History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c75.s7: § 9. