Today, I want to tell you the story of a king who never lost a battle but this king lost out to history.




This makes me emotional every time I narrate it or hear it. The identity that we have as a country today is largely because of efforts of both Chhatrapti Shivaji maharaj and Sambhaji maharaj (1657 -1689) as well.



Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj life story begins with a tragedy. He was only two years old when his mother passed away. His father was not an ordinary man. His Grandmother Jijabai took care of him.


He was taught since his childhood that a warrior wins a war not only with Strength but aslo with intelligence.

Along with Sanskrit Sambhaji maharaj knew 13 other languages. He also knew Portuguese which helped him to fight against Portugal colonizers in Goa.

Sambhaji maharaj did extraordinary right from his childhood. He was 9 when Aurangzed extended a hand of freindship to Shivaji. Chhatrapti shivaji and Sambhaji were called to Agra and there they were jailed. Any other child would have been scared but Sambhaji was different. He refused to give up.No walls are strong enough to jail the people with solid intentions. A 9 year old and his father escaped under the noses Aurangzeb's gaurds hiding inside huge baskets of sweets.



At the age of 10,  he was sent to the king of Amer to learn how to be a good king. At this stage, he already starting uniting other kings.

At 19, he was already taking economic and admin decisions.

He was only 23 when his father chhatrapati shivaji maharaj passed away. Many times, an empire crumbles after the death of the king but Sambhaji Raje did not let this happen. He decided to take decisions rationally not emotionally.

for Swarajya, foreign rulers had to go and an independent economic system had to be built. Sambhaji maharaj knew this. 

Aurangzeb had a fort in the outskirts of Aurangabad. The fort had enough riches to sustain the Maratha empire. With this idea, a 23 year old boy defeated a Mughal emporer. Not once, he defeated Mughal king Aurangzeb repeatedly.

A force of 20,000 Marathas faced off against 8 lakh Mughals. When Aurangzeb wanted to take help of the protuguese Navy, Sambhaji maharaj defeated this navy as well.

Sambhaji troubled the Mughals so much that they lost focus in the north. budelkhand, rajasthan, Punjab saw regional Kings emerge and this was his contribution and this was his legacy.

If Shivaji maharaj gave birth to the swarajya Movement then chhatrapait Sambhaji mahraj kept it alive.

In a span of 9 years, he won 120 battles and he didn't lose a single one but in the end, his family stabbed him in the back. Ganoji Shirke was Sambhaji's wife Yasubai's brother. Sambhaji refused hi to make a landlord. Chhatrapati shivaji maharaj did not want to favour his family in politics an same was followed by Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. Sambhaji maharaj did not want to do any task that went against the cocept of swarajya. To take revenge against Sambhaji not favouring him. Ganoji betrayed Sambhaji and informed Aurangzeb's spies when Sambhaji Mahraj was on a secret path to Raigad and Sambhaji raje was caught without any army. Politcal Prisoners are generally given some dignity and Sambhaji was still a rival king but still he was tortured not only physically but mentally too.

Aurangzeb put forward three conditions

1. Sambhaji had to consider Aurangzeb as his sovereign ruler.

2. Empty all maratha coffers and treasure and give it to Mughals.

3. Sambhaji should embrace Islam and abandon his faith.

Chhatrapati was not going to accept these conditions under any circumstances. No chance! Accepting these conditions woulb betray the principles of Swarajya.



Unprecedented Torture of the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj



Sambhaji maharaj was tied upside down to a camel was paraded accross the empire like that.People were incited to throw stones at him as he passed. people were encouraged to urinate on him as well. He was tortured in prison for 40 days continuously. One by one his fingernails were pulled out. Chilli powder was thrown into his eyes. His skin was peeled using different instruments.

Have you seen iron rods? These rods were heated till they turned red. these rods were pushed into Sambhaji's eyes to bling him.

Everyday He was asked whether he was ready to accept the mughal king's conditions but our chhatrapati had the same answer every day "NO". One by one his fingers were chopped off. Him limbs were broken. Even His tongue was cut. But still his answer did not change.

Aurangzeb broke his body but could not touch his spirit. He could not even get last rites as per Hindu rituals. His body was chopped into pieces and thrown in a river and fed to the dogs.



What Aurangzeb did with Sambhaji Majharaj was cruel. But how many people are ready to accept this fact? People call Aurangzeb as 'product of his times' to justify his cruelty. Are people ready to stop defending Aurangzeb?

People write books writing off his crimes, they celebrate him. And how many people actually know the contributions of Chhatrapati Sambhaji maharaj?



This is our country during Maurya and Gupta Empire but then we lost our identity somewhere. then came the Ahom dynasty who protected our indentity in Assam. Then came the Cholas and Pandyas in southwho took our culture to other countries and then came the Marathas who gave India second chance. the maratha Empire showed the India a dream of 'Swarajya' 

The Britishers were still here 75 years ago. They had a reason to hide our history and rulers from us but today we are independent, Right? Why do we hide these stories today?

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