A History of the Mahrattas v1.c13: Chapter VI
A History of the Mahrattas v1.c13
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Chapter VI
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A.D. 1662.—SINCE the departure of Aurungzebe, Sivajee had been so much occupied in the war with Beejapoor, that he was not only unable to take advantage of the events passing in Hindoostan, but in May, 1661, when the Moghuls possessed themselves of Kallian Bheemree, Sivajee was not in a condition to resent the aggression. He now, however, prepared a large force; the infantry under Moro Punt, and the horse headed by Netajee Palkur. The former, during the rains, possessed himself of several strongholds, north of Joonere, but there is no satisfactory account of the particulars. Netajee Palkur, as soon as the state of the roads permitted, ravaged the Moghul districts without mercy; he was ordered to plunder the villages and levy contributions from the towns; but he even exceeded these orders, swept the country to the environs of Aurungabad, spread terror in all directions, and, by moving rapidly from one direction to another, returned safe and unopposed to Poona.
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Shaisteh Khan,¹ who, with the title of Umeer Ool Oomrah, had been appointed to succeed the prince, Sultan Mauzum, as viceroy of the Deccan, was ordered by the Emperor to punish this daring incursion, to carry the war into Sivajee’s territory, and to reduce his forts.
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¹ Maternal uncle of Aurungzebe, and nephew of the celebrated Noor Mahal, whose name is probably more generally known at present from Mr. Moore’s Lalla Rookh, than from the history of India. The fact of our being indebted to Noor Jehan’s mother for the discovery of utter [attar] of roses is gravely recorded by the historian Khafee Khan.
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Shaisteh Khan accordingly marched from Aurungabad with a great force, and pursuing the high road by Ahmednugur and Pairgaom, turned from the latter place westward towards Poona. On his route, he sent a detachment to take possession of Sopa, and pitched on Jadow Rao, Deshmookh of Sindkheir, Sivajee’s relation, to occupy the districts.¹ Sivajee, on the approach of the Moghul army, left Rajgurh, and made Singurh his principal residence. Shaisteh Khan took Poona, and sent out strong detachments to occupy the Katruje Ghaut and the village of Sewapoor. Parties were also detached to reconnoitre the forts ; and as Chakun lay between him and Joonere, which was inconvenient, and as he expected that so small a place would surrender on the first summons, he moved against it with the main body of his army ; but Phirungajee Nursalla, who had remained in command of Chakun since the year 1646, refused to surrender and made an excellent defence. Chakun held out against the Moghul army for nearly two months. At last, on the fifty-sixth day of the siege, a mine having been sprung under the north-east bastion, a very large, practicable breach was made, and many of the garrison were killed by the explosion. The Moghuls being prepared for the assault rushed forward, but were met by the remains of the garrison, headed by their gallant Havildar in the breach, which was so well defended that the assailants could make no impression. The besieged maintained their post till night-fall, when the attack ceased ; and in the morning, Phirungajee Nursalla capitulated. Shaisteh Khan, in admiration of his conduct, treated him with great respect, and made him considerable offers if he would enter the imperial service, but Nursalla did not disgrace the fame he had acquired by accepting them ; Shaisteh Khan dismissed him with honour, and he rejoined Sivajee, by whom he was commended and rewarded.²
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¹ Khafee Khan.
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² [He was appointed commandant of Bhupālgarh in Sātāra District. The very untrustworthy Shivdigvijaya Bakhar, which according to Professor Sarkar was fabricated at Baroda in 1895, and is falsely described as written by Khando Ballāl, son of Bālāji Avji, in 1718, states that Sivāji dismissed Firangji Narsāla for capitulating to a Moslem, and that the latter in disgust joined Shāyista Khān. Sivāji had him subsequently brought back by force to his side. This account is untrustworthy. (Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times, Calcutta (1919), pp. 95, 96.) Bhupālgarh lies ten miles south-east of Khānapur, Sātāra District, and is known by its modern name of Basrūr.]
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The Moghuls, by their own account, lost nine hundred in killed and wounded before Chakun, which, considering the length and obstinate nature of the defence, does not appear a great number ; but Shaisteh Khan became impressed with an idea of the insur- A.D. 1663. mountable difficulty of reducing the hill forts. Aurungzebe, on the contrary, considered their reduction a matter of easy accomplishment; and long after this period, continued to entertain the greatest contempt for the Mahrattas as enemies. Raja Jeswunt Sing, the Rajpoot prince of Joudpoor was, however, ordered to join the Khan with a large reinforcement. The fair season was far advanced before his arrival, and the whole army lay inactive in the neighbourhood of Poona, whilst Netajee Palkur again appeared about Ahmednugur and Aurungabad, burning and plundering the districts.¹
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¹ Mahratta MSS., Khafee Khan.
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A party was immediately detached to intercept him, and on this occasion succeeded in surprising and killing several of his men. They afterwards continued the pursuit, Netajee was himself wounded, and it was supposed he would have been taken had not the Beejapoor general, Roostum Zuman, favoured his escape.²
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² Mahratta MSS., and English Records.
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Shaisteh Khan in the meantime had taken up his abode in the town of Poona, and had fixed his residence in the house built by Dadajee Konedeo.³ From Sivajee’s being in the neighbourhood, of whose character for stratagem he was well aware, the Khan took many of those precautions which frequently invite what they are intended to prevent. No armed Mahratta was permitted to enter Poona without a passport, and no Mahratta horsemen were entertained excepting under such chiefs⁴ of their own as held their lands from the Emperor.
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³ Mahratta MSS.
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⁴ Khafee Khan.
