friends, sivaji visited parangipettai and chidambaram. he presented a sword to lord of chitsabai. it is still kept inside the treasury.his attempts to enlarge the empire in the south was defeated by nayaks.
sivaji did not have cordial relationship with his half brother. besides traditional historians do not include tanjore nayaks as part of the large maratha empire. tanjore marathas were vassals of arcot nawab and subsequently the east india company.
tanjore nayaks aided the british in fighting the larger maratha empire in the north after 1750. the tanjore nayaks were not even addressed as "your majesty" after the 1760 agreement between the nawab and east india company. they were effectively ceased to be kings after 1760. that means they had ruled ( de-facto) tanjore for less than 100 years.
one must appreciate their zeal in preserving tamil-hindu culture during this brief period.
tanjore marathas speak a modified marathi and hindi at home and community gatherings. most of them acknowledge tamil as their second language. large part of them live in mayiladuthurai, kumbakonam, chennai besides tanjore.
they look darker like most south indians. may be the people came here as sort of mercenaries with the kings. some look very fair and may be belonging to the trading class. they identify themselves as marathas by caste. they were classified as backward classes in state registry. i have met a few families in chidambaram. there is a street called " bole narayana street" in the central part of chidambaram town. gandhi
friends, tanjor nayaks sliped into the hands of bijapur sultan actually. he sent the army led by the half brother of shivaji. the maratha army was actually a mercenary of the bijapur sultan. after taking over tanjore they proclaimed themself independent rulers. this was aided by arcot nawabs. the tanjore marathas in turn had to pay annual rent for the occupation of tanjore.
the coastal region of the delta was with marathas only. because the karaikal region was sold to the french by the tanjore maratha regime.
but the chidambaram and katumannar koil taluks were initially with marathas but subsequently we hear about one certain "lal khan" who ruled this place. several places are named after him, like lalpettai,lalkhan street, khan sahib canal...etc.
after the war in wandawasi the british had more or less the whole tamilnadu from the nawabs of arcot and it was left to them to collect revenues. the marathas ceased to be monarchs from 1760. but they were allowed to continue to rule in return of a huge annual tax for the british. that left them more or less "agents of the company".
so the de-facto rule of marathas was only from 1670-1760. that is about 90 years. that too was a fate accompli. they cannot be counted as significant in the 2500 history of tamilagam. besides there was a brief marathi rule in vellore and gingee fort( ~10 years).
one must admit they were hindus and some what southindian like kings. so, when we read south indian history they come as a last dynasy in the list of pandyas, pallavas, chalukyas, cholas and vijaynagar.
SN sir, are you taking about the Maratha rulers or the current day maharashtrians? Because I have a Marathin Brahmin friend who do not have a mush :)..
Gandhi sir,
I was under the understanding that Marathas' especially Sivaji and clan's arch rivals were the muslim rulers...then how come they became the mercenaries of Bijapur sultan? Can you please throw more light on this?
I am talking about the current maharashtrians living in TN - decendants and settlers of the Tanjore Maratha rule.
The Mush is so importatnt that all maharashtrian communities and especially to brahmins -communities do not shave that even during the ceremanies associated with death - where it is mandatory for all communities to have a complete shave.
Mush is must for them for religious ceremonies. wondering whether that is anything to do with peshwa system?
Hi i think sivaji's father himself worked for the sultans. and sivaji was not hesitant to join hands with the deccan sultanates against a collective enemy -the mughals
Hi aurangazeb sent a hindu rajput general to battle sivaji. perhaps a master stroke to prevent polarisation of the locals/ or soldiers on religious basis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_Singh_I
As today 23 rd July is Lokmanya Tilak's Birthday,I must mention that Tilak was boycoted by Marati sastris onceand they wanted Tilak to remove his mush for some unorthodox actions as prayaschit, which Tilak did not.He went on and performed the shradh ceremony of his father himself.So mush must be of some prestige value.Later everone were reconciled with the Lokmanya.Mahatma Gandhiji called him Tilak Maharaj. Regards,S.KarthikVandemataram
Great-great-grandfather of Jai Singh II, builder of Jaipur!
Aurangzeb also sent Jaswant Singh Rathore against Shivaji, among various other commanders...
Jai Singh I and Shivaji later made peace and both invaded Bijapur under the Mughal flag. It was after this that Shivaji went to Agra, and was imprisoned by Aurangzeb.
Like any politician or ruler, he often switched alliances; with the Mughals, against the Mughals, with the Deccan Sultanates and against them,...
Like any ruler, he had certain ambitions, and unlike most, he was quite effective in planning towards his goals and carrying out his plans!
Please read Bhusan's Marathi poems on Shivaji....Bhusan was a court poet of Shivaji इन्द्र जिमि जंभपर , वाडव सुअंभपर | रावन सदंभपर , रघुकुल राज है || 1 ||
पौन बरिबाहपर , संभु रतिनाहपर | ज्यो सहसबाहपर , राम द्विजराज है || 2 ||
दावा द्रुमदंडपर , चीता मृगझुंडपर | भूषण वितुण्डपर , जैसे मृगराज है || 3 ||
तेजतम अंसपर , कन्हजिमि कंसपर | तो म्लेंच्छ बंसपर , शेर सिवराज है || 4 ||
Meaning : Like Indra on demons,like lord of the raghus on boastful ravana,like vamana on bali,like lord Siva on rati's husband,and like parasurama, the lord of brahmana-s, on sahasrabahu,like fire acts upon woods,and a Cheetha on a herd of deers ,like lion on hogs,says Bhusana, like a ray of light upon darkness,or like boy Krishna upon kansa,like that, upon the clan of mlechchha's, has descended king Shivaji ,the Tiger. http://harshahunts.blogspot.com/2009/02/raja-shivaji-chatrapati. Religion played a very important role in Shivaji's fight.His flag was Bhagwa, the Saffron robe of Samartha Ramadas. When no one else could subdue Shivaji, Aurangazeb sent Jai Singh, theRajput.Shivaji in difference to the elderly Jai Singh Surrendered.But when he was put to jail by Aurangazeb, the same Jai Singhplanned and released him. Shivaji was a dharma raja, he refused to bow down to theBijapur sultan when he was just five years old.He won the first fort at the age of just 17. He was carrying the Nation's resistance in the dark ages thatprevailed in the middle of last millaneium.And he employed all the tactics at hand to secure notan empire for himself but to the welfare of India. He called his rule Hindavi Swaraj.He was truly a National Super Hero just like Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekanada are.Please do read the poem on shivaji by Subramanya Bharati.