Hindavi Swarajya (Hindavī Svarājya; "self-rule of Hindu people"[1][2][3]) is a term attributed to Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Kingdom.
According to André Wink, the term Maratha Swarajya meant a form of zamindari sovereignty, not necessarily attached to any particular territory.
[4] The term Swaraj was later adopted by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, one of the early leaders of the Indian independence movement against the British Empire.
[5][6] 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.
[11] Scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith interprets Shivaji's Hindavi Swarajya to mean "Indian independence from foreign rule.