Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Shivaji grew up in the green, misty hills of Maharashtra, listening to stories of brave heroes from his mother Jijabai. As a boy he already dreamed of a kingdom where his people could live free.

He trained small groups of soldiers who could climb steep cliffs at night and slip in and out of forts like shadows. Using clever surprise attacks, called ganimi kava, he built his own kingdom, one hill at a time.

In 1674, he was crowned Chhatrapati — 'paramount king' — at his fort of Raigad, and started a proud Maratha empire that lasted for more than a hundred years.

Shivaji Bhonsle was born in 1630 in the fort of Shivneri. From his teenage years he began winning forts in the western Sahyadri hills, first from the Adil Shahi Sultanate of Bijapur and later from the powerful Mughal Empire.

He built up a fast, light cavalry that could travel long distances quickly, and used the geography of the Western Ghats to make surprise attacks that larger armies could not stop.

In June 1674 he was crowned Chhatrapati at Raigad, giving the Marathas their own royal centre. He organised his government with a council of eight ministers called the Ashta Pradhan, encouraged the use of Marathi and Sanskrit at court, and started one of India's earliest navies along the Konkan coast to protect trade from pirates and European ships.

He died in 1680, but his ideas of self-rule and swarajya inspired later Indian leaders for centuries.