UK museum to ink MoU with Maha to send Shivaji's 'Tiger Claws' for exhibition

London, October 1

The Victoria and Albert (V and A) Museum is all set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra Government next week, which will see 17th century ‘Tiger Claws’ weapon believed to have belonged to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj make a journey back to India for an exhibition.

During a protracted military engagement in 1659, the legendary Maratha leader held metal claws, or wagh nakh, concealed in his hand and is said to have disembowelled his opponent Afzal Khan, the commander of the opposing Bijapur army.

It is believed, though unverified, that the set of claws then came into the possession of James Grant Duff, an officer of the East India Company who gifted it to the museum. The V and A description explains: “The last Peshwa of the Marathas, Baji Rao II, surrendered to the British in June 1818 after defeat in the Third Anglo-Maratha War. It is possible he also surrendered this weapon to Grant Duff. It has not been possible to verify whether these tiger claws are the ones used by Shivaji nearly 160 years earlier.”