New History of the Marathas v1.c8.28

v1.c8.28

The independent charge of his father’s jagir at Poona proved of great advantage to Shivaji. In this small jagir all kinds of experiments could be quickly tried in the art of government, and valuable experience gained which could be later utilised on a wider scale when the time came. In Shivaji’s helpless situation his mother naturally was his sole guide and mentor. She was a versatile woman, well-trained, according to the notions of those days, in traditional religion and mythology. The traditions of Rāmdeo Yādav, of Hemādri, of Jnāneshvar possessed for her a peculiar charm on account of the high moral tone and the free atmosphere of independence they breathed ; and her capacious mind invested them with a glow of the splendour of the indigenous Aryan culture as contrasted with Muslim vandalism and iconoclastic methods. The wanton cruelties of Ala-uddin Khilji and Muhammad Taghlak, the barbarities of Tamerlane, the *johars* perpetrated by the Rajput women of Chitod, ever rankled in Jija Bai’s heart. Such a lady, we may be sure, taught her dear young son the need of a supreme effort for avenging wrong and achieving national regeneration.