Shri Shiv Chatrapati Caritr 42: SIVAJI'S NIGHT VISITS TO HIS FORTS.

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S.D. [262]. To find out whether proper watch and caution were observed in every fort, the Maharaja used to go before the forts all alone and exhort the garrison to open the gates. — "I am come. The Mughals are pursuing me, open the gates and take me in." — So he would say. And when the Havaldar opened the gate and took him in, the Maharaja would censure him severely and sometimes dismiss him. This happened at one or two places. He paid a similar visit with Bajaji Avji to Panhala, and he asked at the guard room below the fort for permission to enter, but was forbidden by the garrison. "You are no doubt our master," said they, "But you should first get the permission of the Havaldar and then enter." Thereupon he proceeded as far as the gate guarded by a sepoy. When the Havaldar got the information, [263] he came on the rampart with other officers of the fort and they made their obeisance from that place. The Maharaja appealed in various ways, — "I am fleeing pursued by an army. Open the gates and take me in.
But the Prabhu Karbhari of Panhala and the Kille-dar answered, — "We will open the gates at the time fixed (by the military regulations) and not before that." A bed was let down from the wall for the Maharaja's repose but the gate was not opened.