An animal paradise

It was once the private hunting reserve of the Maharaja of Mysore. Today, it is perhaps the only place in India where you can still see elephants in hundreds gathering at the river side. This has become such a regular occurrence that tourists and visitors flock to this place to see this magnificent spectacle.

This is also the best place in the Indian sub continent to look up the Dhole or the Indian wild dog. The place is also a known centre for the Indian Giant Squirrel which can be seen, curled up in trees holes and branches during the day.

It is also a designated tiger reserve and it has a wide variety of flora and fauna that perhaps is unparalleled. Together with several other forests, it forms part of one of the largest protected areas in India.  

This is the Bandipur forests that is nestled in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district amid the Western Ghats and it is located on the Mysore-Ooty highway. The Nilgiri hills is just across the forests. Just 80 kilometres or 50 miles from the royal city of Mysore, Bandipur hosts one of the best and also among the first tiger reserves of the country.

The Bandipur National Park is a contiguous forest and adjoins the neighbouring wildlife sanctuaries of Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu and Wayanad in Kerala.

Together, the forests total 2,183 km or 843 sq miles making it the largest protected areas in south India. The Bandipur park spans an area of 874 square kilometers or 337 sq miles, while Nagarhole is spread over 643 kms  or 248 sq mi, Madhumalai 320 kms or 120 sq mi and Wynad  344 kms or 133 sq miles. They all form part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

This is one of the 15 sanctuaries belonging to the Project Tiger Scheme when it was initially launched in 1973 by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Today, it has over 70 tigers. In 1974, Bandipur was declared a National Park under the Wildlife Protection Act.

Bandipur is regarded as one of the most spectacular places to watch huge elephant herds which congrete at the Kabini river. .

The drier south east  corner of  Bandipur has scrub forests. During the dry months of March-May, the elephants stay close to rivers and lakes. During this time, elephant sightings are very common in Nagarhole national park.

Mastigudi also reports large gatherings of 100 or so Indian Elephants on the banks of the Kabini lake. There are reportedly more than 5000 elephants, a fifth of the world population of Asiatic elephants. Bandipur is probably the best place in the subcontinent for seeing Dhole.

Since the reserve is bifurcated by a road connecting Karnataka and Kerala, there are a lot of vehicles and the heavy traffic has ld to several animal deaths. The Karnataka High Court has banned traffic between dusk and dawn in an effort to reduce man-animal conflict and bring down animal deaths.

Bandipur has an interesting history. It was started by the Maharaja of Mysore in 1931 and called Venugopala Wildlife sanctuary. In 1973, it was declared a tiger reserve and 800 kms was added to it. Since the park is located where the Deccan plateau meets the Western Ghats, the altitude ranges from 680 meters (2,230 ft) to 1,454 meters (4,770 ft). As a result, the park has a variety of biomas including dry deciduous forests, moist deciduous forests and shrub lands.

Thus the range of habitats help support a diverse range of organisms. The park is flanked by the Kabini in the north and the Moyar in the south with the Nugu river running through it. The Moyar forms the natural boundary between Bandipur and Madhumalai. There are twelve streams and small rivulets that flow in and around the park. The highest point in the park is on a hill called Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta, where there is a beautiful temple at the summit.

Bandipur has several varieties of teak trees. The best time to see wildlife is March to April, but the climate is pleasant and temperate from November to February.

Apart from elephants, dholes  and tigers, Bandipur supports gaurs, bears, antelpos, muggers, rock pythons, langurs, peafowls, drongos, buzzards, vultures, eagles, snakes, monitor lizards and several others mammals and reptiles. The wild boar can be seen in clearings or rooting near water bodies. Gaur and chital can be seen grazing in forest clearings.

Bandipur is classified as an important bird area and at the latest count there were more than 180 species.

Bandipur is also known for its butterflies and the species include , Common Jezebel, Southern Birdwing, Common Rose, Crimson Rose, Common Jay, Tailed, Lime Butterfly, Malabar Raven, Common Mormon, Red Helen, Blue Mormon, , Common Wanderer, Mottled Emigrant, Common Grass Yellow, Spotless Grass Yellow, One spot Grass Yellow, Nilgiri Clouded Yellow, Psyche, Common Gull., Caper White or Pioneer, Small Orange Tip or Lesser Orange Tip, White Orange Tip, Large Salmon Arab, Common Evening Brown, Great Evening Brown, Common Palmfly, Common Bushbrown, Glad Eye Bushbrowm, Red Disk Bushbrown, Red Eye Bushbrown, Lepcha Bushbrown, Nigger, Common Threering, Common Fourring, Common Fivering, Tawny Coster, Rustic, Common Leopard, Indian Fritillary, Common Sailer, Colour Sergeant, Chestnutstreaked Sailer, Grey Count, Red Baron or Baronet, Angled Castor, Common Castor Aridane merione, Yellow Pansy, Lemon Pansy, Peacock Pansy, Chocolate Pansy, Orange Pansy, Blue Pansy, Grey Pansy, Blue Admiral, Glassy Blue Tiger, Blue Tiger, Dark Blue Tiger, Plain Tiger, Striped Tiger/ Common Tiger, Danaid Eggfly, Great Eggfly, Common Crow, Brown King Crow, Common Pierrot, Angled Pierrot, Banded Blue Pierrot, Striped Pierrot, Dark Pierrot, Red Pierrot, Lime Blue, Zebra Blue, Gram Blue, Common Cerulean, Tiny Grass Blue, Dark Grass Blue, Indian Cupid, Large Four-Line Blue, Common Silverline, Plum Judy, Plain Scupid, Pea Blue, Metallic Cerulean, Chestnut Bob, Dark Palm Dart, Brown awl

Ant species include Anenictus sp1, Anoplolepis longipes,Camponotus parius, Crematogaster biroi, Crematogaster sp 1, Crematogaster sp 2, Diacamma rugosum, Lepisiota capensis,Leptogenys chinesis, Leptogenys coonorensis, Leptogenys diminuta, Lophomyrmex quadripinosus, Meranoplus bicolor, Monomorium indicum, Myrmicaria striata, Myrmicaria brunnea, Oligomyrmex wroughtonii, Pachycondyla sp1, Paratrechina sp1, Pheidole sharpi, Pheidole sp1, Pheidole sp2, Pheidologeton diverus, Polyrhachis exercita, Solenopsis geminate, Tetraponera rufonigra, Tetraponera sp1.

