India: Portrait of Shivaji (r. 1674-1680), founder of the Maratha Empire (1674-1820) c. 1685

Shivaji Bhosale (19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), was the founder of the Maratha Empire, which lasted until 1820, and at its peak covered much of the Indian subcontinent. An aristocrat of the Bhosle Maratha clan, Shivaji led a resistance against the Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur and the Mughal Empire and established Hindavi Swarajya ('self-rule of Hindu people'). He created an independent Maratha kingdom with Raigad as its capital, and was crowned Chhatrapati ('paramount sovereign') of the Marathas in 1674.

Shivaji established a competent and progressive civil rule with the help of a disciplined military and well-structured administrative organisations. He innovated military tactics, pioneering guerrilla warfare methods which employed strategic factors like geography, speed, and surprise and focused pinpoint attacks to defeat his larger and more powerful enemies.

From a small contingent of 2,000 soldiers inherited from his father, Shivaji created a force of 100,000 soldiers; he built and restored strategically located forts both inland and along the coast to safeguard his territory. He revived ancient Hindu political traditions and court conventions, and promoted the usage of Marathi and Sanskrit, rather than Persian, in court and administration.

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