Shivaji Maharaj was a 17th-century Maratha king, and Raigad Fort was the center of his kingdom. He died in 1680. According to the legend, Waghya was his pet, a mixed-breed dog who stayed close to him to the very end.

The story goes that when the king died, Waghya was so devoted that he followed him in his final farewell, jumping into the funeral fire.

Here is the honest part: that story has no source from Shivaji’s own time.

The sources people point to are much newer, including a play, popular books and newspaper reports. Some people also question whether Waghya was ever a real dog.

The memorial, though, is real. At Raigad, beside the king’s memorial, there is a small monument to Waghya. Accounts say a donor gave 5,000 rupees toward the dog’s statue in 1906. The playwright Ram Ganesh Gadkari also wrote Waghya into his play Rajsanyas. Many people in the area, including the Dhangar community, believe the dog existed.

So we can’t say for sure that Waghya was real. What we can say is that people kept telling the story for generations. That is what loyalty looks like to a lot of people: a dog who stays.

Buster’s take: No records from the time, and he still got a statue. Some of us have a verified paper trail and no monument. Lucky’s take: Real or not, a dog who stays by his person to the end is the best kind of story. Waghya is a very good boy.