The Dung beetles found in Bandipur include Catharsius granulatus, Copris indicus, Oniticellus cinctus,  Onitis singhalensis, Onthophagus beesoni, Onthophagus ensifer, Onthophagus ranam,   Onthophagus sp.107, Onthophagus tarandus, Picnopanaleus rotundus, Caccobius diminutives, Caccobius ultor, Copris furciceps, Copris sp,  Heliocopris dominus, Pseudonthophagus sp, Sisyphus neglectus, Caccobius inermis, Caccobius meridionalis., Caccobius torticornis, Caccobius sp, Copris sodalist, Onthophagus socialis, Onthophagus sp.301, Onitis phelemon, Onthophagus furcillifer, Caccobius gallinus, Onthophagus rufulgens, Onthophagus sp, Copris repertus, Pseudonthophagus sp.1, Copris davisoni, Onitis falcatus, Onthophagus turbatus, Copris imitans, Onthophagus quadridentatus, Caccobius vulcanus, Liatongus affinis, Oniticellus spinipes, Sisyphus longipus, Onthophagus dama.

There are several species of butterflies and beetles which are yet to be identified. You can travel around the park in open jeeps which are available on hire inside the park and check out the butterflies and other smaller wildlife.

Bandipur also provides open vans with guides.The elephant safari here is famous and you could actually tour the park sitting on the back of an elephant. Another famous activity is the Boat Safari, where you will be taken upstream on the Kabini to where the river itself separates the Nagarhole from Bandipur.

Today, on the banks of the Kabini, one can witness the largest congregation of Asiatic elephants, peacefully feeding and getting on with their lives. In addition to diverse wildlife sighted on the extensive river banks, the boat safari offers an opportunity to observe the Marsh Crocodile, Smooth-coated Otter and myriad water birds.

If you are a sociologist or anthropologist, trek to Mangala village which has tribal colony and get to know their life. 

Bandipur is easily accessible from Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Nanjangud and Gundlupet. There are plenty of buses and private transport. The Jungle Lodges and resorts operates a resort. There are cottages operated by the Forest Department, a hotel by the Karnataka Tourism Department and some privately managed cottages as well. Gundlupet is the closest town and it is about 20 kms away. 

Nanjangud is the nearest railway head and so is Mysore. The nearest airport is Mysore. Chamarajanagar and Gundlupet is the nearest major bus terminus. There are direct buses from Bangalore and Mysore to Bandipur.  

Visitors can book accommodation and safari vehicle online either through Credit Card or Debit Card. Log on onto the official website of Bandipur Tiger Reserve, www.bandipurtigerreserve.in

The Bandipur Tiger Reserve has seven cottages and four dormitories - totaling about 95 beds, out of which four cottages and three dormitories (totaling 77 beds) are offered for online booking. The remaining is reserved for emergency and for officers on duty. Of the five safari buses, four are offered for online booking. The booking can be done one month in advance or before the actual date of journey.

Tourists will be charged 1.95 per cent extra towards banking transaction charges. The entire amount will go to Bandipur Tiger Conservation Foundation fund, which works for Conservation of the wildlife and welfare of employees.

Special entry permits are required to enter the park and they can be obtained from the Forest Department office at the entrance.

Besides entry fee, additional fee is levied on cameras and vehicles.

The first woman Haridasa poet

There here have been close to four hundred Haridasas in Karnataka and these poets-composers have left behind a rich treasure trove of literature spanning several centuries and touching almost all genres of literature.

However, the Haridasas have mainly concentrated on Hari and sung his glory. Talk of  Dasas and the first name that come to our mind is Purandara and the rest such as Kanaka, Vijaya, Jagannatha, Vaikunta follow.

However, what many people do not know is that apart from the Haridasas, there are nearly a hundred Hari Dasis or women writers who equalled their male counterparts in composing hymns, Devarana Namas, Suladis and other forms of poetry.

They have left behind a vast body of Bhakti literature. Unfortunately, only a few of the Hari Dasis such as Helavanakatte Giriyamma, who wrote under the pen name of  Helavanakatteranga, have gained recognition.  

There are several other women Kannada poets and composers of the Bhakti tradition but their names are almost forgotten and barring students of Kannada language and literature and a few research scholars, they remain unheard of.

Among the first Hari Dasais was Galagali Akka (1670-1760). She can be classified as the first Madhwa women poet and certainly among the first Haridasis.  

As her name suggest, she belonged to the Galagali family and her original name Rama. She was the daughter of a village accountant.

Mudgalacharya, a 95-year-old scholar, saw Rama and enchanted by her beauty,  married her. She was just 12 then. He died eight days after the marriage, leaving Rama a widow.

Rama, however, did not lose heart. She began learning shastras and Devarana Namas and quickly mastered them. Her five grown up step sons began tutoring her in Madhwa Siddantha and Madhwa Sampradaya apart from Shastras. She soon began taking part in religious discussions and contests and helped her step sons defeat other scholars in debates. She was honored by the Peshwas, the Wodeyars and others.

What sets aside the compositions of Rama is the manner in which she treats her subject. In one composition on Krishna, she voices the embarrassment that the God feels when he sees he has married so many women.

Today, we have 263 songs and compositions of Rama or Galgalli Akka, as she was affectionately called. Some of  her compositions are Muyyada Haddu which deals with Gowri Pooje: Bheegara Haadu, which as the name itself suggest deals with events after a Hindu wedding: Sringara Tara Tamya, which gives us an exquisite description of various ornaments worn by women. She spent her last few days in Shurpali, near Jamkhandi in Bagalkot district, which was her ancestral home.One of her famous disciples was Bhagavva.

Courted by Kings and Emperors

There is a controversy raging on about gomal or cattle land in Chitradurga which is being away to certain institutions. Environmentalists, Nature lovers and scholars have called the act of giving away the lands as suicidal to the Amrit Mahal cattle.

What is Amrit Mahal and how did it get its name.

The post here aims to bring out certain lesser known facts about Amrit Mahal.

India has no less than 26 distinct breeds of cattle and they are generally classified into three categories. This classification is based on their utility. The first category is milch, the second is draught and the third is dual purpose.

The Amrit Mahal belongs to the draught category and it has been uniformly acknowledged by Kings and Emperors and even the British and others as the best cattle to be used in times of war and hostilities.

The British classified Amrit Mahal as the finest cattle during the reign in India. The Amrit Mahal is also known as Sultan’s breed and this is in honour of Tipu Sultan who reared them in large numbers.

According to legend, the Amrit Mahal was obtained by Hyder Ali from a Paelgar near Mysore and it was later patronised by his son Tipu Sultan. The breed received special attention from both Hyder and Tipu and they used the cattle extensively in their campaigns.

Historically, Srirangaraya, the Viceroy of Vijayanagar in Srirangapatna, is credited with development of cattle on modern lines when he imported large herds of  Hallikar cattle from Vijayanagar to  breed in Srirangapatna. He called the cattle department Karu Hatti. This was sometime in 1600.  

