Sambhaji Raje
Sambhaji was born on 14 May 1657 into a Maratha Hindu family at Purandar Fort near Pune to the Maratha ruler Shivaji, and his first wife Saibai, who died when Sambhaji was two years old and he was raised by his paternal grandmother Jijabai. He was the second Chhatarapati of the Maratha Empire, ruling from 1681 to 1689. He was the eldest son of Shivaji. Initially his stepmother, Soyrabai, also doted on him a lot. Sambhaji was a tiger cub in the true sense. He was extermely handsome and possessed immense bravery. He was a scholar of Sanskrit and egiht other language.
Sambhaji was married to Jivubai in 1666, a marriage of political alliance; as per Maratha custom she took the name Yesubai. Jivubai was the daughter of Pilajirao Shirke. This marriage thus gave Shivaji access to the Konkan coastal belt, Sambhaji had two children, daughter Bhavani Bai and then a son named Shahu, who later became the Chhatrapati of the Maratha empire.
At the age of nine, Sambhaji was sent to live with Raja Jai Singh of Amber as a Political hostage to ensure compliance of the Treaty pf Purandar that Shivaji had signed with the Mughals on 11 June 1665. As a result of the treaty, Sambhaji became a Mughal Mansabdar. He and his father Shivaji attended the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's court at Agra on 12 May 1666. Aurangzeb put both of them under house arrest but they escaped on 22 July 1666. However, the two sides reconciled and had cordial relations during the period 1666–1670. During the period between 1666 and 1668, Aurangzeb conferred the title of raja on Shivaji. Sambhaji was also restored as a Mughal mansabdar with 5,000 horses. Shivaji at that time sent Sambhaji with general Prataprao Gujar to serve the Mughal viceroy in Aurangabad, Prince Mu'azzam. Sambhaji was also granted territory in Berar for revenue collection. In this period, Shivaji and Sambhaji fought alongside the Mughals against the Sultanate of Bijapur.
Sambhaji's behaviour, including alleged irresponsibility and addiction to sensual pleasures, led Shivaji to imprison his son at Panhala fort in 1678 to curb his behaviour. Sambhaji escaped from the fort with his wife and defected to the Mughals in December 1678 for a year, but then returned home when he learnt of a plan byDilir Khan, the Mughal viceroy of Deccan, to arrest him and send him to Delhi. Upon returning home, Sambhaji was unrepentant and was put under surveillance at Panhala.
For almost one year, Sambhaji left Shivaji's kingdom and joined Aurangzeb's commander, Diler Khan as part of politics. This came as a rude and extremely sad shock to Shivaji. This process caused further widening of the rift between Sambhaji on one side, and Soyrabai on the other as a result, Sambhaji was not invited for Rajaram's wedding aand moreover he was not even informed of the sudden death of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj a few days thereafter. Rajaram was the child of Shivaji Maharaj and Soyrabai.
When Shivaji died in the first week of April 1680, Sambhaji was still held captive at Panhala fort. At that time, Soyrabai, Sambhaji's step-mother, along with influential courtiers such as Annaji Datto and other ministers conspired against Sambhaji, to prevent him from succeeding the throne. In a rush, they installed Soyrabai's son, and Sambhaji's half-brother, Rajaram, then aged ten, on the throne on 21 April 1680. Upon hearing this news, Sambhaji plotted his escape and took possession of the Panhala fort on 27 April after killing the fort commander. On 18 June, he acquired control of Rajgad Fort. Sambhaji formally ascended the throne on 20 July 1680. Rajaram, his wife Janki Bai and mother Soyrabai were imprisoned. Soon after there was another conspiracy attempt against Sambhaji using prince Akbar, Aurangzeb's fourth son, Soyrabai, her kinsmen from the Shirke family and some of Shivaji's ministers such as Annaji Datto were executed on charges of conspiracy.
Reconversion to Hinduism
We all know that Shivaji Maharaj reconverted Netaji Palkar to Hinduism. However, it is important to note that Sambhaji Maharaj had established a separate department in his province for the ‘reconversion ceremony’ of the Hindus who had earlier converted into other religions. There is a story of a Brahmin named ‘Kulkarni’ of Harsul village in the history of Sambhaji Maharaj. Kulkarni had been forcibly converted to Islam by the Mughals. He tried to reconvert into Hinduism, but local Brahmins in his village did not pay any heed to him. In the end, Kulkarni met Sambhaji Maharaj and told him about his misery. Sambhaji Maharaj immediately arranged for his reconversion ceremony and reconverted him into a Hindu.This noble initiative of Sambhaji Maharaj helped many converted Hindus to reconvert back into Hinduism.
Sambhaji Maharaj kept Aurangzeb away from North India for 27 years.
The remarkable things that Sambhaji Maharaj achieved in his short life had far-reaching effects on the whole of India. Every Hindu should be grateful to him for that. He valiantly faced the 8 lakh strong army of Aurangzeb and defeated several Mughal chieftains in the battlefield forcing them to retreat. Because of this, Aurangzeb remained engaged in battles in Maharashtra, thus keeping the rest of India free from Aurangzeb’s tyranny for a long time. This can be considered as the greatest achievement of Sambhaji Maharaj.
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Sambaji's positions were spied upon by Shirke clan Marathas who had defected to the Mughals. Sambhaji and 25 of his advisors were captured by the Mughal forces of Muqarrab Khan in a skirmish at Sangameshwar in February 1689.
Aurangzeb was not able to make Sambhaji Maharaj bow before him in his entire lifetime. After every torture Aurangzeb would ask him if he had enough and wanted to convert.. but the courageous king kept refusing. By doing so he earned the title of Dharmaveer by which he is known to this day.
Sambhaji was finally killed on 11 March 1689, reportedly by tearing him apart from the front and back with wagh nakhe (metal "tiger claws") and beheading with an axe at Tulapur on the banks of the Bhima river near Pune. Aurangzeb ordered for Sambhaji's body to be cut into piece and be thrown in tonthe river.Resident of the nearby village named Vadhu collected as many pieces of his body as they could find, sewed them togather and performed the final rites on his body. These villager later went to use the surname Shivle. Which means sewing in the Marathi language.