Shivaji Quotes

I wonder at the strange fidelity of your officers that they neglect to tell you of the true state of things, but cover a blazing fire with straw ! May the sun of your royalty continue to shine above the horizon of greatness !

It has recently come to my ears that, on the ground of the war with me having exhausted your wealth and -emptied the imperial treasury, your Majesty has ordered that money under the name of jaziya should be collected from the Hindus and the imperial needs supplied with it. .May it please your Majesty 1 That architect of the fabric of empire, [Jalaluddin] Akbar Padishah, reigned with full power for 52 [lunar] years. He adopted the admirable policy of universal harmony ( sulh-i-hul ) in relation to all the various sects, such as Christians, Jews, Muslims, Dadu’s followers, sky-worshippers { falafya ), malarias, materialists (ansaria), atheists ( daharia ), Brahman and Jain priests. The aim of his liberal heart was to cherish and protect all the people. . So, he became famous under the title of ‘the World’s spiritual guide’ ( Jagat Guru).

In strict justice the jazlya is not at all lawful. From the political point of view it can be allowed only if a beautiful woman wearing gold ornaments can pass from one country to another without fear or molestation. [But] in these days even the cities are being plundered, what shall I say of the open country? Apart from its injustice, this imposition of the jiziya is an innovation in India and inexpedient.

May it please your Majesty ! If you believe in the true Divine Book and Word of God ( i.e ., the Quran), you will find there [that God L styled] Rabb-ul-alamin, the Lord of all men, and not RuLb ul-musalmin, the Lord of the Muhammadans only. Verily/ -Islam and Hinduism are terms of contrast. They ar£ [diverse pigments] used by the true Divine Painter for blending the colours and filling in the outlines [of His picture of the entire human species]. If it be a mosque, the call to prayer is chanted in remembrance of Him. If it be a temple, the bell is rung in yearning for Him only. To show bigotry for any man’s creed and practices is equivalent to altering the words of the Holy Book. To draw (new) lines on a picture is to find fault with the painter. (Verses)
Lay not thy hand in disapproval on anything you see, be it good, be it bad.
To call the handiwork faulty is to find fault with the craftsman.

But In your Majesty's reign. many of the forts and provinces have gone out of your possession, and the rest will soon do so too because there will be no slackness on my part in ruining and devastating them. Your peasants are down-trodden ; the yield of every village has declined, in the place of one lakh (of Rupees) only one thousand, and in the place of n thousand only ten are collected, and that too with difficulty. When Poverty and Beggary have made their homes in the palaces of the Emperor and the Princes, the condition of the grandees and officers can be easily imagined. It is a reign in which the army is in a ferment, the merchants complain ; the Muslims cry, the Hindus are grilled ; most men lack bread at night, and in the day-time inflame their own cheeks by slagping them [in anguish]. How can the royal spirit []you to add the hardship of the jaziya to this grievous state of things ? The x .ipfamy will quickly spread from west to east and become recorded in books of history that the Emperor of Hindustan, coveting the beggars’ bowls, takes jaziya from Brahmans and Jain monks, yogis , sannyasis, bairagis, paupers^mendicants, ruined wretches, and the famine-stricken,—-that his valour is shown by attacks on the wallets of beggars,—that he dashes down [to the ground] the name and honour of the Timurids !

If you imagine piety to consist in oppressing the people and terrorising the Hindus, you ought first to levy the faziya from Rana Raj Singh, who is the head of the Hindus. Then it will not be so very difficult to collect it from me, as I am at your service. But to oppress ants and flies is far from displaying valour and spirit.

This firm and constant well-wisher Shivnji, after rendering thanks for the grace of God and the favours of the Emperor,—which are clearer than the Sun,—begs to inform your Majesty that, although this well-wisher was led by his adverse Fate to come nwny from your august presence without taking leave, yet he is ever ready to perform, to the fullest extent possible and proper, everything that duty as a servant and gratitude demand of him.[...]

Next, the Emperor Nuruddin Jahangir for 22 years spread his gracious shade on the head of the world and its dwellers, gave his heart to his friends and his hand to his work, and gained his desires. The Emperor Shah Jahan for 32 years cast his blessed shade on the head of the world and gathered the fruit of eternal life,—... [....]