New History of the Marathas v1.c9.44

v1.c9.44

Once the main principles of Shivaji’s policy are fully grasped, no fair-minded critic can accuse him of wanton aggression against the Mussalmans as a class. To him both the Adil Shah and the Emperor of Delhi were exactly alike. To protect the Hindus in their own land and to secure them full liberty to practise their religion in the way they liked, were Shivaji’s aims, and when these were opposed he exacted full retribution. But even in doing this, he exhausted all peaceful methods before coming to an open conflict. In the beginning he was absolutely friendly towards Aurangzeb. In fact during the early career of Shivaji Aurangzeb was an unknown quantity. Nobody could then foresee that he would become an Emperor and that he would be such a fanatic as to hunt down the Hindus and their religion in the way he did. He unnecessarily started aggression against Bijapur in 1656 and against Golkonda in 1657 and for the first time attracted notoriety for wanton interference in the affairs of the Deccan Sultanates. His character came to be thoroughly exposed next year (1658), when he imprisoned his father, deceived his brothers, snatched the throne for himself and perpetrated atrocities against his eldest brother Dara Shukoh. These events created a stir throughout the land, so that Shivaji later on considered it his duty to resist Aurangzeb’s wicked policy with all the means he could collect, including the plunder of Surat. But up to 1656 at any rate, Shivaji’s relations with Aurangzeb were by no means hostile. We must read and follow history chronologically without allowing later events to warp our judgment in dealing with earlier ones.