section_path: Governance/Religious policy/Ramdas
section_name: Ramdas
paragraph_text: Ramdas
  
  Shivaji was a contemporary of Samarth Ramdas. Historian Stewart Gordon concludes about their relationship:
  
  Older Maratha histories asserted that Shivaji was a close follower of Ramdas, a Brahmin teacher, who guided him in an orthodox Hindu path; recent research has shown that Shivaji did not meet or know Ramdas until late in his life. Rather, Shivaji followed his own judgement throughout his remarkable career.
  
  Shivaji was a contemporary of Samarth Ramdas. Historian Stewart Gordon concludes about their relationship:
  
  Older Maratha histories asserted that Shivaji was a close follower of Ramdas, a Brahmin teacher, who guided him in an orthodox Hindu path; recent research has shown that Shivaji did not meet or know Ramdas until late in his life. Rather, Shivaji followed his own judgement throughout his remarkable career.