Svetlanazrc at 18:29, 31 January 2026

2026-01-31T18:29:26Z

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{{short description|Marathi language biography of Shivaji}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Chitnis Bakhar
| author = Malhar Ram Rao Chitnis
| title_orig = Shakakarte Chhatrapati Shri Shivaji Maharaj yanche Saptaprakaranatmak Charitra
| orig_lang_code = mr
| country = India
| language = [[Marathi language|Marathi]]
| subject = Biography of [[Shivaji]]
| genre = [[Bakhar]]
| pub_date = 1810-1811
}}
'''''Shakakarte Chhatrapati Shri Shivaji Maharaj yanche Saptaprakaranatmak Charitra''''',<ref>{{cite book |author=Prachi Deshpande |title=Creative Pasts: Historical Memory and Identity in Western India, 1700-1960 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SjLgMrLX7UC&pg=PA220 |year=2007 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51143-8 |page=220 }}</ref> better known as '''''Chitnis Bakhar''''', is a [[Marathi language]] biography of [[Shivaji]], the founder of the [[Maratha Empire]]. It was written by Malhar Ram Rao Chitnis, whose ancestor Balaji Avaji held the position of ''Chitnis'' (head clerk) under Shivaji.<ref name="AD_1987"/>

The biography had been ordered to be written by king [[Shahu II of Satara]], but the work was completed after his death in 1808, during 1810–1811.<ref name="DCV_1974">{{cite book |author=Dinesh Chandra Verma |title=History of Bijapur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nq0BAAAAMAAJ |year=1974 |publisher=Indian Institute of Islamic Studies / Kumar Bros |page=282 |isbn=9780883864982 }}</ref> The author wrote seven [[bakhar]]s (chronicles) in total, including six biographies of the Maratha kings (''[[chhatrapati]]s''), and a treatise on political diplomacy.<ref name="AD_1987">{{cite book |author=Amaresh Datta |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: A-Devo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ObFCT5_taSgC&pg=PA330 |year=1987 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |isbn=978-81-260-1803-1 |page=330 }}</ref><ref name="Chousalkar2018">{{cite book|author=Ashok S. Chousalkar|title=Revisiting the Political Thought of Ancient India: Pre-Kautilyan Arthashastra Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=baFuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|date=10 September 2018|publisher=SAGE Publishing India|isbn=978-93-5280-770-3|pages=1–}}</ref><ref name="Sen1976">{{cite book|author=Surendra Nath Sen|title=Administrative System of the Marathas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jF8MAAAAIAAJ|year=1976|publisher=K. P. Bagchi|page=2|quote=His Rajniti is a treatise on polity, in which he compiles the theories of public administration from old Sanskrit works . It could not, therefore, have any bearing on the actual government of Maharashtra as it then existed}}</ref>

''Chitnis Bakhar'' is not arranged chronologically, and does not cite any sources.<ref name="DCV_1974"/> The text glorifies Shivaji with narratives of his early life, but these narratives are not substantiated by other sources.<ref>{{cite book |author=Siba Pada Sen |title=History in Modern Indian Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n_gQAAAAMAAJ |year=1975 |publisher=Institute of Historical Studies |page=148 }}</ref> Historian [[Jadunath Sarkar]] 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."<ref>{{cite book |author=Suresh Kumar Srivastava |title=Sir Jadunath Sarkar, the Historian at Work |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B4VHAAAAMAAJ |year=1989 |publisher=Anamika |isbn=978-81-85150-12-3 |page=59 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Khando Ballal]], the great-grandfather of the author Malhar Ram Rao

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== See also ==
* [[Khando Ballal]], the great-grandfather of the author Malhar Ram Rao

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1811 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian books]]
[[Category:Bakhars]]
[[Category:Biographies of Shivaji]]
[[Category:Marathi-language literature]]

{{royal-bio-book-stub}}

Chitnis Bakhar - Revision history

Svetlanazrc at 18:29, 31 January 2026