ABSTRACT
Islam and Hinduism are only different pigments used by the Divine Painter to picture the human species. To show bigotry for any man’s creed and practices is to alter the words of the Holy Book. In many societies the contested social memorialization of men, more so great men, is often caused by the ideological mixture of folklore and historiography. The well-researched submission of the late Edward Said that the orient was constructed by the Eurocentric ideological project of modern Western colonialism obviously has some merit. Thus the image of Aurangzeb was created, recreated and politically used first by the British and later the Indian nationalists and communalists to serve their interests. The memory of Shivaji has filtered down to us through several interpretative layers. Beginning with his eulogy by the contemporary poet Bhushan and the Sabhasad Bakhar written not long after his death, for three hundred years Shivaji has been memorialized and canonized by his admirers.
