Hero, Tyrant or just another king? Shivaji's rule in Karnataka

Research and author: Ameen Ahmed Tumakuru

Summary

A lot has been written about the origins, youth and military life of Shivaji, particularly his friendship as well as the intense conflicts with the Bijapur Sultans first and then the Moghuls. But not much is known on how the residents of other kingdoms particularly the non-Maratha Hindus received him or how they were treated by him. The Hindutva nationalist narrative tells us that he is a pan-India role model for Hindus. But contemporary sources, both of Shivaji's and the later Marathas'- both European and Indian, tell stories that are quite different, from what one reads and hears from not just India's right-wing but also its left leaning historians.

Source: Jadunath Sarkar, 'Shivaji and His Times', 1920

The popular Shivaji 

I grew in southern India's Karnataka state occasionally coming across stories of Shivaji, a king who has a 'ji' added to his name as a mark of respect. I was told he fought an 'evil Empire' (Moghuls) led by an 'evil Emperor' (Alamgir Aurangzeb). As a boy, I found the aura around him fascinating. As a wildlife lover, I would be thrilled to hear stories of Shivaji's soldiers scaling the impregnable forts on the perpendicular cliffs of the many steep hills by using a rope fastened to a 'ghodpod' (monitor lizard - Varanus bengalensis). And it was easier to grasp such stories from fellow Marathi speaking kids as Dakkani- my twin native language along with Kannada, borrows many words from it. Here was a youth who rebelled against one of the most organised and formidable military machines ever to grace this part of the earth, effectively using 'hit and run' tactics against them, time and again. I am still an admirer of his dare devilry and for the fact that he fought for what he believed, irrespective of the might of the opposing forces.

Remnants of the Dharwar fort as seen in 2015. Shivaji is said to have looted the nearby Hubbali town in 1672 and 'destroyed everything which he could not carry away'. 
Pic: Author

The debate of 'Hindu' vs 'Islamic' rulers, the former categorized by the right-wing as 'natives', 'insiders', 'locals' etc and the later as 'foreigners', 'outsiders', 'invaders' among others, got shriller in late 1980s, thanks to a long-standing religious dispute over ownership of a piece of land somewhere in northern India (1). That increased my curiosity of these kings. Whenever I had time, I researched the primary and secondary sources for information on them. As I stepped into the 21st century, thanks to the internet and sites like archive.org, I could access tens of thousands of British India manuscripts from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. These are from a variety of sources - biographies, auto-biographies, soldiers' narratives, shikar or British Raj hunting accounts and notes by Christian missionary. Not surprisingly these documents also give one a fair idea of the social and political life of those centuries in what today is the Union of India. Interestingly these narratives spare no social group or ruler. While we have read enough about the Moghuls- the good and the bad that is attributed to them, I wondered if Shivaji also had another side of his much-glorified life. 

Screen shot of archive.org, which is a treasure trove of primary and secondary sources on various events and personalities. Downloaded on Dec. 18, 2017

There is no doubt that almost all narratives, including Moghul accounts, single him out for his dare devilry. But, reading the literature firsthand I was led to the below questions: 

 - What is the complete story of Shivaji and what was his stature in 17th, 18th and 19th centuries? 

 - Is he the 'hero' that he is made up by many Indians particularly the right-wing? Or is he just another king who struggled to give a dignified life to his own kingdom/ social group at the cost of the rest?   

 - Did he also carry out the same excesses on his subjects, which is used as a yard stick to measure (and beat) his contemporaries like Aurangzeb? 

 - Did he ever indulge in mass punishment of his civilians (including 'Hindus') in enemy areas? 

 - What were the administrative reforms he introduced in the areas he controlled? 

 - Was his taxation policy better than that of the Bijapur Sultans or Moghuls, whose territories he often captured? 

 - Were the Dalits (lower caste Hindus), pheasants/ farmers better off under him?
- How can Shivaji's rule in Karnataka be seen in context of prevailing politics on erstwhile rulers, particularly his contemporaries?

