The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c19.125

v4.c19.125

After the failure of Mahābat and Dilīr (1671–72) against the Marāthās, Aurangzib sent Bahādur Khān¹ again as governor to the Deccan, which he ruled for the next five years but without being able to cope with Shivājī. This was the full tide of the Marāthā hero’s power; he made annexations and levied blackmail (popularly called *chauth* or one-fourth of the land revenue, in Marāthī *khandanī*) in the east and west, north and south, and permanently occupied the Kolī country (Rāmnagar and Jāwhar) south of Surat. The death of ‘Alī ‘Ādil Shāh II (4 December, 1672) opened a wide door to Shivājī’s acquisitions at the expense of Bījāpur,² while the rising of the Khyber Afghāns (1674) detained the main imperial forces on the north-western frontier. The desultory warfare carried on against him by Mughul captains from 1672 to 1678 was barren of result. Taking advantage of these circumstances, Shivājī crowned himself king of kings (*Chhatrapati*) at Rāigarh on 16 June, 1674, and spent one year (1677) in conquering a vast realm in the Madras Carnatic and the Mysore plateau, estimated to cover “sixty leagues by forty and to yield 20 lakhs of *hūns* a year, with a hundred forts”.³