Hey guys, I would like to introduce our prince, his Highness Pratap Singh Serfoji Raja Bhosle
of Thanjavur Maratha Royal Family.
So, this is our Prince, Welcome to our show.
So, he is the 6th descendent of King Serfoji II and the 14th descendant of the Thanjavur
Maratha royal family.
Prince Pratap resides at Sadhar Mahal Palace, in Thanjavur and completed his schooling
and also graduated from college in Chennai.
He has released 3 books and the third book was released in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which
is on the history of Thanjavur and Maratha kings of Maharashtra.
So, welcome and tell us everything about your history, we are so excited to have you.
You can tell us everything about your Royal ancestry, your history and what you do currently.
Where do you wanna start?
So, Praveen, first of all, I have to congratulate you, because you do a very fabulous job.
I got through your blogs and I go through your articles and all and they are just fantastic.
I don't have any words to appreciate it, but I am just completing it in a very simple manner,
it is awesome, it is fabulous.
Thank you.
See we definitely want to talk about Shivaji, right?
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, you know?
He is considered the greatest king of India, and he comes from that family.
OK. So tell us about Shivaji Maharaj.
Obviously, everyone in India knows about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, because of him, India
is for Hindus.
Or else, if he is not there.
..that time itself, people from other.. community or other religion.. might had conquered..
might have changed our place to their religion.
WOW.
But, because of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hindutva has been saved.
Oh Really?
Till now, Hinduism is alive because of him.
He is one of the main reasons for that.
And..
Shivaji Maharaj to say.. he has come to Thanjavur, to meet his brother Ekoji.
And here also, he told that the Thanjavur Palace has the eagle view.
From the top it has an eagle look.
So that has been mentioned in the manuscript.
They had a good relationship...
SHIVAJI MAHARAJ AND EKOJI.
They had a good relationship and they have met twice..in South India.
And Shivaji Maharaj has also visited Bangalore when he was very young.
Maybe during 1640 that year.
I am not very sure, but during that year..
his mother Jija and Shivaji Maharaj used to come to Bangalore because his father Shahaji
was staying there in Bangalore.
He had his separate palace.
And Shahji, his wife Tukabhai and Ekoji were staying in Bangalore.
So he used to come there.. in fact he got married in Bangalore.
Oh Shivaji Maharaj was married in Bangalore?
Yeah . WOW.
And he also had a liking for the city.
But now Bangalore has been said as an IT hub, many people in Bangalore also don't know.
And even Shahji Maharaj's samadhi is in Karnataka.
Hodigere, there is one area, it is in Karnataka.
WOW... AWESOME.
AND THEN IN YOUR BOOK YOU SHOW A STATUE OF SHIVAJI MAHARAJ'S WIFE.
THAT IS IN THANJAVUR?
THERE IS A STATUE OF SHIVAJI MAHARAJ'S WIFE IN THANJAVUR.
WHY? Actually, there is a place in Ayyampettai.
Ayyampettai, Thanjavur.
So, Rajaram is the...
Shivaji Maharaj's son. OK RAJARAM IS SHIVAJI MAHARAJ'S SON.
And his mother is Soyarabhai.
So they both were staying there for a short period of time.
So that time Ekoji was the king of Thanjavur.
There was some fight means.. he was busy in fighting.
So that time, for the protection they both came to
Tamil Nadu and they were staying there for a short period of time.
And, as a remembrance, King Venkoji had built a temple there facing
with a statue in a praying position.
Because Soyarabhai used to go to that temple regularly where that statue existed.
And she used to pray for the country and for the .. because those days, during the war,
everyone were very tensed.
Soyarabhai used to offer her prayers in that temple.
After Soyarabhai and Rajaram went back to Maharashtra, Venkoji i.e., Ekoji instructed
the artists to sculpt her statue in praying position and keep it in front of the deities.
So that is the photo of the sculpture.
This is one of the rare sculptures were many people do not know this.
That is very interesting to see that even a great king like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
because during that wartime, anything could happen.
If Shivaji Maharaj lost, then he knew that his enemies would come and take over his family.