- In short, is Shivaji a Hero, Tyrant or just another king?

The lesser-known Shivaji
Here are a few incidents published in the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, 1883, that show Shivaji in a less favourable light. (2) The source of the gazetteer is John Fryer, a British doctor who traveled in India during Shivaji's time.(3)

a) Shivaji's destruction of Hubbali (Hubli) town.

'In 1672 Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur died leaving no heir but a child named Shikandar. Taking advantage of the discord at Bijapur, Shivaji sent an army into the rich manufacturing districts of Dharwar, sacked Hubli, and laid the country waste, destroying everything which he could not carry away.'  

b) Shivaji's burning of Karwar town
'In October 1675 Fryer paid a second visit to Kanara...Two years before when Shivaji attacked the place the house was not finished, but, though the town was burnt the factors were able to defend themselves with the help of a small pink or gunboat.'   

c) 'Misery' of common man at Kawar 'under Brahmans' during its administration by Shivaji

'Shivaji had a governor of the town of Karwar and a commandant of the castle, and over them the superintendent of a flying army. Almost all the places of trust were in the hands of Brahmans who acted neither for the public good nor for common honesty but for their private interest only. They asked merchants to come and settle only to rob them, or turmoil them on account of customs. Openly they were mighty zealous for their master's dues, but, in the corner, they took more for themselves than for their master. It was a grievous loss that so much of the coast had fallen into Shivaji's power; where Shivaji had anything to do trade was not likely to settle.' 

A stream near Ankola town in Karnataka's Uttara Kannada District (image taken in January 2008). The main market of the town is said to have been burnt by Shivaji in 1676 causing the suffering of its residents. 
Pic: Author

d) Shivaji's burning of the market at Ankola market and the suffering of ordinary people  

'In February 1676 Fryer with one of the Karwar factors started on a trip to Gokarn. Near Ankola hill, they experienced a lively portraiture of Hell, as the forest was on fire, apparently purposely burnt, because it had sheltered the rebel dalvi. No food was to be had. Through the iniquity of the dalvi, the people of a fishing village where the travellers had meant to rest, were left without fish, boats, rice, or nets.'

'Fryer and his friends spent the night fasting under a mango tree and by daybreak made for Ankola. Here they found the market half-burnt and the remaining shops tenantless. Shivaji had not spared the town when he took the castle which was a fine place and of good force commanding to the river Gangavali, the utmost extent of Shivaji's power southwards.'  

e) 2/3rds of land untilled around Karwar due to Shivaji's 'tyranny'

'Fryer spent the rains of 1676 at Karwar. The chief products of the country were, rice, millet, hemp, turmeric, ginger, and potatoes. The soil was good, yielding two crops, one which ripened in September, the other about March. The second crop was grown with great pains, water being brought along gutters. Through the tyrany of Shivaji three-quarters of the land was untilled. There was not much trade at Karwar and the factory was decaying, merchants being out of heart to buy and sell because of the embroils of the country. The state of the people was wretched. The artisans could hardly live for the Banians who ground their faces as the Desais ground the faces of the husbandmen.'  

A view of beach at Karwar town the head quarter of Uttara Kannada District in Karnataka (image taken in January 2008). People around the town were said to have suffered under Shivaji's rule. 
Pic.: Author

f) Taxation of common man 'much milder' under Bijapur Sultans than Shivaji 

'Taxation had been much milder and the people far more comfortable under the king of Bijapur. It was pitiable to hear what the people suffered under Shivaji's rule. The desais had lands imposed on them at double the former rates, and, if they refused to take them, they were carried to prison, famished almost to death, and most inhumanly racked and tortured till they confessed where their wealth was hid.'  

According to historian Hayavadana Rao, Shivaji also attacked Srirangapatna but was defeated by its Mysore King Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar. Shivaji is said to have looted areas around this place (4). 

