Shahu I (18 May 1682 – 15 December 1749) was the fifth Chhatrapati of Maratha Empire from 1708 to 1749, the longest reign among the Maratha rulers. He was also the last subahdar of the Bijapur Subah, before being annexed by the Maratha Empire. During Shahu's reign, driven largely by the strategic vision and military leadership of his Peshwas, the Maratha Empire expanded across much of the Indian subcontinent and emerged as the leading power in South Asia.
Shahu, his father Sambhaji I and his grandfather Shivaji Maharaj, all belonged to the Bhonsle dynasty. He, along with his mother Yesubai Bhonsle, was under the capture of Aurangzeb during the Deccan Wars. For nearly 18 years, Shahu was under captive but was treated with royal courtesy and he was often involved in Mughal politics. By 1707, Shahu was released by Aurangzeb's son Bahadur Shah I, in order to strengthen Mughal relations with the Marathas. Shahu held military and administrative posts during his captive days in the Mughal Empire eventually becoming the governor of the Bijapur Subah. Shahu succeeded his cousin Shivaji II by 1708 at the age of 26, shortly after Aurangzeb's death and his release. Then, Shahu launched military campaigns on the regions of Khed, Adilabad, Konkan, Bengal, Bihar and western Indian subcontinent. He also successfully brought them under control of the Marathas, with the exception of Bengal which was only partly incorporated into the empire. One of his most successful and famous campaigns were during at the Afsharid invasion of India in which the Afsharid Empire, under the rule of Nader Shah, occupied Delhi and the remaining western territories of an insignificant Mughal Empire. Marathas, under the rule of Shahu, helped the Mughals against the Persian Afsharid dynasty. By 1740, the combined forces of the Marathas and Mughals and other smaller regional powers defeated the Persians in the subcontinent and thereby, forcing Nader Shah's huge army to retreat from Lahore and western Indian subcontinent (Afghanistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and Punjab) and ceded all their territories in India to the Marathas. Thus, the Maratha Empire eventually captured Delhi and became the sole dominant power in South Asia, replacing the Mughals which had been the dominant power in the region for over three centuries, and making them puppets of the Marathas.
Shahu also introduced Mughal and western-styled form of administration into the Maratha Empire. He divided his empire into subahs (provinces), a system which was introduced by Akbar in the Mughal Empire. During Shahu's reign, the central authority of the empire became much stronger and the empire was highly centralized, with the Chhatrapati being the head of the state. Shahu was a great patron of many Indian languages, such as Marathi, Hindustani, Persian, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Tamil. He also made Hindustani as the dominant language in the empire's court, alongside his dynastic language, Marathi. He also issued coins in Persian, Prakrit, Sanskrit and French languages. The empire, under Shahu, started making trade contacts and strong relations with powers outside South Asia such as Britain, France, Iran and others. Because of all these reforms, he is called as Maharaj e-Hind () or Padishah e-Hind () in Persian and Hindustani languages, making him the only Maratha emperor to carry these titles.
Shahu died in 1749 at the age of 67, due to a sudden heart attack and was succeeded by his son, Rajaram II. Some historians often claims that the decline of the Maratha Empire took place after his death but these citations are often dismissed as the empire still continued to be an effective power in Asia during the reign of Rajaram II. However, Shahu's death was a significant blow to the empire. After his death, the power was passed into the hands of the Peshwa and the Chhatrapati was reduced to a figurehead. The central authority grew weaker and the Maratha Empire was decentralized into several houses of powers such as Holkars in Indore and Delhi, Scindias in Gwalior and Sind and Gaekwads in Baroda and Bhopal, which were ruled by the Peshwa and the Ashta Pradhan.
Early life
In 1689, at the age of seven, Shahu was taken prisoner along with his mother by the Mughals after the Battle of Raigarh. Aurangzeb was fighting the decentralised Marathas and hoped to use the crown heir Shahu as a pawn in his battle. Therefore, he treated Shahu and his mother well. Even in Mughal captivity, Shahu's mother, Queen Yesubai, continued to rule her private territories as a Deshmukh. Aurangzeb regarded Shahu, whose real name was Shivaji as 'Sav or Sadhu Shivaji' in contrast to his grandfather Shivaji I, resulting in his popular title 'Raja Shahu' meaning Honest or Saint King.New History of the Marathas Vol. I by G.S. Sardesai, p.361
Shahu was married to two daughters of high ranking Maratha Sardars in the Mughal service. Aurangzeb gifted Shahu the Bhavani sword of Shivaji, the sword of Afzal Khan, and another gold-hilted sword. Aurangzeb also granted him Sanads to lands and revenue rights around the Parganas of Akkalkot, Supa, Baramati, and Nevase for his maintenance. After Aurangzeb's death in 1707, one of his sons, Prince Azam Shah, released Shahu in the hope of starting an internecine conflict among the Marathas, and also to have Shahu on his side for his own succession battle for the Mughal throne.Chatterjee, I. and Guha, S., 1999. "Slave-queen, waif-prince: Slavery and social capital in eighteenth-century India". The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 36(2), pp.165-186. At that time, his aunt Tarabai, who governed the Maratha realm in the name of her son (also named Shivaji), denounced Shahu as an impostor substituted by the Mughals for the son of Sambhaji. Shahu then waged a civil war against Tarabai to gain the Chhatrapati's throne in 1708 and emerged victorious.
