''Shakakarte Chhatrapati Shri Shivaji Maharaj yanche Saptaprakaranatmak Charitra'', better known as ''Chitnis Bakhar'', is a

Marathi language Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state o ...

biography of

Shivaji Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...

, the founder of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

. It was written by Malhar Ramaaao Chitnis, a biographer and historian. His great-grandfather was the "celebrated"

chitnis Chitnis, Chitnavis or Chitnavese was a title conferred on one who held the office of Secretary of State or "political secretary" in the Maratha Empire. The post was considered to be of equal status to the post of the council of eight ministers or A ...

under Shivaji. The biography had been ordered to be written by king

Shahu II of Satara Shahu Bhonsle II (1763 – 3 May 1808 CE) was the titular Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire. A member of the Bhonsle clan, he was succeeded by his son Pratap Singh, Raja of Satara Shahu was nominal ruler in Maratha Empire. During his reign, ...

, but the work was completed after his death in 1808, during 1810–1811. The author wrote seven

bakhar ''Bakhar'' is a form of historical narrative written in Marathi prose. are one of the earliest genres of medieval Marathi literature. More than 200 bakhars were written in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, the most important of them chronic ...

s (chronicles) in total, including six biographies of the Maratha kings (''

chhatrapati Chhatrapati is a royal title from Sanskrit language.The word ‘Chhatrapati’ is a Sanskrit language compound word (tatpurusha in Sanskrit) of ''Chatra (umbrella), chhatra'' (''parasol'' or ''umbrella'') and ''pati'' (''master/lord/ruler''). Th ...

s''), and a treatise on political diplomacy('Rajniti') which he based on

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Nitishastras and other old Sanskrit literature. ''Chitnis Bakhar'' is not arranged chronologically, and does not cite any sources. The text glorifies Shivaji with narratives of his early life, but these narratives are not substantiated by other sources. Historian

Jadunath Sarkar Sir Jadunath Sarkar (10 December 1870 – 19 May 1958) was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty. Academic career Sarkar was born in Karachmaria village in Natore, Bengal to Rajkumar Sarkar, the local Zamindar ...

dismissed it as unreliable for the purposes of history, stating that "the book is incorrect, rambling or pure guess work in many places, with not even the idea of correct chronology."

References

1811 non-fiction books Shivaji 19th-century Indian books Bakhars Biographies about royalty Marathi-language literature {{royal-bio-book-stub