The British had the first whiff of the breed’s superiority when Srirangapatna fell to them on May 4, 1799 and Tipu was killed in the fourth and final battle of Srirangapatna.

The marauding British soldiers came across large stocks of the breed and the size, shape and bone structure of the massive Amrit Mahal amazed a person no less than Arthur Wellesley. These cattle were looked after by an exclusive department first called Amrit Mahal and then Karen Berek. The British found more than 10,100 Amrit Mahal cattle of the finest breed in Srirangapatna.

When the British returned the Mysore Kingdom to the Wodeyars, the capital was shifted from Srirangapatna to Mysore. The British placed the herd under the care of the Mysore Government and in 1813, the Madras Government took the large herd under its direct control. The Wodeyars renamed the cattle department as Benne Chavadi.

The Commissariat of Madras assumed full powers over the breed though they kept it in Mysore. Initially, Captain Harvey of Madras was kept in charge of the breeding establishment. By 1816, the herd increased in numbers to 14,399  and by 1823 there were more than 28,000 cattle.

For more than five decades, the herd was maintained by the Wodeyars for the British. However, in 1860, the then Governor of Madras, Charles Trevelyan, ordered the sale of cattle. Charles is regarded as the founder of the modern British civil services.

He was the Governor of Madras from 1859 to 1860 and he was the brother-in-law of Thomas Macaulay.  He was recalled to England when he opposed financial reforms proposed by the Calcutta Government.

Charles felt that the British could save money by closing down the establishment. The herds were sold to Indians and the company made a neat profit but this was one of the most short sighted decisions of the Madras Government.

The British soon realised their folly and they once again sought the assistance of the Wodeyars in reestablishing the cattle breeding centre. The gracious Maharaja obliged and in December 1867,  the breeding centre was reestablished with 5935 cattle. Their numbers increased to 9800 by 1871.

The British allowed the Maharaja to station some Amrit Mahal at various places in the Mysore Kingdom so that it could improve the breed. The Mysore Government allotted 208 kavals or pasture grounds for Amrit Mahal and the one at Chitradurga is part of this.   

The Amrit Mahal comprise three varieties: Hallikar,
Hagalvadi and Chitaldroog and the names indicate the places from where the breed originated.

B. L. Rice and other British chroniclers have heaped praise on the peculiar shape and beauty of the head of Amrit Mahal and the symmetry of their form. “They seldom attain an extraordinary height, but in proportion to their size are remarkably deep and wide in the chest, long and broad in the back, round in the barrel, well ribbed up and strong in the shoulder and limb,” says Rice.

The British found the Amrit Mahal to be active, fiery and walk faster than the troops. When Wellesley engaged Napolean in the Eurpoean theatre of war, he was often heard and he has also written letters regretting the lack of Amrit Mahal cattle in the battle field.

The British admired the endurance and strength of the Amrit Mahal. They found that Hyder had often travelled upto 100 miles with these beasts of burden. The British used the breed during the Afghan war where they tirelessly served the Army for upwards of 16 hours.

Coming back to the Amrit Mahal and the British, the Madras Government sent a large number of them to Egypt for service on the Khedive (1867-1914), an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire.

By then, the Mysore Government had set up another breeding centre for Amrit Mahal at Hunsur. The best grazing ground was however in Sillikere in Shimoga and at Hanagad near Hunsur.

Today, the State possesses 63,000 acres of Amrit Kaval land and they are mainly located in the districts of  Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Davangere, Tumkur, Hassan and Mandya.

By the way, the Wodeyars had set aside a fairly large tract of land in Lalbagh for growing grass which they fed to Amrit Mahal. Today, the grassland is gone and it has been replaced by flowering trees. Is this a sign that the other grasslands will be swallowed up by man and Amrit Mahal would become history.

The Makaana which is forgotten

This is the Makaana or a clump of wilderness amid sugarcane fields and agricultural lands. It is only a few miles north-east of Mysore and on the Srirangapatna-Mysore Highway.

A canal carrying the Cauvrey water flows nearby and the Varuna canal overhead casts a long shadow. A few decades ago, a cluster of Muslim graves were part of the Makaana. But the graves have been uprooted and only the remnants of a wall and a few pieces of brick and mortar indicate the presence of civilisation.

The wilderness did play and important role in Indian history but as is our wont, we have forgotten it and there are only a handful of people who are aware of its importance. It was at this very spot, and more than two centuries ago, that Arthur Wellesley was defeated in a battle by Dewan Purnaiah in the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore War in 1799.

More importantly, this battle which occurred a few days before the death of Tipu Sultan, gave the shivers to Wellesley. The rockets that the Mysore army of Tipu fired upon the British at this place sent the British scurrying back to safety. Wellesley was wounded and barely escaped capture and death.

Had Wellesley been taken prisoner on that day or had the Mysore forces pressed their advantage and gone after the demoralized British, perhaps the war would not have ended in the defeat and death of Tipu Sultan.

The rocket attack had such a psychological impact in Wellesley that even years after the death of Tipu and even decades after e defeated Napolean Bonaparte, Wellesley confessed to still have nightmares about this place.

Today, a clump of  trees is all that is the remnant of  this epoch event, which has been totally ignored by Indians and downplayed to the extent of being trivalised by the British and other Western authors and sources.

This is the village of Sultanpet, which once was a satellite town on the Srirangapatna-Mysore Highway. The land between Srirangapatna and Sultanpet was full of farms and parts of it was heavily forested.

Tipu  Sultan had stationed a contingent of  rocketmen under Purnaiah at Sultanpet. Since the contingent was well hidden from the prying eyes of the British and their advance party, Wellesley had no knowledge about it.

The British, by then, were advancing towards Srirangapatna from all sides. It was pitch dark of April 5, 1799, when an enthusiastic 30-year old Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Wellesley led the King’s 33rd Regiment of  Foot into a tope or mangrove which also had coconut and betel trees near Sultanpet.

The town of Sultanpet looked deserted and seeing no resistance, Wellesley advanced towards the fields and the clump of forest. That was when the Mysore Army opened rocket fire. The British troops scattered and ran back to their camp, a defeated and dispirited unit. Wellesley lost himself in the forest and the dark night was all the more aggravating for him as he had been shot in his limb-he had been hit by a spent musket-ball in the knee and he went back hobbling with pain and humiliated at his only defeat.

Wellesley had inadvertently led his men into a trap. Some of the rocketeers had worked their way around to the rear of the British encampment and they fired rockets simultaneously to signal the beginning of an assault by 6,000 Indian infantry and a corps of Frenchmen, all directed by Mir Gulam Hussain and Muhammed Hulleen and Mir Mirans.