So it shows ..you know..even a great king like Shivaji Maharaj has to keep his family
away for a certain time, right?
Yeah actually, those times, Marathas especially, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Ekoji Maharaj,
they had good connections.
During war times and all, our Maratha kings used to send forces there.
Like that, and also Sambhaji Maharaj has come to South India and the name 'Sambhar' has
been named after him.
YES.
There were good relationships in those times.
Even when after Venkoji Maharaj there were kings who ruled Thanjavur, they used
to send their forces to Satara, Kolapur to help those Maratha kings.
So we had good relationships for the past 400 years.
From 1676 till now, we have a good relationship.
Sambhar is the popular gravy in South India, especially in Tamil Nadu, but Sambhar actually
came from the Marathas.
Yes.
BEFORE THAT THERE WAS NO SAMBHAR.
It was named after Dharmavir Chhatrapati Sambhaji.
That's interesting.
Because we have this great story of Shivaji Maharaj.. you know another king
tried to kill him and Shivaji Maharaj uses a very unique weapon.
Afzal Khan.
Yeah, that was Afsal Khan.
Yeah, that dagger.
IT IS THE TIGER'S CLAW.
BAGH NAKH.
Yes, Bagh nakh.
You can see Bagh Nakh in the Egmore museum also, but I can't say that Bagh Nakh was used
by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The same model you can see there.
If you go to Egmore museum, there are lots of weapons displayed, in the name of Thanjavur
Armory.
Most of them were from the period of Thanjavur Marathas. . or before Marathas.
You can see weapons or swords there.
And in Maharashtra, you can see a lot of antique weapons that were used by the Sardars, by
the Soldiers.
Their descendants have safeguarded those weapons and they have kept in their houses.
Every year, they used to organize an exhibition, where they used to display such weapons there,
and it is open for the public.
So next time, you have to visit that exhibition.
I will give you the contact of the other..
IN MAHARASHTRA?
Yeah, it is in Maharashtra, mostly happens in Pune.
So you have to go and you have to do some special shoot.
Yes, I will.
What about your exposure to weapons?
Do you have some weapons in the palace?
yes, and they are antique weapons?
yeah.
I know you had a picture with a big sword.
Yeah, we have antique weapons.
What and all we have, we have displayed for the public in our museum, and most of them
have been used by the Maratha kings.
Tell us about the punishments which existed before the time
of the British? Right because, see I could be
wrong on the dates.
But the Thanjavur Marathas ruled for nearly 200 years in Thanjavur and then the British took
over, right?
Eventually, there is this thing called Doctrine of Lapse where the last Thanjavur Maratha
King does not have a male heir and then you know.. the British takeover, right?
The British take the kingdom from Serfoji II, or no, Shivaji II.
So they take it from him.
But before the British, now we have this system which is all based on the British System,
right? Now, people can be put in jail for 30 days.
People can be hanged you know..rigorous imprisonment and all.
What was the punishment during Maratha's time?
What did they do?
Yeah obviously Marathas and Rajputs are warriors.
Their law and order was very strict during that time period.
During Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in his rule, he doesn't want to see people suffering
from others.
And he also had Muslim generals in his army.
Oh In his Army?
Yes he had Muslim generals.
WOW SO SHIVAJI MAHARAJ HAD MUSLIM GENERALS IN HIS ARMY?
Yes.
He had.
And even.. there were punishments which was given to accusers who used to do crime against
women.
Their hands will be chopped.
The punishment will be very rigorous.
And even in Thanjavur also, law and order before.. when
the Marathas ruled, those times, law and order
was very strict.
Immediately if you find guilty, you will be punished.
So, in Saraswati Mahal there is one Manuscript known as Shivbharatham, the history of Shivaji
Maharaj has been written in that Manuscript.
It is called Shivabharatham.
It was written during King Serfoji I. May be the year 1728 or some near to it.
IN 1700s . OK.
Yeah, so this manuscript is also in Tamil, and this was, said to be one of the authentic
manuscripts on Shivaji Maharaj.
IT IS A BIOGRAPHY.
It is a biography of Shivaji Maharaj.
And it was been used as a source, as a reference for many theses.
