India is the land of brave warriors, for the country's interest and personal honor, the valiant warriors of India who have given the sacrifice, there is no one of their equipollence in the world. One such warrior was Shivaji's army chief, Pratap Rao Gurjar.
Pratap Rao Gurjar's contribution to Shivaji and the history of India is realized only by this fact that Pratap Rao Gurjar, was the Chief Commander of Shivaji before the coronation of Shivaji in 1674 for 8 years. The victory of Indian army in the Tarain war of 1191 between Prithviraj Chauhan and Mohamed Gori.And in February 1672, 480 years after the victory of the Indian Army in the Salher battle, he was the hero of the Indian army's victory in the battle of the Mughal-Maratha between the Mughal-Marathas. On the behalf of the Marathas in the Battle of Salher, commander Pratap Rao Gurjar and Peshwa Moropant were the commanders. On the other hand, the world's most powerful Mughal army in which Rajputs, Rohilis and Pathans were in aid. In Mughal Senanayak, Diler Khan (Subedar of South), Bahadur Khan (Manasbadar of Gujarat), Senanayak Ikhlas Khan and Bahalol Khan were prominent. After the victory of this war, Sant Ramdas Shivaji wrote a famous letter to Shivaji.In which Guru Ramdas in his address Shivaji was called Gajpati(Lord of elephants), Haypati (Cavalry Army), Gadpati(Lord of forts) and Jalpati(Master of high seas).After the victory of this war, the path to becoming Shivaji's Chhatrapati became clear.
Pratap Rao Gurjar was a successful planner general, he was the hero of the battles of Singhgarh, Salher and Umraani. It was a trivial matter to go play on life to make the plans of our side successful. He was the gift to Shivaji as the commander. He was a passionate person, his passion was his power as well as weakness.
The real name of Pratap Rao Gurjar was Kadatauji Gurjar. Shivaji gave the title to Pratap Rao Gurjar, after he saw his bravery at the time of war with Aurangzeb's famous army chief Mirza Raja Jai Singh.
Pratap Rao Gujar started his military life as a modest detective in Shivaji's army. Once Shivaji changed his passage and started crossing the border, Pratap Rao stopped him by challenging him, Shivaji offered temptation for his examination, but Pratap Rao did not get a chance. Shivaji Pratap Rao was very pleased with the sincerity of his honesty and duty. As a result of his qualities and valor services, the ladder of success was soon enough to become the Subedar of Rajgarh Cantt.
Meanwhile, Aurangzeb appointed Shaista Khan as the Subedar of the Mughal Empire in the Deccan province in July 1659, till then the Marathas had no clashes with the Mughals, they were running their successful campaign against the Bijapur Sultanate. Aurangzeb was looking at the rise of Shivaji as a rising Maratha state. He ordered Shaista Khan to strip the areas from the Marathas which he won from Bijapur. Under the orders, Shaista Khan took a huge army and conquered Poona and put his camp there in the famous Lal Mahal for Shivaji. He also won the victory by putting a circle of luncheon, he won Kalyan and Bhiwadi in 1661.
As a reaction, Shivaji ordered Peshwa Moro Pant and Pratap Rao to win back their territories. Moropant attacked Junnar in addition to Kalyan and Bhiwadi. Pratap Rao Gujar conducted a successful campaign in the Mughal areas. He, with his cavalry army,intruded the Mughal emporer in the interior areas.
Wasting the villages, towns and cities which supported the Mughals, they reached the Godavari coast. Pratap Rao targeted Balaghat, Parande, Haveli, Gulbarga, Abbas and Udgir and recovered the damages from war and finally he came to Aurangabad, the capital of the Mughals in the Deccan. Mahakub Singh was the guardian general of Aurangzeb in Aurangabad. He proceeded to face Pratap Rao with ten thousand soldiers. Both armies faced a confrontation near Ahmednagar. The Mughal army was badly defeated. Pratap Rao defeated the Mughal commander in the war and killed him. Pratap Rao returned home after taking a lot of money from this military campaign, Pratap Rao's military expedition was a major blow to Shaista Khan's campaign. Being excited, the Marathas decided to attack directly on Shaista Khan.
