Person1630 – 1680

Shivaji

Also called: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Shivaji Bhonsle

Founder of the Maratha kingdom in the Deccan (r. 1674–1680), who raised a Hindu state against the Mughal Empire

Son of Shahaji Bhonsle, a general of the Bijapur sultanate, he was born at Shivneri fort. He seized hill forts in the Western Ghats and fought Bijapur and the Mughals with guerrilla tactics. Summoned to Aurangzeb’s court at Agra in 1666, he was held under arrest but slipped away. In 1674 he was crowned Chhatrapati (king) at Raigad, and he built a navy to guard the coast. He is honoured today as a national hero in Maharashtra, India.

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1 related event

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1658 – 1707Aurangzeb and the Decline of the Mughal Empirerelated figure
Aurangzeb took the Mughal Empire to its greatest extent, but his strict Islamic policies, including the revival of the jizya, provoked Hindus and Sikhs. After his death the empire quickly fell apart.

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Aurangzeb1618 – 1707
Sixth Mughal emperor (r. 1658–1707), who extended the empire to its greatest size but whose strict Islamic policies provoked Hindus and Sikhs

Themes this person appears in

Islamic Empires and the Atlantic World1500 – 1800
Three centuries in which the Ottomans of Suleiman I, the Mughals of Akbar and the Safavids of Abbas I flourished and then faltered, while across the Atlantic the slave trade and colonies transformed the Americas, leading to American independence