Editing Shivaji (section)

=== Contemporaneous view ===
Shivaji was admired for his heroic exploits and clever stratagems in the contemporary accounts of English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and Italian writers.<ref name=":11">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.500042/2015.500042.Foreign-Biographies#page/n15/mode/1up|title=Foreign Biographies of Shivaji|last=Sen|first=Surendra|publisher=London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co. ltd.|year=1928|volume=II|page=xiii}}</ref> Contemporary English writers compared him with [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]], [[Hannibal]], and [[Julius Caesar]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/shivajithegreat035466mbp#page/n28/mode/1up|title=Shivaji The Great|last=Krishna|first=Bal|publisher=The Arya Book Depot Kolhapur|year=1940|pages=11–12}}</ref> The French traveller [[Francois Bernier]] wrote in his ''Travels in Mughal India'':<ref>{{cite book |author=Surendra Nath Sen |title=Foreign Biographies of Shivaji |publisher=K. P. Bagchi |year=1977 |pages=14, 139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89sJAQAAIAAJ }}</ref>

<blockquote>I forgot to mention that during pillage of Sourate, Seva-Gy, the Holy Seva-Gi! respected the habitation of the Reverend Father Ambrose, the [[Order of Friars Minor Capuchin|Capuchin]] missionary. 'The Frankish Padres are good men', he said 'and shall not be attacked.' He spared also the house of a deceased Delale or Gentile broker, of the Dutch, because assured that he had been very charitable while alive.</blockquote>

[[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] depictions of Shivaji were largely negative, referring to him simply as "Shiva" without the honorific "[[-ji]]". One Mughal writer in the early 1700s described Shivaji's death as {{Sort|ar|''[[kafir]] bi jahannum raft''}} ({{Literal translation|the infidel went to Hell}}).{{sfn|Truschke|2017|p=54}} His chivalrous treatment of enemies and women has been praised by Mughal authors, including Khafi Khan. Jadunath Sarkar writes:<ref name=":12" />

<blockquote>His chivalry to women and strict enforcement of morality in his camp was a wonder in that age and has extorted the admiration of hostile critics like Khafi Khan.</blockquote>