New History of the Marathas v1.c8.22

v1.c8.22

1. Shivaji’s birth and training.—Shivaji was born on 6th April 1627 in the fort of Shivner near Junnar, or as some recent sources assert, about 34½ months later on 19th February 1630.¹ Unfortunately sufficient evidence is not available to establish either of these two dates as absolutely correct. Jija Bai, Shivaji’s mother, was in great distress during the early years of his life. The Emperor Shah Jahan invaded the Deccan and after a strenuous effort of eight years subjugated the whole of the old Nizamshahi Kingdom of Ahmadnagar which Shivaji’s father Shahji had tried his best to save. For the first few years of his life Shivaji was a wanderer with no settled home. From Shivner where he was born he moved with his mother and occasionally with his father too from place to place as safety and convenience required. Where and how long he had to remain in such separation in his childhood cannot be ascertained. This only explains how he became inured to a life of danger and hardship ever since his birth. Shivner, Baizapur, Shivapur, and Shivapattan are some of the places, where, we can conjecture, Shivaji spent the first nine years of his life, before he came to have his own home at Poona. Nāro Trimal Hanmante and Gomāji Naik Pānasambal are known to have been his care-takers at this period.