Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Indoreans paid tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on his birth anniversary and garlanded the statue of Shivaji at Shivaji circle in the city on Saturday.
The Maratha community in Indore celebrated Shivaji Jayanti with prayers and fervour. The community members organised a special feast at their homes.
Among those representatives, who visited Shivaji circle to garland the statue, Prateek Tagad said, “Shivaji is an ideal for everyone even today because of the life he lived and tasks he undertook.”
He added that Shivaji always knew how to keep his cool and maintain a balanced approach in life.
“He was the greatest warrior, who understood that to win a war, we must have to conquer ourselves first,” senior artist Shubha Vaidya said.
She added that Shivaji was the founder of Maratha empire. Shivaji Jayanti was among the biggest festivals for the entire community and country.
An interesting fact that is less known about Shivaji's life hides in the corner of Indore. Shivaji stayed in Indore as his secret stay.
At the time when he defeated Aurangzeb from the captivity of Agra, right before that, Shivaji had stayed in Indore. Shivaji had stayed for a short while in the ancient Datta Mandir (Krishnapura) and Khedapati Hanuman (Northoda, Sanjay Setu) in the city.
Shivaji Maharaj had given a powerful form to the policy, tact, power and gentleman organization.
When Shivaji Maharaj was imprisoned by Aurangzeb in the Agra Fort, Samarth Ramdas, mentor of Shivaji, had planned to rescue him and bring him to Maharashtra through Indore (Malwa back then). It was also mentioned in Shivkalin Bakhar.
Both Ramdas and Shivaji were great devotees of lord Hanuman. The proof of which is the Hanuman statue installed by Samarth in the Khedapati Hanuman temple.
There are two idols of lord Hanuman in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. This temple was specially decorated with flowers for Shivaji Jayanti.
There is no authentic information available about the establishment of the ancient Datta temple, but the centuries-old temple predates the arrival of the founder of Holkar state, Subedar Malhar Rao Holkar to Indore (1728).