In the leadership of Shivaji, Marathe organized a pseudo procession and entered his camp and attacked Shaista Khan. Shaista Khan was somehow successful in saving his life, but in the struggle, Shivaji's sword wielded three fingers of his hand. As a result of this incident a Mughal army reached Sinhagad next morning. Marathas gave the Mughal army an opportunity to come near the fort of Sinhagad. As soon as the Mughal army came to the extent of the guns, the Marathas started strongly bombing. At the same time Pratap Rao took his cavalcade and reached Sinhagad and broke down like a hungry lion on the Mughal army, in a moment, Maratha cavalry cut hundreds of Mughal soldiers, a stampede broke in Mughal cavalry, Pratap Rao Gujar took his army and followed them. In this way the Mughal cavalry force was ahead of the cavalry of the Marathas. This was the first time that the Maratha cavalry army followed the Mughal cavalry army. Shivaji was very pleased with Pratap Rao Gujar who gave the introduction of bravery and strategy in the battle of Sinhagad. Pratava Rao, excited by his spectacular success, cut many small army units of the Mughals and forced the Mughals to strengthen their border posts. Shaista Khan was very embarrassed by this defeat and humiliation. The morale of his army fell. The fear of the Marathas stepped in their heart.With the failure of this campaign of Shaista Khan, the prestige of the Mughals got into the mud and their Deccan Suba was in danger. The tension in the Deccan increased so much that it seemed that Aurangzeb would now travel to Deccan but he could not do so due to the rebellion in Kashmir and the Western province. Still, he removed Shaista Khan from the Deccan and replaced him with Shahzada Muazzam as Deccan's Subedar.
The Marathas completely adopted the anti-Mughal policy and in 1664 AD attacked an important economic source of the Mughal state, the famous port and the center of international trade, Surat. In this aggressive attack Shivaji was accompanied by Pratap Rao Gujar and Moro Panthe Pingale and four thousand Mawali soldiers. Marathas received a million rupees (Dinar) from the attack on Surat, using to get administrative and military strength in Maratha state. Aurangzeb could not bear Surat's robbery. Here Marathas attacked a ship of Haj pilgrims while going to Mecca. This incident worked as ghee in the fire and Aurangzeb got furious with the anger. He immediately sent a large army under the leadership of Mirza Raja Jai Singh and Diler Khan to suppress the Marathas. On reaching the Deccan, Diler Khan put a circle around Purandar, Jai Singh surrounded Sinhagad and sent some of his troops against Rajgarh and Lohagarh. Jai Singh knew that winning Marathas is not easy, so he came with full preparation. There were 80000 selected warriors with him. Given the seriousness of the situation, Shivaji called a meeting of a war council in Raigad for the first time. In this hour of crisis, Netaji Palkar, who was the commander-in-chief at that time, and Shivaji's wife, Putilibai Palkar's family, became a rebel. Shivaji had ordered him to guard against the border of Swarajya, but on the arrival of Jai Singh's army, he went far away with the main army of the Marathas. Shivaji ordered them to return to the army immediately. But Netaji did not come back. Netaji had actually met Jai Singh who had promised to give him a high mansab in the Mughal court. The crisis of Mughal aggression deepened by this conduct of the Senapati. In these moments of crisis, Pratap Rao Gujar gave a lot of support to Shivaji. He achieved success in stopping the supply of the Mughal army to an extent and completely eliminated many Mughal troops. He continued to give news of the stirring movement of the Mughal army to Shivaji. In this moment of crisis, pleased with Pratap Rao's struggle, Shivaji gave him the title of Senapati and the title of Pratap (veer ) Rao.