Views of 19th and 20th century British authors

According to many British Raj sources the rulers of the Maratha Empire, created by Shivaji, tormented common man (irrespective of religious beliefs) across modern day India for over a century.

In 1817, British Historian Mark Wilks wrote this about Maratha Empire raids in south India.

"Desolation everywhere marks the course of these cool and insatiable robbers. A Maratha is destitute of the generosity and honour which belong to a bold robber. He combines the plausible and gentle manners of a swindler, the dexterity of a pickpocket, and the meanness of a peddler. In the inland countries the result of the Maratha raids was that when news came to a district of the approach of an enemy the people buried their property and fled to the woods carrying with them what grain they could. These flights were so common that tie special word valsay was applied to them." (5)

Another British author wrote this in 1891, 'Almost all traces of the Marhatta rulers have passed away. In Gwalior, Indore, and Baroda the only scions of this once great power now remain. They rule by native princes with only the semblance of authority, but are closely watched by English Residents, and are harmless. Never did a power which had arisen to such great possessions, or had achieved such memorable victories, and presented such able chiefs, decline and die with so few traces of moral greatness. Their one great aim was conquest, plunder, and the Mogul thrones. Not one Marhatta ruler can be found who possessed those high moral qualities which took pleasure in educating, refining, and making happy the people. One has only to see the condition of India—a poor suffering prisoner in the hands of a bloodthirsty army of freebooters, to measure both the timeliness and the beneficence of the English coming.' (6) 

One British Raj narrative says that Hindu nationalistic leaders from present day Maharashtra state, some of whom actively worked with the Indian National Congress towards eviction of British from India, promoted Shivaji as a pan-India, pan-Hindu hero and hid his shortcomings. This, apparently, was done to stir nationalist feelings among Hindus. 

FE Penny wrote in 1914, 'The career of Shivaji was full of adventure. He threw off allegiance to the Moghul, quarrelled with the Moghul's generals, and became a law unto himself, a freebooter, like so many of the chiefs and naicks of that period. The Hindus have of recent years exalted him into a patriotic hero because he shook off the yoke of the Muhammadans ; but at the time this was not the view taken by those who suffered from the raids of his marauding horsemen. For some time Mysore remained in an unsettled state, without a ruler strong enough to take a definite lead and deliver the people from the bands of robbers whose presence paralysed agriculture and trade.' (7) 

The pillaging of human settlements, looting of temples, destruction of crops and the carrying away of females by the Maratha Empire was documented by many contemporary sources like Edward Moor (8) and Major Dirom in early 1790s (9). The misadventures of Bargi freebooters of Maratha Peshwas, across Bengal province in the 1740s, are well-documented by Jadunath Sarkar (10). 

Here is another summary of the Maratha Empire in the book Indika (1891), 'The history of the great Mogul empire is one uninterrupted chapter of bloodshed. At the death of the Emperor Aurangzeb, in 1707, it reached its final expansion. It had no power to preserve its vitality. It was a loose mass, ready for any strong hand to break it into pieces. Its spoils were fought over by Afghans, Jats, Sikhs, revolting viceroys, rebellious governors, and military adventurers at large. The Marhattas were the strongest force. They poured down from the mountains on the western coast, and carried desolation before them. They spared neither sex nor age, and the terror of their name was felt by every native of the country from Bombay to Calcutta.'

 

A map tracing nearly sixty Hindu towns & temples of Karnataka that suffered from the attacks of Maratha Empire in 17 & 18 centuries CE, including those by Shivaji. 

Updated on 30 Aug. 2020.

