Shivaji Bhonsale escaped from his Agra prison, where he was imprisoned by Emperor Aurangzeb on 19 August 1666. The escape itself from one of the strongholds of the empire is miraculous. But his subsequent journey back to his kingdom through thousands of kilometres of hostile territory is just incredible. He started with just a few men and little money. He deceived the imperial guards and search parties by travelling through a much longer route of Mathura, Allahabad, Varanasi, Puri, Golkonda and then back to his country. On the way he had to abandon all his followers in fear of getting detected, he lost all his money, he begged for provision and eventually against all odds reached home safely.
After reaching home, he crowned himself king. He challenged the richest and mightiest empire of his time and eventually brought about its downfall in less than 50 years of his death.
The odds that he fought against are incredible. He fought the combined forces of the Mughal Empire and its two sultanates Bijapur and Golconda at the height of their power. Their combined strength included a million strong army, hundred thousand cavalry, over two thousand pieces of artillery manned by the finest European gunners. They had a combined revenue of five billion rupees, one third of the global GDP.
Against this Shivaji had less than fifty villagers and two hundred rupees a year revenue from his land. But he fought with steadfast determination and insatiable quest for liberty and eventually overpowered all three adversaries and established a kingdom based on justice and equality. He faced religious persecution under the Mughal rulers. So he ensured that all citizens get equal rights and no one is persecuted in his realm. Finally when he died after establishing a strong, peaceful and prosperous kingdom, he was so loved by his people, that he entered the pantheon of the great rulers like Ashok and Akbar.
On 16 January 1941 Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose escaped from his home in Calcutta, where he was kept in house arrest by the British rulers of India. He travelled through Dhanbad, Delhi, Peshawar, Jalalabad, Kabul, Central Asia, Moscow and finally reached Germany. There he raised an army to fight against the British Colonial rulers of India. Then he travelled to Japan via submarines evading all the allied blockades and reached Japan, again raised an army, went to Singapore, then Burma and fought against the British army. He lost the battle. But due to his determined push, the British Empire, the mightiest Empire in human history crumbled to dust in less than 10 years.
When he started his journey, Netaji did not have any followers. He had just been ousted from his own Congress party, of which he was the elected president. He was arrested and kept interned in his house by the British police. He did not have any alliance with any foreign power. What he had was a burning desire to free his countrymen from the tyranny and oppression of an alien power. And with that inspiration he achieved what no one could ever dream of, decolonization of half the world. It is sad that he did not live to see this new world.
Sources:
I recently read the book Mahaniskraman by Sisir Kumar Basu, a thrilling account of Netaji’s escape from house arrest. Sisir Basu, Netaji’s nephew, drove him during the first leg of his journey to Gomo.
Last November I went to Kolkata. There I visited the museum dedicated to his life in Victoria Memorial. Although I hated the idea that a colonial monument is used as the site for a museum after him, I liked the exhibits. Particularly one depicting his escape graphically. I stood in front of it for a long time thinking how passionately he must have hated subjugation by an alien power that he undertook this journey to free up his country from bondage. I have a desire to translate Sisir Basu’s book to English to make it available for all Indians to read.
Last month I read the book Shivaji: The Grand Rebel. Very nice book on Shivaji’s life and time. Then the idea struck me that these two escapes had such a profound impact on human history that I felt like sharing with you all.
Thanks for reading.
