Source: – True Indology / Twitter.
(Thread)
Today is the Birthday of the great Hindu king Sambhaji Maharaj
After the death of Shivaji in 1680, his 23 year old eldest son Sambhaji ascended the Maratha throne. Aurangzeb was relieved at the news of Shivaji’s death (1/n) pic.twitter.com/VhkU0neLfM
— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
By 1681,Aurangzeb reached Burhanpur intending to uproot Maratha race, destroy temples, crush Hindu resistance for good and go back to Delhi as victor within 1 year. The most powerful and richest person in the world came with 5 Lakh Mughal troops, largest army in the world (2/n)
— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
But Aurangzeb had little idea he'd spend next 27 years of life in Deccan ultimately failing his objective and meeting a sad death
Aurangzeb also enlisted the services of Sidis and Portuguese who attacked Marathas from West while Mughals attacked them from North and East. (3/n)— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
Sambhaji was encircled and death of newly formed kingdom of Shivaji,the hope of millions of Hindus, was imminent
But he would to fight fire with fire.His small bands dispersed and battled them in all directions In his first year, he invited subedar Bahadur Khan for a battle (4/n)— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
In 1682, Mughal army at Ramsej(Nasik) was defeated, repulsed by Marathas. This defeat dealt a blow to the Aurangzeb's prestige
In 1683,Sambhaji attacked Portuguese Goa and successfully captured Ponda fort. He was on his way to annihilate Portuguese traces in India for good (5/n)— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
Just then,Mughals came in support of Portuguese and attacked Sambhaji from East
Heavily outnumbered and encircled,Sambhaji still managed to hold onto his territories and invaded/successfully raided Mughal-held Gujarat in 1685. Even the Mughal base at Aurangabad was not safe(6/n)— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
Sambhaji invited other Hindu kings to join his dharmayuddha.He wrote
“We can't bear the persecution Aurangzeb is inflicting upon Hindus.
We'll sacrifice our lives to capture Aurangzeb so we can practice our religion without molestation.Muster courage and nothing can stop us”(7/n pic.twitter.com/jNU9i2REcz— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
In his short reign of 9 years, Sambhaji and his troops ruling over a tiny territory of Konkan had atleast 15 battles with Portuguese and 69 battles with Mughals.
That they still held on is one of the greatest stories of Hindu resistance (8/n) pic.twitter.com/hz28Wybkyd
— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
In 1689, Mughal troops suddenly fell upon a resting Sambhaji and captured him. He was dressed as buffoon and paraded. Wife and daughters were captured and enslaved
Aurangzeb offered to spare Sambhaji’s life if
1)He converted to Islam
2) surrendered forts, men and treasures (9/n)— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
“I wont convert to Islam even if Aurangzeb offered his daughter to me” thundered Sambhaji
Sambhaji’s eyes were plucked out. His tongue was cut out. His skin was peeled with tiger paws.After a fortnight’s physical torture, his limbs were hacked into pieces and fed to dogs (10/n) pic.twitter.com/Z5jII7G9qv
— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
Maasir I Alamgiri is official" Mughal-sponsored history record of Aurangzeb
While describing ISIS-like punishments meted out to "Kafir" Sambhaji with glee,it says Aurangzeb did it "out to his devotion to Islam so that Muslims might be heartened and (Hindu) infidels disheartened" pic.twitter.com/JEu0zAxqwP
— True Indology (@TrueIndology) May 14, 2018