Shivaji, taking stock of the situation of the war, came to the conclusion that it is not possible to beat Jai Singh in a face-to-face battle. Hence he assigned Pratap Rao Gujar to the execution of Jai Singh. Pratap Rao got together with Jai Singh under a plan and after a night, he made a vigorous effort to kill Jai Singh in his camp but Jai Singh survived due to the intimidation of the bodyguards. Pratap Rao Gujar did not fall in the hands of the enemies and he succeeded in escaping the enemy camp. This daring attempt of Pratap Rao could not even be done for self rule. Negotiations of the treaty were started with Jai Singh. As a result, the Treaty of Purandar occurred in 1665. Under the treaty, Shivaji had to hand over 23 of his 35 important fortifications to the Mughals. Shivaji's right was accepted on some areas of Bijapur. Shivaji's son Sambhaji was given five thousand Mansabdar in the Mughal army. Shivaji promised to support the Mughals against Bijapur. But the Mughal-Maratha joint operation against Bijapur did not succeed. With the failure of this campaign, the reputation of Jai Singh in the Mughal court deeply shocked. Therefore, to show Aurangzeb his importance, he promised to make Shivaji the South Subedar and sent him to Agra to join the Emperor. Shivaji became angry due to lack of proper respect in the Mughal court and left the Mughal court immediately. Aurangzeb got angry and arrested him. Shivaji was imprisoned in Agra for one year, one day he was caught by the Mughal soldiers and he fled from captivity and reached Raigad in September 1666. As long as Shivaji was in prison, the responsibility of protecting Swarajya was the responsibility of Peshwa and Pradhan Senapati Pratap Rao Gujar. In the absence of Shivaji, both of them defended independence with full devotion and devotion.
After coming back from Agra, Shivaji remained silent for three years. They made a treaty with the Mughals. Through which the Treaty of Purandar was re-approved and Sambhaji was given five thousand Mansabdar . Sambhaji started living in Aurangabad's Mughal capital of Deccan with his five thousand horsemen. But because of his early age, he delivered the weight of this troop to Pratap Rao Gujr and returned back. Mughal-Maratha peace could not last for long. Aurangzeb suspected that Shahzada Muazzam was associated with Shivaji. He ordered the princes to arrest the Pratap Rao Gujar in Aurangabad and destroy his army. But before reaching the emperor's orders, Pratap Rao Gujar got safe from Aurangabad with his five thousand horsemen.
Now Marathas climb on the Mughal territories. They conquered many fortifications entrusted to the Mughals by the treaty of Purandar. In 1670, several important forts including Sinhagad and Purandar were withdrawn. On October 13, 1670, the Marathas attacked Surat again. In the three-day campaign, the hand of the Marathas was worth 66 lakh rupees (Dinar). When Shivaji returned to Vani-Dindori in return, he was confronted by the Mughal army led by Dawood Khan. In such a way, saving the treasure was a difficult task. Shivaji divided his army into four parts. He entrusted the leadership of Pratap Rao with the responsibility of taking the treasure to a secure Konkan and was ready to compete with Dawood Khan himself. Marathas severely defeated the Mughals in this war. On the other hand Pratap Rao took away the treasure safely. Pratap Rao Gujar returned from Surat and attacked Khandesh and Barar. Pratap Rao ruined many towns, towns and villages, including the Kurinja in the Mughal region. The memorable fact of this war campaign of Pratap Rao Gujar is that he was successful in taking written promise from the heads of the villages falling in the way, to make Shivaji an annual 'Chauth' tax. The Marathas used to take the Chauth tax, in return for saving the people from enemy territory and harm caused by their attack. In this way we can fix the date when the Marathas have recovered chauth tax from the Mughal areas for the first time. This incident was very important in political terms. With this, there has been a great increase in the status of Marathas in Maharashtra. This incident was a symbol of the fact that the Maharashtra belongs to and not to Mughals.
