CHHATRAPATI Shivaji Maharaj is the most popular king in Maharashtra. He is also currently being popularised in other parts of the country as a major Hindu nationalist icon. Controversies have surrounded him time and again. His popularity is not restricted to one section of society but cuts across different segments of society. His anniversary is celebrated with great enthusiasm all over the state, and powadas (folk songs) praising him are sung all over the state.
Earlier controversies were around his statue committee being headed by Babasaheb Purandare, as many accused him of presenting Maharaj in Brahminical colours. Similarly, the handbook of history prepared by human rights activist Teesta Setalvad recounted the incident of Shivaji not being crowned by Brahmins because he was not a Kshatriya. At yet another time, the arch prepared during Ganeshotsav (Ganesh Festival), showing Shivaji stabbing Afzal Khan with a dagger, provoked hate sentiments among a large section of society.
Currently, two controversies have cropped up. One was the statement of Bageshwar Dham Baba at an RSS event in Nagpur. Incidentally, Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, the Baba, is resorting to blind-faith techniques to attract a large following. He takes out a chit to show the credentials of people by using various tricks. His following is growing to the extent that even the retired Chief Justice of India, BR Gavai, visited him with his family to seek his blessings. Shyam Manav, who works against blind faith, has observed that during the central rule of the BJP, blind faith has gone up and babas have proliferated.
Anyway, at the RSS event, this charlatan Baba stated that Shivaji Maharaj was tired of wars, so he went to his Guru Samarth Swami Ramdas, put his crown at his feet, and requested him to take over his kingdom. There are two gross fallacies in this statement. First, Ramdas was not his guru; this is a make-believe Brahminical version of the Shivaji narrative. The matter had gone to the court, which gave the verdict that Ramdas was not Shivaji’s guru. There is no mention of such an incident in Shivaji’s life. This was stated in the presence of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Central Minister Nitin Gadkari, and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, none of whom objected to his statement.
When a hue and cry was raised, the Baba apologised, saying that he draws his inspiration for Hindu Rashtra from Shivaji’s Hindavi Swaraj, among other things. This again is far from the truth. Shivaji’s Hindavi Swaraj was area-specific, Hind being a geographic term rather than a religious term. Shivaji’s life exemplifies this. He respected all religions. His army had nearly a dozen generals who were Muslims, including Siddi Sambal, Ibrahim Gardi, and Daulat Khan. He also had a mosque built in his fort at Raigad for his Muslim officers and subjects. His confidential secretary was Maulana Haider Ali. He respected women to the core. His army had brought the beautiful daughter-in-law of the Muslim ruler of Bassein as a gift for him. He had the morals to return her to her family home with due respect. The Brahminical version on which this Baba had based his remarks is the narrative that the RSS promotes.
The other controversy relates to BJP ally Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena MLA from Buldhana, Sanjay Gaikwad. The legislator triggered a controversy by threatening to “chop off the tongue” of a publisher regarding the 1988 book Shivaji Kon Hota? (Who was Shivaji?) by Govind Pansare. Gaikwad objected to the alleged disrespectful, singular reference to Shivaji Maharaj in the title and content, accusing it of distorting history. He called up the distributor of the book, Prashant Ambi, threatening him that he would meet the same fate as Govind Pansare. Just to remind, Govind Pansare was killed during a morning walk, most likely by those belonging to Hindu nationalist groups. In a recorded phone call, Gaikwad allegedly used abusive language and threatened Kolhapur-based publisher Prashant Ambi, telling him that he would “meet the same fate as Pansare”.
Govind Pansare, the CPI leader and rationalist activist, wrote this book after painstaking research and titled it in Marathi, Shivaji Kon Hota, addressing him in the singular form. This form is used for the most intimate persons. Gaikwad is objecting to that as an insult to Shivaji. The book was published in 1988 and since then has sold lakhs of copies and has been translated into many languages. In a way, this has become a basic book on Shivaji for ordinary people. It shows Shivaji’s concern for raiyats (poor farmers) and respect for all religions. His grandfather Maloji Rao Bhosle had prayed at a Sufi saint’s (Shah Sharif) dargah, as he had no children. Later, when he had two sons, he named them Shahji and Sharifji. Shivaji was the son of Shahji Bhosle.
He built his kingdom by attacking neighbouring Hindu kings like Chandra Rao More. In his fight with Afzal Khan, the general of Adil Shah of Bijapur, he was given iron claws by a Muslim bodyguard, Rustom-e-Jaman. Interestingly, Afzal Khan had performed a yagna through local Brahmins to defeat Shivaji. Also, his secretary was Krishnaji Bhaskar Kulkarni. Interestingly, Shivaji’s humane values were matchless. He did kill Afzal Khan, but later he also built a tomb for him, which is present even today. The likes of Gaikwad and Hindu nationalist narratives omit these aspects of Shivaji to present him as an anti-Muslim king, which he was not. In Maharashtra, and now all over India, the propaganda is that Shivaji was an anti-Muslim king. This narrative falls flat if we study the life and work of Shivaji. His main concern was poor peasants, for whose protection he stopped the atrocities of middlemen.
So, Brahminical tendencies interpret and propagate Maharaj as anti-Muslim, distorting the whole truth; this is what Gaikwad is aiming at. Dhirendra Shastri and the RSS combine want to project it for their agenda of Hindu Rashtra, while his Hindavi was not synonymous with Hindu Rashtra.
The most interesting part of the whole controversy is that most booksellers are facing increasing demand for this book. At the same time, human rights groups are organising mass readings of the book, a very healthy response!
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Ram Puniyani is an eminent author, activist and former professor of IIT Mumbai. The views expressed here are the author’s personal and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them.