The rockets had a range of about 1,000 yards. While some burst in the air like shells, others-ground rockets- on striking the ground, rose again and bound along in a serpentine motion until their force was spent.

It was by pure luck and nothing else that Wellesley managed to evade the Mysore Army. He came back to the camp and brooded the whole night over his defeat and also the capture of twelve soldiers who were subsequently by Tipu in Sriurangapatna. The next day, he determined to avenge his humiliation and he marched, all prepared to give a fitting reply. But much of the Army had already withdrawn from the tope of Sultanpet and only a small unit was left behind.

Wellesley had his way and he defeated the unit and marched onwards to Srirangapatna where he joined the other British forces. When Srirangapatna was captured and pillaged on May 4, 1799, Sultanpet too met a similar fate. Almost all the buildings in the village were razed to the ground and only a small wall, part of a mosque and graves were left. Even these buildings were razed to the ground a few years ago.

Neither the graves nor the Cenotaphs that once proclaimed the names of the people who were buried here can be seen today. The meandering canal makes a fairly large circular detour and the wilderness seems like an island surrounded by lush green paddy fields.

The village of Sultanpet exists but its history is gone and the monuments ravaged by the British and then by insensitive Indians. British historians like Beatson and Frances Buchanan and even Macaulay who has written an account of Srirangapatna, Bangalore and Mysore have studiously ignored the Battle of Sultanpet or glossed over it.

The villagers still point to the place they earlier called Makaana. The only relic of the past appears to be the portion of a wall of a large building.

Today, there is no trace of the battlefield though parts of the tope can still be seen. There is not even a caption or sign board by the ASI or any other body identifying the place. Sultanpet today exists only in history books and it has long been forgotten by the lakhs who traverse the busy Bangalore Mysore road everyday.

Tourists and visitors to Srirangapatna and Mysore are given a talking to on the bravery and exploits of Hyder Ali, Tipu and the rather remarkable achievements of the Wodeyars. None of them, however, even have an inkling of the military importance that Sultanpet once had and the deep impact it left permanently on the future Duke of Wellington who later went on defeat Napolean in the European theatre of war.   

As far as the Government and the authorities go, they have given short shrift to a place that the British would never like to remember. Certainly not Wellesley, who woke up at night, having a nightmare of Sultanpet. The nightmare continued till Wellesley died or so says his biographer Forrest. Another biographer, Wellington: The Iron Duke [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)
by Richard Holmes, also alludes to the nightmare and the defeat at Sultanpet. 

A double edged sword

It is a small village in Shahapur taluk of Yadagir district of north Karnataka. Till an year ago, this village was known for housing the tombs of three Adil Shah Emperors of Bijapur, including the founder of the dynasty.

The Adil Shahi tombs are located in the premises of a great Sufi saint, Chandah Husaini Gogi. The village of Gogi is 12 kms away from Shahapur.

Apart from the tombs, the village had little else to boast off  but all this changed when the Government of India stumbled upon uranium in the area.

The discovery of high-grade uranium deposits has put the village on the national mining map. The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) is all set to mine it. This approval to mine the radioactive mineral comes after four years of exploration and research.

Till the discovery of uranium in 2007 and the UCIL exploration, the village of Gogi was known among historians and research scholars for the presence of the Adil Shahi tombs. The religious inclined knew about the dargah of the Sufi saint,

However, since Gogi is far away from the tourist circuit of Bijapur, very few cared to visit the village which boats of having the tombs of  the first Emperor of the Adil Shah dynasty, Yusuf Adil Shah (1490-1510), Ismail Adil Shah (1510-1534) and Ibrahim Adil Shah (1534-1558).

Gogi shot into limelight when the UCIL secured environmental clearance for the development of  uranium reserves. The corporation has decided to adopt mobile mining technology for the project.

Though Gogi has a very small deposit, it is of very high-grade. Therefore, the corporation has decided to mine the uranium by using mobile retractable mining technology for extraction.

This technology would incorporate feeding, screening, crushing and a processing plant on a single mobile platform.

The uranium mine will have a life of 15 years during which it will supply fuel to nuclear power plants in southern India. The total deposits is put at 4,250 tonnes. It is classified as high grade with 0.1 per cent uranium content. This grade is as good as the uranium deposit in Meghalaya. The Gogi uranium is reckoned to be better than the uranium discovered at Jadugoda in Jharkhand which is considered  is inferior with only 0.05-0.06 per cent uranium content.

However, villagers of Gogi are now fearful of  the exposure to uranium. The mine and mills, which would be spread over 40 hectares, had now met with vehement opposition by villagers, NGOs and elected representatives.

The UCIL will process the ore at its plant to be set up at Diggi, six km from the mining area of Gogi.
Gogi lies in the Bhima river basin and the area is primarily dependent on agriculture. It is irrigated by the Shahapur branch canal.

Once the ore is extracted, it would be milled and further processed using the alkali leaching method. This method has been found to be most suitable for uranium extraction. The resultant sodium diuranate, which is also called yellow cake, would be transported 250 kiometres to Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad for further processing.

The UCIL has estimated that it needs at least 238 acres, including the water bodies and Umaroddi and Muhadapur reserve forests, to set up the plant apart from supply of one million litres of water per day and 8100 KVA of power from Gulbarga electricity supply company (GESCOM). The plant will employ about 361 people directly. The cost of the project: about Rs. 550 crores.

However, in all likelihood, we may end up hearing about Gogi all the more in the coming days as uranium mining is classified as highly hazardous. Moreover, a vast amount of rock has to be mined if uranium is to be extracted. As uranium is highly radio active, even the remnants called tailings will have the character of emitting radio active waves and they can retain upto 80 per cent of the radio activity of uranium.

Moreover, disposal of tailings is bound to be a major headache. Besides, uranium ore occurs with pyrites which, when exposed to air and water, transforms into sulphuric acid The acid has the propensity to penetrate into the acquifers (water sources) and it is highly toxic and can contaminate water.

Though a public hearing on the project was held under the auspices of the District Commissioner of Yadagir district in November 2010, many safety and health issues still remain, claims the villagers. The Environmental Impact Assessment report (EIA) report too appears to have raised more questions than providing answers. 

By the way, waste from uranium exploratory mining has already and is still being released into Kelaginakere lake. Though the waters of the lake are not used for drinking, it is utilised by industries, shops and hotels. Besides, people use it for washing clothes and even bathing, agriculture and for cattle. Villagers claims that the water is already contaminated and that it is causing skin diseases and allergy.

