The emergence of the Marathas was one of the major developments of the 17th century as added a new chapter in the history of India. They were one of the strongest powers of their ages. It was the achievements of Shivaji which made the Marathas a major power in 17th century. There are different views about the nature of the Maratha movement among scholars. While some scholars believes that it was a nationalist movement and some said it was reaction against religious orthodoxy of Aurangzeb. Many others presented a different picture.
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Was Maratha Movement a Nationalist Movement?
Many historians like Sir Jadunath Sarkar have emphasis that it was a nationalist movement and presented Shivaji as a national leader. Peoples who were inspired by this view believe that creating an Indian nation inspired Shivaji. The fight between Mughals and Marathas also taken as the struggle against foreign invaders because these scholars considered the Mughals as foreign invaders.
But the closer examination of the ideas and principles of Shivaji revealed that Maratha Movement was not a nationalist movement in modern terms because Shivaji fought for the creation of the Maratha state. Mughals were as Indian as Marathas, thus, the fight between Mughals and Marathas was for political supremacy, not the fight between Indian and foreigners. The spirit of nationalism was nowhere was visible in 17th century.
Throughout the world, nationalism has been a middle-class phenomenon at least during the early stages but the middle class was wafer thin in Maratha land. The Maratha movement was inspired by ideas of Shivaji who gave the idea of Swaraj and hence, the movement of Marathas can be accepted as nationalist movement but in local sense only.
Reaction Against the Orthodoxy of Aurangzeb?
Many scholars tried to portrayed the Maratha Movement as reaction against the orthodoxy of Aurangzeb but this view fails to stand the test of an impartial scrutiny. The Marathas like Shahji Bhosle came into prominence during the reign of Jahangir and Shah Jahan and Shivaji also asked by Aurangzeb (in a letter) to follow the same religious policy of its predecessor but the contents of this letter should not be over emphasized. The fight between Mughals and Marathas was the fight for political supremacy and hence, cannot be accepted as the reaction against the orthodox religious policy of Aurangzeb.
A Hindu Movement?
Shivaji adopted the titles like Haindatva Dharmodharaka (restorer of prestige of Hinduism) and GauBrahmana Pratipalaka (patrons of cows and Brahmans). Thus, on the basis of these titles and ideas, many historians believes that Shivaji was a Hindu leader and Maratha movement was a nationalist movement. The fight of Marathas with Deccan states and Mughals also portrayed as the Hindu ideals. It was believed that Guru Ram Das inspired Shivaji to do the same.
But the closer examination of these facts revealed that these are not true. The ideas of Shivaji revealed that Shivaji was a secular leader and Maratha movement was a secular political movement. The titles adopted by Shivaji were common titles of his time as these types of titles were also adopted by many Rajputs as well. Thus, these titles do not reveal any Hindu bias.
The fight between Shivaji and Aurangzeb was for the political supremacy in Deccan as they both wanted to dominate the region of Deccan. Shivaji came into contact with Guru Ram Das in later stage of his career and hence, he didn’t inspire Shivaji in early age of his political career. The politico-administration system established by Shivaji was secular and non-discriminatory.
Muslims were free practice their faith in Maratha state freely. As early as 1656, a separate Pathan Battalion was created by him. His army having large number of Muslim soldiers. His naval chief was also a Muslim. Thus, the Maratha state was a secular and a non-discriminatory state.