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Sivajee, watchful of all that passed, resolved to surprise the Khan, and sent two Bramins to make such arrangements as were necessary to gain admission. When his preparations were complete, Sivajee left Singurh one evening in the month of April,⁵ a little after sunset, at the head of a considerable body of infantry whom he posted in small parties along the road, but Yessjee Kunk, Tannajee Maloosray and twenty-five Mawulees were all that entered.⁶ His emissaries⁷ had gained a Mahratta footsoldier in the Khan's service, who, on pretence of celebrating a marriage, obtained permission to beat through the town with the noisy instruments used on such occasions, and also for some of his companions, who always carry their arms, to join in the procession. Poona being an open town, Sivajee with his party, favoured by the contrivance of his emissaries, easily slipped undiscovered into the crowd and joined in the moving assemblage.
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⁵ Mahratta MSS., and letter from the English factors, then prisoners at large in Rajapoor, dated April 12, 1663.
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⁶ Mahratta MSS.
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⁷ The means his emissaries took to obtain him admission is omitted in the Mahratta MSS., but Khafee Khan’s account bears every mark of probability. It is also confirmed by Catrou.
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When all was quiet, Sivajee and his companions, familiar with every avenue and every accessible part of the Khan's residence, proceeded with a few pick-axes to the cook-room, above which there was a window slightly built up. Through this place they soon made themselves a passage, but not without alarming some of the women of the Khan's family, who immediately ran and awoke their master. Shaisteh Khan was hurrying out, and in the act of lowering himself from a window, when he received a blow on the hand which cut off one of his fingers.¹ He was fortunate in escaping without further injury, as his son Abool Futih Khan and most of the guard at his house were killed.
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¹ [Elliot and Dowson (vol. vii, pp. 270-1) relate that three Māvalīs forced their way into Shāyista Khān's room, but two fell into a cistern of water and the third, though he cut off the Khān's thumb, was killed by his spear. Two slave-girls dragged Shāyista Khān to a place of safety. The Bombay Secretariat Records (Selections I, i. 15) support Grant Duff's account. The Sabhāsad Bakhar (Mānkar, 32) states, ‘The Nawāb, however, received sword blows which cut off three of his fingers.’ Kincaid and Parasnis (p. 199) following the Shivdigvijaya Bakhar, state that Shāyista Khān lost a thumb while trying to stem the rush of Sivājī's men into the women's apartments. Sarkar (Shivaji and His Times, p. 101) states that Sivājī cut off the Khān's thumb, that the lights were then put out, and that in the darkness Shāyista Khān was hurried by the slave-girls to a place of safety. Two Marāthās fell into a cistern which increased the confusion.]
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Sivajee and his men retired before it was possible to intercept them, and gradually collected their parties on their route to Singurh. When they got to the distance of three or four miles, they lighted torches, previously prepared, to occasion deception as to their numbers, and to express their defiance and derision. In this manner they ascended to the fort in view of the Moghul camp, from which they might be distinctly seen.
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No action of Sivajee's is now talked of with greater exultation among his countrymen than this exploit;—to complete the triumph, a body of Moghuls came galloping towards Singurh next morning, and were permitted to approach close to the fort, which they did in a vaunting manner, beating their kettle drums and brandishing their swords ; when the guns opening upon them, they retired in the greatest confusion. Kartojee Goozur,¹ who commanded a party of Sivajee’s horse, left in the neighbourhood by Netajee Palkur, took this opportunity of falling upon them, which he did so unexpectedly as to complete their flight and disgrace.² This is the first time we find the Moghul cavalry pursued by the Mahrattas. Kartojee Goozur, encouraged by his success, cut off several small parties, and obliged the Moghuls to strengthen their out-posts.
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¹ [The surname is derived from the name of the race (Gurjar) which entered India in the trail of the White Huns in A.D. 452, and by A.D. 600 had overrun north-eastern Kāthiāwār and set up a branch at Broach in Gujarāt. Broughton (*Letters from a Mahratta Camp*) mentions ‘Goojours’ as bands of marauders inhabiting the hilly parts of Rājputāna. The Gūjar (Goozur) caste is most numerous in the Panjāb and the upper districts of the United Provinces, small colonies of Gūjars being also settled in the Hoshangābād and Nīmār Districts of the Central Provinces. The Gūjars, who are inveterate cattle-lifters, are regarded as about equal in rank with the Ahīrs, and rather below the Jāts. Many sections of the Gūjars are Musalmans. (Sleeman’s *Rambles*, ed. Smith (1915), p. 192 n.)]
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² Mahratta MSS.
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Trifling reverses contributed to dishearten Shaisteh Khan in his present state of grief and mortification. Instead of acting with the spirit that became an officer, he accused Jeswunt Sing of neglect, complained of the state of his army, and wrote to the Emperor stating suspicions of Jeswunt Sing’s having been bribed by Sivajee. Aurungzebe was preparing for a journey to Kashmeer when news of the Khan’s disaster, and the want of union between him and Jeswunt Sing, reached Delhi. He at first recalled both the principal officers, and appointed Sultan Mauzum viceroy of the Deccan ; but he afterwards conferred the government of Bengal on Shaisteh Khan, and directed Jeswunt Sing to remain as second in command under the prince.
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Jeswunt Sing made a feeble attempt to invest Singurh, but he did not prosecute the siege. Strong detachments were left at Chakun³ and Joonere, whilst the main body of the army retired to Aurungabad.
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³ It was about this time, when the army had retired, that Sivajee, having gone to hear a Kutha by Tookaram in the town of Poona, narrowly escaped being made prisoner by the garrison of Chakun. The Mahratta MSS. particularly mention the miraculous interference of the god Pandoorang, by whom he was saved.
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Sivajee, who always spread false reports of his intentions, assembled an army in the neighbourhood of Kallian, and another near Dhunda Rajepoor, gave out that he meant to attack the Portuguese at Bassein and Choule, or make a grand effort to reduce the Seedee. But his real design was on Surat, at that time one of the richest cities in India, and Byherjee Naik, a famous spy in his service, was already on the spot making such preparatory observations as were necessary. On pretence of paying his respects at a temple near Nassuck, and of visiting the forts lately taken by Moro Trimmul, Sivajee proceeded to the northward, but when supposed to be engaged in devotions, he made a rapid march with four thousand horse towards Surat, which he surprised, and having systematically plundered it for six days of great riches, he leisurely conveyed his booty unmolested to Raigurh, which being now completed became the future seat of his government. The plunder of Surat was great, and it would have been more considerable had the English and Dutch factories fallen into his power, but they stood on the defensive, and the English in particular behaved so manfully, that they not only saved their own property, but a part of that of the citizens: Sir George Oxenden was then chief or governor at Surat.¹
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¹ The sack of Surat, on this occasion, is most minutely described in the Records of the English factory, now in the East India house. In consequence of their generous defence of the property of others, Aurungzebe granted to the English a perpetual exemption from a portion of the customs exacted from the traders of other nations at Surat. During the time the Mahrattas were plundering the town, Sivajee remained outside. A person named Smith, an Englishman, was taken prisoner and carried before Sivajee, whom he represented as seated in a tent, ordering heads and hands to be chopped off in cases where persons were supposed to be concealing their wealth.
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The walls of Surat, up to this period, were of mud. They were now ordered to be built of brick. Thevenot, who was at Surat in the early part of 1666, mentions that they were then in progress.
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[Sir George Oxenden was subsequently Governor of Bombay, resident in Surat, from September 1668, when he took charge of the Island from the King's representative, until his death in July 1669. He was born in 1620, son of Sir James Oxinden of Dene, co. Kent. He was knighted at the Restoration. The mausoleum containing his remains and those of his brother Christopher (ob. April 18, 1659), which is one of the chief objects of interest in Surat, bears a long Latin inscription describing him as ‘Anglorum in India, Persia, Arabia, Præses, Insulæ Bombayensis Gubernator.’ (I.G. Bom., 1909, i. 348.) See Dict. Nat. Biog., xliii. 9 f.; Hedges, Diary, ii. 223, 241, 250, 303; Bruce, ii. 107.
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Sarkar (Shivaji and His Times, Calcutta (1919), p. 106) gives a On Sivajee’s return he heard of the death of his father, which happened by an accidental fall from his horse, when hunting,¹ in January, 1664, at the village of Buswuputtum on the banks of the Toongbuddra near Bednore, where he had joined the Beejapoor army to assist in reducing some refractory Zumeendars.
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¹ Some Mahrattas, very old men, join in all sorts of hunting; the present Jan Rao Naik Nimbalkur must be nearly as old as Shahjee was, and is still a keen sportsman.
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Shahjee possessed at his death not only the districts originally conferred upon him in Jagheer by the Beejapoor government, but the fort of Arnee, Porto Novo,² and the territory of Tanjore.³ He continued in obedience to Ali Adil Shah, who seems to have allowed him to retain his new acquisitions unquestioned.
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² The English records mention the capture of Porto Novo by Shahjee in July 1661.
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³ All the Mahratta MSS. state the conquest to have been made by Shahjee. No Mahrattas or Bramins, conversant with their own history, seem to think otherwise; the doubt seems to have arisen in the neighbourhood of Tanjore, and it was natural to have done so, owing to the apprehension which the Tanjore Raja must have entertained, of being called to account for half his revenue; proofs, however, of what is stated, will ultimately appear.
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Some days were spent by Sivajee in the observance of the usual obsequies which he performed at Singurh, where he remained for some time, and afterwards came to Raigurh. He spent some months revising and arranging the departments and affairs of his government, assisted by his principal officers; and on this occasion, first assumed the title of Raja, and struck coins in his own name.⁴
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⁴ [See page 204, post. Coins struck in Sivājī’s name are not known to be extant. Copper coins known as *Shivrāis* have been found, but belong to later members of Sivājī’s line (*J.B.B.R.A.S.*, vol. xx, pp. 112 ff. and 191 ff.) See *Prog. Rep. A.S.W.C.*, 1919, pp. 6 and 48, for account of unique gold coin of ‘Chhatrapati Mahārāja Sivājī’ found in Phaltan.]
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Netajee Palkur regularly returned at the commencement of the full list of authorities for this first sack of Surat, which is described by him in detail on pp. 104–18. Sivājī carried off plunder to the extent of one million rupees.
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The chief record, referred to by Grant Duff, is a general letter from the President and Council of Surat to the East India Company, dated January 28, 1663–4, and signed by Geo. Oxinden, Henry Gary, John Goodyer, and Ger. Aungier, which is included in Forrest’s *Selections (Bombay series)*. See also letter of February 16, 1663–4, in Forrest, *Home Papers*, i. 34 f. Smith’s account of Sivājī’s cruelty at Surat is corroborated by a letter of January 26, 1663–4, from a Mr. L’Escaillot (or Escaliot), minister in Norwich, to Sir Thomas Browne, now registered in No. 1860, Folio 5 of the Sloane MSS. in the British Museum. (Vincent A. Smith in *Times Lit. Supp.*, May 15, 1919.)]
