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^ Wink, Land and Sovereignty in India (2007), pp. 43–44: "Maratha svarajya was a form of ‘zamindari sovereignty’ not merely in the eyes of the Mughals but actually established by people who were often just one or two generations away from village or district zamindari status and the practice of ‘organizing cultivation and expelling robbers’.".: "Probably the earliest use of a word like 'Hindu' was in 1645 in a phrase in a letter of Shivaji, Hindavi swarajya, meaning independence from foreign rule, 'self-rule of Hindu people'." Vijayanagara voices: exploring South Indian history and Hindu literature. It was a bid for Hindawi Swarajya (Indian rule), a term in use in Marathi sources of history." ^ Pagadi, Shivaji 1983, p. 98: "Chhatrapati Shivaji's coronation and setting himself up as a sovereign prince symbolises the rise of the Indian people in all parts of the country.He takes Swarajya to have meant a "homeland", and Hindavi Swarajya a "state of the sons of the soil". Pagadi notes that Shivaji had referred to his jagir in Pune as a rajya. Swarajya ( IAST: svarājya) is a Sanskrit term, whose meaning is "independent dominion or sovereignty" according to the Monier Williams dictionary. According to Pagadi, Hindavi had the sense of "the sons of the soil" in this context. Historian Irfan Habib states that, the term "Hindu" had acquired a religious sense by this time, and so, other terms such as Hindi, Hindustani and Hindavi began to be employed to mean "Indian", spanning all Indian people. These were distinguished from Persian, the court language in most Muslim states. Poet Amir Khusro listed various " Hindavi languages" in use in his time. The term Hindavi (or Hindawi, as also Hindui and Hindi) has been in use since the 14th century with the meaning of "Indian". Naik states that, irrespective of the authenticity of the letter, Shivaji's career itself amply demonstrates his conception of Swarajya. Historian Setumadhavarao Pagadi states that a lot of the historical source material on Shivaji is spurious, contributed by various influential families of Maharashtra to show how close their ancestors were to Shivaji. Scholars do not agree on the authenticity of the letter. It is God's will that this kingdom should be established. It is God Rohireshvar that has given us victory and that God would enable us to fulfil our wish of Hindavi Swarajya. The purported letter, in Marathi, states:
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Popular belief holds that the Maratha warrior Shivaji used the phrase Hindavi Swarajya in a letter to Dadaji Naras Prabhu Deshpande of Rohidkhore on 17 April 1645. The term Swaraj was later adopted by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, one of the early leaders of the Indian independence movement against the British Empire. According to André Wink, the term "Maratha swarajya" meant a form of zamindari sovereignty, not necessarily attached to any particular territory. After Shivaji's death, the term swarajya came into widespread use, without "Hindavi" but rather associated with "Maratha". Hindavi Swarajya ( Hindavī Svarājya "self-rule of Hindu people", meaning independence from foreign rule) is a term attributed to Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire.