Right Word | Chhatrapati Shivaji and his Navy: Why PM Modi dedicated new naval ensign to him

Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier Indian Naval Ship Vikrant at Cochin Shipyard Limited on 2 September 2022. Sir Jadunath Sarkar, one of the foremost authorities on this great Hindu King, explains in Shivaji and His Times, “Nothing proves Shivaji’s genius as a born statesman more clearly than his creation of navy and naval bases. Even as late as 1530, Portuguese ships from Goa burnt the suburbs of Kalyan and took from them a large booty; in 1540, they plundered and burnt another great port, Agashi and burnt 300 vessels lying in it.” Sarkar adds, “The rich products of peninsular India were collected in the historic ports on the west coast for export to foreign countries. It was only a strong national fleet, supported by naval bases close at hand that could protect our west coast towns and the trade which was their life blood… Finally, there was the loss and insult to which the Portuguese were subjecting all Indian shipping by compelling them to buy pass-ports from the Government of Goa, for plying in the Indian Ocean.” Building a strong navy Responding to the need for building a national navy, Shivaji not only built a naval force but also constructed many sea forts. On every ship, six, nine, twelve or eighteen canons would be fixed.’ Naval organisation Anil Madhav Dave, a scholar and a former Union Minister who passed away in 2017 had outlined the details of naval organisation and its edifice built by Shivaji in his seminal work Shivaji and Suraj, “The navy must be divided into several segments or unit.