New History of the Marathas v2.c24.41

v2.c24.41

This little incident illustrates the soft and kindly vein in Shahu's character. It influenced not only his personal actions throughout his long reign, but the fortunes of the whole Maratha nation. He had given his sacred word to the dying Emperor that he would run to the rescue of the Emperor's descendants whenever they needed help. In fact, Shahu never for a moment forgot that he owed what he was, entirely to the kindness of the Emperor, who could as well have put an end to his life and inflicted miseries upon his mother and other relations. He did not leave Ahmadnagar until circumstances compelled him and would even have preferred in order to avoid an open recourse to arms, to rule from that town itself, if it were possible. But Satara had behind it the claims of a legitimate Maratha capital while Ahmadnagar which had figured for centuries as a Muslim possession and more recently as the seat of Aurangzeb's government, was now ill-suited to the requirements of a Maratha king. When at Ahmadnagar Shahu learned in October 1707 that Tarabai's forces were marching against him, he moved from that place southward towards Poona and halted at Khed where he found himself confronted by a powerful army drawn up on the opposite side of the Bhima ready to attack him.