History Quiz: The Bhakti and Sufi Movement and Marathas |15 May, 2021

Shivaji was born in Shivner near Junnar. He was the son of Shahji Bhonsle by his first wife Jijabai.

• Shahji was a descendant of the Yadava rulers of Devagiri from his mother’s side and the Sisodias of Mewar on his father’s side.
• Shivaji earned the goodwill of the Mavali peasants and chiefs, who were a martial people with knowledge about the hilly areas around Poona.
• Shivaji made himself familiar with the hilly areas around Poona.
• Religious heads, Ramdas and Tukaram, also influenced Shivaji. Ramdas was regarded by Shivaji as his guru.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board.

In 1664, Shivaji attacked Surat, the major Mughal port in Arabian Sea and his soldiers plundered the city.

• Aurangzeb despatched an army under the command of the Rajput general Raja Jai Singh to defeat Shivaji and annex Bijapur.
• At that time, Prince Muazzam, later Bahadur Shah I, was the Governor of the Deccan. Jai Singh made elaborate plans to encircle Shivaji on all sides.
• Even Raigarh was under threat. Purandar was besieged in June 1665. The heroic resistance of Shivaji became futile. Therfore he decided to come to negotiate with Jai Singh.
• According to the treaty of Purandar signed on 11 June 1665 Shivaji yielded the fortresses that he had captured and agreed to serve as a mansabdar and assist the Mughals in conquering Bijapur.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board.

Shivaji was a not only a great warrior but a good administrator too. He had an advisory council to assist him in his day-to-day administration. This council of eight ministers was known as Ashta Pradhan. Its functions were advisory. The eight ministers were:

• The Mukhya Pradhan or Peshwa or prime minister whose duty was to look after the general welfare and interests of the State. He officiated for the king in his absence.
• The Amatya or finance minister checked and countersigned all public accounts of the kingdom.

• The Walkia-Nawis or Mantri maintained the records of the king’s activities and the proceedings in the court.
• Summant or Dabir or foreign secretary was to advise king on all matters of war and peace and to receive ambassadors and envoys from other countries.
• Sachiv or Shuru Nawis or home secretary was to look after the correspondence of the king with the power to revise the drafts. He also checked the accounts of the Parganas.
• Pandit Rao or Danadhyaksha or Sadar and Muhtasib or ecclesiastical head was in charge of religion, ceremonies and charities. He was the judge of canon law and censor of public morals.
• Nyayadhish or chief justice was responsible for civil and military justice.

• Sari Naubat or commander-in-chief was in charge of recruitment, organization and discipline of the Army.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board.

As the revenue collected from the state was insufficient to meet its requirements, Shivaji collected two taxes, Chauth and Sardeshmukhi, from the adjoining territories of his empire, the Mughal provinces and the territories of the Sultan of Bijapur.

• Chauth was one-fourth of the revenue of the district conquered by the Marthas.
• Sardeshmukhi was an additional 10% of the revenue which Shivaji collected by virtue of his position as Sardeshmukh.
• Sardeshmukh was the superior head of many Desais or Deshmukhs.

• Shivaji claimed that he was the hereditary Sardeshmukh of his country.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board.

Balaji Baji Rao (1740–1761): Balaji Baji Rao succeeded as the Peshwa after the death of his father Baji Rao.

• Known as Nana Sahib, he proved to be a good administrator and an expert in handling financial matters.
• The third battle of Panipat, 1761 is one of the decisive battles in the history of India.
• The defeat in the battle dealt a severe blow to the Marathas and the Mughal Empire and thereby paved the way for the rise of the British power in India.

• By the treaty of Salbai, in 1782, Ragunath Rao was pensioned off. Following this, peace prevailed between the Company and the Marathas for about two decades.

Source: Tamil Nadu state board.

At a different level, historians of religion often classify bhakti traditions into two broad categories: saguna (with attributes) and nirguna (without attributes).

• The former included traditions that focused on the worship of specific deities such as Shiva, Vishnu and his avatars (incarnations) and forms of the goddess or Devi, all often conceptualized in anthropomorphic forms.

• Nirguna bhakti on the other hand was worship of an abstract form of God.
• Some of the earliest bhakti movements (c. sixth century) were led by the Alvars (literally, those who are “immersed” in devotion to Vishnu) and Nayanars (literally, leaders who were devotees of Shiva).
• They travelled from place-to-place singing hymns in Tamil in praise of their gods.

Source: NCERT- Themes in Indian History.

The importance of the traditions of the Alvars and Nayanars was sometimes indicated by the claim that their compositions were as important as the Vedas.

For instance, one of the major anthologies of compositions by the Alvars, the Nalayira Divyaprabandham, was frequently described as the Tamil Veda, thus claiming that the text was as significant as the four Vedas in Sanskrit that were cherished by the Brahmanas.

Source: NCERT- Themes in Indian History.

The developments that followed the coming of Islam were not confined to ruling elites; in fact, they permeated far and wide, through the subcontinent, amongst different social strata – peasants, artisans, warriors, merchants, to name a few. All those who adopted Islam accepted, in principle, the five “pillars” of the faith:

• that there is one God, Allah, and
• Prophet Muhammad is his messenger (shahada);
• offering prayers five times a day (namaz/salat);
• giving alms (zakat); fasting during the month of Ramzan (sawm); and
• Performing the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).

Source: NCERT- Themes in Indian History.

In the late fifteenth century, Shankaradeva emerged as one of the leading proponents of Vaishnavism in Assam.

• His teachings, often known as the Bhagavati dharma because they were based on the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana, focused on absolute surrender to the supreme deity, in this case Vishnu.
• He emphasised the need for naam kirtan, recitation of the names of the lord in sat sanga or congregations of pious devotees.

• He also encouraged the establishment of satra or monasteries for the transmission of spiritual knowledge, and naam ghar or prayer halls.
• Many of these institutions and practices continue to flourish in the region. His major compositions include the Kirtana-ghosha.

Source: NCERT- Themes in Indian History.

Source: NCERT- Themes in Indian History Part 2, Page 167.