So where does that leave Shivaji in the annals of history?
It is unclear if the concept of pan-Hindu unity existed during the times of Shivaji. It is also unclear if he was a fore bearer of such an idea, given the suffering of non-Maratha Hindus like Kannadigas under his administration. And given the contemporary sources that showcase the general disdain Maratha soldiers had for all people (including Hindus) in other kingdoms as well as their lack of empathy for fellow Hindu Kingdoms and Kings including the Mysore Hindu Wodeyars, the Maratha Kingdom probably had nothing to with pan-Hindu unity. The Hindutva nationalistic narrative tells us that Shivaji was brought up on a diet of stories of Hindu nationalistic kings. Did anyone tell him if and why his father Shahji, together with Randaulah Khan, Bijapur General at Sira attack a fellow Hindu King Kanthiraya of the Wodeyar Dynasty at Srirangapatna. And that the Kannadiga king actually beat them back? (10) And just a few years after Shivaji's death, during the rule of Hindu King Chikkadevaraya Wodeyar, Maratha Empire soldiers en route to their territory in Ginjee attacked Srirangapatna in 1696. The pillagers were defeated by this Kannadiga king, who is credited with expanding the Mysore Kingdom and building or reviving numerous Hindu temples across his kingdom most of which survive even today. Interestingly Chikkadevaraya was a contemporary of Aurangazeb and had an alliance with his military general based at Sira, Kasim Khan. That said, should today's moral standards be applied to someone who ruled 300 - 400 years ago? Can we not see Shivaji (and the Moghuls) as plain rulers who happened to be at a particular place in a particular time in history? Yes, Shivaji is worthy of being worshipped as a hero by some but to most people in Mysore kingdom in 18th century (present day Karnataka), the empire he left behind was an incurable curse.

The popular Yoga Narasimha Swamy Temple at Devarayanadurga Hill near Tumakuru City in Karnataka, was built by Chikkadevaraya Wodeyar. He was a contemporary of Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb and had an alliance with his military general, Kasim Khan who was based at Sira town.
Pic.: Author

Conclusion
Indian history is a big, ugly world. Almost all rulers and social groups served their own whims and fancies. And almost all of them murdered political opponents and pillaged civilian populations for that was the tool of mass punishment then (as it is now). Invasions, looting and burning down of religious places were motivated by the desire for power and political gains and rulers hardly cared for the religious affiliations of the affected. The armies led by many rulers in India- Ashoka, Babur, Aurangazeb, Shivaji, Peshwas, Tipu Sultan, the Mysore Wodeyars etc committed excesses on civilians - both people of their own faith as well as the others. To fight, die or spread hatred over what happened centuries ago is only going to take any society centuries back. To move forward, nations need to learn from history not to repeat mistakes which historical figures committed. But do we live in a perfect world? Your guess is as good as mine.

References:
1) Pachauri, Pankaj., Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid row: Govt faces a tough challenge, December 15, 1989, Updated: November 8, 2013 10:53 IST, Downloaded on 26 May 2020 from this link https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/special-report/story/19891215-ramjanmabhoomi-babri-masjid-row-govt-faces-a-tough-challenge-816834-1989-12-15

2) Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, vol. XV, Part 2 - Kanara, 1883.

3) Fryer, East India & Persia, in 8 letters, 1698. 

4) Rao, C. Hayavadana., History of Mysore (1399-1799 AD), 1943

5) Wilks, Mark., ‘Historical Sketches of the South of India’, vol. 1 of 3, 1817. 

6) Indika, 1891.

7) Penny, E., Southern India, 1914. The book has paintings by Lady Lawly.

8) Moor, Edward., A narrative of the operations of Captain Little's detachment, and of the Mahratta army, commanded by Purseram Bhow; during the late confederacy in India, againt the Nawab Tippoo Sultan Bahadur., London, J.Johnson, 1794.  

9) Dirom, Alexander., A narrative of the campaign in India, which terminated the war with Tippoo Sultan in 1792, 1793.

10) Sarkar, Jadunath., Fall of Mughals, vol. 1, 1964.

11) Imperial Gazetteer, vol.18, p 177, 1908.

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ಈ ಬ್ಲಾಗನ್ನು ಕನ್ನಡಲ್ಲಿ ಓದುವುದಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ

इस ब्लॉग को हिंदी में पड़ने के लिए यहाँ क्लिक करें  
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