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rains, and was almost invariably successful. Sivajee’s fleet had also succeeded in making considerable captures. Amongst others, they took some Moghul ships bound to Mocha, and exacted ransoms from all the rich pilgrims proceeding to the shrine of their prophet. In the month of August Sivajee in person surprised and plundered the Pettah of Ahmednugur, and carried his depredations to the vicinity of Aurungabad. During his absence, the Beejapoor army, stationed at Panalla under the command of two generals, broke the truce, made a vigorous effort for the recovery of the Concan, and had retaken several places; when Sivajee, who, as the English records of the period observe, seemed to be everywhere and prepared for every emergency, appeared in the field at the head of a large force, with which he gave them battle, and defeated them with great slaughter.¹ Vingorla, the inhabitants of which seem to have risen on his garrison, Sivajee burnt to the ground, and hastened back to Singurh to watch the motions of the Moghuls, from whom he apprehended an attack, as they had sent a strong reinforcement to a camp formed at Joonere. But having discovered that they did not intend to act on the offensive, he sent off a part of his horse to plunder in the Beejapoor territory south of the Kistna, and immediately devised a new enterprise. Preparatory to its execution, he caused it to be believed that he had a design of surprising the Moghul camp.
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¹ The English factors at Carwar and Rajapoor mention that 6,000 of the Beejapoor troops were killed.
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Whilst this report was current, he secretly drew together a large fleet,² suddenly set off for the coast, embarked from Malwan, made a descent on the rich town of Barcelore,³ about 130 miles below Goa, and sailed back as far as Gocurn with four thousand men, before it was fully ascertained that he had quitted his capital. There, having dismissed the greater part of his fleet, he paid his devotions at a temple in the neighbourhood, and afterwards, having divided his troops into parties, scoured the whole country, and acquired immense booty from several of the rich mercantile towns in that neighbourhood ; Carwar¹ stood on the defensive, and Sivajee had only time to exact a contribution² ; after which, having dispatched his troops by land, he hastily re-embarked on his return to Raigurh.³
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² According to a letter from the Carwar factory, this fleet consisted of eighty-five frigates and three great ships. By the frigates are probably meant, the small vessels with one mast, from 30 to 150 tons burthen, common on the Malabar coast; and by the great ships, three masted vessels.
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³ [Barcelore is the modern Basrūr, four miles east of Kūndapur in south Kanara District. It used to be the principal seaport of the Rājās of Bednūr. In the Marāthi bakhars the name is also spelt Basnūr and Hasnūr. (Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times, p. 311.)]
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¹ [The old town of Kārwār lies three miles to the east of the modern town, the head quarters of the north Kanara District, Bombay. During the first half of the seventeenth century the Desāi of Kārwār was an important official of the Bijāpur Kingdom, and the town had a large export trade in fine muslins, woven at Hubli and other inland places, pepper, cardamoms, cassia and coarse cotton cloth. The fame of the pepper of Sonda induced Sir William Courten's Company to open a factory at Kārwār in 1638. (I.G. Bom., 1909, ii. 103–5.)]
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² The English factory paid 112l. sterling of this contribution.
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³ Mahratta MSS. and English Records. The former mention that Sivajee, on this expedition, acquired vast plunder at Hussnoor, the latter say at Barcelore. The Mahrattas say that Hussnoor (with the situation of which I am unacquainted) is a town in Bardez, in the Goa territory. [See note 3, p. 157.]
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On this voyage Sivajee was detained longer than he expected, a strong gale drove him down the coast, and the north-west winds prevented his return for many days. This delay was one of the several circumstances by which his tutelary goddess is said to have shown her displeasure at this expedition ; the only naval enterprise on which he in person embarked.
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But a more serious case of uneasiness than the inconveniences of adverse winds and sea-sickness, awaited the return of Sivajee ; which was no less than the approach of a very formidable army under two officers of note, Mirza Raja Jey Sing, a Rajpoot prince, and Dilere Khan, an Afghan.
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On first view it appears extraordinary that Aurungzebe, after what had occurred, did not prosecute the war against Sivajee with greater vigour ; but his own insecurity, the apprehensions of a usurper, especially during his father's life, and the natural distrust of a jealous disposition, sufficiently account for the delay, independent of discussions with the court of Persia, his ultimate views of subjugating the whole Deccan at once, and the contempt he entertained for 'the mountain rat,'⁴ as it is said he affected to style Sivajee.
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⁴ Fryer [The phrase occurs in Chapter IV of Fryer's New Account (1675). 'Tis undeniable he hath taken and maintains against the Moguls Sixty odd strong Hills : But the Cause is, the Moguls are unacquainted with, and their Bodies unfit for such barren and uneasy Places ; so that they rather chuse to desert than to defend them : Whereby it
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The assumption of the title of Raja, the privilege of coining, the numerous aggressions committed, or even the plunder of Surat, did not call forth the resentment of Aurungzebe so forcibly as robbing the holy pilgrims proceeding to Mecca; and the religious zeal which he professed demanded an exertion of his power to punish the author of outrages, as sacrilegious to his faith as insulting to his empire.
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Mirza Raja Jey Sing and Dilere Khan had both, in the first instance, declared for the cause of Dara, but were subsequently won over by Aurungzebe, to whom they performed essential services. The Emperor never placed entire confidence in Jey Sing, and he was suspicious of Dilere Khan owing to his former conduct, to the bold daring character of the man, and to his great influence with his countrymen, of whom there were a great number on the imperial service. On the distant employment to which they were about to proceed, among a people and in a country familiar to Aurungzebe, but where they were strangers, their services and that of their adherents could be safely used in reducing Sivajee and exacting arrears of tribute from Beejapoor. As that government became more and more indigent, this demand was always an excuse for hostilities. In the present instance it afforded convenient occupation for two men whom Aurungzebe doubted, and weakened a kingdom intended to be annexed to the empire. Aurungzebe, although he must have been aware that Jey Sing’s means were inadequate, gave him a commission to conquer Beejapoor, after Sivajee should be subdued. He had not sufficient confidence in any one to trust him with a sufficient force, and his policy, from the time he became Emperor, seems to have
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is sufficiently evident Seva Gi is unable in the Plain to do anything but Rob, Spoil, and return with all the speed imaginable: And on that account it is Aurenzeeb calls him his Mountain Rat, with which the greatest Systems of monarchy in the World, though continued by an uninterrupted Descent of Imperial Ancestry, have ever been infested, finding it more hard to fight with Mountains than with Men.’
