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Monday 25 October 2010

Was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj a Hindu King in Muslim India?





During 17th century Mughals were well established in India. Other kingdoms in India had accepted superiority of Mughals irrespective of their religion. This means the rulers were Muslims and they had migrated from other countries, in short 'Foreign Muslims'.
On the other hand majority of the population did not follow Islam. Therefore it is incorrect to say Muslim India. The correct assessment would be 'India ruled by foreigners'. Shivaji was staunch supporter of locals and had an opinion that the country should be ruled by people of the country and not outsiders. He wanted independence from outsiders. His concept was a 'State of the people, for the people and by the people'. This does mean that he did not want to establish his own kingdom or kingdom of Hindus. His thinking was very clear. India ruled by Indians. Therefore, the title of a book could be 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj an Indian King in India ruled by Foreign Muslims'.
James Lane, an American writer had unnecessarily tried to darken Shivaji's character. He deserves punishment. Minimum he should accept mistake, appeal to Indians to forgive him and withdraw all copies of his book so far sold across the world and replace the same with corrections needed. The publishers are also equally responsible and should follow James and help him in replacing distributed books with corrected copies. 

Religion: Universal Brotherhood

1 comment:

Madhav Bamne said...

I agree that James Lane and the publishers should accept mistake and withdraw all copies and replace with corrected copies. Indians should agitate against the writer and publisher and make them implement this.

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