Maharashtra Dharma (The Spiritual Nature Of Maharashtrian Dharmik Resistance To Islamic Tyranny Of The Later 17th Century)

A short descriptive article by Instagram Page Marathi Brahman Pant Posting

What is Maharashtra Dharma ? 

Maharashtra Dharma :-

The spiritual background of Dharmic resistence to Sultani tyranny that began in Maharashtra in mid 17th Century under the leadership of Bhonsale Chhatrapatis .

Maharashtra is one of the states in Union Of India . Among all the other states , Maharashtra is the sole one which has its name associated with Dharma . I have seen many people associating Maharashtra Dharma with regional chauvinism and some Maharashtrians behave in a manner which supports this bullshit , same people are striving hard to remove the name of Samartha Ramdas Swami from History .

Samartha Ramdas Swami is the one who had given the definition of Maharashtra Dharma . The word Maharashtra Dharma comes first time in his letter “Nishchayacha Mahameru” to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj where he says “Maharashtra Dharma Rakhila Kahi , Tumhakarane”(your deeds have saved a part of surviving Maharashtra Dharma). This proves that neither of Samartha or Chhatrapati were actual founders of Maharashtra Dharma as it would make no sense to say ‘Some Part Of Surviving’ if they had founded Maharashtra Dharma . The term was coined by Samartha Ramdas Swami and embodied by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj but the exact concept behind the term existed before them .

To know the real concept , we must see some prominent letter transactions between Samartha Ramdas and Chhatrapati house , his views on social topics .

Samartha had sent two letters to Shivaji Maharaj titled Raj Dharma and Kshaatra Dharma which form principle backbone for understanding Maharashtra Dharma .

Raj Dharma 

Raj Dharma or the duty of kings mainly focuses on vyavhaar neeti the king must adopt to keep his kingdom intact and have his servants abide by his side . To behave with your intellect intact is the core of having a prosperous life. To think and rethink about things before taking any major decision about them always avoids blunders .

To maintain men loyal to yourself can avoid multiple potential blunders to your organisation . To always carry out analysis of capacities of people and assign them suitable tasks is the way of wise . Respect the talents of the people for when there is disrespect of talent , you know what happened To Nanda kingdom when they disrespected talented Chanakya . Such people might be rude sometimes but you need to bear them for them going against you might lead to serious damages. Against this if you retain such men with respect and care , they’ll do miraculous deeds for you .

While doing anything never forget the limiters of justice , without justice , everything is meaningless . You must not forget to take responsibility of things at times . Weak leadership incites anarchy , so you need to have firm hold over kingdom . You should be watchful about everything and everyone . It is not wise to always be on the battlefield yourself . You need to model people who will carry your tasks in your absence . You need to guide them in proper ways to do their work . While governing a large organization like a kingdom , you will be surrounded by multiple people , never measure them in single metric . Measure them accordingly and assign them respective jobs . Take care of these people very well because the lack of recognition within organization is beginning of internal anarchy .

Kings should follow Royal Duties else where , fight like warriors on battlefield and when with Deva Brahmanas , they should follow ritualistic Pooja path swadharma .

Herein , Samartha Ramdas Swami had concluded his short treatise on Raj Dharma .

Kshaatra Dharma

Now moving on to Kshaatra Dharma after done addressing the Raj Dharma .

First thing about Kshaatra Dharma is that Samartha has warned that this Kshaatra Dharma is not meant for dimwits and cucks . Anyone who is afraid of losing their life should stay away from such things and find something else to satisfy their stomachs . When such depressed dimwits inhabit the battlefields , they either run away or die while doing so . Either way , it is completely disgraceful .

One who fights the battle and wins , enjoys riches . Even if he dies , he attains sadgati and gets reborn as a kulin person . Similar lines “Hato Wa Prapsyasi Swargam , Jitwa Wa Bhokshyase Mahim . Tasmaatuttishtha Kaunteya Yuddhaya Kruta Nishchaya” were addressed to Arjuna by Shri Krishna . Even Chhatrapati Shivaji had said the same to Raja Chhatrasaal Bundela .

You should not be rampant during war times , but the efforts should be planned and careful . Strike the core of enemy which will leave even the army astonished . You should burn your enemies like fire burns dry grass . This will make the enemies run away like helpless deers while you continue to devour them like cheetahs .

War is to be handled with calmness and valor . Lack of valor creates deficiency of bravery and lack of calmness creates self damage . You should always have a plan ready beforehand while going on a battle and ensure that plan is enacted perfectly . This balanced behavior ensures your victory with maximum profit and lesser loss .

Purpose and Core of Kshaatra Dharma :-

Deeds without purpose are like water without canals , absolutely meaningless . There is a purpose , a much much greater purpose to a glorious thing like Kshaatra Dharma . From this point onwards , Samartha guides us to establishment of a strong Hindu Nation .