Finally, the Mughal emperor handed over the responsibility of south to Gujarat's Subedar Bahadur Khan and Diler Khan. Both of them put the circle on fortress of Salheri. And leaving some of the troops there, both of them rushed to Poona and Supa . The fort of Salheri was very important from the strategic point of view. Hence Shivaji was determined to save it in every situation. Shivaji took the army and reached the fort of Shivneri near Salheri. After getting this information, he ran towards Salheri from Poona and defeated two thousand Maratha cavalry sent by Shivaji in a war and defeated him in a war. The situation of the Marathas has worsened very badly. Shivaji ordered Moropant Pingale and Pratap Rao Gujar to reach Salheri with twenty-two thousand horsemen. Seeing these activities of the Marathas, Bahadur Khan sent the main part of his army against Pratap Rao Gujar under the leadership of Ikhlas Khan. Shortly after the war began, Pratap Rao ordered his army to return. The Marathas began to disappear with the speed of the hills and the paths. The spirited Mughals ran behind them. Following, the Mughal army was scattered, Pratap Rao roamed rapidly and organized the Marathas and attacked twice faster. This warlike betrayal of the Mughal army by Pratap Rao remained gloomy. The Mughals became confused and frightened and a panic broke into them. Ikhlas Khan tried to reconstitute the Mughal army, some new Mughal troops also came, the horrifying war started, and Moro Pant also reached with his army. The Marathas surrounded the Mughals with a horrible gesture and killed them. The Marathas tricked the Mughal army badly It is said that the brave five thousand soldiers of the Mughals were killed,in which 22 were the main commanders. Many major Mughal warriors were injured and some were captured. The success of the Marathas in the Battle of Salheri was a complete victory in itself and it was the supreme leader Pratap Rao Gujar. In the battle of Salheri, the Marathas received 125 elephants, 700 camels, 6 thousand horses, numerous animals and a lot of gold, silver, ornaments and war materials. Salheri's victory was the biggest victory of the Marathas till now. This was the first important victory of Marathas against the Mughals in a face-to-face battle. This victory gave a big rise to the status of Maratha bravery . After this war, the fear of Marathas settled in the South. The first effect of the war was that the Mughals lifted the circle of Salheri and returned to Aurangabad.
At the end of 1672, reunions broke out in Marathas and Bijapur. From the point of view of protecting their southern areas, the Marathas took Panhala from Bijapur. Sultan sent a powerful army under the leadership of Bahalol Khan urf Abdul Karim to get back Panhala. Bahalol Khan put the circle of Panhala. Shivaji sent Pratap Rao Gujar to free Panhala. Pratap Rao Gujar worked with an amazing strategy to free Panhala. Pratap Rao Gujar strongly attacked the Adilshahi capital, Bijapur, instead of crossing Panhala and devastated the surrounding areas. At that time there was no army for the protection of Bijapur, so Bahalol Khan took the circle of Panhala and ran to protect Bijapur. But Pratap Rao got him in the middle of the road near Umrani. Pratap Rao trapped him in his trap by blocking the logistics of Bahalol Khan's army and completely wiped out many of its advance troops. This is the event of April 1673. At that time the heat was at its peak, water was most important at that time. One day, not two days, but on the siege of one month, the condition of Bahalol Khan and his army was that his soldiers and horses would die of thirst. The timing was that either Bahalol Khan died with thirst or in the war. In such a situation, Bahalol Khan, sitting on the knees, prayed to Pratap Rao Gurjar that he would give him and his soldiers just water to drink. Take whatever they have in return. Spare their life. Pratap Rao Gurjar was trapped in a religious crisis. His Hindu heart was not allowing the thirsty and devious enemy to attack. He came to abolish Bahalol Khan, drinking water from thirst to death in the Hindu religion has been considered as the greatest virtue. But there was no ordinary person to die from thirst here, it was his king's biggest enemy. In all, the situation was that Pratap Rao Gurjar could not attack the unarmed and thirsty Bahalol Khan army. He gave him the way to escape. Pratap Rao freed Panhala and wrote his success letter to Shivaji. Shivaji knew that there was no cost of speech like Bahalol Khan. He knew the price of the blood of his sepoys that is shed to build up a state. Therefore, Shivaji wrote a hard letter to Pratap Rao Gurjar. In which he wrote that how could he leave an enemy like Bahalol Khan. Do not show up in Raigad till the end of Bahalol Khan. Pratap Rao Gurjar, when he read the letter, decided what he had to do.
Today, there was a situation in front of Pratap Rao that had once arose due to obstruction of Durvasa in front of Lakshman, when he ignored Ram's orders and had entered the conversation, Ram sacrificed Laxman and Laxman sacrificed his life after being relieved of that sacrifice. History was repeating itself.
