Tanhaji Maharaj
Many great men and brave warriors have been born in our country India. If we start looking at the pages of Indian history, we will get to hear stories of many brave warriors. There were many such brave warriors in the history of India, listening to the story of whose courage even today people get goosebumps and every Indian’s chest swells with pride. So, today we are going to know the story and true incidents of one such brave warrior, who not only protected the country but also got martyred for his country while fighting.
So without any further delay let’s move on to the video. Friends, during the period of Maratha Empire, there were many brave warriors whose stories of bravery have been written in golden letters in the pages of history. The name of one great and brave warrior Tanaji Malusare is also included among them. This name is quite familiar to the people of Maharashtra. Maybe, but for other people of India this name may not seem that familiar. Let us tell you that Tanaji Malusare was a close and close friend of Veer Shivaji Maharaj.
Both of them had grown up with each other since childhood. Tanaji was a brave, loyal Maratha chieftain. Apart from being Shivaji Maharaj’s best friend, he was also an unforgettable symbol of his commitment. Meaning, Tanaji had completely dedicated his life to Shivaji Maharaj and his country. Let us know the story of Tanaji Malusare and his bravery in further detail. Are. Tanaji had fought many battles along with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and had won all those battles. Tanaji played an important role in the battle of Sinhagarh fought in 1670 AD, for which he is still remembered with respect.
Tanhaji had given more importance to the wishes of Shivaji Maharaj than his son’s marriage. Truly he was a courageous and brave warrior. Otherwise, who would want to leave his son’s wedding and go to war in today’s times? Following the wishes of Shivaji Maharaj, Tanhaji left his son’s wedding and went to the battle of Kondana Fort. To understand the story properly we have to go back some time. The brave Maratha warrior Tanaji Malusare was born in 1600 in the Konkan province of Maharashtra. He was born in a Hindu Kol family.
Tanaji was very fond of using weapons and fencing since childhood. As age increased, his interest in swords also increased and this was the main reason due to which he became friends with Shivaji Maharaj. The friendship between these two became so deep that later Shivaji Maharaj made Tanaji the commander of his entire army and along with this he also made him the chief subedar of the entire Maratha Empire. Here both Shivaji Maharaj and Tanaji were very brave warriors. Apart from being courageous warriors, both of them were skilled in cunning and intelligence.
Well, we all know how Shivaji Maharaj had forced Aurangzeb to fear with his cunning and bravery and only after this the Maratha Empire became a powerful empire. Tanaji also had a special contribution in all these things of Veer Shivaji. Let us tell you that according to the Purandar Agreement in June 1665, Shivaji Maharaj had to hand over the country along with his garland to the Mughals. This agreement had deeply hurt the self-respect of the Marathas. After this, this agreement was very painful in the mind of Shivaji Maharaj’s mother Jijabai, who was also known as the mother of the entire state i.e. Rajmata.
She wanted to conquer Sinhagarh. Shivaji Maharaj adored his mother a lot, but he was not able to fulfill this wish of his mother even if he wanted to because the Sinhagad fort was under the control of the Mughals. Five thousand Mughal soldiers were standing on this fort just to protect it. Actually, according to the old stories and folk tales of Sinhagad, once Shivaji Maharaj’s mother was sitting at the window of her Pratapgarh fort, from where the Sinhagad fort was visible. That fort was occupied by the Mughals, which Mata Jijabai could not tolerate at all. He immediately sent a message through the horseman to Shivaji who was in Raigarh.
The message was that Shivaji Maharaj would have to immediately present himself to his mother in Pratapgarh. As soon as he received the message, without thinking anything, Shivaji reached his mother. Shivaji’s heart sank after knowing the wish of mother Jijabai. Shivaji tried hard to convince his mother that it was impossible for him to conquer the fort of Sinhagad. But fearing that his mother would get angry, Shivaji decided that he would attack the fort of Sinhagad.
But to do this work, Shivaji Maharaj thought of a person on whose shoulders the responsibility of this impossible task could be entrusted and that name was none other than Tanaji Malusare. Apart from this, Shivaji Maharaj could not even think of anyone else. Tanaji was his childhood friend and was known for supporting Shivaji Maharaj in every difficult moment and fighting shoulder to shoulder. A message was sent to Tanaji.
He was told that Shivaji Maharaj wanted to meet him at Raigarh Fort and was waiting for him. On the other hand, Tanaji Maharaj was now busy in preparations for his son’s marriage in Prant village, but as soon as he received Shivaji Maharaj’s message, he immediately reached Shivaji Maharaj with his brother Surya ji and Shelar Mama. Shivaji knew very well that the task for which Tanaji had been called was not only difficult but impossible. Tanaji was his best friend, so he could not tell Tanaji about this dangerous campaign with his own mouth.
