New History of the Marathas v1.c5.95

v1.c5.95

As the founder of the Maratha kingdom had his home near the western ghats, his fortunes came to be mainly connected with only the Nizamshah of Ahmadnagar and the Adilshah of Bijapur. Although the five combined Muslim rulers dealt a death blow to the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar, they did not succeed in subjugating the more southerly territories of that Hindu power. The general policy of these Deccani rulers was of tolerance towards the Hindus, as they had become wiser by the fate which the intolerant Khiljis and Tughlaks had to suffer on account of their extreme hatred towards the main populace over whom they ruled. In all essentials the Bahamani rulers and the Sultans of the offshoot kingdoms, depended upon the Hindus for their own existence and studiously refrained from injuring Hindu sentiment. The hilly regions of the west remained practically unconquered. The Muslim character of the rulers was confined only to their personal religion and did not affect their subjects. Writes Ranade, “These nominal Muhammadan rulers were virtually controlled both in the civil and military departments by Maratha statesmen and Maratha warriors. The hill-forts near the Ghats and the country thereabout, were in the hands of Maratha captains, who were nominally dependent upon these Muhammadan sovereigns.” Indeed, if Muhammad Adilshah of Bijapur, who came to the throne in 1627 and who completely reversed the tolerant policy of his father Ibrahim Adilshah, a ruler of exceptional impartiality who had been revered as Jagat-Guru by the Hindus themselves, had not resumed the old practice of desecrating Hindu temples and plundering their wealth, it is probable that Shivaji would not have undertaken to found an independent Maratha Kingdom. Under the advice of his minister Mustafa Khan, Muhammad Adilshah promulgated fresh regulations¹⁵ for putting down the Hindu religion and thus invited the extreme wrath of prominent Marathas of the day. The conversion of Bajaji Nimbalkar of Phaltan to the Muslim faith is an evidence of this changed policy of Bijapur which impelled Shivaji to make a fresh bold move.