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Grose (p. 117) remarks, ‘Many of the aborigines Gentoos . . . retired for shelter to the numerous mountains of Indostan, and there burrowed in inaccessible fastnesses, upon which Aurenzeb gave them the humorous nickname of Mountain-rats.’ Crooke gives this reference, and quotes a statement by Professor J. Sarkar that ‘in 1673, when Pratāp Rāo Gūjar demanded tribute (chauth) from Surat, the Surat officers called the Marāthās “mouse-like hole-seekers.”’ (Fryer’s Travels (Hakluyt), 1909, ii. 59.)]
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been to shake the Deccan states so effectually that he could overturn them when it suited his purpose.
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When this army marched, Ram Sing, the son of Raja Jey Sing, was directed to reside at the Emperor's court, on pretence of doing his father honour, but in reality as a hostage for his conduct. It was so contrived that Jey Sing's approach was not known to Sivajee, when he embarked on his maritime expedition. The force crossed the Nerbuddah about the month of February. Jeswunt Sing and Sultan Mauzum were recalled, but Jey Sing took an opportunity of paying his respects to the prince at Aurungabad, and then marched on to Poona. He arrived there early in April, and no time was lost in commencing operations. He invested Poorundhur; and leaving Dilere Khan to prosecute the siege, he himself blockaded Singurh, and pushed on his advanced parties as far as Rajgurh.
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Sivajee had just returned from the coast on Jey Sing's arrival, and hastened to Raigurh, where he for the first time called a consultation of all his principal people. Netajee Palkur, though it was a part of his duty to watch the motions of the enemy, was at a great distance with the main body of the cavalry, and Sivajee, although he probably then found it impolitic to displace him, never forgave the neglect.¹ Kartojee Goozur had further opportunities of proving his activity; but it was rather in eluding pursuit than in any particular success; he, however, cut off several parties of foragers, and brought in constant intelligence.
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¹ Catrou from Manouchi's MS. says Netajee was bribed by Jey Sing, which, although not mentioned in the Mahratta MSS., is more than probable.
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The great reputation of Raja Jey Sing,² the strength of his army, and the unexpected vigour of his attack, combined to create an unusual alarm and perplexity in Sivajee, which were perceptible in the consultations at Raigurh, and spread themselves amongst his chief officers. This indecision, according to the opinion of his countrymen anxious to deify him, was in consequence of a communication from the goddess Bhowanee, by whom Sivajee was warned in a dream,¹ that he could not prevail against this Hindoo prince, and as Sivajee was not, as far as can be ascertained, materially reduced in any way, it is probable that superstition was one of the principal causes which influenced his conduct at this crisis.
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² He was styled from the name of his capital Rajah of Ambhere, now better known by that of Jeypoor or Jeynugur. He was probably grandfather to the celebrated astronomer, Jey Sing, who succeeded to the principality in 1693. [This is not correct. There were two ruling chiefs of Jaipur between Mirzā Rājā Jai Singh and Sawai Jai Singh. The succession of the latter took place in 1699, not in 1693.]
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¹ [‘At every crisis of his life Sivājī professed to be guided by the dreams or visions vouchsafed by his tutelary deity; and it is hard to say how far the convenient revelations were the product of cunning policy or the subjective realities of a mystic fanaticism.’ (Times Lit. Supp., February 6, 1919.) In India the belief is widespread that during sleep the soul of a man leaves its physical tabernacle and wanders abroad, and that the gods reveal themselves on these occasions. Sivājī’s usual practice, however, seems to have consisted in falling into a trance, and while in that condition repeating instructions believed to be inspired by the goddess. A similar practice is still followed by the Bhagats and other professional visionaries among the lower classes in Bombay, and from the respect paid to these humble soothsayers, one can realize how greatly Sivājī’s supposed inspiration must have added to his position and influence in Mahārāshtra.]
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But the irresolution of the council at Raigurh did not affect the spirit of the garrison at Poorundhur. Bajee Purvoe,² a Deshpandya of Mhar, was Havildar of the fort, which was strongly garrisoned by Mawulees and Hetkurees. The Deshpandya maintained his post with bravery and ability. He disputed every point of the approaches, but his outposts being driven in, Dilere Khan commenced mining a rock under one of the towers of the lower fort. The garrison made frequent sallies, and repeatedly drove off the miners, but they were at last firmly lodged under cover. After repeated failures, they succeeded in shattering the rock and defences, so as to enable them to attempt an assault.³ They had gained the lower fort, but whilst the garrison was retiring to the upper, the assailants, careless or insensible of the danger to which they exposed themselves, dispersed to plunder the houses; when the Hetkurees marksmen from above opened a fire so destructive, that many of the assailants sought shelter in every corner, and others ran outside to get under cover of the rock. At this moment the Mawulees, headed by their commander, sallied out, attacked the Moghuls sword in hand, killed all that opposed them, and drove them down the hill in view of Dilere Khan, who was seated on his elephant near the bottom, observing the progress of the assault. Seeing the flight of his men he bent his bow, called to a body of Patans about him to advance, and rallying the fugitives, pushed forward his elephant; but the garrison, like all Mahrattas, daring in success, closed with his men, and even the hardy Afghans began to recoil from the swords of the Mawulees; when Dilere Khan, having marked the conspicuous conduct of their leader, with his own hand pierced him with an arrow and killed him on the spot. The whole of the garrison accompanying him instantly fled, nor stopped until they reached the upper fort. The Moghuls again took possession of the lower fort, but the fire from above obliged them to relinquish it. After this failure, Dilere Khan, considering the northern face impregnable, determined on attempting to escalade Wujrgurh,¹ a small detached fort, situated on the north-east angle of Poorundhur, which commands a great part of its works. The attempt succeeded, and guns were brought up to breach the upper fort, but the rains had set in and greatly retarded operations. The Moghul artillery was extremely bad, and although they continued firing for weeks, little impression was made on the defences. The garrison, however, became dispirited, and sent notice that they could hold out no longer. They would have evacuated the fort, but Sivajee particularly desired them to maintain the defence until he should send them an intimation to retire.
