A History of the Mahrattas v1.c15.42

v1.c15.42

During the rains, Sivajee possessed himself of several places in the northern Concan, which had belonged to Koolee Rajas ¹ or petty Polygars, whom he compelled to join him. As he was at war with the Portuguese, and was threatening to drive them from the coast, unless they paid him tribute, it was expected from the vicinity of the Koolee possessions that he would attack the forts of Damaun and Bassein. An attempt was made by a party of Sivajee’s troops to surprise the small fort of Gorabundur ² on the island of Salsette, then in possession of the Portuguese; but they were repulsed. The English at Bombay were so much alarmed at this near approach to their settlement, that they began to strengthen their fortifications, and became solicitous to conclude some treaty with Sivajee, which should have for its object indemnification for past losses and reciprocal advantages hereafter. Hitherto the English had not suffered materially by the ravages of Sivajee; and at Bombay, even when he was attacking the factory at Surat, an interchange of civilities used to take place; the reason of which was that the island of Bombay was dependent on the continent for grain and firewood; and Sivajee’s coast would have been greatly exposed had the English suffered the Moghuls to pass through their harbour for the purpose of attacking him. Ever since the plunder of Rajapoor in January 1661, the English had been petitioning Sivajee for is swallow-tailed, of a deep orange colour, and particularly emblematic of the followers of Mahdeo. [The story goes that Sivājī made over his whole dominions in free gift to his guru Rāmdās, who in return desired Sivājī to continue to rule the country on his behalf. As a sign that the kingdom thus belonged to an ascetic, Sivājī adopted the ascetic’s ochre-coloured flag as the national banner. Acworth, Ballads of the Marāthās, Introduction, p. xxvii; Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times, pp. 475-6.)]