Gogi has also reported many complaints of fluorosis. However, health officials claim that this has nothing to do with uranium exploration. They say that 60 percent of the land in Yadagir district has rich content of fluoride and this is the major cause of fluorosis.

In an interesting development, the Ministry of Environment and  Forests, Government of India, has “closed” the project file relating to mining plant at Gogi. It has also delisted it from the pending list of projects.

A letter by Director of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Dr. Saroj. to the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd on December 28, 2012,  states that the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) has pointed out that the committee on public hearing looking into the issue of setting up the plant is headed by the Assistant Commissioner of Yadagir though he is not the competent authority to do so.

As per the law and as per the  provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification of 2006, the Deputy Commissioner should preside over the public hearing committee and not any other officer. Hence, the hearing is deemed not valid and it has to be conducted afresh according to the law laid down.

The letter says as the public hearing on the project was postponed without following the mandated procedures, the Ministry has decided to close the project file.

When Canteroy inspired Shivaji

It is now common knowledge that Chatrapati Shivaji (1627-1680), the Maratha Emperor, spent part of his childhood in Bangalore

and that he learnt the basics of statecraft and warfare from his father, Shahaji Raje Bhonsale (1594-1664).Shahaji then was the Jagirdar of Bangalore and he had his palace at Chickpet. Shahaji had defeated Kempe Gowda and sent him away to Magadi-Savandurga, while he retained Bangalore, Kolar, Hoskote, Yelahanka and Anekal. This was sometime in 1638. Shivaji had come to Bangalore from Pune when he was just eleven years old and he spent time with his elder brother Sambhaji and his half-brother Ekoji. Shivaji’s mother, Jija Bai, also came with Shivaji to Bangalore and by then Shahaji had married a second time. The second wife was Tukabai Mohite and Ekoji was her son.Maratha and Adil Shah records of the period state that Shahaji lived with Jijabai and Tukabai along with their sons in his palace at Chickpet. It was at Bangalore

that Shahaji decided to partition his jagir. He permitted Shivaji to return to Pune with Jijabai and he decided to give Bangalore as a jagir to Ekoji. His eldest son, Sambhaji, received the province of Kolar.    It was while he was in Bangalore

around 1640 that Shivaji heard tales of the erstwhile Vijayanagar Empire and its Emperors. He was deeply inspired by the Vijayanagar Empire and the stories of valour and piety of its Emperors. It is from the Vijayanagar Empire that he took the inspiration to found a Hindu

Kingdom. Of course, the atrocities perpetuated by the Mughals in the Deccan and by Afzal Khan and other Adil Shah commanders of Bijapur only strengthened his resolve to establish a strong and independent Hindu Empire. However, Shivaji was also inspired by another Hindu ruler of the South. This was Ranadheera Kanteerava or Kantirava Narasaraja Wodeyar (1638-1659), the wrestler King of Mysore.

Kanthirava Narasaraja I, as he is known, was the first Wodeyar King of Mysore

to use symbols associated with royalty, such as a mint and issuing coins named as Kanthiraya, which the British later called as Canteroy. He first struck coins in his own name on April 26, 1645. They were then called Kantiraya Hana or Kantirava Raya Ravi.  Another form of currency was Kantiraya Varaha which later came to be called Canteroy Pagoda. This Pagoda was divided into ten sub units called hanams. The weight of one Varaha was equal to nine hanams.

He also issued copper coins called Anekasu. Of fall his coins, the Canteroy was so popular that they remained part of Mysore

's current national money for well over a century. (In 1843, the Mysore coins formally ceased to exist). When Shivaji was in Bangalore, he came across the Canteroy coins and he immediately sensed the importance of having coins struck in his name and of using other royal symbols and seals. This resolve was further strengthened when Shivaji was told that Ranadheera Kanteerava issued the coins with the intention to strengthen his grip and hold over the Kingdom. The Wodeyar coins with Lord Narasimha created a series of fanams which numismatically came to be known as Kantirava Fanams. Narasimha is the fourth reincarnation of Hari or Vishnu with a human body and lion face. The Yogabhanda pose is depicted in earlier Kanteerava coins. Other coins have Narasimha in meditation with legs folded inward and the holy thread  or Janevara going around both his knees. One hand holds a flaming chakra and a flaming conch and the lower hands rests on his knees.

The Kantirava fanams became popular in south India

and Shivaji too was inspired by them to mint his own coins. Shivaji called his coins as Shivarayi. The Shivarayi was first issued by Shivaji after his coronation as Chatrapathi in 1664. Unlike the Canteroy, the Shivrai was a copper coin minted to denote the symbol of sovereignty, the Rajyaabhisheka Shaka. A gold coin called Shivrai Hon was also minted but such coins  are rare today.

Shivaji is  known to have minted only one set of gold coins in his time. During his coronation, seven lakh Shivrai Hon coins were showered upon him and issued for the first time. These coins are now rare as his rival and Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had most of them melted down.

These coins had a legend Shri Raja Shivachhatrapati inscribed on them. Thereafter, all royal correspondence (Rajpatra) carried the words, Kshatriyakulaawatansa Shri Raja Shivachhatrapati.

Apart from Shivaji, the Nayakas of Sira, the British at Madras

and even the Dutch were inspired by the Mysore coins and they minted them at Pulicat, Negapatnam and Tuticorin.Generally, the Wodeyars minted coins in gold, copper and sometimes in silver. The Wodeyars had a fairly big mint at Srirangapatna. Ranadheera Kanteerava shifted the mint from Msyore to Srirangapatna when he shifted the capital to Srirngapatna.

The gold coins of Wodeyars  carried the motif and the name of the King and the mint on the reverse, while the silver coins bore the name of the king on the obverse and the name of the mint on the reverse. Some coins of smaller denominations had sculpted image of  Chamundi.

Hyder Ali continued minting coins in gold with Hindu deities, while Tipu preferred silver coins. Tipu set up twelve mints in his kingdom. The mint of  Srirangapatna was shifted after the death of Tipu Sultan on May 4, 1799.

Interestingly, the Wodeyar coins are strikingly similar to the coins of Vijayanagar Empire. Both the Wodeyar and Vijayanagar coins are similar in size, shape and weight.

