A History of the Mahrattas v1.c15.88

v1.c15.88

Sivājī was neither a robber nor an incarnation, nor did he derive his strength from his supposed Rājpūt descent.’ The same authority (pp. 284-8) discusses the subject in greater detail and decides that Sivājī’s Kshatriya origin has no foundation in fact, but was adopted for purely political reasons. Unquestionably Sivājī belonged to the great agricultural Kunbī caste. Professor Sarkar writes: ‘The Bhonslas were popularly known to be neither Kshatriyas nor of any other twice-born caste, but mere tillers of the soil, as Sivājī’s great-grandfather was still remembered to have been.’ He adds that Sivājī’s pedigree was fabricated by Bālājī Avjī and other agents of Sivājī, and that Gāgā Bhat was rewarded with a huge fee for his acceptance of it as genuine. (Life and Times of Shivaji, Calcutta (1919), pp. 267, 268). The statement made on p. 244 of A History of the Marāthā People, by Kincaid and Parasnis, that ‘the King was no doubt of Rājpūt origin,’ is quite unworthy of credence.]