India has given birth over the ages more glorious and immortal than Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi . Matchless Chhatrapti Shivaji Maharaj , awe-inspiring Maharana Pratap , revered Tatia Tope , acclaimed Bal Gangadhar Tilak , venerable Guru Gobind Singh to name a few .

The Mughal plunderers handed out exceptional , bloodthirsty , barbarity on the Indian population unheard of ever in the world . This was confronted with formidable pluck by a number of freedom fighters some mentioned above .

A narration of these freedom fighters courage would require much detail  and I begin a summary of their heroism by my first legend Chhatrapti Shivaji Maharaj . Shivaji was an unforgettable Maratha ruler . An ingenious King he governed using various heads of administration . He stood for honour of women and during victory in battle saw to it that no women were taken prisoners . Rape and molestation were brutally punished . Muslims would abduct Hindu girls and hand them over to muslim harems which they termed – ‘Nazrana’ . It so happened that a Maratha General presented the daughter in law of a Muslim Subehdar as ‘nazrana’ to Shivaji . The gallant King scolded his General for the intolerable act and laid down that any similar act would be punished with the chopping off of the hands .

He knew the necessity of a powerful army and invented first-rate warfare manouvres . An intelligence unit helped in mastering guerrilla warfare . In case of facing iminent death he advised his soldiers to retreat and regroup . He thus won many battles despite being outnumbered .

He was not a fanatic and tolerant to all religions . He had many Muslims in his  army .He was not harsh to the soldiers of the vanquished army and admitted them in his ranks on their submitting to him . However he encouraged conversion to Hinduism .

Shivaji formed a Maratha navy to safeguard India fom foreign invasion . For him India was superior to his own kingdom . He wanted to free India from invaders .

Shivaji defeated the dreaded Afzal Khan single handedly inspite of the latter being more powerful and much more huge in size .

A study of Shivaji is a must for all and would well provide material for a nail biting historical thriller .