He was a soldier of Shivaji's army. In front of the wishes of his king, he did not consider his life worth anything. As soon as Pratap Rao Gujar took his army and ran on the other side. Bahalol Khan took his army and headed towards Panhala. As soon as Pratap Rao got the information. He returned immediately. Now Pratap Rao saw that Shivaji was not wrong. Now the thing was of his personal honor. Pratap Rao retreated his main army and formed a further front with 1200 soldiers. Bahalol Khan was with his 15,000 army. Pratap Rao Gurjar wanted Bahalol Khan to see a low army and attack him. So that face-to-face may be possible. But Bahalol Khan was aware of Pratap Rao's warlike claim and bravery. He kept quiet in his barricade. Pratap Rao, for his personal honor, could not order his 1200 soldiers to attack. In the same diary, on February 24, 1674, Pratap Rao Gurjar was on the inspection of the army with his six brave companions, Beasaji Ballal, Deepaji Rout Rao, Bitthal Pillaji Atreya, Krishnaji Bhaskar, Siddhi Halal and Bithoji Shinde, when a mountaineer appeared. He told Pratap Rao Gurjar that Bahalol Khan is half a mile away. After listening to the name of Bahalol Khan, Pratap Rao's blood was thrown, he fell down, his hand went on his sword and Pratap Rao drove his horse towards the direction of Bahalol Khan. Following their commander, the six followed. When Bahalol Khan's army saw seven horsemen coming in the direction of attack, they immediately gave information to Bahalol Khan. Bahalol Khan saw that the Maratha commander Pratap Rao Gurjar was leading the mounted cavalry. Bahalol Khan immediately ordered his army to attack. On one side were Seven and on the other hand 15000 soldiers collide at one place. They were seven brave soldiers fighting bravely in the battlefield. Actually this was not a war, it was a warrior's sacrifice for his personal honor. Historians call it the Battle of Nesri. When this news came to Shivaji, he cried and cried. Shivaji considered himself guilty for the sacrifice of Pratap Rao Gurjar. Shivaji married his daughter Janaki Bai, the only child of Pratap Rao Gurjar, to his younger son, Rajaram, on March 7, 1680, and declared Janaki Bai as Queen. Shivaji died on 3 April 1680. Shivaji's eldest son Sambhaji, who was then interned in Panhala Fort, was freed by then the Commander of Shivaji, Hamir Rao Mohite, and made the king. But in 1681, Aurangzeb took a large army and reached south. He took the seven-year-old son of Sambhaji to Sahu and wife of Sambhaji and Sukurabai Gaikwad, wife of Shivaji. In 1687, the commander Hamir Rao Mohite was sacrificed in the battle of Satara; In 1689, Shambhaji's brother-in-law Ganoji Shirke met the Mughal army and arrested Sambhaji, and Sambhaji was sacrificed. Rajaram now becomes Chattrapati and Janki Bai becomes queen. Rajaram died in 1700 and Jankibai became a sati with the body of Rajaram.
This incident of Pratap Rao Gurjar and his six companions sacrifice is one of the most heroic events in Maratha history. The famous poet Kusumag Raj has written a poem titled, 'Vedat Marathe Veer Dudale Seven', on this dastardly sacrifice of Prataprao and his companions, which is sung by famous singer Lata Mangeshkar. Pratap Rao Gujar's sacrifice site Nessari (Kolhapur) Maharashtra also has a memorial in his memory.
Pratap Rao Gurjar is not only recognized in South India but also in northern India. In the district of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, since 2002, under the aegis of "Pratap Rao Gurjar Smriti Samiti", programs have been organized in memory of Pratap Rao Gurjar's sacrifice day. The publication of "Pratap" annuity magazine for twelve years is also done by the committee.
Reference book
1- Nil Kant, s - A History of The Great Maratha Empire, Dehradun 1992
2- Duff Grant -History of Maratha
3- Srivastav, Ashrafadilal - India's Itihas
4- Dr. Sushil Bhati- The founding of the establishment of Hind Swaraj Maratha Senapati Pratap Rao Gurjar
