besieged and Shivaji had to sign the Treaty of Purandar in 1665 after lengthy negotiations Shivaji retained 12 forts out of his 35 and agreed to remain loyal to Aurangzeb Jai Singh’s plan for subduing Bijapur failed, and he persuaded Shivaji to meet the emperor in person at Agra He was put under house arrest but managed to escape Another treaty was signed, but it did not stop the offensive of Shivaji against the Mughals, and in 1670 he launched another attack against their territories Purandar and some other forts were recaptured by him Surat was once again attacked Self-Declared King On June 6, 1674, Shivaji declared himself as a sovereign king in a ceremony at Raigarh, in which he gave himself the title of Chhatrapati (sovereign king) He started the Raj Shaka (royal era) and issued shivarai hun (gold coin) on this occasion An independent Maratha state became an accomplished fact in the face of the mighty Mughals and ever opposing hegemony of Bijapur kingdom The Marathas looked him as father of the nation and the rise of Maratha nationalism owes a great deal to Shivaji, who rose from a minor chieftain to king of an independent kingdom At the time of the struggle for freedom against British colonial rule, he was taken as a symbol of nationalism in the nationalist historiography Shivaji did not make an agenda of fighting for the Hindu cause against forces of Islam He was a brave soldier who prized his independence His waging of war against external domination was a yearning for freedom against subjugation After 1674, Shivaji launched a spate of offensives against Mughals in Berar and Khandesh He besieged the forts at Vellore and Jinji As a sovereign ruler, he signed a treaty with Golconda Sultanate He also signed a friendship treaty with the Kutubshah of Golconda Sultanate Administration Amid his conquests and relentless guerrilla warfare against enemies, Shivaji laid the foundation of a sound administrative system The ashtapradhans (eight ministers) were ministers holding different portfolios The ieshwa was the most important one, having charge of finance and general administration The sar-i-naubat was the commander in chief, and the majumdar was the accountant The dabir looked after foreign powers and waqe navis managed the intelligence department The departments of justice and charity were entrusted with nyayadhish and panditrao He was one of the few rulers who had a developed navy, and he enacted improvements to the organization and functioning of Sikhism and Guru Nanak 359 the army The soldiers were given strict instructions for not harassing women and noncombatants Salary was given in cash and the chiefs received land revenue grants His numerous forts were well managed A tax called chauth (one-fourth of land revenue) was levied in neighboring territories as a kind of protection money against Maratha raids Shivaji adopted a policy of religious toleration and employed Muslims in the army His admirals in the navy were Muslims Shivaji was one of the greatest statesmen and generals, symbolizing the Maratha will against the imperial rule of the Mughals He died on April 3, 1680, from high fever and was succeeded by his son, Raje Sambhaji (1657–89) See also Mughal Empire Further reading: Apte, B K., ed Chhatrapati Shivaji: Coronation Tercentenary Commemoration Volume Bombay: University of Bombay, 1974; Kasar, D B Rigveda to Raigarh: Making of Shivaji the Great Mumbai: Manudevi Prakashan, 2005; Kincaid, Dennis The Grand Rebel: An Impression of Shivaji, Founder of the Maratha Empire London: Collins, 1937; Sarkar, Jadunath Shivaji Calcutta: S C Sarkar and Sons, 1961 Patit Paban Mishra Sikhism and Guru Nanak (1469–1539) founder of Sikhism Sri Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism, was born in 1469 in Sheikhupura district of present-day Pakistan to a Hindu family of Kshatriya caste He was educated in Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic Although attracted to spiritualism, he did not adhere to religious conventions and refused putting on sacred thread according to the traditional Hindu custom In spite of his marriage and his father’s insistence that he pursue a career, the young man pursued his spiritual quest, spending hours in meditation and in religious discourse with Muslim and Hindu saints Nanak donated all his belongings to the poor, renounced the world, and made an extensive tour of the Indian subcontinent and according to the tradition went even to Mecca, Medina, Tibet, and Sri Lanka During his travels to places of worship of both Hindus and Muslims, Nanak developed his religious thought and monotheism, belief in one god, who was timeless and everlasting Like the Bhakit saints of India, he visualized an egalitarian society without any discrimination between different classes and religion He was against