Evidence1674
Shivaji crowned at Raigad
Raigad Fort, Maharashtra
Shivaji is crowned Chhatrapati at Raigad, making his Maratha state a sovereign kingdom outside the Mughal order.
The coronation on 6 June 1674 (Jyeshtha shuddha 13, Shaka 1596) was a legal act as much as a ceremony. Gaga Bhatt of Varanasi presided, after first affirming Shivaji's Kshatriya descent, and the new king began a regnal era of his own and struck coins in his name.
It turned the son of a Bijapur jagirdar into a sovereign who could grant land, take tribute and treat with the Mughals, Bijapur and the English as an equal. A second, Tantric coronation followed that autumn, after his mother Jijabai's death twelve days after the first was taken as an ill omen.
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