The late 1960's! The notorious Cold War since the late fifties had spilled in to the U.S.-Vietnam strife. The mighty America was defeated decisively by the tiny Vietnam. When asked how, the President of Vietnam said that they could win at all because they followed Shivaji Maharaj's guérilla techniques.
That is the great Shivaji Maharaj for you. A great warrior who invented the guerrilla warfare, a strategy that helped the meagre Maratha army stand up to the mighty Moghuls. But he was not merely that.
In my opinion, he was a great philosopher king. His was a soulful vision basically. His was an ideal thought. His was a practical idea. No wonder, his concepts continue to illumine history for centuries. An example or two may suffice.
No, no, let us forget the populist stories about the daughter-in-law of the Kalyan Subhedar. Sure that legend, too, proves his wisdom as a king. Let us look deeper though. Those were the days when the economy was agrarian. Shivaji Maharaj arrived at a very rational distribution of the produce, forty per cent for the kingdom and sixty for the farmer.
Next, he devised wonderful ways of water conservation as the dry and rough terrain of the mountainous Maharashtra was easily prone to dry spells of droughts. He provided seeds to farmers in need, for instance. As a result, the common man, either a farmer or a farmhand, realised that here was a king who unlike the marauding lords, treated the farm holding tenants kindly and with consideration.
In brief, he was a philosopher king because such were his thoughtful humane ways as a ruler that he could generate faith and belief in a polity that was for generations cruelly oppressed and ill-treated. No wonder, he could create followers whose faith in him as a good king, as a generous leader was so implicit and total that nothing could shake it.
It could even be argued that he was a philosopher king because he was mature enough to give in when the circumstances were impossible. An example could be his agreement before going to Delhi. That did not mean, however, that he compromised with his principles or his honour in any way. But he was wise enough to lie low or to keep quiet so that he can bide his time, and win in the final analysis with honour intact, and minimal losses.
Given such a balanced vision, he could transform a principality in to a rock solid kingdom that for generations saved (for sure, the southern, though actually the whole of) India from the Mughals. His treatment of the British and the Portuguese was equally wise.
One can go on and on praising his foresight, his balanced vision, his integrity as an individual and as a ruler. Instead, let us state it in brief by asserting that he was one of the best examples of this concept called the philosopher king !
Pratima@ In 2030, we would be celebrating his four hundredth birth anniversary. May be, by that time, despite and along with the ASI rules, if his great forts are re-built and beautified as tributes to him, it would truly be history re-lived. For sure, by that time, at least projects such as "Shiv Shrushti" would emerge as live demos of his vision as a great wise philosopher king!
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