New History of the Marathas v1.c18.36

v1.c18.36

3. Maratha Trek to Jinji.—When Rājārām's position at Panhālā was found untenable, it was decided that he with a few followers should save himself by flying to Jinji, a stronghold about 60 miles south-east of Madras and about 40 miles inside from the coast of Pondicherry. "As if he had prescience of coming events, Shivaji by his conquests and alliances formed a new line of defence in southern India in the Kaveri valley to which he could retire in case of necessity." Indeed a continuous line of Maratha possessions from Supa, Sampgaon, Kopbal and Bangalore, to Vellore, Jinji and Tanjore had since been kept up. Such a necessity now arose and Rājārām secretly escaped from Panhālā to Jinji after undergoing many perils and hair-breadth escapes from the Mughal pursuers on the way. Leaving Panhālā at the end of September 1689, Rājārām reached Vellore in a month, deluding the pursuers with various stratagems, and arrived at Jinji on 15 November. Here he now established his residence having been joined in due course by most of his ministers and commandants, Santāji and Dhanāji supplying the necessary convoy guarding the front and the rear. Indeed, Rājārām owed his life to these two watchful generals and the men serving under them. Keshav Purohit, a priest of Rājārām, long in his employ for explaining the Puranas, accompanied the party from Panhālā to Jinji and has vividly described the Maratha king's journey and its perils in a stirring Sanskrit poem called *Rājārām-Charita*.