Maharaj, the Marathas fought with great
valour with the Mughals under the
leadership of Chhatrapati Sambhaji
Maharaj, Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj
and Maharani Tarabai to protect the
Swaraj. This long war that lasted for
twenty seven years is called the ‘Maratha
War of Independence’. In 1682 ce Emperor
Aurangzeb himself led the invasion of
South. Even then, despite enormous
difficulties, the Marathas emerged
victorious in this struggle. This war is an
exciting and glorious period in the history
of India. In this chapter, we shall learn
about this war of independence.
Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj:
Sambhaji Maharaj was the eldest son of
Chhatrapti Shivaji Maharaj. He was born
on 14 May 1657 on the Purandar Fort.
After Shivaji Maharaj, he became the
Chhatrapati. At this time, the Marathas
were battling against the Mughals. During
the same period, Emperor Aurangzeb's son
Shahajada Akbar rebelled against his
father. The Emperor crushed his rebellion.
Then Akbar came to the Deccan to take
shelter with Sambhaji Maharaj. Then the
Emperor himself descended on the South
in 1682 ce to vanquish Akbar. He had with
him a huge army and a powerful artillery.
He asked the Siddi of Janjira to undertake
an expedition against the Marathas. He
also won over the Portuguese to his side.
Consequently, Sambhaji Maharaj had to
face many adversaries at one and the same
time.
The reign of Sambhaji Maharaj marks
the first chapter of the Maratha War of
Independence after Shivaji Maharaj.
Shivaji Maharaj had given him excellent
education in civil administration and
military campaigns. Sambhaji Maharaj
had begun to take interst in the
administration of the State and the
command of the army from the age of
fourteen years. While he was still a
prince, he had led attacks on many
territories of the Mughals and the
Adilshah. Then French traveller Abbe
Carrey says about his battle skills, “Even
though the prince is young, he is
courageous and brave like his father was
famous for….”
When Sambhaji Maharaj became
Chhatrapati, the war with the Mughals
became fiercer. Aurangzeb wanted to
occupy regions from Kabul to
Kannyakumari and create a grand unified
Mughal empire. His dream was to destroy
the Maratha State completely using his military and financial prowess. But
Sambhaji Maharaj shattered his dreams
with his bravery and military skills. Troops
of the Maratha army attacked many of the
Mughal territories. Though the Emperor’s
generals tried very hard for a long time,
they couldn’t win the Maratha fort of
Ramsej near Nashik. Thus, Sambhaji
Maharaj’s valour brought Aurangzeb to his
knees. Once he removed his turban in
frustration and threw it on the floor. He
made a vow that until he had vanquished
Sambhaji, he would not wear his turban.
Sambhaji Maharaj had rendered Aurangzeb
helpless to this extent.Campaign against the Siddi : The
Siddi of Janjira used to harass the people
in the Maratha territory. He used to raid,
burn, and loot the Maratha territory and
commit atrocities. Sabhasada has described
him as a rat in the house. Sambhaji
Maharaj started a campaign against him
in 1682 ce. His army laid a siege to Siddi’s
Dandarajpuri fort, and battered the fort of
Janjira with the artillery. But at the same
time, the Mughal army invaded Swaraj.
Sambhaji Maharaj had to abandon the
Janjira campaign and turn back.
Campaign against the Portuguese :
The Portuguese of Goa joined hands with
the Emperor against Sambhaji Maharaj.
So, Sambhaji Maharaj decided to teach a
lesson to the Portuguese. He attacked the
Revdanda fort of the Portuguese in 1683 ce.
To counter this, the Portuguese laid a siege
to the Fonda fort of the Marathas on the
Goa border. The Marathas broke through
the siege and attacked Goa. In this battle,
Yesaji Kank showed great valour. The
Portuguese Governor got wounded and
retreated. Sambhaji Maharaj followed him.
The Portuguese were in deep trouble. At
this time, Sambhaji Maharaj got the news
that the Mughals had attacked South
Konkan. Therefore, he had to abandon the
winning campaign of Goa and return to
fight with the Mughals.
The end of Adilshahi and
Qutubshahi: Aurangzeb did not succeed
in his campaign against the Marathas.
Therefore, he suspended that campaign.
Then he turned towards the kingdoms of
Adilshah and Qutubshah and conquered
them.
