Maratha King Sambhaji Raje & Scott Knight Williams Wallace- Two warriors, similar life

Similarities between the lives of Maratha King Sambhaji Maharaj &  Scott Knight Williams Wallace

Son of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Maratha King Sambhaji  Raje and Scottish knight Sir Williams Wallace have great inspiring life stories. Both their lives are full of courage, bravery , highly skilled warfare tactics and both were great leader of their forces.

The death of both of these warriors proved to be death nails in the coffins of their enemy Kings. Their similarities do not end here, the after math of the unification of masses and their forces changed the  course of history of their country.

Their deaths mobilized the masses like never before, one resulting in final supremacy of Maratha Hindu empire over Mughals and another rise of Scotland like phoenix.

Both Heros are  thousand of miles and more than 4 centuries apart, yet  are unique stories of resilience, bravery and supreme sacrifice resonate deeply even today.

Sambhaji Raje picked up from where Shivaji Maharaj left and kept on fighting against oppression and muslim fanatic king Aurangzeb hoped that Maratha resistance would die quickly after the death of Shivaji. But Fate had something else in store for him. Sambhaji Maharaj was well aware of Aurangzeb’s ongoing torture and persecution of Hindus in his rule. Aurangzeb was destroying temple and taxing Hindus as if he didn’t want to see them alive. It was a part of his Islamic crusade. He wouldn’t stop short at anything less than see entire Indian subcontinent free from Hindus and all other religion.

Shivaji fought successfully against his tyranny and established a Hindu Maratha Kingdom under the very nose of Aurangzeb. He outwitted and subjugated Aurangzeb’s generals many times and kept on fighting for his whole life. He secured the base for Maratha Empire. Sambhaji Raje took from Here. Aurangzeb saw Shivaji’ s death as opportunity and arrived in Deccan to vanquish Maratha with his million strong army.

As soon as Aurangzeb attacked in one region Sambhaji Maharaj launched counter attack and defeated . He did not stop only at counter attack. He marched further and attacked inside Aurangzeb’s territories. This baffled Aurangzeb even more. the attack and counter attack occurred for next 6 years. Sambhaji was victorious in many occasions and Aurangzeb was dismayed at his loss. He relied on his old weapon of treachery . One of Sambhaji’s own relatives gave the information about his halting place in Sangameshwar.  Sambhaji Maharaj was caught.

Williams Wallace was hounded by King Long Shanks of England.Like Aurangzeb, King Edward  Long shanks knew no moral for war. Neither in peace he knew any benevolence. He subjugated Scott people. Rape and torture of Scott people were a part of his oppressive regime. New wed Scott brides had to to sent to English warlords before they would go to their husbands. Williams Wallace rose from nothing, he was not from a rich family. He was the son of lesser known Scott nobleman, but lost his parent at an early age. He was brought up by his relatives. He rose up against British tyranny and defeated them many occasions.  Like Sambhaji he became top cause of worry for his enemy. With his brilliant war tactics and leadership abilities he soon became hero for Scottish people.

Sambhaji was a Hero of all downtrodden and oppressed Hindu masses of his time. His brilliant war tactics Gazni kava was menacing and Aurangzeb’s huge army a facing great causalities and was weekend day after day with his attacks. The Guerilla war tactics of  Sambhaji was proving too much for Aurangzeb.

On other hand although Williams Wallace did not us guerilla warfare to that extent but his impact on Longshanks army was devastating.

Williams Wallace was great a detecting the traps and so was Sambhaji. Both of them thwarted many life attacks on them because of their superior network.

Irony is that , the fate had it they both fell to treason from their own people. Wallace trusted Scot nobleman 1305 when John de Menteith, and was caught on 5 August ,1305 and execute don 23 August 3015. In Sambhaji ‘s case his own brother in laws passed traded his whereabouts to Aurangzeb.

These two great warriors against tyranny were captured in around 450 years apart. Williams had sway on Scottish people and Sambhaji had sways on all Hindus. People looked up on them as Heros and were worried of what would happen to them. Under these  immense challenging situations their conduct would shape up the behavior of their people too.

If they set an brave example by their behavior their people would follow after their death  also and if they fail it would be a great assault on their freedom struggle too.

Wallace was given a choice to profess allegiance to King and he would be awarded an easy death otherwise he would have to bear the torture.

Sambhaji was given a choice to accept Islam and suzerainty of Aurangzeb otherwise  to face month long torture before death.

Both William Wallace and Sambhaji chose to hold on the cause that was right. Sambhaji chose the Hindu Dharma and the cause of righteousness of dignified treatment for Hindus. He did not bow down. William Wallace chose Scotland’s freedom till the end. Both were killed. Sambhaji’s body was cut into pieces and thrown into Bhima river. His head was displayed on fort gate.

William’s body was dismembered too and his hands legs were sent to different part of England.

The dignity which they help under such torture gave birth to great rise up of their countrymen. Scoots rose up under Robert again. While Maratha rose rose under Shahuji . While Marathas upheld the end and finally won the war against Mughals in 27 year long war. It was a war of attrition in which Aurangzeb was constantly chased, beaten ad finally he died after escaping from an attack of Marathas. Marathas became the number force in India they later on went on to sack Mughal Delhi fort and collected taxes fro them. At their best they won till Attock in Afghanistan. They freed most of Hindu pilgrimage sites we have today for the clutches of Muslims.

Scotland freedom fight was won 1314. Well, larger India and longer was the battle of Marathas but they did beautifully and by 1716 they were the most powerful empire of India and stayed most dominant force till 1816 till third Anglo-Maratha war.

Irony is that Sambhaji Maharaj history is not taught in our main history books, while William Wallace is widely appreciated in Scotland. Hollywood Movie ‘Braveheart’ was made in 1995 , on the life of William Wallace. Mel Gibson played role of William Wallace.

In popular Marathi culture Sambhaji Maharaj is referred as ‘Chhava’.

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