New History of the Marathas v1.c18.30

v1.c18.30

But some of Rājārām's young helpmates, particularly Santāji Ghorpade and Dhanāji Jādhav, made wonderful progress in the plan that was adopted. They fell upon Mughal detachments and sometimes routed them so thoroughly that succours could not reach Zulfiqar Khan in time for his operations against Raigad. While Rājārām was cantoning at Pratāpgad, Santājī Ghorpade and Vithojī Chavān accomplished an extraordinary feat of valour and dexterity, which struck terror into the Emperor’s heart. With a few selected followers they made their way on a dark night through torrents of rain to the Emperor’s camp at Koregaum. They fell upon his own royal tent, cut down the supporting ropes and the huge cloth edifice came down in a crash, killing the inmates, including, as was at first supposed, the Emperor himself. They carried away the sets of large gold top-balls of the tent and other valuables and presented them to Rājārām at Pratāpgad. Afterwards it was discovered that Aurangzeb by chance was passing that night in his daughter’s tent and thus escaped death. The incident clearly illustrates the nature of Maratha tactics and gave the Emperor a sure foretaste of what he was to expect in future. "In the long history of his struggle with the Marathas after the sun of Maratha royalty had set in the red cloud of Sambhājī’s blood and the people’s war had begun, Santājī Ghorpade and Dhanājī Jadhav were the two stars of dazzling brilliancy which filled the Deccan firmament for nearly a decade, and paralyzed the alien invader," writes Sir Jadunath.