A MOTHER'S LOVE FOR HER CHILD, WHICH MADE CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ SMILE

 A MOTHER'S LOVE FOR HER CHILD, WHICH MADE CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ SMILE 

The Raigad Fort was Emperor Shivaji’s capital. Once the gates closed at sunset, no one could either enter or leave the fort. Hirkani, a milk vendor from the nearby village of Pachad, was trapped inside. Like others who came into the fort daily to sell their wares, Hirkani was busy selling her milk. She realized a little too late that the gates would close if she didn’t hurry. She pleaded with the guard to make an exception; her small child would be hungry at home. “Sorry, these are the orders of the Emperor himself,” declared the guard, “they will now open only tomorrow morning.”

At almost 3,000 feet above sea level, the fort was located in the expansive Sahyadri mountain ranges. Although no enemy could penetrate the fortress, this was the year 1675 when a formidable foe posed a real threat to Shivaji’s reign. The guards couldn’t take a chance; Hirkani would have to spend her night inside the fort. She decided otherwise. How could she let her little one go hungry? She explored the fort and learned that strong walls with 70-foot-high doors guarded the citadel on all sides. She soon discovered that on one side the generals had decided not to build a wall because the steep vertical drop made it impossible for any human to scale the fort. Her friend had once told her about this: “There’s no way someone could climb through that without notice.” Today, however, for Hirkani, this was the only chance. She saw the village below from that high point and realized the challenge; although no warrior dared to climb up or down from this height, she’d now attempt it, just for her child.

She slowly climbed down in the dark, placing each foot carefully and warding off the bats that flew around her. Undaunted, she passed through the adjoining forest even as wolves howled, snakes slithered by, and the dark and eerie night attracted prowling tigers. She made it safely to her baby. The next morning she was again at the fort to sell milk.

The guard recognized her. “How the hell did you get out?” he asked, suspicious that the lady was a spy. An alarm was raised, and Hirkani was produced before the king. “This is my stronghold,” Shivaji probed her, “even the mightiest can’t break my security systems; how could you, a simple woman, do so?” He asked her to take him to the spot from where she made her escape the previous night.

 On arriving at the point, Shivaji looked at the imposing sight below; no way could anyone climb down or up the fort. He asked her if she could repeat the feat. She moved up the steps confidently and stood at the edge. But when she looked below, she froze in horror.  “No, my king,” she shivered and cried, terrified at the prospect, “I can’t do it now.” The king smiled in appreciation of her love for her child . He knew, seeing her scratched hands and torn clothes, that she was speaking the truth about her previous night’s escape. A desire to be with her child possessed her, and that helped her transcend all fear. Besides tightening the security, Shivaji renamed the spot as ‘Hirkani Burj’- Hirkani’s bastion, in her honour. A passion to live for A person obsessed with a cause is likely to neglect the mind’s fears and insecurities; she will not take the carping mind seriously. In this case, Hirkani desperately wanted to be with her child, and therefore the impossibility of the act was practically non-existent in her mind. 

It’s amazing how the mind cooperates when you rise to pursue a goal higher than the mind.

Article by Vrajvihari Das