एक समुद्री डाकू ने निभाई गई जिज्ञासु भूमिका है। रहमा बिन जब्बार संभवतः उस समय फारस की खाड़ी में सक्रिय सबसे सफल और प्रसिद्ध समुद्री डाकू था। जलामा जनजाति के एक सदस्य, रहमा बिन जब्बार का जन्म कुरैन (आधुनिक कुवैत) के एक साधारण परिवार में हुआ था। रहमा बिन जब्बार ने समुद्री डकैती में जाने से पहले, एक मामूली घोड़े के व्यापारी के रूप में अपना करियर शुरू किया। उन्होंने एक छोटे जहाज और दस साथियों के साथ शुरुआत की, जिनके साथ उन्होंने अरब की खाड़ी के तट पर एक सुरक्षा रैकेट चलाना शुरू किया। अपनी शक्ति के चरम पर रहमा बिन जब्बार ने समुद्री डाकू जहाजों के पूरे बेड़े और अनुमानित 2,000 समुद्री डाकुओं की वफादारी की कमान संभाली। उनके जहाज़ों में सबसे बड़ा 300 टन का जहाज़ था जिस पर 350 आदमी सवार थे। रहमा बिन जब्बार ने गठबंधन बनाकर अपने बेड़े की रक्षा की, जिसमें अल-सऊद राजवंश (सऊदी अरब का वर्तमान शासक परिवार) के साथ गठबंधन भी शामिल था। बाद में उन्होंने अपनी वफादारी ओमान के अल बू सईद राजवंश की ओर स्थानांतरित कर दी। विस्तारित ओमानी समुद्री साम्राज्य की कमान संभालते हुए, रहमा बिन जब्बार ने समुद्री डकैती पर आधारित एक समृद्ध व्यवसाय बनाया। 19 वीं सदी की शुरुआत में , क़वासिम आदिवासी संघ के समुद्री डाकू उनके एकमात्र गंभीर प्रतिद्वंद्वी थे। [9]

Unlike rulers who built ships predominantly to trade, Shivaji built them to fight

 By Mandira Nayar

Issue Date: December 27, 2020

Updated: December 17, 2020 23:37 IST

The English frigate was aptly called the Revenge. In September 1679, armed and with six files of soldiers, it joined three others that were blockading the island of Kandheri, just off the coast of Mumbai, to intimidate the Marathas. Shivaji, the greatest Maratha commander, had ordered the fortification of the island. The British orders were clear: they could use force to stop the construction.

For the next five months, the blockade continued. Despite being outnumbered and outmatched, the Marathas managed to outmanoeuvre the combined forces of the English and the Siddis, their nemesis. Then, the English withdrew, and a peace accord was hastily signed. Shivaji had exerted his might.

“The English navy was superior to the Maratha warships in every respect,” writes B.K. Apte in his seminal work A History of the Maratha Navy and Merchantships. The advantage was tactical. “The slimly built Maratha ships were no match for a single massively built English frigate, with big and long-range guns. The Marathas, knowing full well their inferiority in the navy, never encountered the English battleships on the open sea.”

The Kandheri incident is now just a footnote in history. But it lies at the heart of the success of the Maratha navy. It was not the best equipped, but it was skilled enough to trouble better navies. The secret was that the Maratha ships operated close to the coast and escaped into narrow creeks with lightning speed. “The shallowness of the sea, the soundings near Khanderi and the nature of the coast were peculiarly suited to the movements of lightly built Maratha boats,” writes Apte.

If the Cholas had their conquests on the sea, Shivaji was the first ruler in India to realise the potential of the navy. Unlike most other empires, Shivaji’s navy was not only for trade—its brief was political, rather than economic.

Illustration by Bara Bhaskaran

“The navy has been considered as an independent limb of the Maratha State by [Shivaji’s finance minister Ramachandra Pant] Amatya in Rajniti, a work on Maratha polity,” writes Apte. The objective was superiority. He realised the necessity of controlling the seas to gain territory on land. “When Shivaji began his career of independence, the coast of Konkan was infested with alien powers,” writes Apte.

There were the Portuguese, who controlled the Arabian Sea, the English and the Siddis, who were a dangerous enemy. Shivaji’s naval ambitions started in 1665 with the loot of Basrur, located in Udipi district of Karnataka. He attacked Basrur with 85 ships big and small, and brought home immense booty. No naval engagement took place in this raid. But it was the turning point.

Shivaji’s ambitious naval plan made even the Portuguese jittery. A letter written by the viceroy of Goa to the king of Portugal on August 6, 1659, reveals that he has asked the Portuguese captain to “smother” the movement of the “newly built gallivats” at Kalyan, Bhiwandi and Panvel. Kalyan was one of Shivaji’s first conquests in 1657 and where he floated his first ship.

निज़ाम उल मुल्क (Nizam Ul Mulk real name in Hindi) को चिन क़िलिच क़मरुद्दीन खान, मीर क़मर-उद-दीन खान सिद्दीकी, आसफ जाह और निज़ाम प्रथम जैसे नामों से जाना जाता है।निज़ाम उल मुल्क (Nizam Ul Mulk real name in Hindi) हैदराबाद के पहले निज़ाम थे। निज़ाम उल मुल्क (Nizam Ul Mulk in Hindi) ने मुगल सम्राट औरंगजेब के अधीन एक कुलीन के रूप में शुरुआत की और 1707 में उनकी मृत्यु तक उनके प्रति वफादार रहे।

1707 के बाद उन्हें कई मुगल प्रांतों का गवर्नर बनाया गया। अंततः 1724 में, निज़ाम उल मुल्क (Nizam Ul Mulk real name in Hindi) ने दक्कन क्षेत्र पर एक स्वायत्त शासन स्थापित किया जिसे आसफ जाह राजवंश (Asaf Jah Dynasty in Hindi) के नाम से जाना जाता है। उनके बाद के शासकों को हैदराबाद के निज़ाम के रूप में जाना जाने लगा।