Children in Maharashtra grow up hearing the story of a 15-year-old Shivaji cutting his finger at the Raireshwar temple, taking an oath to form a new kingdom. “Swarajya vhave hi Shreenchi ichchha ...

When the Adilshahi Sultanate of Bijapur declined, Shivaji Maharaj carved his independent kingdom. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was crowned Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire at Raigad Fort in 1674.

Through this Mudra, Shivaji Maharaj assured his people that the ‘ever-increasing like the crescent-moon, the kingdom of Shivaji, son of Shahaji, will always seek the welfare of the people’.