Ancestry
Accession Early reign
Following the death of Aurangzeb, Shahu grew impatient about returning to his homeland. He was advised by princess Zinat-un-Nissa (Aurangzeb's daughter) and Zulfiqar Khan to not wait for formal sanads of appointment from Azam Shah, but to quit the Mughal camp at once and proceed to his home country. He readily acted upon this advice and left the Mughal camp at Doraha on 8 May 1707. The rulers of Bharatpur, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur received Shahu on his way to Pune with warm hospitality. Shahu visited the sacred city of Ujjain and paid his obeisance to Shri Mahakaleshwar. At Burhanpur, Jotyaji Kaskar was left behind by Shahu to receive the sanads from the Mughals. Shahu then arrived at Bijagad, about thirty miles south of Narmada, and was joined by its ruler Rawal Mohansinh, who had long rebelled against Aurangzeb and cooperated with the Marathas. Mohansinh was the first to espouse the cause of Shahu and help him with troops and funds. From Bijagad, Shahu proceeded to Sultanpur, where he was joined by several Maratha chiefs such as Amritrao Kadambande, Rawal Sujansinh of Lamkani, the Bokils, the Purandares and other Brahmin families.
Kolhapur succession
Early conflicts After reaching Maharashtra, Senasahibsubha Parsoji Bhonsle, commander of 15,000 troops, pledged himself to Shahu. Parsoji’s example was quickly followed by Sardar Nimaji Shinde, Sarlashkar Haibatrao Nimbalkar, Rustamrao Jadhavrao (Shahu’s father-in-law), Sekhoji Thorat and Chimnaji Damodar who were all operating in Baglana, Khandesh and Nashik region. The forces of Tarabai assembled near Kudas Khed for a confrontation.
On 3 August 1707, Jotyaji Kesarkar received the formal sanads for Raja Shahu at Burhanpur from the new Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, who had got the throne by killing his half-brother and rival, emperor Azam Shah in the Battle of Jajau. While Bahadur Shah granted Marathas sardeshmukhi of the Deccan, he failed to grant them chauth and thus to satisfy them fully. He also did not recognise Shahu as the rightful Maratha Chhatrapati. He thus let Tara Bai and Shahu fight for supremacy over the Maratha Kingdom. The Battle of Khed would be a major development in the ensuing civil war.
Battle of Khed
On his march from Pune to the field of Khed Kudus, Shahu faced resistance from the town of Parad(village in Jalna district), which had a small fortress from which a feeble cannonade was directed upon his forces by the Patil Sayaji Lokhande. The fortress was stormed and levelled to the ground, and the besieged were put to the sword. The Patil Sayaji's widow placed her son Ranoji in Shahu's palanquin. Shahu, who regarded this as his first victory, named the boy Fatesinh and adopted him as his own son. Upon reaching Khed, Shahu sneaked into Dhanaji Jadhav's camp in disguise and had an interview with Dhanaji's comptroller Naroram Ranga Rao, who held favour of his master. Naroram represented the legitimacy of Shahu's claims to the Maratha throne and persuaded Dhanaji to espouse the right cause at the right time. Thereafter, Dhanaji also pledged his allegiance to Shahu. The Battle of Khed then took place on 12 October 1707 between the forces of Tarabai and Raja Shahu, who personally commanded his contingents. Tarabai's forces were led by Pratinidhi Parshuram Trymbak and Sarsenapati Khanderao Dabhade and suffered major casualties, while Dhanaji Jadhav only engaged in nominal skirmishes due to his prior oath of allegiance to Shahu. Shahu thus achieved a resounding victory causing Parshuram Trymbak Pratinidhi to flee to Satara Fort. Following the battle, Shahu visited the Khandoba Temple at Jejuri to pay homage and assumed the title "Kshatriyakulavatansa Sriyut Raja Shahu Chhatrapati".Chhatrapatis Of Kolhapur by M. Malgonkar, pg. 65 Shahu, riding on a wave of success, went on to capture Raigad, Torna, Vichitragad, and Chandan-Vandan forts, along with a few minor ones, in record time. Within a month of the Battle of Khed, he then appeared before Satara. Camped at the foot of Satara Fort, in almost the exact place where Aurangzeb had camped seven years earlier, Shahu sent off a peremptory demand to Tarabai's Pratinidhi to surrender the fort without resistance. However, since the latter would not yield, Shahu laid siege to it. Determined to conquer it in eight days, Shahu discovered that the military commander (Havaldar) of the fort, Sheikh Mira, had kept his family in Wai, a village not far from his camp. Shahu decided to apply a judicious ploy and threatened Sheikh Mira, saying that he would blow off the Sheikh's wife and children from the mouth of cannons if he did not surrender the fortress. Sheikh Mira then showed his readiness to do the bidding of Shahu. However, since the Pratinidhi resisted, Sheikh Mira, in a minor coup, threw him into prison and opened the gates to Shahu on 1 January 1708. It is said that even Dhanaji Jadhav, who had seen Aurangzeb’s vast army battering the fort of Satara for nine months before it capitulated, is said to have expressed surprise at the ease and rapidity with which Shahu managed to conquer it. Satara thus became the capital of Shahu's realms.
Expansion
Consolidation