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² He was no relation of the gallant Purvoe, of the same name, who covered Sivajee’s retreat from Panalla.
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³ The highest point of the mountain of Poorundhur is upwards of seventeen hundred feet from the plain immediately below; there are two forts, an upper and lower, situated from three to four hundred feet below the summit; the works, like most of the hill-forts in that part of the country, are of perpendicular rock, and frequently weakened, rather than strengthened, by curtains and bastions of masonry, by which the natural defences are generally surmounted.
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¹ Or Rooder Mahal, according to the Mahrattas.
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Sivajee from the first had commenced negotiating and sending messages to Jey Sing, from whom he received assurances of favour; but the latter, who understood the character of his adversary, did not relax in his efforts or preparations, and Sivajee now seriously reverted to his early plan of entering the Moghul service, and relinquishing a part of his acquisitions.
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With this view he sent Rugonath Punt, Nya-Shastree, to Jey Sing, who listened, answered, and agreed to some of Sivajee’s proposals; but he put no trust in his sincerity, until the Bramin (Rugonath Punt) convinced him that Sivajee did not intend deception. Jey Sing then desired him to assure Sivajee, on the honour of a Rajpoot, that he might rely, not only on pardon, but on favour and protection from the Emperor. Whilst this negotiation was pending, Sivajee moved from Raigurh to Pertabgurh, and afterwards to Jowlee; for what purpose is unknown, but probably in order to conceal his real design from his own troops. With a slender retinue, Sivajee, in the month of July, crossed the mountains, proceeded straight to Jey Sing’s camp, where he announced himself as Sivajee Raja. Jey Sing sent a person to conduct him to his presence, and on his approach, advanced from his tent, met, and embraced him. He seated him on his right hand, treated him with great respect and kindness, and repeated the assurances sent by Rugonath Punt. After some conversation, in the humblest strain on the part of Sivajee, he was permitted to retire to tents adjoining those of Jey Sing. Next day Sivajee went to visit Dilere Khan, who was still before Poorundhur, and now exceedingly mortified at his not being made privy to the negotiation. He threatened to persevere in reducing Poorundhur and putting every man to the sword; this, however, was but a threat, and he was soothed and gratified by Sivajee’s presenting the keys of the gate with his own hand, and telling him that all his forts and country were his, that he merely sought pardon, that experience had convinced him of the folly of resisting such soldiers as Aurungzebe could boast of, and that he now only hoped to be enrolled among the servants of the empire.
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An armistice immediately took place, as soon as Sivajee came into camp, and after several conferences, the following were the terms of agreement entered into, subject to the approval of the Emperor; but the whole under the guarantee of Jey Sing, without which Sivajee would not have trusted his person in a Moghul army:—As a preliminary article, Sivajee relinquished whatever forts or territory he had taken from the Moghuls. Of thirty-two forts taken or built by him, in the territory which had belonged to the Nizam Shahee government, he gave up twenty to Jey Sing, amongst which were Poorundhur and Singurh. The whole of the districts dependent on these forts were ceded at the same time.¹
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¹ [The precise number of forts surrendered is not certain; for while Grant Duff speaks of twenty, Khāfī Khān mentions twenty-three, and the bakhars twenty-seven. Sarkar (Shivaji and His Times, pp. 156-7) accepts Khāfī Khān’s figure and gives a list of the forts ceded.]
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The territory belonging to the remaining twelve forts,¹ estimated at one lack of pagodas of annual revenue, and all the rest of his acquisitions were to form his Jagheer, dependent on the Emperor. His son Sumbhajee, then in his eighth year, was to receive a munsub of five thousand horse; but the most remarkable part of this agreement was Sivajee’s proposal of being allowed certain assignments on Beejapoor, probably in lieu of his pretended hereditary claims in the Nizam Shahee territory, and as some recompense for what he had ceded to the Emperor.
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¹ The twelve remaining forts were, 1. Rajgurh, 2. Torna, 3. Rairee (Raigurh), 4. Linganah, 5. Mhargurh, 6. Ballagurh, 7. Gossala, 8. Eeswaree, 9. Palee, 10. Bhoorup, 11. Koaree, and 12. Oodedroog. [With the exception of Bālagarh (Ballagurh) and Īshvarī (Eeswaree) this list corresponds with that included in Aurangzeb’s letter to Sivājī of August 26, 1665, printed on page 214 of *A History of the Maratha People*, by Kincaid and Parasnis (1918). Possibly the Talegadh and Alwari of the letter are alternative names for Bālagarh and Īshvarī. Bālakot is mentioned by the Sabhāsad Bakhar as one of the forts built by Sivājī in the Konkan. A list of 145 forts, at one time included in Sivājī’s territory, is given in a Persian-Marāthī document dated September 9, 1718, which forms the subject of a paper by Mr. P. V. Mavji, printed at pp. 31-42, vol. xxii, *J.B.B.R.A.S.*]
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These assignments were estimated at five lacks of pagodas, being a fourth and a tenth of the revenue, termed by him the *Chouth* and *Surdeshmookhee*,² of certain districts above the Ghauts; the charge of collecting which he took upon himself. So eager was Sivajee to obtain the imperial authority for this arrangement, that he offered, on condition of its being granted, to pay a peshkush of forty lacks of pagodas by instalments of three lacks annually, and to maintain an additional body of troops.³
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² [The *Chauth* (one-fourth) and *Sardēshmūkhī* (one-tenth) developed into a regular system of blackmail imposed by the Marāthās upon districts under the government of other powers, which desired protection from plunder. These payments of one-fourth and one-tenth of the revenue, coupled with the proceeds of pure marauding, represented a considerable portion of the Marāthā state revenues. (*O.H.I.*, p. 434.)]