Then he sent Tanaji to mother Jijabai. After going to mother Jijabai, he came to know about this dangerous and impossible task. Hearing this difficult task, Tanaji became ready to fight, die and kill without caring for his life. Accepting this challenge, Tanaji said, I will definitely conquer Kondana Fort. Let me tell you that the name of Sinhagad Fort was earlier Kondana Fort, which was captured by the Mughals. That time was February 1670. In this bitter cold, at night, Tanaji marches towards Kondana Fort along with 1000 military companions.
Tanaji had taken the cow with him. This animal could stick to the wall like a lizard and could also lift a lot of weight. Which helped Tanaji to climb the high wall of the fort. This animal was the pet of Shivaji Maharaj. There was only one way and way to go inside the fort and that was the western part surrounded by high walls and hilly rocks. Tanaji and his soldiers tie a rope around the waist of the crocodile and climb on top of the fort. Till now only 300 soldiers and Tanaji himself had been able to climb the fort and the remaining 700 soldiers were outside the fort and the guards of the fort got wind of this.
Maratha soldiers cut down all the guards in the darkness of the night, but on the other hand, the soldiers guarding the fort woke up due to the sound of swords and the panic of the soldiers. Tanaji was in a dilemma. There were 300 soldiers with him but along with him 700 soldiers were still standing outside the fort. They were about to be attacked by five thousand soldiers. Experts in history say that this war was fought very fiercely. Every Maratha warrior was fighting with the bravery equal to that of 100 soldiers.
That is, at that time every Maratha soldier had become like gunpowder. The battle had taken a terrible turn in the darkness of the night. Many of Tanaji’s soldiers had been killed. But Tanaji had single-handedly killed many Mughal soldiers. After some time, Sardar Udaybhan of the fort starts fighting with Tanaji. Here the Maratha soldiers were facing many obstacles. One is to come at night and after a long journey, climb the fort, and then fight. Due to all this, the Maratha soldiers were already very tired and Tanaji was also tired and he was also injured while fighting with the Mughal army.
Tanaji was still giving tough competition to the Mughals. In the end, after a long and brave battle, Tanaji was martyred in that war. But by then the 700 soldiers standing below the fort manage to break through all the guards and enter inside. These 700 Maratha soldiers were fighting under the leadership of Tanaji’s brother Surya ji. On hearing the news of the death of their Sardar Tanha ji, the rest of the soldiers seemed to have gone mad. Due to which the fire of vengeance and anger flared up so much among the Marathas that they started killing the Mughals. Everyone started fighting indiscriminately.
During that time, Mughal leader Udaybhan was also killed. As soon as Mughal leader Udaybhan died, his soldiers started saving their lives out of fear. It is said that hundreds of Mughal soldiers jumped down from the fort wall to save their lives, due to which they died. That is, the martyrdom of many Maratha soldiers and brave Tanaji paid off. Yes, after some time the Marathas had achieved a huge historic victory. But that happiness was not visible in his eyes. Because their brave warrior and commander Tanaji was martyred.
The news of victory was given to Shivaji Maharaj. On hearing the news, Shivaji Maharaj immediately set out towards the fort to greet Tanaji. But with great sadness they saw only the dead body of that brave man. Who were martyred in the war while fighting like heroes. It has been described in the history and folk tales of Sinhagarh that Shivaji Maharaj loved his best friend Tanaji so much that he kept crying for 12 days in grief of his departure. After this, it is also described in the stories about the grief faced by mother Jijabai that Jijabai removed the cloth from her face and looked at the face of dead Tanaji.
While mourning, he took out the sword with moist eyes and said that today an important part of his body has been cut off. Expressing his grief, Shivaji Maharaj also said in Marathi language that Garhwal fort was won but my lion is gone i.e. Tanaji is gone. Shivaji Maharaj changed the name of that fort to Sinhgadh Fort in the memory of Tanaji. Even today, in many areas of Maharashtra and Pune, statues of Tanaji have been built to remember and pay tribute to him and he is worshiped and bowed to with garlands of flowers.
Apart from this, among the four special postage stamps issued under the title Forts of India on August 3, 1984, one stamp of 100 paise and a half has also been dedicated to Sinhagad Fort. Well, for your information, let us tell you that a film has also been made in Bollywood on the brave warrior Tanaji, in which the role of Tanaji has been played by famous actor Ajay Devgan.
Anyway, see you again with the powerful explanation of the History.
