Shivaji

“ Muazzam promptly obeyed his father's order and returned to Aurangabad at the end of September, 1670.* [5] These internal troubles paralysed the Mughal arms, and Shivaji made the most of this goldenopportunity. We have seen how he had recovered several of his forts early in the year. His cavalry bands roamed over the country, plundering far and wide. In March the English factors at Surat wrote, "Shivaji marches now not [as] before as a thief, but in gross with an army of 30,000 men, conquering as he goes, and is not disturbed though the Prince lies near him." ”

“ Smarting under his master's censure, he threw generalship to the winds, and rushed upon Bahlol followed by only six horsemen, the rest of his army hanging back from the mad charge. The gallant seven were cut down by the swarm of foes, and much havoc was done among the Marathas who were disheartened by the fall of their leader; "a river of blood flowed." Shivaji greatly mourned the death of Pratap Rao and repented of his angry letter. The dead general's relatives and dependents were well provided for, and his daughter was married to Raja Ram, the favourite son of the king. ”

“ Shivaji's escape from captivity caused lifelong regret to Aurangzib. As the Emperor wrote in his last will and testament: "The greatest pillar of a Government is the keeping of information about everything that happens in the kingdom, — while even a minute's negligence results in shame for long years. See, the flight of the wretch Shiva was due to carelessness, but it has involved me in all these distracting campaigns to the end of my days." ”

“ The Maratha force, lightly equipped, set out from Singh-garh, covered the intervening eleven miles rapidly in the course of the day, and arrived at Puna after nightfall. With 400 picked men Shivaji entered the limits of the camp, replying to the challenge of the Mughal guards that they were Deccani soldiers of the imperial army going to take up their appointed posts. ”

“ This young man had entered the imperial army at Jai Singh's recommendation, but he was discontented with what he considered the inadequate reward of his services in the Mughal invasion of the Gond country. So, he left the Mughal camp on the plea of hunting and made an adventurous journey with his wife tor Maharashtra by obscure and roundabout paths. He offered to serve under Shiva against the Emperor. Shivaji received him with honour, praised his manly spirit, but sent him back with the advice to rise against Aurangzib in Bundelkhand, saying, "Illustrious chief ! conquer and subdue your foes. ”

“ The news of it reached Shivaji when he had completed his military preparations. He sent a secret message to Pratap Rao to slip away from Aurangabad with his men. The other half of the contingent fled from Berar at the same time, plundering the villages on the way! (Dil. 71.) The Zedhe Chronology and Chhatraprakash, p. 68, indirectly suggest that Shivaji renewed the war as a protest against the temple destruction on which Aurangzib launched in 1669. ”

“ Rich men found shelter in the fort by bribing its commandant. Later in the day a courier brought the intelligence that Shivaji had come still nearer, and at night it was learnt that he had halted only five miles from Surat. Inayet Khan, the governor of the town — who was quite distinct from the commandant of the fort, — had sent out an agent to treat with Shiva for terms of ransom. But when he heard that the Maratha chief had detained the messenger and was approaching with all speed, he himself fled to the fort, leaving the town at the enemy's mercy. ”

“ The anticipated return of Shivaji to the Deccan greatly added to Jai Singh's fears. As he wrote on 5th November, 1666: — "The times are bad for me. My anxieties are ceaseless. The lying Bijapuris are wasting time [by delusive negotiations.] There is no trace or news of the fugitive Shiva. My days are passing in distraction and anxiety. I have sent trusty spies, in various disguises, to get news of Shiva." [H. A. 200a.]
About this time the officers left by Shiva in the Deccan when starting for Agra began to display ominous activity. ”

“ The English factory letters at the close of 1668 and in 1669 describe him as "very quiet" and as "Aurangzibs vassal, (bound) to do whatsoever is commanded by the Prince." His relations with Bijapur also were pacific. "The country all about [Karwar] at present is in great tranquillity. Shivaji keeps still at Rajgarh, and though as yet there is no peace made between this king [Adil Shah] and him, yet both refrain from committing any acts of hostility against one another." [F. R. Surat Vol. 105, Karwar to Surat, 16 Sep., 1668.] ”

