New History of the Marathas v1.c14.15

v1.c14.15

But friction soon arose between Ekoji and his minister of which the cause is not clear. Ekoji must have felt jealous of Shivaji's achievements and did not like to merge his individuality in his brother's experiment, however advisable or alluring that might be to the outside public. Any way the friction between the two soon came to a head; Ekoji could no longer put up with the ways of the overbearing Pandit however wise he might have been. The Pandit threatened the master with resignation adding that he had capacity enough to carve out for himself a useful field of activity elsewhere. Ekoji at once gave him formal leave to depart. He left Tanjore with his whole family, giving out that he was proceeding to Benares to end his days there. On his journey north he thought out a grand ingenious plan of action having already been well-posted with the state of affairs at Golkonda, Bijapur and Raigad. He learned of Madan Pant’s move to secure Shivaji’s support on behalf of Golkonda : and as no one could then anticipate that the great regenerator of the Hindus was going to die prematurely, he rightly perceived that he could help that hero in his schemes of Maratha expansion in the south. Shivaji’s early death and Aurangzeb’s subsequent invasion of the south should not lead us to under-estimate the possibilities of the course of action adopted by Shivaji three years before his premature end. Having revolved a bold project in his mind, Raghunāth Pant first proceeded to Bijapur and having studied the situation of that state, visited Madan Pant at Bhāgānagar, whom he did not find it difficult to win over to his views. They meditated together long in private and matured plans of Hindu regeneration. They then took the Kutb-Shah into their confidence and persuaded him for his own safety to work in cooperation for a joint conquest of the south. The Shah agreed to receive a personal visit from Shivaji and pressed the Pandit to bring it about as quickly as possible. Hanumante, therefore, immediately repaired to Shivaji’s residence and lucidly unfolded to him the grand plans of Hindu expansion in the south and discussed the pros and cons of the venture.