Indrabhishek was a ceremony performed by Indian kings and mentioned in the Aiteraya Brahmanas.Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world, Volume 1 By Gaṅgā Rām Garg

History

With the loss of political power to the Turks

Turkic peoples

The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...

 and collapse of tradition, Indrabhishek ceremony was relegated to the background. The Yadavas and Chauhan

Chauhan

Chauhan, Chouhan or Chohan , , - is a clan who ruled parts of northern India in the Middle Ages. The clan is most famous for Rajput King Maharaja Prithviraj Chauhan...

s were the last to perform a coronation but whether they performed Indrabhishek ceremony is not clear. Shivaji revived it. Gagabhat wrote a detailed book on the procedure. Accordingly it was then performed. A thread ceremony, Upanayanam

Upanayanam

Upanayana is the initiation ritual by which initiates are invested with a sacred thread, to symbolize the transference of spiritual knowledge .- Significance of the sacred thread :...

, of Shivaji took place on May 29, 1674, and then a Vratya Stoma ceremony was performed.

Subaltern view

Some historians attribute the need for the coronation to resentment by the other Maratha Deccan nobles of Shivaji's success (he being a Bhosale) and his taking a higher seat than them at state dinners. Shivaji claimed he was of the line of Vishwamitra in his danpatra (donation). Late nineteenth century theories are not valid.

Legacy

Modern interpretations vary, but this coronation ceremony created a legacy. After the death of Shivaji, Marathas fought the mughals and defeated them in the war of 27 years. This demonstrated that coronation was an instrument of sovereignty valid in other parts of the world.