Kshaatra Dharma is the protective wall of a strong , nurturing and protective culture . Our culture revolves around gods . If idols and temples are being destroyed , its better to be dead than witnessing this alive . Collect all the Marhattas landlords and warriors , fill them with a singular thought of Dharma Rakshan and raise the flag of this Maharashtra Dharma cz if not doing so , ancestors will laugh on us .

Wise people must know that death is imminent , protecting your body cannot avoid you from death . Why not die for a glorious cause then ? There are people who worship Sultans out of the fear that Sultans will convert them into muslims and call themselves as Kulins , aah what blasphemous idiots . Such people are double agents .

My words might hurt you , but it’s my duty to tell you . All the god demolishers are dogs . Such filthy creatures must be beaten , killed and thrown away . The true servants of God will never face defeat in their entire existence ! If someone encroaches on your land and cause destruction of temples , take gids on your foreheads and destroy your opponents’ territory , do any measure it takes to establish Swadharma .

Powerful actions , backed by cautious thoughts , planning and blessings of Devi Tuljabhavani led Bhagwan Ram to achieve victory over evil Ravana . This goddess is therefore Rama-Varadayini , the power of the good and that is the reason why I , Ramdas , always remember her with devotion .

Samartha Ramdas was mostly an ascetic saint but along with spiritual awakening of an ascetic , he had the valor of a warrior and practical knowledge of a politician . Samartha never addressed anyone to do nothing and be dependant on god . Samartha always put things in their proper place . God will help you in achieving completion , providing you are having devoted and controlled efforts . Just like efforts Shivaji Maharaj took . Samartha actively trained youth in his mutts in both matters , physically and spiritually . Whenever we venture through history , we will find only countable people like Samartha . He was indeed a great successor to legacy of Karnataka Simhasana Pratishtapanacharya Shankaracharya Jagadguru Vidyaranya Swami .

Another beautiful description of conceptual Maharashtra Dharma comes from a distinct poem of Samartha Ramdas Swamiji . This poem is called Adhyatma Saar . Samartha addressed this poem to Ramavaradayini Devi of Pratap Gad .

Beginning 25 shlokas of this poem are depiction of how Goddess Parvati blessed Shri Ram and Lakshman to find Devi Seeta and how that Goddess had been protecting us since ages , but the most important parts are from shloka number 26 onwards .

Goddess protects , no doubt but what’s more important is to stand on your own two feet , attain power . Power begets respect , fame , wealth . Power comes from a strong mind and body . Body is needed to feel pleasures of glory . Strong men always form the backbone of power for protecting kingdom . Wars are won by strength and kingdoms can be annexed by it but you cannot run kingdom without planning . So planning is also needed .

Without proper planning and alertness , anarchy is encouraged internally . In such conditions , administration collapses and if this happens in war , chaos takes over in your side of army . Thus , for maintaining all that you achieved , strength and cunning , both are necessary .

Kings , who cannot hold sway over their subordinates end up losing everything , strong subordinates always dominate weak kings . Strong men can achieve anything , only weak wander for money hitherto . Strong administrator must analyze and throw out potentially hazardous people and maintain strong and devoted people . Planning and cunning is needed but without strength , these things are nothing cause you know “POWER IS POWER”.

Samartha Ramdas Swami was solely responsible to sow seeds of Maharashtra Dharma in minds of people . He did this under the pretext of keertana , Hari Katha . His keertanas were based on struggles and ideals of Shri Rama and strength and service of Shri Hanuman . Samartha had Yuddha Kaand and Sunder Kaand translated into Marathi for this sole purpose . With the aid of powerful words , Samartha made his efforts to awaken the sleeping minds of Hindus to resist the Muslim tyranny which was at it’s peak at that time .

This populace formed the core of the struggle which was about to come in near future for them . Even being without a proper king after cruel killing of Sambhaji Maharaj , populace here fought with the then mightiest Emperor Aurangzeb and WON after 27 long years . People resisted their existence and Islamification of Bharatvarsha under the strongest enemy . Aurangzeb crushed Bijapur , Hyderabad but severely failed to crush the Maha- Rashtra of Shiv Samartha . This was the spiritual awakening caused by tireless efforts taken by Samartha Ramdas Swami to awaken people towards their duties and which were further led by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to establish a Hindu Kingdom after nearly 150+ years on this land which eventually grown into the largest South Asian power within next 50 years .

THIS IS MAHARASHTRA DHARMA . When Samartha said “Maharashtra Rajya Karave , Jikade Tikade (establish Maharashtra , great nation , everywhere)” it wasn’t merely a territorial thing , but cultural rejuvenation of Bharatavarsha which happened in years to come .

Jaya Jaya Raghuveera Samartha .