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Shivaji 18th century saw the decline and disintegration of the Mughal Empire. Mughal Empire declined rapidly after the death of Aurangzeb as his policies put a damaging effect on the stability of the Mughal Empire and the later Mughals were incompetent and did not have the skill that were needed to keep the system in working order. They let the affairs drift in their own way. Thus many independent states came into existent in north and south India. Marathas of Maharashtra were most powerful among them. They had revolted against Aurangzeb under the leadership of Shivaji. After Shivaji’s death, Aurangzeb tried his best to suppress the revolt of the Marathas for 25 continuous years but he could not succeed in his efforts. After his death Marathas kept on increasing their power and has established many independent states. There were many reasons behind their rise to power. First Maharashtra’s geographical features had made the native people very brave, hardworking, struggle lover and well trained in guerrilla warfare. They were influenced by the Hindu state of Vijaynagar. Wars of south between Mughals and Shiyaas provided enough time to the Marathas to increase their power. Shivaji’s personality had a lasting effect on his people.  Childhood Shivaji was born on April 20th, 1627 in the Shivnaur fort located in the north of the famous town of Puna. His father Shahji Bhosle was a feudal lord in the Bijapur Sultanate. His mother was Jijabai who was related to the Yadavs. Three personalities had an everlasting effect on the personality of Shivaji. First was Shivaji’s own mother who had taught him stories from the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Stories of the Hindu warriors had created feeling of bravery and patriotism in his heart. Shivaji’s regent Dadaji Kond Dev too had an everlasting effect on his personality. He taught him house riding, close combating, guerrilla warfare and managing the administration. Famous religious leader of Maharashtra, Ramdas, also influenced Shivaji for the establishment of an independent Hindu state. He was Shivaji’s religious (guru) teacher. Conquests When Sivaji was only 19 years old he had started conquering his neighboring territories. Within the time of two-three years he had conquered many forts. First of all he conquered the Torna fort. After that he won the Raigarh fort and repaired it. After the death of Dadaji Kond Dev, Shivaji took over Puna and collected a huge military. In 1648 he [...]

Peshwa Balaji Vishawanath From Shivaji’s time, Maratha Prime Minister was called Peshwa. Till 1707, neither their position was hereditary nor did they have enough powers. But during Shahu’s rule their position had become hereditary. Peshwa had become so powerful that king had remained nothing more than a rubber stamp and the actual powers had slipped into the hands of the Peshwa. During the rule of earlier Peshwas the Maratha power had increased a lot. Balaji Vishawanath was the first Peshwa who was a Brahmin and native of Konkan Pradesh. Shahu trusted him a lot and was very much influenced by his efficient services. So he appointed him as his Peshwa. The day he was appointed Peshwa is considered to be one of the most glorious days in the Maratha history. After that, powers of the Peshwa increased a lot and they became the hereditary rulers of the Maratha Empire. He took full advantage of the weakness of the Mughals and their mutual rifts and political intrigues. He signed a treaty with the Mughal Emperor as the representative of the Maratha King according to which Mughals accepted Shahu as the ruler of all those territories that had been won by Shivaji. All those territories that recently had been conquered by the Marathas were also accepted as the part of the Maratha territory. Mughal Emperor also allowed the Marathas to collect Chhout and Srdeshmukh taxes from the six provinces of the Mughal territory of Deccan. Except it, Mughal Emperor also agreed to free the members of Shivaji’s family that were in the Mughal prison. Maratha King Shahu agreed to give ten lakh rupees to the Mughal Emperor as the annual tax. This treaty between the Mughals and the Marathas is considered to be Balaji Vishwanath’s biggest achievement. Though, Shahu could not be called a sovereign king because of this treaty but on the other hand it ensured his rule over the territories won by Shivaji. The result of this treaty was tremendous increase of power of Marathas in the Deccan. Because of it, Shahu was recognized as the whole and sole Maratha leader.  Thus Balaji Vishwanath played an important role to strengthen Shahu’s position and increase the Maratha power. Though he was not a military leader but had the qualities of a clever politician, an able organizer and administrator. Some historians call him the ‘second founder of the Maratha Empire’. He increased [...]

  Power of Chhatrapati Shivaji was not only a warrior but had the qualities of an able administrator, organizer and planner. Because of his administrative abilities he succeeded to establish an efficient administration in a very short time in his kingdom.   According to a famous historian Ishwari Prasad ‘he organized an administration which was in many respects more efficient than that of the Mughals’.  Chhatrapati or King was the chief of the administration. He was the hole and the sole power in his kingdom. His wishes were government laws. He himself appointed ministers and high officials and could dismiss them at any time. He was the supreme power as for as the judiciary and military was concerned. Though he was a dictator but he never misused his powers. He always kept public’s interests ahead of his own interests. He can be called a benevolent despot. The king had a council of eight ministers that was called Ashta Pradhan. They used to advise the King related to the administrative works and were also the heads of their respected departments. King himself appointed them and they were directly under him and were respondent to him. Ashta Pradhan Maratha Prime Minister was called Peshwa. After the king’s stamp, his stamp and signatures were the necessary part of every government document. He kept an eye on the works of other high officials and worked for the public welfare. In the absence of the king, he worked as his representative. The Maratha Finance Minister was called Amatya. He kept the records of revenue and expenditure and informed the King at regular times. Mantri kept the records of King’s daily works and incidents of the royal court. Sachiv was a king of Superintendent. His chief work was to prepare and keep the government documents in an organized way. He kept the record of all the government documents. Sumant was the foreign minister of the Chhatrapati. His advised the king about the foreign affairs. Except it his other works were to welcome the ambassadors and make proper arrangements for their stay. Pandi Rao was the Minister of religion related matters. He worked as king’s representative in religion related matters. To welcome the Brahmins and give alms to them, to give judgments in religion related quarrels and make laws to religion related rituals were his duties. Senapati was the chief of the military. Recruitment of new soldiers, organization [...]

Decade after hijack: Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was hijacked ten years back in year 1999 during its way from Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, India. India is more alert after that incident and is now prepared to tackle any such circumstances. Indian airports have high security now by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and sky marshals are also present in the flights and a fortified internal security mechanism as well to tackle any such conditions. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has also prepared an aviation security manual which assures with three stage classification process for shooting down a hijacked aircraft. India is not compromising for any kind of delay or lack in the security matter and intelligence agencies of India are also very active to provide information which can help to avoid any kind of incidents in future. Home Minister P. Chidambaram said warning officers of Intelligence Bureau on Wednesday that there will be no room for any kind of complacency and India has better coordination among the intelligence agencies to share the information. He said we were still lucky enough and there can be another major crises like hijack or attach like that in Mumbai so we have to be alert every time so that no such incident takes place with us now. E Ahamed, Minister of State for Railways said that we have to be careful for future and we have an anti hijack policy to solve the problem with the hijackers. Hijack was ended with the one casualty of young married man. About the hijack of IC 814: Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was hijacked by Pakistani militants on its way from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24, 1999. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen which is a Pakistan based militant group was responsible for the hijacking of the plane just after short time of entering into the Indian air space. After hijacking they tried to land into Amritsar for refueling but they had to take off without refueling and then they landed in Lahore for refueling in emergency conditions but Pakistan refused to offload the female and children passengers from the flight. After their militants took plane to Dubai where they left 27 passengers including one young man of age 25 years who was injured by the militants badly and later he lost his life. He had gone to make honeymoon with his [...]