shiva Chhatrapati, Simhasanadhishwar, Swami, has given this order to his trusted and loyal minister, foremost in the conduct of the realm's affairs, Rajshri Moreshwar Pandit Pradhan, as follows...' The actual ceremony of coronation and enthronement was held at Raigad on Jyeshtha Shuddha Trayodashi, a Friday, in Shaka year 1596, the Anand Samvatsar — that is, on the 6th of June 1674 — amid tremendous rejoicing and enthusiasm. That day is remembered, to this day, as a day of good fortune for the whole of Maharashtra. The newly crowned Chhatrapati's procession went out mounted upon an elephant; the throne was formally consecrated, and Shivaji Chhatrapati took his seat upon it.

औरंगजेबाचा संताप व जिजाबाईंचे निर्वाण

What Aurangzeb felt on receiving news of this ceremony is captured in a Sanskrit verse composed by Hanmante, which runs, in substance: 'Having conquered all the kings of the earth, that king ascended his throne — and thereby the pride that had swelled in the heart of the Lord of Delhi, that he alone was master of all India, was utterly shattered, leaving a wound in his heart that would never heal.' A contemporary Marathi poet expressed the very same thought in a different image, putting these words into Aurangzeb's own mouth: 'As one cannot measure the waters of the ocean, cannot gaze straight at the midday sun, cannot hold fire in one's bare fist — just so I find myself unable to conquer this Shivaji.' This turn of events cut Aurangzeb to the quick. Shivaji had launched raid after raid against the Mughal empire over the years, but none of that had wounded him as deeply as the fact that another independent sovereign now sat, so to speak, upon his own chest. Against this, one can only imagine — for words can hardly capture it — the sense of fulfilment that this same event brought to the whole of Maharashtra, to Samarth Ramdas, and above all to Jijamata herself. A very large share of the credit for Shivaji's triumph belongs to Jijabai's own lifelong effort and guidance, and it was the fruit of her own accumulated merit that she lived to witness, with her own eyes, this crowning good fortune of her son. Twelve days after the coronation ceremony, she departed for the other world.