The Marattas and Bangalore City

Even to this day in Bangalore is a place called "Shivaji Nagar" which had baffled me for long. Only further research showed that this Shivaji could largely refer to "Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj" whom the Marattas revere and so do every Indian. It is a very difficult task to peice together fragments of history but i have tried and will continue to try every now and then only to depict to the larger world how we are interconected with each other by the past.

The story starts with Shahaji Bhosle who had two sons Shivaji And Shambhaji both of them trained in the art of war and Shahaji and his ancestors were free lance soldiers providing succour to any one who outsourced their services. Note that the Moghuls; Adil Shah and the Golconda regime were the largely dominant empires of the time and the southern part of India held by many nayaks in fragments that resulted from the Vijayanagar empire. The name Shahaji seems to have sufi origins.

Shahaji and his entourage made the difference in many wars during the time and if some records are to be beleived pathans were recruited by him too in his war efforts. Largely they fought alongside the muslim rulers who solicited their support. In 1638 a effort by the muslim sultanates assisted by Shahaji Bhosle beseiged Kempe Gowda III the ruler of Bangalore and defeated him and Bangalore was given as an independent domain to Shahaji to rule upon. Thus the advent of Marattas into Bangalore. The sons of Shahaji namely Shivaji and Shambaji had their rearing in Bangalore in parts and the rule descended on Venkoji one of the offsprings. Much of the later activities of Shivaji thereafter revolve around modern day Pune as he found it a central point of concern in establishing a Maratta kingdom . The maratta kingdom though short-lived had a formidable influece on India at one time encompassing almost the entire stretch of the country. It could have been largely shortlived due to the increasing influence of Europeans and their more formal and better trained military organizations.

Bangalore must have come under the large-scale influence of the Marattas for nearly 100 years starting from around 1638 and the kingdom to my view largely encircled the modern areas of Malleshwaram to Guttahalli to Mekhri circle and into Shivaji nagar. They were probably diminished in importance in this part of the world by HyderAli and his son . Hyder Ali had a dislike for Marattas and their style of functioning and at the earliest oppurtunity must have made things difficult for the Marattas in bangalore. The name of the offsprings of this Marati trio of Shahaji- Shivaji and Shambaji by the name of Venkoji springs in Thanjavur later. Please note that there is an imposing statue of Shivaji on one end of Sankey tank near Malleswaram and there is a fort like structure and it is possible in times of the past the Kings came to this point just to enjoy the splendid view of the Sankey tank and only God knows what name they had for this pond now resplendent with gardens and boating.

Thus Bangalore has a Marati connection and every time one visits the Shivaji nagar bus terminus please be reminiscent about the marattas and "Chatrapathi Shivaji" and like in Mumbai(bombay) this terminus could also un-officially be called by this name.