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Shivaji and His Times c10.s1: §1. Why Shivaji wanted to be crowned

Shivaji and His Times c10.s1

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§1. Why Shivaji wanted to be crowned

c10.s1.1

Shivaji and his ministers had long felt the practical disadvantages of his not being a crowned king.* True, he had conquered many lands and gathered much wealth: he had a strong army and navy and exercised powers of life and death over men, like an independent sovereign. But theoretically his position was that of a subject; to the Mughal Emperor he was a mere zamindar; to Adil Shah he was the rebellious son of a vassal jagirdar. He could not claim equality of political status with any king.

c10.s1.2

Then, again, so long as he was a mere private subject, he could not, with all his real power, claim the loyalty and devotion of the people over whom he ruled. His promises could not have the sanctity and continuity of the public engagements of the head of a State. He could sign no treaty, grant no land with legal validity and an assurance of permanence. The territories conquered by his sword could not become his lawful property, however undisturbed his possession over them might be in practice. The people living under his sway or serving under his banners, could not renounce their allegiance to the former sovereign of the land, nor be sure that they were exempt from the charge of treason for their obedience to him. The permanence of his political creation required that it should be validated as the act of a sovereign.

c10.s1.3

∗ This chapter is mainly based upon the detailed reports of the English ambassador Henry Oxinden (both Letters and Memorial or Narrative), the English interpreter Narayan Shenvi, and the Dutch merchant Abraham Le Feber (of Vingurla), preserved in Factory Records, Surat, Vols. 88 and 3, and Dutch Records, Vol. xxxiv. No. 841, of the India Office, London. These have been supplemented by Sabhasad (82-84). The Persian MS. Tarikh-i-Shivaji, 39a, confirms the contemporary European records in some particulars in a surprising manner. The Bombay Gazetteer (xi. 369) has pointed out that the Chitnis bakhar imputes to Shivaji's coronation in 1674 the ceremonies which marked the Peshwa's coronation of a century later!

c10.s1.4

It is also clear that the rise of the Bhonslés created much jealousy among the other Maratha families which had once been their equals in social status. These men consoled themselves by refusing to adhere to Shivaji as his servants, bragged of their being loyal subjects of Aurangzib or of Adil Shah, and sneered at Shivaji as an upstart rebel and usurper. It was necessary to rectify his position in their eyes. A formal coronation alone could show them that he was a king and therefore their superior, and enable him to treat on equal terms with the rulers of Bijapur and Golkonda.

c10.s1.5

The higher minds of Maharashtra, too, had begun to look up to Shivaji as the champion of Hinduism, and wished to see the Hindu race elevated to full stature of its political growth by the formal assertion of his position as an independent king. They longed for the Hindu swaraj, and that implied a Hindu chhatrapati. (Sabh. 82.)

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