Showing posts with label Shivaji. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shivaji. Show all posts
A Tribute to India's Greatest Hero
Labels:
Shivaji
Tanhaji
10 months ago we thoroughly enjoyed watching ManikarnikaTheFilm. Before watching the movie, I thought that I knew all about Rani Laxmibai from what I had read in school history text books and from studying Subhadra Kumari Chouhan's epic poem "खूब लडी मरदानी, वह तो झांसी वाली रानी थी". Yet there were many things about the great warrior queen that I had not known. After seeing the movie I read about Rani Laxmibai again, to separate fact from fiction, as many historical movies depart from facts to meet their box office targets. Interestingly the story line of the film was a fairly accurate depiction of history. ManikarnikaTheFilm was an excellent movie and a must-watch for every Indian.
I am now looking forward to see TANHAJI this weekend. And I am hoping it turns out as good and authentic as Manikarnika. Most viewer reviews on the internet of TANHAJI are positive, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
I had often wondered why there were no Hindi movies on Shivaji, despite the history of Shivaji being so fascinating! So many events in Shivaji's life - Tanhaji's conquest of Kondhana, Baji Prabhu Deshpande's defense of Ghodkhind, Shivaji's midnight attack on Shaesta Khan at Pune's Lal Mahal, the battle of Pratapgad, to name a few - are incredible tales of exemplary valor and wit. It was surprising that no one had made a Hindi movies on any of these events.
Now Ajay Devgan has brought "The Lion" Tanhaji Malsure to life on screen. It is good to see films depicting lives of real heroes of India now being made by a few honest film makers in Bollywood.
Labels:
Shivaji
The Amazing History of the Battle of Pratapgad!
It's a long time since a great movie like Gladiator has been released. I love to watch the battle of Germania scene from Gladiator. It watched it a few times today. Then I watched this interesting re-creation of the battle of Stirling Bridge. The battle of Stirling Bridge is one of the most memorable battles in first war of Scottish independence. On September 11, 1297, Scottish forces led by William Wallace trounced the English, although the Scots were outnumbered 1:4!
The history of battle of Stirling Bridge, reminded me of a slide show on the battle of Pratapgad prepared by a retired school teacher in Mahabaleshwar. The slide show was one of the most interesting experiences on my pilgrimage to Pratapgad in 2001. Like the Scots, Shivaji's forces were heavily outnumbered by Afzal Khan's strong army. The slide show narrated the incredible rout of Afzal Khan's army at the hands of Shivaji's Mavalas. Here's a brief excerpt of the story of Pratapgad from wikipedia:
Battle
After starting from Bijapur, Afzal Khan began by destroying the temple of Bhavani at Tuljapur. He moved on to the Vittal temple at Pandharpur. He was trying to entice Shivaji out of the mountainous areas he occupied and onto the plains.
Hand to hand combat of the forces
Maratha troops commanded by Shivaji's captain Kanhoji Jedhe, swept down on Afzal Khan's 1,500 musketeers; resulting in a complete rout of the musketeers at the foothills of the fort. Then in a rapid march, a section of Adilshahi forces commanded by Musekhan was attacked. Musekhan, Afzal Khan's lieutenant, was wounded and subsequently fled the field.
Meanwhile, Moropant led the Maratha infantry toward the left flank of Adilshahi troops. The suddenness of this attack on Afzal Khan's artillery at close quarters made them ineffective in providing artillery cover for the main portion of their troops. And as a result of this the rest of their troops rapidly succumbed to an all out Maratha attack. Simultaneously Shivaji's Sardar (captain), Ragho Atre's cavalry units swooped down and attacked the large but unprepared Adilshahi cavalry before they were able to be fully geared up for battle and succeeded in completely routing them in short order.