“ As Mr. Gerald Aungier, the English President of Bombay, wrote on 16th Sep. 1673, "Shivaji bears himself up manfully against all his enemies...... and though it is probable that the Mughal's army may fall into his country this year and Bahlol Khan on the other side, yet neither of them can stay long for want of provisions, and his flying army will constantly keep them in alarm, nor is it either their design to destroy Shivaji totally, for the Umarahs maintain a politic war to their own profit at the king's charge, and never intend to prosecute it violently so as to end it." (F.R. Surat, 106.) ”

“ Shivaji placed under guard by order of Aurangzib.
On returning from the Court, Shivaji openly taxed the Emperor with breach of faith towards him, and asked to be put to death as a lesser evil. There were men about him who reported his angry words and complaints here and in the darbar hall to
himself [by running] into the ghusalkhana." (Bhushan, Granthavali, pp. 66, 70, also 68.) Aurangzib, and it only increased the Emperor's dislike and distrust of the Maratha chief. Ram Singh was ordered to lodge him in the Jaipur House outside the city- walls, and be responsible for his custody. ”

“ It was probably in November or December of this year, while Shivaji was campaigning in Kanara, that Bahlol Khan* [12] marched from Bijapur with a large army (12,000 men according to the Maratha chronicle) to protect the Miraj-Kolhapur district, and cut Shiyaji's northern line of communication with his dominions by the Satara-Panhala route. ”

“ Z. C, siege from Dec. 1663 to June, '64.)
The field being clear, Shivaji ranged at liberty in spite of the height of the rainy season, and plundered Ahmadnagar. (Karwar to Surat, 8th, August, 1664. F. R. Surat, vol. 104.)
On 26th June the English factors write, "Shivaji is so famously infamous for his notorious thefts that Report hath made him an airy body, and added wings, or else it were impossible he could be at so many places as he is said to be at, all at one time... They ascribe to him to perform more than a Herculean labour that he is become the talk of all conditions of people... ”

“ The invaders marched on, and then, on 24th December, they came into touch with the enemy for the first time. Next day, a Mughal detachment under Dilir Khan and Shivaji marched 10 miles from their camp and fought a Bijapuri army of 12,000 under the famous generals Sharza Khan and Khawas Khan and their Maratha auxiliaries under Jadu Rao [Ghorpare?] of Kalian and Vyankoji, the half-brother of Shivaji. The Deccanis evaded the charge of the cavaliers of Delhi, but harassed them by their "cossack tactics," dividing themselves into four bodies and fighting loosely with the Mughal divisions opposite. ”

“ Thus, Dilir's enemies found a ready shelter with Muazzam. After sending Dilir Khan away to Bidar, the Prince freely indulged his natural love of hunting and witnessing animal combats, and no attempt was made to crush Shivaji.
But even if the viceroy of the Deccan had been a man of greater spirit and enterprise, it would have been impossible for him for some years from this time to get adequate men and money for an attempt to crush Shivaji. The resources of the empire had to be concentrated elsewhere, to meet more pressing dangers. ”

“ Many rich people of the town, too, had fled to the villages north of Surat, across the river and close to Swally. On the 3rd it was reported that Shivaji wanted to send 500 horsemen north of the river to plunder the villages and seize these rich men; and it was feared that he might even come to Swally to demand the surrender of the Surat refugees and blackmail from the European merchants. But the coming of the spring-tide made it impossible for the Marathas to cross the river, and Swally remained safe. ”

“ Further off, across the road leading southwards to Singh-garh lay the camp of his lieutenant, Maharajah Jaswant Singh and his contingent of 10,000 men. The enterprise required no less agility and cunning than bravery and dash. Shivaji picked out a thousand of his bravest and most expert soldiers and took them with him, while two supporting divisions of one thousand each (including cavalry and Mavles) under Netaji Palkar and Moro Pant the Peshwa, were directed to take post on the two flanks of the vast Mughal encampment, at a mile's distance from its outer side. ”

