Is Shivaji not a national hero??
काय शिवाजी राष्ट्रीय वीरपुरुष नाहीत??
Hero worship is a feeling deeply implanted in human nature ; and our political aspirations need all the strength which the worship of swadeshi hero is likely to inspire our minds.
मानवी स्वभावात वीरपुरुषांची पूजा ही खोलवर रुजली आहे;व आपली राजकिय आकांक्षेस पूर्ण ताकद हवी ,ज्याने स्वदेशी वीरपुरुषाची पूजा आपल्या मनास प्रेरणा देउ शकते.
For this purpose Shivaji is the only hero found in Indian history. He was born at a time when the whole nation required relief from misrule;
या कारणासाठी, शिवाजी हा भारताच्या इतिहासातील एकमेव वीरपुरुष आहे. त्याचा जन्म त्या वेळी झाला जेंव्हा संपूर्ण राष्ट्रास अराजकापासून सुटका हवी होती:
and by his self sacrifice and courage he proved to the world that India was not a country forsaken by providence. It is true that Mohamedans and Hindus were then divided ;
व त्याच्या या आत्मबलीदानाने व धैर्याने त्याने जगास सिद्ध करुन दाखविले कि भारत हा भाग्यापासून ओस असा देश नव्हता.(भाग्यवान देश होता). हे खरे आहे कि मुसलमान व हिंदू तेंव्हा विभागलेले होते.
and Shivaji who respected religious scruples of the Mohamedans , had to fight against the Mogal rule that had become unbearable to the people.
व शिवाजी जो मुसलमानांच्या धार्मिक विकल्पांचा आदर करीत होता,त्यास मुगल राज्यकर्त्याँविरुद्ध लढावे लागले जे लोकांना असह्य झाले होते.
But it does not follow from this that now that the Mohamedans and Hindus are equally shorn of the power once they possessed and are governed by the same laws and rules ,
पण याद्वारे ते शिकले नाहीत कि मुसलमान व हिंदू यांची पूर्वी त्यांचेपाशी असणारी ताकद समान रितीने छाटल्या गेली आहे व ते समान कायदे व नियमांनी बांधलेले आहेत.
they should agree to accept him as a hero who in his own days took a bold stand against the tyranny of his time. It is not preached nor is it to be at all expected that the methods adapted by Shivaji should be adapted by the present generation.
त्यांनी त्याच्या वीरपुरुष असण्यास स्वीकृती द्यावयास हवी,जो, त्याचे कालात, त्याचेवेळ्च्या जुलूमशाहीविरुद्ध धिटाईने उभा झाला.असे शिकविलेही जात नाही किंबहुना याची अपेक्षाही केल्या जात नाही कि शिवाजीने अंगिकारलेल्या पद्धतीं ह्या सध्याच्या पिढीने (दत्तक)घ्याव्यात.
The change brought by the Anglo-Indian writers in this connection is a fiction of their brain and is put forward simply to frighten away the timid amongst us.
आंग्ल -भारतीय लेखकांनी या संबंधी केलेला बदल हा त्यांच्या बुद्धीची काल्पनिकता आहे व ती आमच्यात असणाऱ्या भित्र्यांना घाबरविण्यासाठी रचिल्या गेली.
No one ever dreams that every incident in Shivaji’s life is o be copied by any one at present . It is the spirit which actuated Shivaji in his doings that is held forth as the proper ideal to be kept constantly in view by the raising generations.
कोणास याबाबत स्वप्नातही वाटत नाही कि शिवाजीच्या जीवनातला प्रत्येक प्रसंग हा सध्या कोणीही नकलवावा.
No amount of misinterpretation can succeed in shutting this view of the question from our vision ; and we hope and trust that our Mohamedan friends will not be misled by such wily methods. We do not think that the Anglo Indian writers will object to England worshipping Nelson or France worshipping great Nepolean on the ground that such national festivals will alienate the sympathies of either nation from the other or would make the existence of amicable relations between two nations an impossibility in future. And yet the same advice is administered to us in a patronizing tone by this Anglo Indian critics , being unmindful of the fact that we have now become sufficiently acquainted with their tactics to their word for gospel truth. The Shivaji festival is not celebrated to alienate or even irritate the Mohamedans. Time has changed and as observed above the Mohamedans and Hindus stand in the same boat or on same platform so far as political condition of the people is concerned. Can we not both of us derive some inspiration from the life of Shivaji under these circumstances ? That is the real question at issue ; and if this can be answered in the affirmative it matters little that Shivaji was born in Maharashtra. This aspect of the question has been clearly perceived and exclaimed by the leading Indian papers in Bangal such as Patrika and Bengalee ; and there is little chance of the serpentine wisdom of the Anglo Indian writers being blindly accepted by the parties for whom it is meant. We are not against a festival being started in honor of Akbar or any other hero from old Indian History . Such festivals will have their own worth ; but that of Shivaji has a peculiar value of its own country , and it is the duty of every one to see that this characteristics of the festival is not ignored or misrepresented . Every hero be he Indian or European , acts according to the spirit of his times ; and we must therefore judge of his individual acts by the prevalent in his time. If this principle be accepted we can find nothing in Shivaji’s life to which one can take exception. But as stated above we need not go so far. What makes Shivaji a national hero for the present is the spirit which actuated him throughout and not his deeds as such. His life clearly shows that Indian races do not so soon lose the vitality which gives them able leaders at critical times. That is the lesson which the Mohamedans and the Hindus have to learn from the history of the great Maratha Chief ; and the Shivaji festival is intended to emphasise the same lesson. It is the sheer misrepresentation to suppose that the worship of Shivaji includes invocation to fight either with the Mohamedans or with the Government. It was only in conformity worth the political circumstances of the country at the time Shivaji was born in Maharashtra. But a future leader may born anywhere in India who knows. That is the right view of the question and we do not think that the Anglo Indian writers can succeed in diverting our attention from it.
Lokamanya Tilak
(Article published in The Maratta , 24th June, 1906)
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