1999 - Chhatrapati Shivaji | Commemorative Coin

In the year 1999, the commemorative coin was released in remembrance of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Shivaji Bhosle (19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), with the royal title Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was a Maratha aristocrat of the Bhosle clan who founded the Maratha empire.

Shivaji led a resistance to free the Maratha kingdom from the Sultanate of Bijapur, and establish Hindavi Swarajya ("self-rule of Hindu people"). He created an independent Maratha kingdom with Raigad as its capital, and successfully fought against the Mughals to defend his kingdom. He was crowned as Chhatrapati - the Sovereign- of the Maratha Kingdom in 1674.

He achieved the re-establishment of Hindu rule on their homeland after being ruled and dominated by various Muslim dynasties for a few hundred years. He established a competent and progressive civil rule with the help of a well-regulated and disciplined military and well-structured administrative organizations. The prevalent practices of treating women as spoils of war, destruction of religious monuments, slavery and forceful religious conversions were firmly opposed under his administration.

He also innovated rules of military engagement of that era, pioneering the "Shiva sutra" or Ganimi Kava (guerrilla tactics), which leveraged strategic factors like geography, speed, surprise and focused pinpoint attacks to defeat his larger and more powerful enemies and built many sea-forts.