New History of the Marathas v1.c11.18

v1.c11.18

“It was the Emperor’s birthday and the bétel leaf of the ceremony was distributed to the Princes and the nobles and Shivaji too got one. Next the Khilats for the occasion were presented to the Princes, to the Wazir Jafar Khan and to Raja Jashvant Sinh. At this Shiva became wrathful and fretted. He flew into a rage and his eyes became red. The Emperor noticed and told the Kumar, “Ask Shiva what ails him.” The Kumār came to Shiva’s side, when Shivaji told him, “you have seen, your father has seen, your Padishah has seen what a man I am, and yet you have deliberately made me stand up so long. I cast off your mansab. If you wanted me to stand, you should have done so according to the right order of precedence.” After saying this he turned his back to the throne and roughly walked away. The Kumār caught hold of his hand, but Shiva wrenched it away, came to one side and sat down. The Kumār followed him and tried to reason with him, but he would not listen and cried out, “my death-day has arrived. Either you will slay me or I shall kill myself. Cut off my head if you like, but I am not going to the Emperor’s presence again.”