New History of the Marathas v1.c11.4

v1.c11.4

1. Hesitation to visit Agra.— Although Shivaji was shrewd enough to assume a submissive attitude towards Jay Sinh at Purandar, he cleverly made it a stepping stone to his future advancement. The treaty of Purandar was to him only a temporary set back, by no means a final extinction. After all Jay Sinh was a brother Hindu whom Shivaji meant to conciliate rather than to destroy. The treaty of Purandar was almost a stage-managed affair and should not be interpreted as a humiliation for Shivaji. He was not openly beaten. Jay Sinh was sanguine about effecting a permanent understanding between the Emperor and Shivaji. Could not this be satisfactorily secured if the two were to meet and arrange matters personally? Shivaji had already agreed to serve the Emperor in the Deccan, and even in that connection he had carefully avoided offering his own person, but substituted in his place his own son of 8 years for the Emperor's service. There was a provision in the treaty for a personal visit of Shivaji to the Emperor. But as time passed, Jay Sinh considered it the best way to bring about a permanent reconciliation, more or less a first step to leading Aurangzeb back to the policy that had been adopted by the Great Akbar, of making friends with the Hindu princes. The experiment was worth trying. Jay Sinh repeatedly urged Shivaji to meet the Emperor personally and explain to him all the grievances that he had himself uttered in the Purandar camp. With equal force he urged upon the Emperor to receive a visit from Shivaji, test his hearty goodwill and convert him into a powerful support for the preservation of peace in the southern dominions. If only Shivaji could once meet the Emperor, thought Jay Sinh, and the latter shower on him all his kindly attentions and honours, he could be won over to serve the Empire loyally. Thus Jay Sinh played the part of a mediator for reconciling the two opposite views into a beneficent union. History has pronounced this as Jay Sinh’s blunder in not having judged his master’s character correctly.