Shivaji Bhonsle (1627-1680), founder of India's Maratha Confederacy. The son of a Hindu officer in the service of the Muslim sultan of Bijapur, Shivaji became the leader of the Hindu Maratha people in their struggle against Muslim domination and persecution. Establishing himself as an independent ruler at Pune in present Maharashtra state, he audaciously defeated an army sent against him by Bijapur in 1659, seizing its weapons, and another sent by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1660. He was forced to make peace with the Mughals in 1665.
