Jijabai recognized that for the welfare of the common people, it was pertinent to raise Shivaji based on the Hindu ideas of swaraj, swabhimaan and swadesh.
All of us celebrate 12 January as the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, while very few of us know it is also the birth anniversary of Jijabai, the mother of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the architect of the Maratha empire along with her son. There has been enormous negativity in our history textbooks about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The textbooks misrepresented Shivaji as an upstart robber, a marauder and even a treacherous murderer, while conveniently skipping or whitewashing the crimes of the invaders such as rape, plunder and genocide, leading to a normalization of such violent and cruel acts. It is time to reverse this type of narrative, call out for biases and underline these gaps that require correction both at the school and university level textbooks.
Feminism in the Bharatiya narrative is not in opposition to, or the either/ or, but one of harmony and balance. The concept of Ardhanarishwar, of the balance and harmony between the masculine and the feminine has been documented since the pre-Vedic times. The Bharatiya civilization celebrates the Feminine, which is clear even with the portfolios in Indra’s cabinet to the Feminine Trinity; the Five Pativratas are those who broke the rules and male Gods known by the names of their spouse, like Sitapati, Lakshmipati, Umapati and many more.
Across the villages in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chief Gramdevatas are Goddesses. This is so different from the binary frameworks used by the West. Jijabai is one such figure who needs to be highlighted. Since childhood, Jijabai had seen the sufferings of her family and public at large at the hands of Islamic invaders. Even though she was in severe suffering, Jijabai recognized that for the welfare of the common people, it was pertinent to raise Shivaji based on the Hindu ideas of swaraj, swabhimaan and swadesh.
Shivaji was just 14 years old when Shahjiraje handed over the jagir of Pune to him. Jijabai helped Shivaji redevelop Pune which suffered massively at the behest of the exploitative policies of the Islamic rulers in the past. A mother herself trained in the art of warfare especially in sword fighting and horse riding moulded her son into a skilled warrior and ensured instilling in him values like modesty, truthfulness, oratory, vigilance, courage and fearlessness. She inspired in him the will to win and the dream of Swaraj.
As a single mother, Jijabai was the greatest influence on a young Shivaji. She encouraged him to read stories from Hindu scriptures to develop a strong moral compass in her son. She was also a skilled warrior and a horse rider. She was a brilliant administrator and guided her son, who built the Maratha empire that challenged the Mughals and even ruled Delhi for three decades. No story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is complete without the story of his mother, Jijabai or Jijau, as she is fondly known in Maharashtra, and was the embodiment of feminine power. Jijau’s contribution in the making of Shivaji was second to none.
Shivaji, though the son of a nobleman, grew up amongst common people. Many of his childhood friends became his most trusted warriors who later helped him achieve his dream of Hindavi Swaraj. Jijabai watched her son like a hawk, keeping him focused and away from distractions and vices. It was her influence that made him dream big, and not just be content with being a jagirdar. Having seen the plight of Hindu women under Islamic rule, Jijabai encouraged Shivaji to think about establishing an independent Hindu kingdom, where rights of Hindus would be respected.
She also taught him to be always protective about women and treat them with honour, a lesson Shivaji never forgot. When he established his kingdom, he instituted extremely harsh punishments to anyone who dared to dishonour or disrespect a woman, even a woman from the enemy camp.
Such was Jijau’s bond with her son that she restrained from committing Sati after her husband’s death, even though it was the custom of the time. Her life’s mission was fulfilled when she witnessed the grand coronation ceremony of Shivaji Maharaj that officially made him the first sovereign Hindu king of India since the fall of the Vijayanagara empire. Barely twelve days after the coronation ceremony, Jijabai passed away at the age of 76, as a contented woman who had turned a dream of an independent Hindu kingdom into reality. Jijabai was known for her virtue, valour and values, traits that she passed down to her illustrious son.
She championed the cause of Swarajya and helped and inspired Shivaji Maharaj to unite the feuding Maratha factions to establish the “Hindavi Swarajya” that lasted till the 19th century. Jijabai’s stellar qualities— like her fiercely independent nature, her exemplary leadership skills, her commitment to Dharma, her intolerance of injustice, and her single-minded clarity made Shivaji Maharaj into what he was, a visionary leader who continues to inspire generations of Indians.
This sacrifice, this contribution is seldom acknowledged. The sad part is that Nehruvian and the Left narratives of Independent India refused to acknowledge any other dynasty other than the Delhi-centric ones and even whitewashed the heinous crimes of Aurangzeb against the Marathas. A young monk, Swami Vivekananda, went on to give a comprehensive yet forceful narration of the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji. The important point to note here is the way Shivaji Maharaj became a phenomenon in the national consciousness of India.
It was in 1645, in a letter written to Dadaji Naras Prabhu, that Shivaji Maharaj first used the words “Hindavi Swarajya”. In a detailed essay on the concept, Bipin Chandra Pal (1858-1932) elaborated its ancient origin and its modern relevance and importantly, how the modern Indian polity inherited the term from the Hindu Pad Padshahi installed by Chhatrapati Shivaji: Shivaji sought the inclusion of the communities, who were in the periphery of the sociopolitical arena then, into the centre of Swarajya.
From the Hindu point of view, Hindavi Swarajya is a uniquely Hindu nationbuilding phenomenon. It did not start with Shivaji. It started long ago—right from the Vedic times—by emphasizing human emancipation through the realization of the unity that permeates all. This Bharatiya vision expressed itself through spiritualism. This ushered in organic social changes. Political forces anchored in Indian soil have always been tools of realising this fundamental vision of diversity in unity.
In modern times, this culminated in Shivaji Maharaj and gave him the Mantric words “Hindavi Swarajya”. Social upliftment, military consolidation, spiritual diversity, democracy, all come from this seed-vision of Shivaji under the able guidance of Jijabai and her indominable sanskar.
Prof Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit is the Vice Chancellor of JNU.