A History of the Mahrattas v1.c11.48

v1.c11.48

³ [According to the *Shivdigvijaya Bakhar*, quoted by Kincaid and Parasnis, p. 148, the letter ended as follows: ‘May God crown your hopes with success and increase your prosperity. You will not fail to be courteous always to Bājī Ghodpadē, for you know the great obligations under which he has laid me.’ The double entente was not lost upon Sivājī. The statement of the author (p. 113) that Bājī Ghodpadē effected Shāhjī’s capture by treachery is not corroborated by fresh evidence quoted in Sarkar’s *Shivaji and His Times*, pp. 44, 45. According to this evidence Bājī captured the fugitive Shāhjī after a fair chase. Further, Sarkar states that Sivājī never corresponded with the Delhi Emperor regarding his father’s release (p. 114, *ante*), but with Prince Murād Bakhsh, then viceroy of the Deccan; and that in all probability Shāhjī’s final release was due not to Mughal efforts for his liberation, but to the friendly mediation of Sharza Khān and Rendulla Khān, two leading nobles of Bijāpur. Professor Sarkar holds that Shāhjī was probably kept in prison till the capture of Jinji on December 17, 1649. (Sarkar, *Shivaji and His Times*, pp. 43–9.)]