New History of the Marathas v1.c16.33

v1.c16.33

Similarly one cannot sufficiently admire the method he adopted for the defence of his kingdom by means of land and sea-forts, the four rocky naval bases forming the spinal cord of Maharashtrian independence, which even the great Mughal Emperors had never thought of. At all these naval bases he established docks for the construction and repair of armed and trading vessels with fresh gun-foundries which excite our admiration even now. This was a provision both for the expansion of trade and security against hostile attacks, of which the famous Maratha Captain Kanhoji Angria and his house took full advantage for more than half a century after Shivaji had passed away. The Abbé Carre reports that Shivaji had studied geography in minute details with the help of specially prepared charts. Shivaji's ships opened a fresh trade to Arabia and outside, a source of income hardly understood in those days of narrow vision. He removed the time-honoured ban on sea voyage by Hindus, and in opposition to the orthodox practice admitted Muslim converts back into Hindu fold, as the cases of Bajaji Nimbālkar and Netaji Palkar amply prove, as an innovation not then allowed by contemporary Hindu society. Shivaji's new State required a new court language in preference to Persian, which meant a sure sign of slavery ; so he adopted Marathi for this purpose and constructed a Sanskrit dictionary of specially coined court terms, known as the Raj-vyavahar-kosh.*