When a son avenged his father's arrest

Indian history has rather been unkind to our own countrymen or rather we have been unkind in writing our own history. Even today, we have failed ourselves in reading and writing history accurately and in a dispassionate manner.
Many incidents and events in our past have either been simply glossed over or given a slant. Deliberate or otherwise, such writings have made their way into history and today they have become a part of  history books.
Indians have always been besotted with what Westerners have said about our history and culture and we have blindly accepted them even if they are wrong. Many incidents and personages have been dismissed by British and European historians without giving them their due.
One such figure who has not been accorded due recognition and whose exploits have been significantly whittled down in history is Shahaji Bhonsale, the father of  Chatrapathi Shivaji.
Few historians and fewer people are aware that Shahaji was among the first exponents of guerilla warfare. He was also an astute military strategist and he once managed to outwit the combined forces of Mughals and Bijapur armies merely by his common sense. This was when he was in the service of the Nizam Shahis.
Once the Nizam Shahis were extinguished, he joined the service of the Adil Shahs and for decades he was counted among the bravest, courageous and extremely far sighted commander of  the mighty Bijapur Army.
A peculiar incident that has not been given its proper and correct perspective during this time is the so called arrest and imprisonment of  Shahaji in 1648-1649 by the Adil Shah Emperor and his subsequent release.
While most history books ascribe his arrest to the rise of Shivaji,  contemporary accounts and even a few Marathi books speak otherwise about the incident.     
The Marathi Bakhars (Bakhar is a historical narrative written in Marathi prose and it is classified as one of the earliest genres of medieval Marathi literature. More than 200 bakhars were written from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. Many of them detail the deeds of Shivaji) and Basatin-i-Salatin by Mohammad Ibrahim Al Zubairi are sure that Shahji was arrested as a reaction to the military exploits of Shivaji.
According to these two sources, Shivaji had taken possession of some forts and territories in Maharashtra

and they belonged to the Adil Shah. Besides, he had killed several Bijapuri officers and even surprised the escort below the Bhor Ghat and captured the royal  treasure which was being sent from Kalyan to Bijapur. The conquest of Kalyan and the hill forts of Rajmachi and Lohgad had angered the Adil Shah who naturally concluded that these disloyal acts must have been done by the young Shivaji with the advice and instigation of his father. Hence secret orders were issued to arrest Shahaji.
Other sources such as the Sabhasad do not give credence to this view and infact they go so far as to say that Shivaji’s conquests had nothing to do with his father’s arrest. On the contrary, the Sabhasad throws up an entirely new angle on the incident. The Sabhasad records-this was the earliest work on Shivaji written by one of  the courtiers in the Maratha administration, Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad, in Ginjee in 1694- that a letter was sent to Shahaji by the Adil Shah Emperor directing him to keep Shivaji  under proper control.
The record further says Shahaji replied that his son was no longer under his control and that the Emperor might consequently deal with him in any manner he liked. This reply angered the Emperor who directed Afzal Khan to punish Shivaji. Surprisingly, the Sabhasad makes no mention of the imprisonment and release of Shahaji in 1649. The Chitragupta and Shiva Pratap Bakhars also make no such mention.
One of the earliest historians on Marathas, Chitnis, claims that Shahaji wrote a letter to Shivaji censuring his conduct and asking him to go to Bijapur. Chitnis further claims that Shivaji sought advice of his wife, Sai Bai Saheb, as well as of his officers and nobles.
Another work, Shiva Digvijaya, reproduces all the letters of  Shivaji, Shahaji and the Adil Shah on the issue. It confirms that Shivaji consulted his mother, officers, his wife and Goddess Bhavani before he wrote to his father and the Adil Shah.
Shivaji says in his letters that he was responsible for his own actions and that he was ready to take responsibility for the consequence of his deed. He further said he could not be diverted from his course.
Another source says that the Adil Shah disbelieved Shahaji when told that he had no control over Shivaji. Since the Adil Shah continued to be suspicious of Shahaji’s conduct, he ordered another Maratha nobleman in his service, Baji Ghorpade, to arrest Shahaji by any means and bring him to Bijapur.
Shahaji then was near Tanjore or Thanjavur and Baji Ghorpade accompanied Nawab Sarje ( Sharza ) Khan to meet Shahaji. The Adil Shah had asked Baji Ghorpade to arrest Shahaji in case he refused to control Shivaji. The Nawab, however, refused to arrest Shahaji as he considered him to be his friend.
Baji Ghorpade asked Shahaji to take steps to control his son and prevent Shivaji from invading the Adil Shahi territories. When Shahaji said he had no control over his son, Ghorpade decided to arrest Shahaji.
The Muhammad Namah, an imperial chronicle of Bijapur, has a different story altogether. It says there was some ill will between Shahaji and Mustafa Khan, Prime Minister of the Adil
Shahi Kingdom, during the siege of Ginjee. It says Shahaji questioned the authority of the Prime Minister who then ordered his arrest. Historians like Jadunath Sarkar say that the arrest of Shahji was due to his hobnobbing with the Raya of Vijayanagar and other Hindu Kings.
The Basatin-i-Salatin and the Shiva Bharat carry the same tale about the imprisonment of Shahaji. The Shiva Bharat narrates that one day, just as the sun was about to rise, the Adil Shahi commanders Dilawar i Khan, Masud Khan, Ambar Khan, Rajahs of  Adoni and Karnpur, Farhad Khan, Khairat Khan, Yaqut
Khan, Azam Khan, Bahlol Khan, Malik Raihan Khan,
Balal, son of Haybat Raja, Sidhoji, Mambaji Pawar,
Mambaji Bhosla, and some other nobles, besieged the
camp of Shahaji.
As Shahaji’s soldiers had kept awake the night, they had no idea of such a sudden attack and were unprepared, and so there was a great disorder and tumult in their camp. Masud Khan himself was commanding the forces. Then Khandoji, Ambaji, Manaji, Baji Raje and a few others entered the camp and arrested Shahaji.
The Basatin-i-Salatin says three Sardars- Baji Rao
Ghorpade, Yashwant Rao Wadhwe and Asad Khan-entered the
camp of Shahaji and thus awakened him and asked him to surrender. However, Shahaji decided to fight and ordered all his nobles to be prepared. He then rode on his faithful horse and attacked Baji Raje Ghorpade.
Shahaji was injured in the fight against Ghorpade. When he  swooned, fell down wounded, Ghorpade arrested him. The three thousand horse of Shahji soon dispersed and much plunder was secured from the camp.
Another account says that Shahaji was invited by Baji Raje Ghorpade of Mudhol to his house for a banquet and was treacherously put under arrest. Surprisingly Shahaji;s own kinsmen like Mambaji and Trimbakji Bhosle were in the
pursuing party, as were Sidhoji and Mambaji Pawar. The accounts say that Baji Raje was really accompanied by seven Maratha Sardars.
The vast booty acquired in the fort of Ginjee and Shahaji
were brought to Bijapur under the personal escort of Afzal
Khan. The Adil Shah received the party led by Afzal Khan in the Kalyan Mahal.
The Muhammad Namah claims that “Shahaji Raja who was brought in chains was sent to the prison.” However, the fact that the Adil Shah did not mete put any harsh treatment or torture Shahaji surprised the nobles and people of Bijapur.
A further surprise awaited the when the Adil Shah said he would release Shahaji and restore his jagir provided his forts of Bangalore
and Kondwana were returned to him. Shahaji then wrote to his two sons, Sambhaji and Shivaji, asking them to return the forts. When the forts were returned, the Adil Shah honored Shahaji and gave back his jagir.  
Shahaji, on his part, never forget the arrest. He wrote to Shivaji asking him to take revenge against the Ghorpade. Shivaji did kill the Ghorpade in his palace in Mudhol  and extracted revenge but that is another story.
Once Shahaji came back to Bangalore
, he allowed Ekoji to rule the province and he himself retired to Kanakagiri where he stayed on till his death in a horse accident in Hodigere near Chennagiri in 1664.

