Description
Sambhaji 899
Vihwas Patil
Translated from Marathi by Vikrant Pande
Even as a child, Sambhaji has known he must stand alone. His mother died when he was barely two, and his father was always absent-chasing his own dream of ‘Swaraj’, fighting to keep the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb at bay. As the eldest son, Sambhaji is the true heir to Shivaji. Hi is valorous, wise and has the making of a capable stateman. But there are dark forces at play in the palace. Shivaji’s other queen, Soyrabai, is scheming to place her son Rajaram on the throne, and she has the support of several ministers whose misdemeanors Sambhaji is determined to expose. On 3 April 1680, Shivaji dies unexpectedly, and it is finally time for Sambhaji to rise to the challenge. He must now fight Aurangzeb, who has spent twenty years trying to smoke out the ‘mountain rat’, and whose presence in the Deccan poses an increasingly grave threat to the Maratha empire. And that could be better than the enemy’s own brother-in-law willing to hand him the rat on a platter.
