Lord of The Royal Umbrella

Land Of The Marathas, 1661 - 1674

Shivaji Bhosale's struggle against imperial powers continues as massive Mughal armies repeatedly descend upon his tiny fiefdom. Emperor Aurangzeb recognizes the dangerous threat of the Mountain Rat and resolves to finish him off, once and for all. He sends Shaista Khan, his maternal uncle, with a large army, but Shivaji, in a daring night raid, attacks the much decorated Mughal General, cutting off his fingers. Turning his attention once again to Sultan Adilshah, Shivji systematically expands his holdings in the Konkan. Along the coast, the British, Portuguese and Abyssinian also find him a serious obstacle to their coastal interests.

Infuriated, the Mughal Emperor sends Jai Singh and Diler Khan to the Deccan with another large army. Jai Singh proves to be the toughest challenge Shivaji has faced. After winning almost every battle for two decades, Shivaji is finally subdued by Jai Singh and faces the humiliation of receiving Aurangzeb's firmaan to surrender a large part of his fiefdom and serve in the Mughal army. In a final insult, Shivaji is compelled to visit Agra and bow before Aurangzeb at court. By royal order, he and his son are detained in Agra, under heavy guard. The ingenious Maratha, however, foiling all attempts to assassinate them, escapes, leaving the Emperor seething in impotent fury.

Safely home again, Shivaji embarks on the re-conquest of his lost forts and territories. Finally, in 1674, in defiance of imperial rule, he crowns himself King of the Marathas. After more than three and a half centuries of enslavement, the Marathi people have their own King. Shivaji Raje Bhosale thus becomes Chhatrapati, Lord of the Royal Umbrella...

GAUTAM PRADHAN is a Radiologist by profession. Educated in Mumbai, he has been in private medical practice for nearly two decades. He lives in Thane, Maharashtra, with his wife Dipali, son Aditya and daughter Aryaa.

Passionate about history, Gautam reads voraciously on the subject and enjoys visiting places of historical interest. Possessed of an imaginitive mind, he felt caged within the restrictive confines of the medical profession and took to writing as a hobby. It seemed a natural choice to base his first book on historical events and the life and times of a man he has always revered. He devoted eight years to the research and writing of this book, receiving valuable inputs through extensive discussions with eminent historians. The project on Shivaji's life, in three dramatized volumes, has been an emotional but intensely fulfilling journey. 300 Brave Men (Book I), was published in 2017, to critical acclaim. His other interests include wildlife photography, music and movies.

It gives me great pleasure to present the second in this series of I books on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji. In the past months, I have received a lot of feedback on the first book, from friends, family, and readers unknown to me. Their comments have spurred me on to complete this second book in record time. The idea of presenting the story of this remarkable man to English readers seems to have been a success. My initial aim behind the books has been fulfilled, for non-Marathi speaking Indians, Maharashtrians of my generation, and more importantly, the younger generations, who have seldom read about the Chhatrapati in Marathi, seem to have unanimously welcomed the first book of the trilogy, 300 Brave Men.

In this volume, I continue to narrate Chhatrapati Shivaji's story, beginning in the year 1661, and carrying it through to his coronation in 1674. These fourteen years of his life saw almost unceasing action for the Marathas, on all fronts. We find Shivaji and his troops, no longer a band of mavericks, having swelled into a very real and disciplined army, battling enemies on all sides of their tiny fiefdom called Swarajya. They clash with the Adilshah in the South, with the Abyssinians and Europeans along the coast, and with the mighty Mughal Aurangzeb in the North. Incredibly, they hold out against all three, till the end.

These years are full of some of the famous Shivaji stories traditionally told to Indians, including his daring night raid on Shaista Khan, and his almost unbelievable escape from Agra. While I have narrated these incidents in great detail, I have also tried to bring forth some lesser known incidents and battles from this period. I have also tried to portray the politics around the main events. To know the real person that Shivaji was, one needs to understand the immense 'behind-the-scenes' action as well, and it has been my constant endeavor in these books to describe in detail Shivaji's immaculate planning of each expedition, as well as his ingenious political moves.

During this period, Shivaji also tasted his first major reverse, at the hands of the Rajput Jai Singh, followed by the humiliation of having to bow before Aurangzeb. Again, we would fail to understand the man if we did not make an attempt to feel the pain he experienced in this period. Added to his deep mortification, was the grief of seeing the devastation of his lands and people. Historians often fail to go beyond the mere ‘signing of the Purandar treaty' and 'the fiasco of his Agra visit'. They get so lost in the clauses of the treaty and what actually transpired in Aurangzeb's court, that they conveniently forget the central character of Shivaji himself, a real man with real emotions. But my book, being literature and not historical biography, I have had the unique opportunity to explore and at least try to understand what Shivaji the person went through during this very difficult period. Undoubtedly, my portrayal of events and emotions come from my own mind, but they attempt to give the reader a glimpse into what could have been Shivaji's own thoughts.

With the expansion of Shivaji's army and ministry, as well as the scope of action, the number of people around him multiplied. But, to keep things simple, I have stuck to portraying only a chosen few of his men and family members. I have tried to limit my characters to those who played an important role in these fourteen years. Shivaji had a large family and it would be difficult and confusing to include everyone in the story. Not to mention that very little is known about his family beyond his sons Sambhaji and Rajaram. He had eight wives and six daughters, about whom we know precious little, and hence I have chosen to limit the depiction of Shivaji's family and focus on the man himself.

The book culminates in the grand event of Shivaji's coronation. Readers should try and understand that this was not merely another event in 17th century India, but an occurrence with far reaching consequences on Indian history as a whole. It was the beginning of nationalistic thought. It was the first instance in centuries that the people of this ancient land had declared with one voice that they no longer wanted foreigners to rule them. For the first time, they lifted their heads and said with pride, we want our own ruler!