The levitating stones

India is a land of  mystics and sages belonging to all faiths and religions. Every mystic, whatever be his religion, has preached tolerance, non-violence, love and respect. No wonder, the resting places of such seers have turned as much into places of pilgrimage as temples and other places of worship.

One such place is Shivapur, a small village in Pune in Maharashtra. The village is renowned for its levitating stone. What is so special about this stone, you may ask.

Well, the stone is quite heavy and it can be lifted easily by eleven men if they say aloud the name of the seer who is buried nearby. What is more astounding is that the stone can be lifted off the ground where it rests with eleven finger tips-one finger of each of the eleven men.

Strange but true. This is the legend of Hazrat Qamar Ali Darvesh and two stones lying near his grave. Both these stones can be easily lifted by eleven men with each supporting the stone with one finger.

If the bigger stone can be raised by just eleven finger tips the smaller can be lifted with just nine finger tips. This unusual phenomenon has been scientifically researched by national and international scientists but no scientific or even rational explanation has been forthcoming.

Lakhs of Indians and hundreds of foreigners, who have heard the tale of the levitating stone, have ended up lifting the stone with either eleven or none finger tips but have failed to solve its mystery.

The grave of the Sufi saint Qamar Ali Darvesh is more than eight hundred years old and even the stones are as old, perhaps a little more older than the structure.

Locals and even the priest of the shrine tells us that there existed a gymnasium at the very place where the saint is buried. Qamar Ali Darvesh belonged to a family of wrestlers and body builders and while every male members of his family took to the family tradition, he did not.

His family members and others used the two huge stones to exercise. Some of them made fun of Qamar Ali’s disinterest in the physical sport. However, even at the age of six, the youngster found the teachings of a Sufi saint more appealing than lifting weights. He was the youngest of the brothers and he was more inclined towards religion and philosophy than any of his brothers.  

Before long, Qamar Ali began fasting, meditating and his fame as a Sufi saint spread far and wide. People of all faiths and from different villages began to flock to him. Qamar Ali died young-in his late teens- but just before he died, he asked the people to place the two stones near his grave and told them that they could be lifted by eleven people with their index finger when they chanted his name.

He said: “If eleven males place their right index fingers under the stone and then call my name, I will cause it to rise higher than their heads. Otherwise, neither singly nor together will they be able to move it more than two feet off the ground”.

To this day, this saying holds true. The bigger  stone weighs 140 lbs and the smaller about 100 lbs. Try out whatever combination you want and see if you can cleanly lift it off the ground.

Shivapur is 180 kms from Mumbai and is very near Pune-24 kms away. It takes barely 30 minutes from Pune to reach Shivapur.

Shivapur is located amidst hills and the iconic Sinhagad fort is thirteen kilometers away. The fort is also called Kondana after the sage Kaundinya. The Kaundinyeshwar temple, the caves and the carvings in the fort are said to be more than 2000 years old. The Sinhagad forest is home to a variety of flora and fauna.    

    

This Modi has nothing to do with Gujarat

One of the most important battles in India was the third Battle of Panipat between the Marathas and Ahmed Shah Abdali. This battle signaled the beginning of the end of the Maratha hegemony in India and also paved the way for the growth of the British.

The battle took place on January 14, 1761, at Panipat, in present day Haryana. The battle field can be seen even today and it is about 60 miles or 95.5 km north of  Delhi.

This battle is generally considered by historians to be one of the largest wars fought in the 18^th century and also the battle with the largest number of fatalities recorded in a single day.

By the way, this was also the last major battle in south Asia till the Independence of India and consequent formation of Pakistan in 1947. Tragically, the battle also saw the Mughals who initially sided with the Marathas losing face, power, territory and their prestige and from then on till 1857, they continued only as titular emperors of north India, ruling over Delhi and a few miles in radius.

However, one very little known fact of the war is that today we have exact amounts of money spent on the war, preparation and other connected aspects of the war and this is thanks to the Maratha tendency of keeping precise exact and complete accounts of all monies.

This was could be one of the few major wars where we can easily estimate the amount spent by the Marathas. According to documents available at Pune, which was the headquarters of the Peshwas, the Marathas spent exactly Rs. 92,23,242. 9 on the war that once for all shattered their might.

The records of the expenditure incurred on the war are in Modi script or Marathi shorthand which was used till the 1950s in Maharashtra to write the Marathi language.

The Modi script gained popularity as a cursive variant of the script during the 17th century and it was replaced in the 1950's when Devanagari replaced it as the written medium of the Marathi language.

Modi script was first developed in the 12th century by Hemadripant, a minister in the Yadava Kingdom  under Emperors Mahadev and Ramadev of Devgiri.

He is also the author of  Chaturvarga Chintamani (dealing with spiritual aspects) and Rajprashasti.

It is believed that the medieval period in Maharashtra witnessed a spurt in literature and written documents. There came a need for writing fast and accurately. It was difficult to write quickly in Devnagari because of the space between two words and punctuation marks.

Instead, Modi was widely used as it does not have punctuations and spaces between words. During Chhatrapati Shivaji’s and Peshwa periods, Modi came to be used by both the Government and people.

However, Modi lost its luster when the British took over Maratha held territories. It soon lost out to other languages as typeset and computer fonts could not be developed.

Many Marathi records in Pune are in Modi script and the war account is one such document. What makes this document unique is that it also throws light on how the Peshwas managed to raised such a large amount and what was the exact amount spent on raising the forces, hiring horses, oxen and donkeys.

The Peshwa Dafter or Maharashtra State Archives of Pune houses a large number of documents. The archives are located in a building opposite the Council Hall. Some of the documents date back to the time of Chatrapathi Shivaji.

