Quantifying Valour

A view from Fort Raigad

This post may seem a bit offbeat compared to the usual science-related content, although I've tried to focus on the scientific aspect as much as possible.  A rather unusual conversation and a bit of thoughtful musing thereof led me to write this. One of my colleagues, who hails from Chennai and has recently shifted to Pune, asked me a question. She visited the Raigad fort for a weekend trip and was curiously surprised by the behaviour of people there. For those of you who don't know, Fort Raigad was the ruling capital of the great warrior and king, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Situated amidst the Sahyadri mountain range in Maharashtra, this magnificent stronghold has stood unmoved at 4500 ft above sea level for more than a millennium now. Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was crowned at Raigad, and it is also the place where his physical remains stay intact in an erected shrine. After climbing 1700 steps and walking for more than a mile, one reaches the shrine located on the farther plateaus of the mountain. The 3 mountain peaks in the vicinity of Raigad are visible from here, surrounding the 3 sides of the shrine. This is quite a breathtaking scenery, as if the peaks are bowing down to the great king whose presence can still be felt there. The firmly blowing wind, a sudden chillness in the atmosphere, and the loosely hanging clouds make every climber silent. Several climbers bow down in immense gratitude and reverence at this point. My friend was surprised when she saw people prostrating in front of the shrine. "Why do people treat him like God? Why was Shivaji Maharaj so great"? she asked me.

I was taken aback by this question, but managed to come up with the usual logical reasoning stuff, letting emotions take a backseat, despite a very sensitive chord being struck.

1. Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was one of the bravest kings who ever existed- a solid personality complete with deeply-rooted  values, integrity, and an in-built valour, inspiring several generations of rulers over the years

2. Born with the determination of attaining Swarajya (the concept of self-rule) by freeing the nation from invaders, at barely 14 years of age, he captured the Torna fort, which marked the beginning of a reigning empire that would soon expand to about 400 forts, vast lands, and ocean territories with thousands of people living freely in a well-planned, protective, inclusive and a fair society

3. He was the inventor of several warfare techniques used in our army and is also the father of the Indian Navy, strategically building a naval defence system during his time

4. He has faced some of the brutal invaders all by himself, fearlessly, conquering miles of territory. A rare combination of valour and sheer cleverness, he always knew when to fight and when to make the great escape, thus preventing a lot of irreversible damage

5. His family and lineage are the greatest example of the ultimate, unconditional sacrifice someone can make because of their compassion and purposefulness of giving back to people what they rightly deserve: freedom and security. 

While I was saying all this, I felt I wasn't doing justice to the contribution of Shivaji Maharaj and his greatness. How does one quantify valour? How do you explain the throat-choking feeling of gratitude towards an immense sea of greatness that cannot be analyzed? We talk about how brave he was, his contributions, his impact, his strategies, everything he has done for his praja (people), but we cannot explain the silent penance he was going through all those years. It's difficult to explain why people jumped into action because of his single command and the simplicity of his behaviour, despite owning a huge kingdom. All we can do is to describe him through his qualities- one of the finest minds who skillfully tackled challenges, immense bravery that destroyed enemies, a fierce warrior, the sole protector of his people, and so on. 

Properties and impact are among the building blocks of our scientific reasoning process. The matter around us is divided into the 3 quantifiable states based on its properties. An electron is both a wave and a particle because it can be quantified as a wave through its wavefunction-wavelength and as a particle through the photoelectric effect. A material is hot because something else is colder. All the material properties like magnetism, conductivity, colour, strength, fluidity, elasticity, composition, etc, can be quantified using appropriate techniques. But then, how does one quantify a constant, fearless, indestructible force born out of an ocean of valour? The greatness of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj cannot be fully quantified through his qualities or by the impact of his work. This will only take us up to a limited threshold. It's like reaching very close to the truth and merely analyzing the surface without penetrating within. Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was great by his very nature. That is the reason it has stayed all these years, travelling through many generations. Greatness can be quantified only when one truly acknowledges it in oneself and others. 

©Neha Kanase