A History of the Mahrattas v1.c12.77

v1.c12.77

¹ Mahratta MSS. Beejapoor MSS., and English Records. The unfortunate Englishmen were not finally released without paying a ransom. There appears to have been some reason for Sivajee’s suspicion, though the fact was never fully ascertained [The names of the factors seized and imprisoned by Sivājī were Henry Revington, Richard Taylor, Randolph Taylor and Philip Gyfford. They were taken first to Waisātī, then to Songarh, three miles north-west of Mahād, Kolāba District, and finally to Raigarh. They were eventually released about February 5, 1663, after more than three years’ captivity. Professor J. Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times, ch. xiv., gives a full account of the protracted negotiations regarding the Rājāpur factory carried on between the English and Sivājī. (See Bruce, Annals, ii. 364 f., in which he quotes Oxinden’s ‘Narrative of the Negotiations with Sevajee, May 13 to June 13, 1674.’ The reference and other details will be found in Crooke’s note on page 198 of Fryer’s Travels (Hakluyt), ii). Courten’s Association founded a factory at Rājāpur in 1637–8. (Bruce, Annals, i. 358, 444; Birdwood, Report, 27, 216.)]