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SIVAJI (1627—1680)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 163 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIVAJI (1627—1680) , founder of the Mahratta See also:power in See also:India, was See also:born in May 1627 He was the son of Shahji Bhonsla, a Mahratta soldier of See also:fortune who held a jagir under the See also:Bijapur See also:government. From an See also:early See also:age he excelled in See also:horsemanship and the use of weapons, and regarded himself as appointed to See also:free the See also:Hindus from the See also:Mahommedan yoke. With this See also:object he formed a See also:national party among the Hindus of the See also:Deccan, and opposed in turn the See also:vassal power of Bijapur and the imperial armies of the See also:Mogul of See also:Delhi. By dint of playing off his enemies against each other and by means of treachery, assassination and hard fighting, Sivaji won for the See also:Mahrattas See also:practical supremacy in western India. In 1659 he lured Afzul See also:Khan, the Bijapur See also:general, into a See also:personal See also:conference, and killed him with his own See also:hand, while his men attacked and routed the Bijapur See also:army. In 1666 he visited the Mogul See also:emperor, See also:Aurangzeb, at Delhi, but on his expressing dissatisfaction at not being treated with sufficient dignity, he was placed under See also:arrest. Having effected his See also:escape in a sweetmeat See also:basket, he raised the See also:standard of revolt, assumed the See also:title of See also:raja, and the See also:prerogative of coining See also:money in his own name. But whilst at the height of his power he died on the 5th of See also:April 168o at the age of fifty-three. Sivaji was an extraordinary See also:man, showing a See also:genius both fcr See also:war and for peaceful See also:administration; -but he always preferred to attain his ends by See also:fraud rather than by force. He is the national See also:hero of the Mahrattas, by whom he is regarded almost as a deity. See See also:Grant See also:Duff, See also:History of the Mahrattas (1826) ; Krishnaji Ananta, See also:Life and Exploits of Sivaji (1884); and M. G See also:Ranade, Rise of the Maratha Power (Bombay, 1900).

End of Article: SIVAJI (1627—1680)

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