Chhatrapati Shivaji & Bhavani Mata’s Hidden Connection
Why is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj being offered a sword by this Goddess?
She's Aai Bhavani, and here's her story.
Bhavani Mata was the Kuldevi of the Bhonsle clan of Maratha warriors, and young Shivraya first came to her through his mother, Jijamata. From her, he learnt that Dharma isn't only passively prayed for, it's established by taking active righteous action & matters into one’s own hands.
So his campaigns were never about personal ambition. They were driven by a divine mission that he believed was a mandate from the Goddess: to free his people from Sultanate tyranny and build Hindavi Swarajya.
Her name, Bhavani, means the Shakti of Bhava, Shiva himself, and she is the source creative energy who gives existence to all life. She's the fierce form of Durga-Parvati.
Her prefix, Tulja or Turja, is said to come from the Sanskrit Tvarita, the one who delivers results swiftly.
In our Skanda Purana, Tuljapur's legend says when the demon Kukur attacked the sage Kardama's wife Anubhuti during her tapasya, the Goddess rushed to her rescue instantly.
Her murti at Tuljapur, carved in black stone, is a chala murti. Unlike most temple idols, it isn't fixed to its seat. It's lifted out three times a year for her ritual sleep, her nidra. Her eight arms carry the trishul, showing her command over past, present and future, along with the chakra and shankha. And she holds the head of Mahishasura, the ego she has conquered.
Tuljapur is one of Maharashtra's three-and-a-half Shaktipeethas, along with Mahalakshmi of Kolhapur, Renuka of Mahur, and the half peetha, Saptashrungi of Vani.
Like a mother, Aai Bhavani guided Shivraya at every turn. In 1659, the Adilshahi general Afzal Khan desecrated her Tuljapur temple to provoke him. But before the Pratapgad meeting, it's believed the Goddess promised Shivraya that Afzal Khan would meet his end through his hands. And he did.
Sabhasad, a courtier of Shivaji, writes that she came to him again in his darkest hour, guiding him through the 1665 Treaty of Purandar with Mirza Raja Jai Singh. Before his coronation in 1674, he climbed Pratapgad to offer her a golden chhatra. And most iconically, his sword carried her name: the Bhavani Talwar.
Our Chhatrapati firmly believed he was only her vessel, carrying out her mission to restore Dharma to this sacred land. And that’s why he emerged fearless & victorious.
Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji!