Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti commemorates the birth anniversary of Maratha king Shivaji Maharaj. Every year on February 19, the birth anniversary is celebrated. This year will mark the 391st birth anniversary of the Maratha ruler, the celebration of this day initially started in 1870 by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule in Pune.

On Shivaji Jayanti, people celebrate with immense pride and bravery and organise long parades along with some other merriments, also it is celebrated dominantly in Maharashtra.

Shivaji had the ability to map military missions in an articulate manner so that they could secure victory with the least possible loss of power. He organised covert war ops, fled from home confinement in Agra, and craftily took a stance of peace or violence, based on his chances of victory.

Although, this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shivaji Jayanti will be a low-key affair. People remember the sacrifices and lessons of the bravest heroes in the history of India. Shivaji Maharaj joined the Maratha warriors and formed an army that eradicated and destroyed enemies.

The Maratha king is also remembered for the establishment of a well-structured and modern civil administration.

The birth anniversary began to be celebrated by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti in 1870. Formed on February 19, 1630, he has officially crowned ‘Chhatrapati’ or emperor in 1674.

Shivaji was dedicated to his mother, Jijabai, who was profoundly religious and brave. Mahatma Jyotirao discovered the tomb of Shivaji Maharaj on Raigad, some 100 kilometres away from Pune.

In the struggle for independence, the freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak popularised the figure of Shivaji as a way of inspiring Indians to stand up against the colonisers, the leaders appropriated Shivaji as a sign of defiance and bravery against the invasive powers to help reinforce the movement of liberation.