The Maratha cavalry under Netaji Palkar pursued the retreating Adilshahi forces, who were attempting to join up with the part of their reserve forces stationed in the nearby village of Wai. They were engaged in battle before they could regroup and were defeated prior to reaching Wai. The Adilshahi forces not withstanding the onslaught of the Marathas started retreating towards Bijapur. The Maratha army chased the retreating army and on their way captured 23 Adilshahi forts. In fact, the Adilshahi Killedar of the Kolhapur fort himself handed over the keys to the Marathas.
Aftermath
Adilshahi forces lost their artillery, 65 elephants, 4000 horses, 1200 camels, jewels worth 300,000 Rupees, 1,000,000 Rupees, heaps of precious cloths, tents to the Marathas. They also lost their money and grain stored at Wai. 5,000 Adilshahi soldiers were killed and almost as many were wounded. 3,000 soldiers were imprisoned, and the remainder were allowed to go home in defeat.
The battle of Pratapgad took place on November 10, 1659. It marked the beginning of the end for Adilshahi and laid the foundation of benign rule of Shivaji, and eventual independence of our nation from tyrannical foreign rulers.
The history of battle of Stirling Bridge, reminded me of a slide show on the battle of Pratapgad prepared by a retired school teacher in Mahabaleshwar. The slide show was one of the most interesting experiences on my pilgrimage to Pratapgad in 2001. Like the Scots, Shivaji's forces were heavily outnumbered by Afzal Khan's strong army. The slide show narrated the incredible rout of Afzal Khan's army at the hands of Shivaji's Mavalas. Here's a brief excerpt of the story of Pratapgad from wikipedia:
Battle
After starting from Bijapur, Afzal Khan began by destroying the temple of Bhavani at Tuljapur. He moved on to the Vittal temple at Pandharpur. He was trying to entice Shivaji out of the mountainous areas he occupied and onto the plains.
Hand to hand combat of the forces
Maratha troops commanded by Shivaji's captain Kanhoji Jedhe, swept down on Afzal Khan's 1,500 musketeers; resulting in a complete rout of the musketeers at the foothills of the fort. Then in a rapid march, a section of Adilshahi forces commanded by Musekhan was attacked. Musekhan, Afzal Khan's lieutenant, was wounded and subsequently fled the field.
Meanwhile, Moropant led the Maratha infantry toward the left flank of Adilshahi troops. The suddenness of this attack on Afzal Khan's artillery at close quarters made them ineffective in providing artillery cover for the main portion of their troops. And as a result of this the rest of their troops rapidly succumbed to an all out Maratha attack. Simultaneously Shivaji's Sardar (captain), Ragho Atre's cavalry units swooped down and attacked the large but unprepared Adilshahi cavalry before they were able to be fully geared up for battle and succeeded in completely routing them in short order.
The Maratha cavalry under Netaji Palkar pursued the retreating Adilshahi forces, who were attempting to join up with the part of their reserve forces stationed in the nearby village of Wai. They were engaged in battle before they could regroup and were defeated prior to reaching Wai. The Adilshahi forces not withstanding the onslaught of the Marathas started retreating towards Bijapur. The Maratha army chased the retreating army and on their way captured 23 Adilshahi forts. In fact, the Adilshahi Killedar of the Kolhapur fort himself handed over the keys to the Marathas.
Aftermath
Adilshahi forces lost their artillery, 65 elephants, 4000 horses, 1200 camels, jewels worth 300,000 Rupees, 1,000,000 Rupees, heaps of precious cloths, tents to the Marathas. They also lost their money and grain stored at Wai. 5,000 Adilshahi soldiers were killed and almost as many were wounded. 3,000 soldiers were imprisoned, and the remainder were allowed to go home in defeat.
The battle of Pratapgad took place on November 10, 1659. It marked the beginning of the end for Adilshahi and laid the foundation of benign rule of Shivaji, and eventual independence of our nation from tyrannical foreign rulers.
Labels:
Adilshah,
Afzal Khal,
Battle,
English,
History,
Indian History,
Marathas,
Pratapgad,
Scotland,
Shivaji,
War,
William Wallace
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