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³ This proposal on the part of Sivajee was sent to the Emperor, according to custom, in the form of a petition; and at the suggestion of Jey Sing, Sivajee intimated his intention of visiting the Emperor, by stating in the most courtly strain his desire to kiss the royal threshold.
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Aurungzebe, in a long letter to Sivajee, distinctly confirms the substance of what is recorded by the Mahrattas to have taken place at the convention of Poorundhur, enumerates the twelve forts, and promises a munsub of five thousand horse to Sivajee’s son. Aurungzebe’s letter does not specify Chouth and Surdeshmookhee; indeed, it is probable he did not comprehend their meaning or insidious tendency, but as he also had sinister views, in his plan of undermining the government of Beejapoor, he agrees to Sivajee’s proposal, on condition of his accompanying Raja Jey Sing with his troops, exerting himself in the conquest of that state, and paying the first instalment of the promised Peshkush.¹
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¹ Original letter. [*Peshkash*, a Persian word signifying ‘first-fruits,’ is used in various technical senses, e.g. a fine on appointment, renewal, or investiture; a quit-rent; sometimes a present to a great man. (Yule’s *Hobson-Jobson*, ed. Crooke (1903), p. 701.)]
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According to his agreement, Sivajee, with a body of two thousand horse, and eight thousand infantry,² co-operated with Jey Sing. The combined army marched about the month of November, and their first operations were directed against Bujajee Naik Nimbalkur, the relation of Sivajee, and a Jagheerdar of Beejapoor. Phultun was reduced, and the fort of Tattora escaladed by Sivajee’s Mawulees. All the fortified places were taken possession of in their route.
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² Khafee Khan.
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Ali Adil Shah had prepared his troops, but endeavoured to prevent the invasion by promises of settling the demands of the Moghuls; Jey Sing, however, continued his advance, and met with little opposition until near Mungulwehra, where the Beejapoor horse first made their appearance and acted with great activity and vigour. Abdool Mohummud, the prime minister, was the chief commander of the Beejapoor troops; the principal officers were Abdool Khureem Bahlole Khan, Khowaus Khan, Seedee Uzeez, son of Seedee Johur, and Venkajee Raja Bhonslay, the half brother of Sivajee.
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The Mahratta horse in the service of Beejapoor fought with uncommon spirit on this service. Venkajee Raja and Ruttajee Manay, Deshmookh of Muswar, were the most conspicuous.³
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³ Beejapoor MSS. confirmed by grants of land to Ruttajee Manay in consequence. The deeds are in possession of the family at Muswar.
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On the side of the Moghuls, Sivajee and Netajee Palkur distinguished themselves, particularly on an occasion where they had the rearguard.⁴ They were also detached against several places of strength, which were reduced by Sivajee’s infantry. Aurungzebe, in consequence of these services, wrote Sivajee a letter, extolling his conduct, and sent him an honorary present as a mark of his regard¹; in a subsequent letter he invited him to court, promised to confer on him great rank and honours, and to permit him to return to the Deccan.² Intercourse had established mutual confidence between Sivajee and Jey Sing; by the advice and on the assurance of the latter, Sivajee resolved to visit Delhi, and dispatched Rugonath Punt for the ostensible purpose of announcing his approach, but principally to gain some intelligence respecting characters and affairs at the imperial court.³ Sivajee ordered all his principal officers to meet him at Raigurh; but whilst they were assembling, he visited the whole of his forts, gave the strictest injunctions to each of the officers in charge, and returned to the meeting at the capital. He there invested Moro Trimmul Pingley, Abajee Sonedeo, and Annajee Dutto, with full authority during his absence, and enjoined all persons to respect and obey their orders as if issued by himself. The territory was now greatly circumscribed: in the Concan, it extended from Choule to the neighbourhood of Ponda, and in the Ghaut-Mahta, from the Neera river to Rangna.
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⁴ Khafee Khan.
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¹ Original letter. ² Original letter. ³ The account of the proceedings for 1665 is partly from Khafee Khan, but principally on the authority of Mahratta MSS. ⁴ [Aurangzeb received Sivājī at Agra, not at Delhi. (O.H.I., p. 427.)] ⁵ Nuzur signifies a present; an offering made by an inferior to a superior in token of fealty, submission, congratulation, &c. There are a vast number of ceremonies and observances attendant both on the mode of presenting and of receiving nuzurs. Under the name of an offering, it is frequently a heavy exaction, imposed on appointment to office, or succession to rank and property.
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Sivajee, accompanied by his eldest son, Sumbhajee, set out for Delhi in the beginning of March, 1666, attended by five hundred choice horse and one thousand Mawulees. On his arrival in the neighbourhood of Delhi,⁴ Ram Sing, the son of Raja Jey Sing, and another officer of inferior rank, were the only persons sent by Aurungzebe to meet him.
