New History of the Marathas v1.c19.s1.2

v1.c19.s1.2

During the eight months that had elapsed between the death of Sambhājī and the capture of Raigad, the Emperor had a sufficient foretaste of the audacity and toughness of the Maratha nation, which made him wiser in dealing with these fresh captives. He naturally became more cautious and politic than vengeful as in the case of Sambhājī. He abandoned all thought of making short work with these innocent and hapless captives, and ordered that Shāhu and his mother should be accommodated in enclosed quarters near his daughter’s, and adjoining his own residential tent; and that their servants and followers should have another detached spot assigned to them, certainly within the main enclosure, but at a long distance from each other, in order to prevent easy or frequent communication between the two parties. These servants’ quarters came to be known as the “Rani’s Bazaar”. Sufficient subsistence allowance within the limits of bare existence, was here assigned to each member of the party according to his rank to appease Maratha sentiment. Towards Shāhu himself Aurangzeb deliberately adopted an attitude quite the reverse of that towards his father. He styled Shāhu as the legitimate Maratha king and gave him the title of "Raja", with the nominal dignity of a seven-thousand commander.