MUMBAI: Alleging that historians of a particular class have so far painted Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s image in a specific way to protect their own interests, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar said Shivaji was never a protector of cows and Brahmins as projected by such historians.
Pawar, who released a new book on Shivaji written by Shrimant Kokate at Pune on Wednesday, said Shivaji was wrongfully projected as anti-Muslim by highlighting instances such as the killing of Afzal
Khan, the commander of Bijapur king Adil Shah.
“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is called Gobrahman Pratipalak (protector of cows and brahmins). Mahatma Phule had written about this. He called Shivaji Bahujan Pratipalak (protector of masses). Historian Shejwalkar too had said there is no basis for the word Gobrahman Pratipalak. But wrong history is being
taught till now,” Pawar said while speaking at the book release function.
“After ages of constant hammering, wrong things have been engraved in our psyche,” Pawar said while elaborating on the impact of teaching wrong history. He added, “While in schools we have all heard about how Bijapur commander Afzal Khan was killed by Shivaji. Such tales have created his image as an anti-Muslim king. However, this needs to be seen in the right perspective. Afzal Khan had invaded Swarajya - the kingdom created by Shivaji - and hence he was killed. Had Shivaji been anti-Muslim and Gobrahman Pratipalak he would not have killed Khan’s counsel Kulkarni who was accompanying him.”
Pawar also urged teachers present at the function to teach correct history to students.