New History of the Marathas v1.c16.89

v1.c16.89

“The whole career of Shivaji was one of struggle and stress. It was essential to him to push his projects as secretly, as unostentatiously and in such a way as to attract as little notice as possible. The character of Shivaji far transcends that of his mighty foe Aurangzeb. Religion was a dominant feature in both, but in Aurangzeb it was degraded into pettiest, narrowest and most malignant bigotry. The gaoler of his father, the assassin of his brothers, the suspicious and dreadful tyrant of his sons, too conscious of faithlessness in himself to have faith in others or to inspire it, his statesmanship mere cunning, his energy the peddling industry of a clerk, opposed to such a national and religious upheaval as is without a parallel in the history of India and which was guided by an intellect as