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240 him to treat on equal terms with the rulers of Bijapur and Golkonda. (Dig. 406-409.)

The higher minds of Maharashtra, too, had begun to look up to Shivaji as the champion of Hinduism, and wished to see the Hindu race elevated to the full stature of political growth by the formal assertion of his position as an independent king. They longed for the Hindu swaraj, and that implied a Hindu chhatrapati. (Sabh. 82;Chit. 158, inference; Dig. 412.)

But there was one curious hindrance to the realisation of this ideal. According to the ancient Hindu scriptures, only a member of the Kshatriya caste can be legally crowned as king and claim the homage of Hindu subjects. The Bhonslas were popularly known to be neither Kshatriyas: nor of any other twice-born caste, but mere tillers of the soil, as Shivaji 's great grandfather was still remembered to have been. How could an upstart sprung from such a Shudra (plebeian) stock aspire to the rights and honours due to a Kshatriya. The Brahmans of all parts of India would attend and bless the coronation of Shivaji, only if he could be authoritatively declared a Kshatriya.

It was, therefore, necessary first to secure the support of a pandit, whose reputation for scholarship would silence all opposition to the views he might