THE MARATHA VANSHAJ

                               
                                                     

                            THE BHONSLE FAMILY

The Bhonsle (or Bhonsale, Bhosale, Bhosle) are a prominent group within the Maratha clan system. Traditionally a warrior clan, some members served as rulers of several states in India, the most prominent being Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire which opposed the rule of Mughal Empire in Indian subcontinent. His successors ruled as chhatrapatis (maharajas) from their capital at Satara, although de facto rule of the empire passed to the Peshwas, the Maratha hereditary chief ministers, during the reign of Shahu I. In addition to the Bhonsle chhatrapatis of Satara, rulers of the Bhonsle clan established themselves as junior branch of chhatrapatis at Kolhapur, and as maharajas of Nagpur in modern-day Maharashtra in the 18th century. 

After the British defeat of the Marathas in the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818, the four Bhonsle dynasties continued as rulers of their princely states, acknowledging British suzerainty while retaining local autonomy. The states of Satara, Thanjavur, and Nagpur came under direct British rule in the mid-nineteenth century when their rulers died without male heirs, although the British allowed titular adoptions to take place. Kolhapur state remained autonomous until India's independence in 1947, when the rulers acceded to the Indian government. 

Akkalkot State, Sawantwadi State and Barshi were amongst other prominent states ruled by the Bhonsles. 






Origin

The Bhonsles originated among the populations of the Deccani tiller-plainsmen who were known by the names Kunbi and Maratha.
At the time of coronation of Shivaji, Bhonsles claimed their origin from Suryavanshi Sisodia Rajput.Allison Busch, Professor at the University of Columbia states that Shivaji was not a Kshatriya as required and hence had to postpone the coronation until 1674 and hired Gaga Bhatt to trace his ancestry back to the Sisodias. While the preparations for the coronations were in process, Bhushan, a poet, wrote a poem about this genealogy claimed by Bhatt in "Shivrajbhushan". Using this example, Busch shows how even poetry was an "important instrument of statecraft" at the time. Some scholars suggest that Pandit Gaga Bhatt was secured in charge of authoritatively declaring him a Kshatriya. He was made a compliant, and he accepted the Bhonsle pedigree as fabricated by the secretary Balaji Avji, and declared that Rajah was a Kshatriya, descended from the Maharanas of Udaipur.

The Brahman acknowledgement of Kshatriyahood is therefore taken as political. The passage from the Dutch records suggest the plausibility of this argument. The report of Shivaji's coronation in the contemporary Dutch East India Company archives indicates that Shivaji's claim was contested twice at the ceremony itself. Firstly the Brahmins did not want to grant him the status of Kshatriya and then they refused him the recitation of the Vedas, indicating Shivaji was admitted to the fold of the higher varnas as far as the sign of the sacred thread was concerned, but restricted in their use of the concomitant ritual rights including the recitation of the Vedas. Historians such as Surendra Nath Sen and V. K. Rajwade reject the Sisodia origin by citing the temple inscription of Math, dated to 1397 A.D and holds the view that the genealogy was forged by Shivaji's men. According to R. C. Dhere, Bhonsles are descendants of the founder of Shikhar, Balip. He argues that the name Bhonsle is linguistically descended from 'Hoysala'. There is a branch of Bhonsle clan extant in Maharashtra that goes by the name 'Śirsāṭ Bhosale' and Balip's full name, from inscriptional sources cited by Dhere, was 'Baliyeppā Gopati Śirsāṭ'. Some Mudhol firmans in the possession of the Rajah of Mudhol claim the descent of the Ghorpades under the Adil Shahs and the Bhonsles, from the Sisodia Rajputs of Udaipur. However historians consider these firmans spurious as these are the copies (not originals), written by a scholar of Bijapur dated to c.1709, much after the coronation of Shivaji. André Wink, a professor of History at University of Wisconsin–Madison, states that the Sisodia genealogical claim is destined to remain disputed forever



Knights, regents and monarchs


  • Babaji Bhonsle (d. 1597), father of Maloji Bhonsle who was a patil of the Hingni Berdi and Devalgaon villages around Pune
  • Shahaji (1594–1664), father of Shivaji who served as a knight for the Ahmadnagar Sultanate and later the Adilshahi of Bijapur
  • Sambhaji (1657–1689), son of Shivaji and his successor as Chhatrapati
  • Tarabai (1675–1761), commander of Maratha forces after the death of her husband Rajaram in 1700; regent for her son Shivaji II until being deposed by Shahu I and then by her husband's other widow, Rajasbai.

House of Satara


  • Shahu I (1708–1749), son of Sambhaji, became Chhatrapati in 1708 after defeating his aunt Tarabai in a war of succession.
  • Ramaraja (1749–1777), grandson of Rajaram and Tarabai; adopted son of Shahu I.
  • Shahu II of Satara (1777–1808), son of Ramaraja.
  • Pratap Singh.
  • Chatrapati Shahaji 3 (Abasaheb) of Satara
  • Venkatji or Vyankoji Raje bhosale (bhausaheb)
  • Chatrapati Ramraja 3 (Abasaheb)
  • Shahu III of Satara
  • Pratapsinhraje 2 (adopted)
  • Shahu Pratapsinh Raje bhosale (Abasaheb)
  • Chatrapati Pratapsinh Raje 3
  • Udayanraje

House of Kolhapur






SHAHAJI RAJE 

Shahaji (March 18, 1594/1602 – January 23, 1664) was the son of Raja of Verul and a general in the court of Adilshah, sultan of Bijapur. The eldest son of Maloji Bhosle, Raja of Verul, Shahaji inherited the Pune and Supe jagirs, under the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. During the Mughal invasion of Deccan, he joined the Mughal forces and served Emperor Shah Jahan for a brief period. After being deprived of his jagirs, he defected to the Bijapur Sultanate in 1632 and regained control over Pune and Supe. In 1638, he also received the jagir of Bangalore, after Bijapur's invasion of Kempe Gowda III's territories. He eventually became the chief general of Bijapur and oversaw its expansion.
An early exponent of guerrilla warfare, he brought the house of Bhonsle into prominence. He was father of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the founder of Maratha Empire. The princely states of Tanjore, Kolhapur and Satara are also Bhonsle legacies. 