“ Aurangzib soon set to strengthening his forces in the Deccan. On 26th January 1670 an order was sent to Dilir to leave Deogarh in the Gond country and hasten to Aurangabad. Daud Khan was ordered to arrange for the defence of his province of Khandesh and then go to Prince Muazzam's assistance. Many other officers were transferred from North India to the Deccan. (Akhbarat, year 12.)
Shivaji opened his offensive with great vigour and immediate success.* [2] His roving bands looted Mughal territory, and he attacked several of the forts which he had ceded to Aurangzib by the Treaty of Purandar. ”

“ Flying columns ravage Shivaji's villages.
The possession of Vajragarh was the stepping-stone to the capture of Purandar, or in Jai Singh's own language, "the key that would unlock Purandar." Dilir Khan now turned to the latter fort, while Jai Singh organised raids into the Maratha country, in order, as he wrote to the Emperor, to convince Shiva and the Sultan of Bijapur that the Mughal army was large enough to be able to spare troops from the siege, and also to prevent any concentration of forces round Shivaji by creating constant terror and disturbance in various parts of his kingdom. ”

“ When people argue that Afzal Khan could not have possibly intended to stab Shivaji during an interview, they should remember that the sanctimonious Jai Singh was prepared to prove his loyalty by lowering his family honour and laying a fatal snare for "Shivaji, a brother Hindu.
↑ * Sabhasad, 46 and 50, says that Shiva himself made the offer of conquering Bijapur and Golkonda for the Emperor, if he were appointed Mughal commander-in-chief in the Deccan, and Jai Singh merely agreed to the proposal. Chit- 113. ↑ *Sabh. 47; Chit. 108. Dil. ”

“ And yet the Mughal governor was so criminally negligent as to keep only 300 men for the defence of the city. On 2nd October came successive reports of Shiva's arrival with 15,000 horse and foot within 20 miles of Surat. All the Indian merchants of the city and even the officers of Government fled in the course of that day and night. On the 3rd, Shivaji attacked the city which had recently been walled round by order of Aurangzib. ”

“ On returning home from Agra in December 1666, Shivaji found the political situation in the Deccan entirely changed. The Mughal viceroy, Jai Singh, was no longer in a position to repeat his former success over the Marathas. Worn out by age, toil, disappointment and domestic anxieties, discredited in his master's eyes by the failure of his invasion of Bijapur, and expecting every day to be removed from his post, Mirza Rajah was visibly hastening to his grave. In May 1667 Prince Muazzam, the newly appointed governor, reached Aurangabad and relieved Jai Singh of his charge. ”

“ Leaving for a moment the direct path, which climbs to the crest of the hill past the Buddhist caves and cisterns, we walk along a dainty terrace lined with champak and sandalwood trees and passing under a carved stone gateway halt before the shrine dedicated to Shivaji's family goddess. The dark inner shrine must have once been a Buddhist cave, carved out of the wall of rock ”

“ The laws which bind society are for common folk like you and me. No one seeks to trace the genealogy of a Rishi or to fasten guilt upon a Maharaj. Great men are above the common principles of morality. Such principles do not reach to the pedestal of a great man. Did Shivaji commit a sin in killing Afzul Khan? The answer to this question can be found in the Mahabharata itself. The Divine Krishna teaching in the Gita tells us we may kill even our teachers and our kinsmen, and no blame attaches if we are not actuated by selfish desires. Shivaji did nothing from a desire to fill his own belly. ”

“ After Shivaji had followed up his victory over Afzal Khan's leaderless army by defeating the combined forces of Rustam-i-Zaman and Fazl Khan, and taking Panhala in the Kolhapur district and many places in Ratnagiri, Ali Adil Shah II. felt it necessary to march in person against the audacious rebel. But just at this time Siddi Jauhar, an Abyssinian slave who had usurped the fief of Karnul and defied the royal authority, wrote to Bijapur offering to make his submission if his position Were recognised. ”

“ They then approached the fortress of Surat, threatening to storm it; but it was a mere demonstration, as they were not prepared to conduct a siege, and did not venture close to the walls. The third day (5th Oct.) they again appeared before the English factory, threatening to burn it down. Shivaji and his soldiers were greatly enraged at the loss of their men in the first assault on this house, and they clamoured for vengeance. ”