The principles of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
This is a teaching game. Don't just read about the values that built Swarajya — rule by them, and watch a country choose to be free.
Swarajya — self-rule
A people's own rule, never a foreign throne's. In game: villages join by their own consent, won district by district — earned, not seized.
Nyaya — justice
Tax fairly, judge fairly, keep your word. In game: the just tax wins hearts; plunder your own people and the country turns against you.
Rayatecha Raja — servant of the people
A ruler who guards the farmer, the woman, the monk. In game: answer the country's calls — free captives, drive off raiders, feed the wandering monk.
Ganimi Kava — wit over force
The few undo the many through mobility, terrain and surprise. In game: take Torna by cunning, without ever storming the walls.
Respect for every faith
Temples and shrines restored; every faith — and every woman, even the enemy's — honoured. In game: rebuild temples, protect the helpless, hold to the code.
Durga — forts & self-reliance
Forts are the bones of freedom. In game: raise the Maval army, hold the land, and win Torna — the first stone of a free kingdom.
Legitimacy is the weapon
Restore temples, free captives, tax justly, guard the cultivator — and sardars, deshmukhs and whole districts choose your banner of their own will. Rule by fear, and the same arithmetic turns against you.
Three ways to take a fort
Every campaign is yours to win on your own terms.
Liberated without a sword
Win the countryside holding by holding, break the Adilshahi north that provisions Torna, and the starved garrison lays down its arms — not one shot fired at the walls. The thesis ending.
Undone from within
Ganimi Kava. Slip a man past the garrison unseen; foul the cistern, fire the granary, wreck the armoury, free the prison camp. Thirsty, hungry and weaponless, the fort opens its gates. The closest to history.
Taken by force
Storm the crag against the high-ground arrows and bring Shivaji to the gate. Always possible, always costliest — the countryside will remember the blood.
One country, fully simulated
A living Maval rendered in real time — 20 villages, five Deshmukhi holdings, a four-resource economy, and an enemy that fights back.
The country calls on you
Tigers at the watering hole, bandits at the granary, captives to free, temples to raise — answer, and the people remember.
A living Maval
- 20 villages, 5 Deshmukhi holdings — win a subhedar and his whole domain joins at once
- Sardars with minds of their own — Loyalist, Cautious, Bold, Opportunist; each decides for himself
- The muster — call the country to ride; not all will come
- A four-resource economy — grain, iron, stone, gold; the army eats, or it goes home
- The tax dial — heavy tax buys gold and costs hearts; ~12% is the just rate
- Bijapur fights back — bribery, raids, war-parties, retaken villages, thieves in the night
- Ganimi Kava terrain — forest ambush, high-ground arrows, one mountain pass, caves, the ford
- Villages that live — farmers, milkmaids, miners, children at school, cows, wandering monks, tigers
- An Advisor — let it autopilot the campaign, or drive every system yourself
- Optional HD art mode — switch the whole world to period 3D models at the press of a key
Made with respect
Rise of Swarajya is a tribute to the Maratha story and the idea of Swarajya — self-rule won by justice as much as by valour. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is honoured here as the leader he was: you liberate, you build, you earn the people's trust. It's an interactive homage, not a textbook — made to spark curiosity about the history and the values behind it. If it sends one player to read more about the real Shivaji, it has done its work.
Take the first step to Swarajya
Step into the young Shivaji's shoes: win the people's trust, raise the Maval army, and free Torna — the first fort of a free kingdom. The rest of history is yours to earn.