New History of the Marathas v2.c24.89

v2.c24.89

What great significance such a typical contact between the Maratha Shahu and the Rajput Jaya Sinh, must have carried in the long run during those revolutionary times, had better be imagined. What could have been the ideal that stirred their hearts and the hearts of the society they moved in? The Hindus have always cared more for religion than politics. The destruction of the Kashivishveshwar temple of Benares by Aurangzeb in 1669, was an unforgettable shock to the average Hindu mind. We know how it affected Shivaji and his mother, and how it nerved the Marathas during their memorable struggle against the Emperor through a quarter of a century. In other respects they had no quarrel with the Emperor. They only needed an assurance that their religious liberty would not be interfered with. They were not covetous of political domination beyond their home. The expansion of power which they later acquired was an indirect result of their zeal for preserving their religion. Shivaji had made this clear in his famous letter to Aurangzeb on the subject of Jazia. That Emperor's bigoted policy of destroying Hindu temples, of conversion under pressure, of the imposition of Jazia and of administrative depression of the Hindus, had exasperated and alienated the whole Hindu community, who severely resented this attack on their religion. This is all they wanted to prevent. The dream of Hindupad Padshahi was not territorial ambition but mainly limited to the religious field.¹