London museum correct record on general disembowelment by Chhatrapati Shivaji

Shubhadeep Choudhury 
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 28

A major error regarding its information on a significant episode of Indian history associated with Chhatrapati Shivaji recorded in London’s famous Victoria and Albert Museum has been corrected after a Delhi-based history enthusiast pointed out the flaw to the museum authorities.

Shivaji’s killing of Afzal Khan is a well-known chapter of Indian history. The story went like this: Afzal Khan, commander of the Bijapur army, invited Shivaji for a meeting to discuss a truce. Khan’s real intention was to kill the Maratha ruler. Shivaji correctly anticipated Khan’s motive and killed him by disemboweling him with a steel “waghnak” he was secretly wearing in his left fingers.

The “waghnak” (tiger claw), with which Shivaji was said to have killed Khan, is kept at the V&A Museum in London. The incident took place on November 9, 1659. Tributes were showered on Shivaji by his admirers on this occasion earlier this month.

“Some of the admirers also posted pictures of the ‘waghnak’. I never knew that the weapon has been preserved. I got curious and checked out the links and found that the weapon was an exhibit at the V&A Museum in London,” the history buff, who wants to remain anonymous, told this reporter.

The history buff noticed that in the museum write-up, Afzal Khan has been described as a Mughal army commander. “Afzal Khan was an army officer of the Bijapur state which was not a part of the Mughal Empire. Describing him as a Mughal commander is wrong. In fact, Bijapur had also fought war with the Mughals,” he said.

The enthusiast, who says that studying medieval Indian history was a hobby with him, wrote a letter to the museum authorities pointing out the flaw.

On Wednesday (November 24), Ekta, staff member from the museum’s South and South Asia Section, wrote to the letter writer thanking him for “pointing out some discrepancies in the catalogue record”.  “The summary repeats the erroneous description inscribed on the fitted case, which is clearly wrong. I have corrected the record,” Ekta wrote him in a mail.

The “waghnak”, when handed over to the museum, was accompanied by a leather case on which it was inscribed, “The ‘Wagnuck’ of Sivajee with Which He Killed the Moghul General. This Relic was given to Mr. James Grant-Duff of Eden When he was Resident at Satara By the Prime Minister of the Peshwa of the Marathas”. Apparently, this had led to the incorrect description of Khan in the museum catalogue.

Till Saturday, the summary of exhibit number O134202, kept at room number 41 of the South Asia Section of the museum, read: “This weapon is reputed to be the one used by the Maratha leader Shivaji to kill Afzal Khan, the Mughal commander of the opposing Bijapur army”. The museum authorities dropped the word “Mughal” from the summary on Sunday.