A History of the Mahrattas v1.c15.18

v1.c15.18

¹ This account of the Revolution at Jinjeera is on the authority of Khafee Khan, but I am not certain of the exact date of the transfer of the fleet to the Moghuls. Their previous dependence on Beejapoor had long been nominal. [The offer of the Sīdī to Aurangzeb was made in 1670. The Stracheys (Keigwin’s Rebellion) describe the Sīdī as ‘a sort of naval condottiere, who kept up a large fleet in Aurangzeb’s service for use against Sivājī. Nominally under the orders of the governor of Surat, from whose treasury his subsidy was paid, he was actually a separate power to be dealt with.’ Sīdī Sambal (Sumbhole) was created admiral with a mansab and a jāgīr yielding 3,00,000 rupees. His two associates, Sīdī Kāsim (whom the author calls Sīdī Yakūt) and Sīdī Khairiyat, were given the command of Janjīra and the land dominions respectively. Khāfī Khān states that the revolution at Janjīra took place in January or February 1671; but Professor J. Sarkar quotes a letter of April 4, 1674, from the English agent at Raigarh to Bombay, which shows (a) that Fateh (Fatih) Khān was a Sīdī and not an Afghān, as stated by Kincaid on the authority of Khāfī Khān, and (b) that he was in power in 1674. Sīdī Sambal was undoubtedly admiral of the fleet from 1671, but Fateh Khān’s deposition appears to have occurred after April 1674. (Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times, Calcutta (1919), p. 342 n.)]