New History of the Marathas v1.c13.56

v1.c13.56

Shivaji was not slow to turn this opportunity to his advantage. The Portuguese of Goa too were equally alert in guarding their own realm, in case Shivaji succeeded in aggrandising his power at the expense of Bijapur, particularly on the coastal regions. Whenever there was any war on hand between some country Powers of India, it was the usual practice of these European maritime traders to make huge profits by supplying guns, arms and ammunition to the contending parties. This had attracted Shivaji’s attention long since and he was anxious to develop his own naval resources and wrest both power and trade out of European hands. For this purpose he employed the consummate diplomat Pitāmbar Shenoi, who was well posted in the affairs and rivalries of these European traders and knew how to read and write their language. Through Pitāmbar’s influence Shivaji borrowed the services of a few Portuguese naval and artillery experts from Goa and established his own ship-building yards and arsenals at Malwan. It was Pitāmbar Shenoi¹² who supplied Shivaji with valuable details of the levy of the Chauth cess, which the Portuguese and some of the coastal powers were in the habit of paying and receiving. Shivaji adopted the system for his own purpose and developed it into a profitable instrument for the expansion of his swarajya.