New History of the Marathas v1.c14.34

v1.c14.34

Thereafter, travelling via Nandyal, Kadappa, Tirupati and Kalahasti, he reached the environs of Madras and despatched a body of 5,000 troops for the capture of Jinji, a fort belonging to Bijapur which was defended by the commandant Nasir Muhammad Khan. The Khan agreed to deliver the fort to Shivaji on receiving a jagir with an annual income of Rupees fifty thousand. Shivaji himself visited Jinji, pulled down its old fortifications and rebuilt the whole for permanent defence. He appointed Rāyāji Nalge to the command of the fort and Vithal Pildev Atre to look after the revenue affairs of the whole territory. He also introduced the Maratha system of revenue and accounts, which had proved successful in his Maval jagir. In fact Shivaji made Jinji the principal seat of his Karnatak government, having constructed official and residential buildings both for his civil and military administrators; what we see there today is the survival of Shivaji's construction. All vestiges of Bijapur rule were removed.