New History of the Marathas v1.c18.32

v1.c18.32

2. Fall of Raigad and Ramchandra Pant’s leadership.—Of all Maratha forts nature has made Raigad so inaccessible to an enemy that it could hold out for years on end. Constructed on a large plateau it can maintain cattle and grow enough food and other necessaries of life required by a large garrison. After a thorough search Shivaji and his father selected this site and added to its natural defence such fortifications as human ingenuity could devise. But Shivaji’s foresight was helpless against human treachery. This very weakness of Maratha character helped Zulfiqar Khan to capture Raigad on 3rd November 1689 after a siege of 8 months. Suryāji Pisāl of Wāi, one of the important officers in charge of the defence, opened the gates to the Khan on a promise of getting the Deshmukhi Vatan of Wāi which he had long coveted. With the fall of Raigad Yesu Bai, her young son Shāhu and a large number of loyal followers were captured and carried by Zulfiqar Khan in triumph to the Emperor. But his joy at this success was only short-lived. With one voice the Maratha leaders, great and small, pledged themselves to a heroic effort to avenge the national insult of their Chhatrapati having been brutally murdered and his son and wife carried away in captivity. Writes Ranade, "Just when its country’s fortune was at the lowest ebb and everything seemed to be lost beyond hope, these very misfortunes served to rouse a band of patriots who had been trained in Shivaji’s school, to resolve, resourceless and penniless as they were, to secure their national independence and drive Aurangzeb’s armies back into Hindustan." At the head of this band was Rājārām who was hailed by the nation, as the very spirit of his father, although he possessed none of the latter’s capacity or skill in the management of affairs. But he had an amiable docile temperament and a mild liberal disposition, cheerfully accepting what his worthy counsellors suggested in their wisdom.¹ His chief adviser at first was Pralhād Nirāji, the son of Shivaji’s Minister of Justice Nirāji Rāoji, and reputed to be the wisest man of his time among the Marathas.