Heroic Death of Sambhaji

Sambhaji was the eldest son of Chhatrapati Shivaji.He was successor of the realm after his father's death.Sambhaji was beheaded and his body was cut into pieces on his denial to bow down to Aurangzeb and convert to Islam,It is said that Mahar people from village Vadhu (which is half kilometer away from Tulapur) collected those pieces and did Sambhaji's funeral ceremony.

In early 1689, Sambhaji called his commanders for a strategic meeting at Sangameshwar in Konkan. In a meticulously planned operation, Ganoji Shirke (brother of Sambhaji’s wife Yesubai) and Aurangzeb's commander, Mukarrab Khan attacked Sangameshwar when Sambhaji was about to leave the town. A small ambush followed and Sambhaji was captured by Mughal troops on 1 Feb, 1689. He and his advisor, Kavi Kalash were taken to Bahadurgad. Aurangzeb humiliated them by parading them wearing clown's clothes. Later, Sambhaji and Kavi Kalash were tied upside down to camels with Mughal soldiers throwing stones, mud, and cow dung at them.

When they were brought face to face with Aurangzeb, the latter offered to let Sambhaji live if he surrendered all the Maratha forts, turned over all his hidden treasures and disclosed the names of all the Mughal officers who had helped him. Sambhaji refused, and instead sang the praises of Mahadev (Lord Shiva). Aurangzeb ordered him and Kavi Kalash to be tortured to death. Sambhaji and Kavi Kalash were brutally tortured for over a fortnight. The torture involved plucking out their eyes and tongue and pulling out their nails. The later part involved removing their skin. On March 11, 1689, Sambhaji was finally killed, reportedly by tearing him apart from the front and back with 'Wagh Nakhe’ (‘Tiger claws’, a kind of weapon), and was beheaded with an axe. This grievous death was given to him at Vadhu on the banks of the Bhima river, near Pune.

After every torture, Aurangzeb would ask him if he had had enough and wanted to convert – but the courageous king kept refusing. By doing so he earned the title of Dharmaveer (Protector of Dharma) by which he is known to this day. Aurangzeb ordered for Sambhaji's body to be cut into pieces and be thrown into the river. Residents of the nearby village named 'Vadhu' collected as many pieces of his body as they could find, sewed them together and performed the final rites on his body. These villagers later went on to use the surname 'Shivle' or 'Shivale', as per spelling preference, which means ‘sewing’ in the Marathi language.