Shivaji Maharaj is one of the great national heroes of India. He created an independent and sovereign state in Maharashtra which was based on justice, welfare of the people and tolerance to all faiths. The aims, objectives and Rajnitee of the Maratha Swarai under Chhatrapati Shivaii provided a new direction to contemporary politics of India. In course of time, his movement assumed, the form of an all-India struggle; a struggle which was to change the political map of India.

Shivaii Maharai was born at the Shivneri fort near Junnar in Pune district on 19th
February 1630. Shivaji’s mother, Jijabai was the daughter of Lakhui Jadhavrao of Sindkhed. His father Shaharaje Bhosale was a prominent sardar in the Deccan. At the time of Shivaji Maharaj’s birth, most of the territory in Maharashtra was under the possession of the Nizamshah of Ahmednagar and the Adilshah of Biapur. In the coastal belt of Konkan there were two sea powers, the Portuguese and the Siddi. The British and the Dutch who were engaged in expanding their trade also had their factories on the coast.