Knowing Sambhaji Maharaj

If you saw the movie trailer for “Chhaava,” starring Vicky Kaushal, here’s why its such an important film for Indian culture.

Everyone knows about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj but very few of us have been told the story of his son, Chattrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, who has faced one of the darkest chapters in Indian history.

Sambhaji lost his mom in childhood & ascended to the throne of the entire Maratha empire when he just a 23-year-old kid after our king passed away.

Aurangzeb, who was ruling at the time, thought this would mean finally fulfilling his dream of capturing the Deccan. But Sambhaji & his clan of soldies, the malvas, fearlessly fought off the large Mughal army for many years like a Chhava which means a tiger’s cub.

Unfortunately, Sambhaji’s close ones ratted him out & he was captured, followed by the kind of cruel punishments you don’t want to hear so trigger warning.

He was asked to convert to Islam but he refused despite all the pain for an entire month or so.

He and his colleague, Kavi Kalash, had their eyes gouged out, skin peeled, and their fingers & ears were cut one by one. They were tortured with hot iron rods, and paraded on animals & in rods, with the public encouraged to humiliate him.

To send a message to the enemy, Aurangzeb even cut up parts of his body & severed his head, sending pieces of it to different forts.

Sambhaji did not even get funeral. He refused to leave his Dharma, earning him the title “Dharamveer.” This left Aurangzeb frustrated forever, as his son & half-brother continued the fight, preventing Mughals from destroying so much of our local Marathi culture.

Most of us Maharashtrian families wouldn’t be alive today without him.

Today, as Hinduism faces danger more than ever before, Sambhaji Maharaj is a reminder that we should never surrender & keep fighting to preserve our Dharma.

Read more about his story in the book “Sambhaji Maharaj: A Historical Biography” by Ninad Bedekar.