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to believe that even divine power was powerless before the new irreligious conquerer.
Shivaji's greatness lies in the fact that even in these incomparably depressed circumstances, he could conceive of the ideal of national independence and achieve it to a great extent. Chance or fortuitous circumstances may have been responsible for some of his victories, but they had nothing to do with the ideal for which they were won. This is quite clear from the epochmaking eloquent letter which he sent to Jayasinha, when he came to fight with him as a general of Aurangzeb. 'It is a matter of surprise that a handful of Muslims should rule over us. This is no feat of their valour. Aurangzeb is sending you down against me because he desires that lions should fight against and kill one another and leave the field free to the vultures. It is high time that we must now try our best for the sake of the Hindus, Hindusthan and Hindudharma.' Shivaji thus stood not only for political but also for cultural self-assertion. It is well known that he freed Maharashtra, but it is not equally well known that he sought to free the Marathi language also from the foreign yoke of the Persian by arranging for the preparation of the Shabdakosha. He could easily rise above the traditions of centuries when it was necessary to do so in the interest of cultural self-preservation. He stood for reconversion of the converts to the fold of Hinduism, and he went to the extent of marrying one of his daughters to the son of a Sardar, who had been reconverted to Hinduism. In honouring Shivaji, we pay our homage to a great Genius and Seer, who in an age of universal despondency, could rise above the enervating and emasculating influences of long established foreign rule, conceive in clear terms the ideal of national and cultural independence and translate it into fact inspite of the immense odds that were hampering his progress almost at every step.
A. S. Altekar.
(Head of the Dept. of Ancient Indian History and culture, Benares Hindu University.)
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Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
