Hijacking Shivaji Maharaj? Not me

Dear Mr Gautier,
This is in response to your column, ‘The hijacking of Shivaji Maharaj by vested interests’ in DNA on November 23. First, I simply fail to understand what you mean by Bhavani Bharati? This is an absolutely new phrase invented by you to hide your real intentions. No such phrase exists, not just in Maharashtra but elsewhere.

You state there is some plan to hijack Shivaji. In fact, it is you who is trying to hijack Shivaji Maharaj under the pretext of him being a Hindu. On the one hand, you state he was secular, which is true, but on the other hand, you build a shrine (temple) for him?

In the second paragraph, you state it is not a shrine for Shivaji, but for Bhawani Bharati. Then why is Shivaji shown in the statue getting a sword from Bhavani Mata? Doesn’t this imply that Shivaji derived all his good characteristics including his bravery thanks to the goddesses’ blessings and there existed no personal ability, those that we think of as an inspiration and not a godly act?

Though you, a foreigner, have been part of India and have known Hinduism for the last 25 to 30 years, I want to bring to your notice that the Vedas were prohibited to almost 95% of the population for millennia. You may also not be aware of what ‘Vibhuti’ means too.

Vibhuti is a partial or complete reincarnation of the god associated with miracles.

The statue erected in the temple — by whatever name Mr Gautier calls it — is an attempt to demean humanly deeds and courage. Also Mr Gautier fails to understand the political circumstances back then. As Aurangzeb had Hindu nobles on his side, Shivaji too had Muslim nobles on his side. It was not a conflict between Hindus and Muslims, as Mr Gautier dreams, it was a conflict between the oppressors and the oppressed. 

Thus, I object to Mr Gautier’s move through the veil of FACT because it is nothing but an attempt to paint Shivaji in a divine form. And my objection stands on the ground that portraying Shivaji and his glorious career as having been possible due to the blessings of god is intolerable. That will demean Shivaji Maharaj.

A realistic idol will be hijacked. I am not hijacking Shivaji Maharaj. I would like to state that I admire Shivaji Maharaj being beyond caste and religion, hence associating him with any deity based on some myths created by poet Bhushan cannot be acceptable.
If this was more memorial than shrine and had Shivaji Maharaj’ statue been erected separately, there would be no reason to oppose it, but the protest will remain still it is called a shrine and the present statue remains central to it. Because Shivaji’s successes and failures were his own doing, not god’s.

The writer is a noted Marathi author