New History of the Marathas v1.c6.54

v1.c6.54

4. Shahji’s marriage, Shivaji born.—This period of five years (1622-27) is full of stirring incidents and extreme unrest throughout India in which two great figures, Shah Jahan in the north and Shahji in the south, gradually emerge on the stage of history. Shah Jahan was born in 1592 and Shahji two years later on 15th March 1594. Their deaths similarly took place within a short interval of each other, in 1666 and 1664 respectively; the former lived for 74 years and the latter 70. They opposed each other in the Deccan for some eight years (1628—1636), when Shah Jahan came down in pursuit of Khan Jahan Lodi and with the intention of finishing the Kingdom of Ahmadnagar, which Shahji did his best to save with all his skill. Shah Jahan’s career is well-known to history, but as Shahji’s is obscure, it is necessary to give first a few facts of his ancestry and domestic history, which are also connected with the life of Shivaji.