The building houses over four crore documents, and many of them have not seen the light of the day.  

The little-known brother of Shivaji

There are innumerable records, chronicles, annals and even letters  about the life and times of Chatrapathi Shivaji who spent two years in this city from 1640 to 1642. However, the very same records contain scanty or practically no information about Shivaji’s brother, Sambhaji.

When Shivaji came to Bangalore, Shahaji, his father, got him married a second time. He also ensured that Shivaji was trained in statecraft and warfare along with Sambhaji, and their half-brother Vyaknoji or Ekoji who later on went to found the Maratha line of rulers at Tanjore or Thanjavur, now in Tamil Nadu.

Both Shivaji and Sambhaji were the only surviving sons Shahaji and Jija Bai-four sons died in infancy. While Shivaji stayed on in Poona with his mother, Sambhaji was taken to the Deccan by Shahaji and he was with his father for several years. Shahaji had his second wife, Tuka bai Mohite, by his side and Venkoji was their son.  

When the Adil Shahis overran Bangalore in 1638 and defeated Kempe Gowda, the Adil Shahi commander Ranadulla Khan gave due credit to the victory for Shahaji, who was also a frontline  commander. Interestingly, the redoubtable Afzal Khan, who Shivaji later killed, was an understudy of Ranadullah Khan.

It was Ranadullah Khan who sent Afzal Khan to Sira, while he himself proceeded to Bangalore along with Shahaji.

The reason for the mighty Adil Shahi war machine to march towards south Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were many. The Adil Shahi Emperor, Ibrahim Adil Shah also called Jagadguru, had died in 1627 and he was succeeded by Muhammad Adil Shah (1627-1658). Muhammad never wanted to see the rise of Vijayanagar and he decided to take on Sriranga Raya, the Vijayanagar ruler who was making attempts to reassert his authority.

Sriranganga was in touch with the many erstwhile provincial governors or palegars of the once mighty Vijayanagar Kingdom. At the same time, the Wodeyars of Mysore were emerging as the powerhouse of the south Mysore region. Kempe Gowda in Bangalore was also a prominent figure as were Bidanur and Sira.

Muhammad then ordered Ranadullah Khan and Shahaji to take on the Hindu principalities. They were ably assisted by Afzal Khan and at times by Myustafa Khan and Asad Khan.

Ranadullah Khan first took on the Raja of Dharwar and Lakshmshwar in 1637 and defeated them. He then took on the Vijayanagar King and captured Penugonda, Chandragiri, Adoni or Adwani in Andhra Pradesh, Vellor and Ginge in Tamil Nadu, Ikkeri-Bedanur, Bangalore, Kanakanagiri and Sira in Karnataka.

Ranadulla Khan and Shahaji got on well with each other. Both respected each other’s bravery and the Khan knew that Shahaji was an excellent military strategist. Once the war was over, Ranadullah Khan left the terms of surrender and other aspects to Shahaji and he rarely interfered.

Thus, when Kempe Gowda, the third, surrendered to the Adil Shahi, Shahaji allowed him to leave to Magadi and set up court there. Impressed with Shahaji, the Adil Shah granted him the jagir of Bangalore, which also included the surrounding principalities of Kolar, Chikaballapur, Doddaballapur and Kakakagiri.

Shahaji stayed back at Bangalore and set up court. His headquarters was the present Chickpet where he had his palace called Gauri Mahal.

Shahaji then became extremely busy in wars and campaigns conducted by the Adil Shah. He rarely had time to go back to Pune and meet his first wife Jija Bai and his second son, Shivaji.

Shahaji could not even attend the first marriage of Shivaji. He then invited Jija Bai and Shivaji to Bangalore so that he could meet his daughter-in-law.

Once in Bangalore, Shivaji learnt statecraft and warfare and he stayed here for two years from 1640 to 1642.

In 1642, Shivaji returned to Pune with his mother and he began the task of building up the Maratha Empire. Simultaneously, Shahaji began a process of  Hindu revival in the south. He did not put to the sword the Palegars or Nayakas whose territory he conquered on the behalf of the Adi Shah. He took away the capital cities of these provincial rulers and sent them away to smaller cities and towns. Thus, he earned the gratitude and respect of  the Palegars.

The only exception to this was in Sira where Afzal Khan treacherously murdered Kasturirangan, the ruler, by calling him out of the fort on the pretext of holding negotiations.

Sambhaji slowly earned the respect of his father and soon, Shahaji made him the Governor of Kolar.

When Muhammad Adil Shah called Shahaji to Bijapur in 1648 and imprisoned him, Sambhaji stoutly defended Bangalore against the Adil Shah army led by Farhad Khan and Tanaji Dure and even defeated them. In the Pune region, Shivaji defied the Adil Shah. Both gave up their defiance only after Shahaji addressed a letter to them and pointed out that their resistance might lead to his losing his life.

However, the Adil Shah realised the folly of imprisoning Shahaji and released him and conferred several honors on him. He also restored the jagir of Bangalore to Shahaji who then came back to Bangalore.

Sambhaji then continued to govern from Kolar, while his father lorded over Bangalore. Sambhaji met an unfortunate death in 1654 when the Adli Shahis under Afzal Khan attacked Kanakagiri. The Palegar, Apakhan, had revolted against the Adilshahis.

Afzal Khan once again played the part of a traitor and this led to the death of Sambhaji who was wounded by a cannon ball fired from within the fort of  Kanakanagiri.

When Shahaji heard of his son’s death, he personally marched to Kanakagiri and conquered it. For Shivaji, the loss of his elder brother was devastating. When his mother told him about the complicity of Afzal Khan in the death of Sambhaji, the Maratha swore revenge.

Today, people know about Sambhaji, the son of Shivaji but very few know about Sambhaji, the brother.

Sambhaji was born at Verul or today’s Ellora near Aurangabad in 1619 in Maharashtra. He was married to Makai and they had two sons- Suratsingh and Umaji, who records say was an adopted son. Umaji was believed to be the son of Parsoji Raje Bhamberker
After the death of Sambhaji,  Kolar was continued as Jahagir to his son Suratsing. When Shivaji conquered Bangalore from his half-brother Vyankoji, he continued the jagir of Kolar to his brother’s children.

Kola remained in Maratha hands till Hyder Ali (1721-1781) claimed Kolar as his right. Hyder’s reason for his conquest of Kolar was because he was born at Budikote, a short distance away from Kolar.

The Tarik-i-Shivaji, Siva Digvijaya, Chitnis Bakhars, Sabhasad and Adil Shah records give us information about Shahaji, Shivaji and Sambhaji as does the excellent work by H.S. Sardesai.