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Shahaji was the son of Maratha warrior Maloji Bhonsle. Maloji was a capable soldier and eventually became Sar Giroh and was awarded independent Jagir (Fief) of Pune & Supe districts in the court of Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar. Maloji was childless for a long time. After seeking blessings from a Sufi Muslim pir called Shah Sharif, two sons were born to him. Maloji named his sons Shahaji and Sharifji in honour of the pir.Shahaji married Jijabai,the daughter of Lakhuji Jadhav, another Maratha general in the service of Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar when both of them were children
In 1638, a large Bijapur army led by Ranadulla Khan and accompanied by Shahaji defeated Kempe Gowda III and Bangalore was given to Shahaji as a jagir.

In Bangalore, the second phase of Shahaji's life started. He sent his wife Jijabai and their younger son, Shivaji to Pune to manage his jagir of Pune. The couple's elder son, Shambuji (also called as Sambhaji) and another son Venkoji from his second wife stayed with him at Bangalore. Shahji was virtually the king of the territory under his control; the Sultan trusted him and called him the a son and pillar of the state. In Bangalore, Shahaji patronized men of learning
Shahaji samadhi (tomb) is at Hodigere near Channagiri in Karnataka





 CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI RAJE 



Shivaji Bhonsle (Marathi 19 feb 1630 – 3 April 1680) was an Indian warrior king and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out an enclave from the declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. In 1674, he was formally crowned as the chhatrapati (monarch) of his realm at Raigad.

 Over the course of his life, Shivaji engaged in both alliances and hostilities with the Mughal Empire, Sultanate of Golkonda, and Sultanate of Bijapur, as well as European colonial powers. Shivaji's military forces expanded the Maratha sphere of influence, capturing and building forts, and forming a Maratha navy. Shivaji established a competent and progressive civil rule with well-structured administrative organisations. He revived ancient Hindu political traditions and court conventions and promoted the usage of Marathi and Sanskrit, rather than Persian, in court and administration.

 Shivaji's legacy was to vary by observer and time but he began to take on increased importance with the emergence of the Indian independence movement, as many elevated him as a proto-nationalist and hero of the Hindus.Particularly in Maharashtra, debates over his history and role have engendered great passion and sometimes even violence as disparate groups have sought to characterise him and his legacy.


SAMBHAJI RAJE


 Sambhaji (14 May 1657 – 11 March 1689) was the second ruler of the Maratha kingdom. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire and his first wife Saibai. He was successor of the realm after his father's death, and ruled it for nine years. Sambhaji's rule was largely shaped by the ongoing wars between the Maratha kingdom and Mughal Empire as well as other neighbouring powers such as the Siddis, Mysore and the Portuguese in Goa. In 1689, Sambhaji was captured, tortured and executed by the Mughals, and succeeded by his brother Rajaram I.

Sambhaji was born at Purandar fort to Saibai, Shivaji's first wife. His mother died when he was two years old and he was raised by his paternal grandmother Jijabai. At the age of nine, Sambhaji was sent to live with Raja Jai Singh I of Amber as a political hostage to ensure compliance of the Treaty of Purandar that Shivaji had signed with the Mughals on 11 June 1665. As a result of the treaty, Sambhaji became a Mughal mansabdar. He and his father Shivaji presented themselves at Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb's court at Agra on 12 May 1666. Aurangzeb put both of them under house arrest but they escaped on 22 July 1666. However, the two sides reconciled and had cordial relations during the period 1666–1670. In this period Shivaji and Sambhaji fought alongside the Mughals against the Sultanate of Bijapur.




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SHAHU MAHARAJ


Shahu (also known as Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj or Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj) GCSI GCIE GCVO(26 June 1874 – 6 May 1922) of the Bhosle dynasty of Marathas was a Raja (reign. 1894 – 1900) and a Maharaja (1900-1922) of the Indian princely state of Kolhapur. Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, also known as Rajarshi Shahu was considered a true democrat and social reformer. First Maharaja of the princely state of Kolhapur, he was an invaluable gem in the history of Maharashtra. Greatly influenced by the contributions of social reformer Jyotiba Phule, Shahu Maharaj was an ideal leader and able ruler who was associated with many progressive and path breaking activities during his rule. From his coronation in 1894 till his demise in 1922, he worked tirelessly for the cause of the lower caste subjects in his state. Primary education to all regardless of caste and creed was one of his most significant priorities.

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UDAYAN RAJE
nraje Bhosale (born 24 February 1966) is a member of the 16th Lok Sabha representing NCP from Satara Constituency in Maharashtra state in India.[1] In both 2009, and 2014 parliamentary elections he was elected to the Lok Sabha as a Nationalist Congress Party candidate. Before that, he was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly 
Udayanraje is the 13th holder of the title of Chhatrapati which was founded by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on his coronation in 1674.
He is married to Damayantiraje and has a son, Veerpratapsinhraje, and a daughter, Nayantararaje.











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