The wealth and army of both the
kingdoms was now acquired by the
Mughals and it made Aurangzeb even
stronger. Then he concentrated all his
might on defeating the Marathas. He
attacked their territory from all sides. The
Maratha army General Hambirrao Mohite
got killed during an encounter with the
Mughal army. Due to this blow the
military strength of Sambhaji Maharaj
was weakened.
Administration of Sambhaji
Maharaj : Even though Sambhaji Maharaj
was busy fighting on various battle fronts,
he did not ignore his administrative
responsibilities. He continued the prompt
justice and revenue system, which was a
characteristic of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s era. He severely punished the
landlords who harassed common people
and who rebelled against the Swaraj. He
gave administrative powers to Maharani
Yesubai. He gave her, her own stamp. He
continued the legacy of Shivaji Maharaj’s
welfare policies.
Sambhaji Maharaj knew Sanskrit and
many other languages well. He studied
many ancient books on polity and wrote
their gist in a book called
‘Budhbhushanam’.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He was born
on 24 February 1670 on Raigad. He became
Chhatrapati after the death of Sambhaji
Maharaj. Now Aurangzeb thought that his
dream of winning
the Maratha
kingdom would
be realised. He
sent Zulfikarkhan
to put Raigad
under siege. That
time Rajaram
Maharaj and his
wife Maharani
Tarabai and
Sambhaji
Maharaj’s wife
Maharani Yesubai and his son Shahu were
on Raigad. It was risky for all members of
the royal family to stay at one place.
Maharani Yesubai tackled this
unprecedented calamity very bravely.
Resolving that, she would not surrender to
the Mughals under any conditions, she took
many important political decisions on
Raigad. It was decided that Rajaram
Maharaj should escape from Raigad and if
necessary, go to a far off place like Jinji.
It was decided that the fight to defend
Raigad would continue under the leadership
of Maharani Yesubai. Maharani Yesubai
chose to make Rajaram Maharaj and not
her own son the Chhatrapati. Her decision
is a shining example of her love for Swaraj
and her extreme selflessness. She kept the
Maratha Chhatrapati secure without regard
for her own life or that of her son.
Sambhaji Maharaj composed
‘Budhbhushanam’ in the Sanskrit
language. The second chapter of this
book discusses polity. It includes
information about the virtues of a king,
prime minister, princes and their
education and functions, the advisers to
the king, forts and the goods and
materials needed on a fort, the army, the
duties of a king, espionage, etc.
Death of Sambhaji Maharaj :
Aurangzeb was trying very hard to defeat
Sambhaji Maharaj. He had placed
Mukarrabkhan in charge of the Kolhapur
province. Mukarrabkhan learnt that
Sambhaji Maharaj was at Sangameshwar
in Konkan. He raided the place and
captured Sambhaji Maharaj. When
Sambhaji Maharaj was taken to the
Emperor, he faced him fearlessly. By the
Emperor’s orders, he was brutally put to
death on 11 March 1689. This Maratha
Chhatrapati did not compromise his self
respect and faced his death nobly and
bravely. The Marathas took inspiration
from his sacrifice and intensified their
fight against the Mughals.
Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj :
Rajaram Maharaj was the second son of
Chhatrapati
Rajaram Maharaj
Find Jinji on a map of India.
Let’s find out.
Do you know?
Rajaram Maharaj leaves for Jinji :
On 5 April 1689 Rajaram Maharaj
escaped from the besieged Raigad with a
few of his associates. He decided to go
south to Jinji. The Jinji fort was invincible.
It was not an easy task for the Mughals
to capture this fort. Rajaram Maharaj
took his faithful Sardars like Pralhad
Niraji, Khando Ballal, Rupaji Bhosale
and managed to reach Jinji.
The Movements of the Marathas:
It was difficult to defend the Raigad
fort against the might of the Mughals.
The Mughals captured Raigad in
November 1689 and arrested Maharani
Yesubai and Shahu. While going to
Jinji, Rajaram Maharaj had assigned
the duty to fight against the Mughals
to Ramchandrapant Amatya, Shankaraji
Narayan Sachiv, Santaji Ghorpade and
Dhanaji Jadhav.
From the Maratha point of view, the
situation was critical. Aurangzeb had
enticed many Maratha Sardars to his
side by giving them watans and jagirs.
Rajaram Maharaj also used the same
tactics to thwart the Mughal plans. It
was promised that if a Maratha Sardar
captured Mughal territory it would be
given to him as a jagir. Due to this
promise, many capable Maratha Sardars
came forward. They started invading the
Mughal territory with vigour and defeated
Mughal Generals. Santaji and Dhanaji
were at the forefont in these actions.