So it is an authentic biography of Shivaji Maharaj and that is in Saraswathi Mahal.
The original manuscript.
Wow. yeah, the name of that is Shivbharatham.
Tell us about the Gods that Maratha Kings Worshiped.
Like what is your main deity?
What do you worship everyday?
In Maharashtra mostly, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj used to worship Bhavani, Goddess
Bhavani.
There is a place called as Tuljapur.
In Tuljapur, her temple is there.
Our main.. the main deity of that temple is Bhavani.
So we used to .. Marathas mostly used to worship.
Then after that we in Thanjavur, our main deity is Punyanallur Mariamman.
All are same.
Punyanallur Mariamman Bhavani all are same.
So we used worship Punyanallur Mariamman and
Punyanallur Mariamman temple was built by king Venkoji
So as soon as he comes to Thanjavur, he builds it?
That I can't say as soon as he comes he built it.
But he got a dream.
What many people used to say he got a dream and Devi said I am here.
So after that he went there and he built it.
Punyanallur Mariamman is our Kula Deivam.
So you worship Mariamman which is the same as Bhavani.
ONE VERY INTERESTING THING ABOUT THE THANJAVUR
PALACE BUILT BY KING SERFOJI II IS THERE ARE SECRET TUNNELS.
Yeah I can say about the secret tunnels which is kept open to the public but they can't
go inside it.
They can just peep and they can see it.
Now it has been closed totally.
If you come to our museum, the entrance for that secret passage was from our palace, which
is now the museum.
So that secret passage goes up to Punyanallur Mariamman.
HOW LONG IS THAT TUNNEL.
WHAT IS THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE PALACE AND PUNYANALLUR MARIAMMAN TEMPLE?
IT IS LONG. so, it is 6 kilometers approx.
IT IS 6 KILOMETERS LONG.
I THINK THAT IS 3-4 MILES.
And that secret passage goes through Maratha Darbar only.
So even now, if you go to Maratha darbar hall, you can peep and see the passage inside.
SO THERE IS AN UNDERGROUND PASSAGE THAT GOES FROM THE PALACE TO PUNYANALLUR MARIAMMAN TEMPLE
FOR 6 KILOMETERS.
TODAY IF YOU HAD TO WALK, THAT IS A 20-30 MINUTE WALK RIGHT?
SO HOW DID THEY CONSTRUCT SUCH .. SEE GUYS ..THIS IS THE FIRST TIME.
I SHOWED YOU MANY SECRET PASSAGES.
BUT HERE WE HAVE A PRINCE FROM THE ROYAL FAMILY, AND HE ACTUALLY CONFIRMS THIS.
SO HOW DID THEY CONSTRUCT SUCH A LARGE TUNNEL UNDERGROUND?
I HEARD EVEN HORSES COULD GO. IS THAT TRUE?
Yeah, I have also heard that.
Because they used to travel by horse.
Mostly they don't walk.
BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE A HUGE TUNNEL RIGHT?
BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK .. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT TUNNELS, PEOPLE THINK WE CRAWL THROUGH THEM.
BUT I HEARD 2 HORSES CAN GO SIDE BY SIDE.
Yeah, that tunnel may be built by Maratha period or maybe during Nayaka's period.
Because what and all Marathas have renovated, it was before.
Nayakas have built and they have kept.
It was Marathas who had given touch to such things.
So those passage even I don't have any idea of how they might have built.
But it may be during Maratha's period.
IT SHOULD BE AT THE TIME OF MARATHAS, RIGHT, BECAUSE IT GOES TO PUNYANALLUR MARIAMMAN,
BUILT BY MARATHAS.
IT IS AMAZING.
TODAY, TO BUILT SUCH A LONG TUNNEL, AND THAT BIG TUNNEL TOO..
TO USE HORSES.
THAT'S AMAZING.
Ok THANK YOU SO MUCH PRINCE. SO YOU HAVE BEEN SO
KIND AND YOU HAVE SHARED A LOT OF GREAT INFORMATION WITH US.
THANK YOU SO MUCH AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO HAVE YOU HERE AGAIN
THANK YOU BYE