History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c64.s1: § 1. Rajaram crowned as Shivaji's successor.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c64.s1
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§ 1. Rajaram crowned as Shivaji's successor.
v4.c64.s1.1
The death of Shivaji left the newly created Maratha kingdom utterly divided and distracted. Not only was the strong hand that had so long held the State together suddenly withdrawn, but the future also looked very uncertain. Shivaji had not named his successor before his death; nor was the question easy to decide. True, his eldest son Shambhuji had come of age and gained experience in the conduct of campaigns and the civil administration in his father's lifetime. But his licentious character promised an unhappy reign to his subjects, while his recent desertion to the mortal enemy of his faith and fatherland discredited him in the eyes of all right-thinking men. Indeed, his wise father, in his last days, after vainly trying to reform Shambhuji, had been constrained to keep him under surveillance in the fort of Panhala. Though the prince was not confined in prison, his freedom of movement was restricted and his actions strictly watched. The governor of the fort, Vittal Trimbak Mahadkar, was to be the prince's keeper and to take his orders from Shivaji.
v4.c64.s1.2
And yet the alternative to Shambhuji as king was his brother Rajaram, a boy of ten, whose succession meant a long regency. A regency can succeed only under an able and energetic queen-mother like Tara Bai or a united and patriotic council of ministers like the one led a century later by Nana Fadnis. But Rajaram's mother Soyra Bai lacked the capacity and spirit of her future daughter-in-law, and there was mortal jealousy between Shivaji's two highest ministers, Moro Trimbak Pinglé (the Peshwa) and Annaji Datto (the Shurnis), and also between the Brahman ministers as a class and the Maratha generals. Singleness of policy and concerted action were impossible among Rajaram's partisans; while the fact of Shambhuji being his own master and knowing his mind gave to all his measures unity of command and promptness of execution. This factor decided the contest for the throne between the two brothers.
v4.c64.s1.3
Meantime, at the Maratha capital as soon as Shivaji's funeral was over, the question of filling the vacant throne called for immediate decision. Soyra Bai convinced most of the ministers and generals present there that the accession of Shambhuji would mean disaster to the State and their own loss and humiliation, while her son's character promised better times for his subjects. They agreed, and Rajaram was proclaimed as king by the ministers present in Raigarh, on the lead of Annaji Datto.
v4.c64.s1.4
This change in the natural order of succession was effected by a party only at the capital. The people in general and the troops outside had not been consulted, and they naturally murmured. The selfish love of personal gain and the consequent mutual jealousy among the ministers and army chiefs was the solvent of the Maratha monarchy. They had no public spirit, and neither Shivaji’s towering personality nor Ramdas’s spiritual teaching had schooled them to subordinate self-interest to the general good. The disruptive force may be kept in check for a time by a hero as king,—a Shivaji or Baji Rao I; it is sure to break out again on his death.
v4.c64.s1.5
The crowning of Rajaram gave the signal for a division among the Marathas. A faction for Shambhuji was soon formed, not because they felt themselves morally bound to guard the just rights of the eldest born, nor that they feared any harm to the nation from Rajaram’s coming to power, but solely because they had gained little from the new king and hoped to gain much more by going over to his rival and earning his favour by their timely help. The army, gorged with plunder in Shivaji’s time, seems to have received no bounty at this change of masters and was eager to transfer its venal sword to Shambhuji, whose helpless condition made him reckless in his promises for gaining adherents. There was, also, greater hope of plunder and distinction under a general like Shambhuji who had led expeditions in the late reign than under a boy like Rajaram whose future military capacity was unknown. The council of regency as constituted at Raigarh meant Brahman rule, and the commander-in-chief (a Maratha by caste) was not prepared to take his orders from a priestly Mayor of the Palace, any more than another Senapati of the Maratha realm, Khande Rao Dhabaré, was fifty years later.