Against their surprise attacks and
guerrilla tactics, the enormous amount of
war material and heavy artillery of the
Mughals were of little use. The Mughal
forces were at their wits’ end. On one
occasion, Santaji Ghorpade and Vithoji
Chavan even cut and carried away the
golden pinnacle of the Emperor’s own
tent in a surprise attack.
Siege of Jinji : Once Raigad was
captured. the Emperor sent Zulfikarkhan
to the South on the campaign of Jinji.
He laid siege to the fort of Jinji. The
Marathas defended the fort bravely for
nearly eight years. The Mughal forces
engaged in the siege were fiercely
attacked from outside by Santaji and
Dhanaji. Rajaram Maharaj escaped
through the siege, and returned to
Maharashtra. Later Zulfikarkhan captured
the fort of Jinji.
The return of Rajaram Maharaj to
Maharashtra gave a boost to the Maratha
activity. The Marathas attacked the
Mughal territories of Khandesh, Varhad
and Baglan. Rajaram Maharaj inspired
hundreds of brave Maratha warriors like
Santaji and Dhanaji with his understanding
nature and statesmanship. He motivated
them to protect the Swaraj and thus
performed a very valuable task. But even
as all this was taking place, Rajaram
Maharaj died on 2 March 1700 on
Sinhgad after a short period of illness.
Rajaram Maharaj was thoughtful and
kind-hearted. He brought together all the
capable people in the Maratha empire.
He united them created a new enthusiasm
amongst them. After the death of Sambhaji
Maharaj, he fought against Aurangzeb for
11 years with great courage and tenacity.
Rajaram Maharaj’s greatest achievement
is that he protected Swaraj in those
extremely difficult times. While describing
Rajaram Maharaj, noted historian
Riyasatkar G. S. Sardesai has used the
adjective ‘Sthirbuddhi’ (Level Headed).
He cannot be described in better words
than these. Maharani Tarabai : After the death
of Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj,
Aurangzeb thought that he had won the
war against the Marathas. But it was not
so. Aurangzeb was winning battle after
battle, but he could not win the war.
Maharani Tarabai, the capable wife of
Rajaram Maharaj, came forward to lead
the Swaraj movement in the extremely
unfavourable circumstances.
Contemporary Mughal historian
Khafikhan describes Maharani Tarabai as
an intelligent and knowledgeable woman.
Her management of the army and
administration had won renown even
during the rule of her husband.
After the death of Chhatrapati Rajaram
Maharaj, Maharani Tarabai continued theSwaraj struggle bravely with the help of
her Sardars. Aurangzeb captured Satara
and Panhala from the Maratha territory,
but at the same time the Marathas dashed
up to the Mughal areas of Madhya Pradesh
and Gujarat. Tarabai expanded the war
areas further. Sardars like Krishnaji
Sawant, Khanderao Dabhade, Dhanaji
Jadhav and Nemaji Shinde opened battles
against Mughals on various fronts outside
Maharashtra. This was a sign of change
in the outcome of the war.
Maharani Tarabai fought for seven
years. She kept the Maratha kingdom
strong. She took charge of the
administration singlehandedly and
encouraged the Sardars to participate in
the mission of Swaraj. Maratha Sardars
fought against the Mughals up to Sironje,
Mandsaur and Malwa. Khafikhan has
recorded that Rajaram’s wife Tarabai
achieved great things and displayed the qualities of leadership of the army and
management of campaigns. It added force
to the Maratha campaigns.Thus, Maharani Tarabai kept up the
legacy of valour inherited from Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj.
Due to the forceful campaigns of the
Marathas, Aurangzeb was frustrated. The Mughal-Maratha fight had continued for
25 years. Still the Mughals could not
defeat the Marathas. In these circumstances,
Emperor Aurangzeb died in 1707 ce at
Ahmednagar. The Maratha War of
Independence ended with his death.
This Maratha war for independence
was the fight between the Mughal
Emperor’s greed to expand his empire
and the spirit of independence of the
Marathas. The Marathas emerged
victorious in it. After the death of
Aurangzeb, they led others in filling the
vacuum in the political arena. They
controlled the throne of Delhi, ran the
affairs of almost all parts of Hindusthan
and protected it. Therefore, the
18th century is known as the century of
the Marathas. In the next chapters, we
will see the achievements of the Marathas
in that century.
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