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This marked slight did not pass unobserved; but Sivajee forbore noticing it, till on being admitted to an audience, and condescending to present a Nuzur,⁵ the place assigned to him was only amongst those who held the rank of five thousand. He could no longer suppress resentment at this indignity, and he expressed in the hearing of those near him, who repeated his words to the Emperor, the indignation he felt at such treatment.¹ In consequence of this language, when the audience was ended, and Sivajee had retired to the dwelling assigned to him, it was intimated that the Emperor for the future declined seeing him at court. Sivajee was justly alarmed at this communication, and after some delay, in order to ascertain the real intentions of Aurungzebe, he sent Rugonath Punt with a petition, setting forth the reasons which had induced him to visit Delhi, the promises and invitation of the Emperor, the services he had rendered, the conditions to which Aurungzebe had subscribed, the readiness of Sivajee to fulfil his part of the agreement, and his assurance of affording every assistance to the imperial troops in reducing the Edil Shahee or Kootub Shahee states. If, however, the Emperor did not choose to avail himself of his services, he only asked permission to return to his Jagheer, as the air and water of Hindoostan were prejudicial to his own health, as well as to that of the other natives of the Deccan by whom he was accompanied.² Aurungzebe’s answer was evasive, and he shortly after directed the Kotwal of the city to place a guard over Sivajee’s house, to watch his person carefully, and never to allow him to quit his residence without a party responsible for his safe custody. Sivajee remonstrated and complained, particularly of the hardship of detaining his people. Aurungzebe readily granted passports for their return to Deccan, and now probably considered Sivajee completely in his power. But it is the characteristic of cunning to overreach itself; and in the safe conduct afforded to his friends Sivajee exulted in the greater facility it afforded of effecting his own escape. Ram Sing was privy to his design, and on account of the pledge given by his father, connived at it.¹ The confinement of Sivajee was not so rigid as to prevent his paying visits. He frequently went to different nobles of the court, sent them presents, and endeavoured to interest them in his favour. In this manner an intimacy sufficient for Sivajee’s purpose having taken place, he feigned sickness, sent for physicians, took medicines, and was soon reported very ill. Pretending to have partially recovered, he gave great charities to Bramins and presents to physicians. He made up several long baskets which were daily sent from his apartments filled with sweetmeats, to the houses of different great men, his acquaintances, or to be distributed amongst Fuqueers at mosques. When the practice had continued for some time, he one evening put Sumbhajee into one basket, got into another himself, and was thus conveyed by his domestics beyond the guards, to an obscure place where he could get out unseen. He proceeded to the suburbs of Delhi, where he had a horse prepared, mounted, with Sumbhajee behind him, and reached Muttra next day, where several of his Bramins and his faithful friend Tannajee Maloosray were watching the result of his scheme. Everything was prepared, Sumbhajee was consigned to the care of a Bramin family, natives of Poona Desh, and distantly connected with Moro Trimmul Pingley.² Sumbhajee remained in their charge several months, and was afterwards conveyed by them to the Deccan.
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¹ [Dr. V. A. Smith (O.H.I., p. 427) mentions a MS. in the India Office (Tārīkh-i-Marāthah), which shows that Sivājī displayed extreme conceit, refused to make obeisance, struck the chamberlain and actually sat down in the Imperial presence. Sivājī certainly considered himself to have been insulted at the audience, and, being no courtier, showed open resentment at the slight. According to Krishnājī Anant’s bakhar (Mānkar, p. 45), Sivājī was annoyed at being made to stand behind Jasvant Singh of Mārwār, whom he considered his inferior in position. Rām Singh, on being asked by the Emperor the reason of the disturbance which he overheard, replied: ‘The wild tiger is chafing from heat; nothing else.’ The Emperor then ordered Sivājī to be conducted to the dwelling assigned to him. For an account of what took place, see Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times, pp. 173–7, where it is shown that Sivājī’s annoyance was due to his being placed behind Rāi Singh, not Jasvant Singh.]
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² [The climate of Agra in May and June must have been most trying to Marāthā hill-men, whose homes in the Western Ghāts would at that season be receiving the cooler breezes which herald the gradual approach of the south-west monsoon. The Marāthā of to-day always regards a visit to his village in the Deccan as a sovereign remedy for ill-health or low spirits engendered by residence in Bombay City. The moist heat of the coast districts and the very dry heat of the plains of Northern India are alike unknown in the equable and comparatively bracing climate of Mahārāshtra.]
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¹ This is distinctly asserted in the Chitnees’s MS.
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² One MS. by Kistnajee Anund Subhasud, says Moro Punt’s sister was married to one of the sons.
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Sivajee’s escape was not known until a late hour on the following day, owing to the precaution of making one of his domestics pretend indisposition and lie down on his bed, so that before the alarm spread, pursuit was fruitless. His party as well as himself escaped in the disguise of Gosaeens¹; they visited several places of religious resort; but the route by which they returned to the Deccan is not satisfactorily ascertained.² Sivajee did not throw off his disguise until his arrival at Raigurh, which he reached in December, 1666, after an absence of nine months.³
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¹ [See pp. 16, 17, supra. The dress and appearance of some sects of religious mendicants constitute a very effective disguise. The Bhāmtas, a criminal tribe of the Deccan and Southern Marāthā districts, frequently assume this disguise, which gives them easy access to inhabited areas. It has also been occasionally adopted in recent years by members of the revolutionary party in Bengal. (Report of Rowlatt Sedition Committee, 1918, p. 44.) V. A. Smith in a footnote on page 592 of his edition of Sleeman's Rambles (1915) remarks: ‘The author's other works show that Thugs frequently assumed the guise of ascetics, and much of the secret crime of India is known to be committed by men who adopt the garb of holiness. A man disguised as a fakir is often sent on by dacoits (gang-robbers) as a spy and decoy.’ Mackintosh mentions that the Rāmosīs, when preparing for a robbery, adopted ‘the dress of a Goosyne (Gosain) or Vyraggy (Vairāgī), who wear clothes of a dark orange or brick-dust colour, or of a Waggiah (Vāghē, a male devotee of Khandoba).’ (Account of the Origin, &c. of the Tribe of Ramoossies, Bombay, 1833.)]
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