Sometimes you don’t choose the story. The story chooses you. I had experienced such visions or premonitions about a certain story instructing me to write about it. Is it divine intervention? I may never know. Today while turning the pages of history, I stumbled upon the dare devilry story of Maratha general Murarbaji Deshpande who defended the Purandar fort despite being outnumbered. So powerful was his force that Mughal commander Diler was impressed by his courageous feats and offered him a big position in Mughal army. But Murarbaji was unmoved by the greedy proposals of Mughal commander. He slaughtered several Mughal soldiers until his head was deceptively chopped off by Diler Khan. Even though his head was cut off, his headless body continued to fight, slicing off several enemy soldiers till he collapsed. Such was the dare devilry courage of Murarbaji. The odds were heavily against Murarbaji Deshpande and his troops when the Purandar fort was heavily attacked by canons of Mughals. With limited armed forces, Murarbaji gave a tough fight, defending Purandar. Murarbaji and the Maratha soldiers fought till the last man killing hundreds of Mughal soldiers. Capturing Purandar Fort was strategically important for Mughals to consolidate their power over Maharashtra. Though Murarbaji and the few brave men died defending Purandar, they made their sacrifice count. Later Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj took a diplomatic decision and surrendered the Purandar Fort to Aurangzeb. Odds were high against Shivaji Maharaj and there was no other way than surrendering the 23 forts to Mughals. It was a temporary compromise. The dream of Swarajya was fulfilled when Shivaji ascended the throne as Chhatrapati. The sacrifice of Murarbaji didn’t go in vain.
Murarbaji is best remembered for his valor and martyrdom while defending Purandar fort from Mughals. I had read about Murarbaji’s daredevilry story long back and his legend was etched somewhere in my mind. While reading the historical non-fiction book – Challenging Destiny (based on life of Shivaji Maharaj) there was a chapter dedicated to Murarbaji. Somewhere I felt that the soul of Murarbaji was pleading me to let his story be heard to our generation. A biopic on the great warrior Murarbaji is under production. I hope that the biopic will throw a light on the forgotten battle of Purandar.
Someday, I will visit the Purandar fort to pay my respects to the statue of Murarbaji and tell him that your story is still alive in hearts and minds of our younger generation.
Jay Bhavani, Jay Shivaji.