New History of the Marathas v1.c16.20

v1.c16.20

So much for the best contemporary estimate of him. We can say that Shivaji's principal service lies in his having quickly transformed the inherent lawlessness of the Maratha people into a national solidarity by his unequalled leadership, enabling them to attain to the foremost place among the various races of India. We know well what a factious, turbulent and riotous life the Maratha clans of the western hills used to lead for centuries before the rise of Shivaji. They had been wasting their energy in internecine disputes, obeying no law, no authority and making life and property hopelessly insecure in the land. Shivaji correctly gauged the situation; he at first heartily joined the mass, and by quickly gaining their confidence established such a complete hold upon their contentious but valiant spirits, that they soon learned to render implicit obedience to him; and under his leadership they put forth a united national effort in defence of their country's liberty. The roving undisciplined bands soon came to realize the value of willing comradeship, and followed their leader in weal and woe. Shivaji succeeded not only in establishing his own independence, but also in bringing about the necessary solidarity among the scattered warring elements of his homeland, so that the Marathas were transformed into a nation and a power of the first rank in Indian politics. He placed before the nation the higher ideal of *Swarajya*, of political emancipation from the chains of grinding slavery that held down his country for centuries together. The semi-wild hill tribes of the Sahyadri range, the common peasantry of the Desh country, and the military feudal lords who held the country of foreign Sultans, he welded into a powerful nation state, that successfully challenged the might of the Mughal Empire. Shivaji was manifestly a highly gifted personality, ready to meet any danger, always possessing supreme self-confidence, at once stern and kind-hearted, an ideal king of the type which Kālidās has immortalized in his famous description of Dilip.²