Shivaji Bhonsle, Indian monarch and founder of the Maratha Empire, dies of illness and dysentery at the age of 52 in 1680.
Shivaji Bhonsale I, also known as Chhatrapati Shivaji, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan who reigned from 19 February 1630 to 3 April 1680. Shivaji created the Maratha Empire by carving out an enclave from the declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur. At Raigad Fort, he was formally crowned Chhatrapati of his realm in 1674. Shivaji died on the eve of Hanuman Jayanti, approximately 3–5 April 1680, at the age of 50. The exact reason of Shivaji's death is unknown. According to British sources, Shivaji died of bloody flux after being unwell for 12 days. The documented cause of death of Shivaji is anthrax, according to a contemporaneous publication in Portuguese, the Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa. However, Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad, author of Shivaji's biography Sabhasad Bakhar, has listed fever as the cause of Shivaji's death.
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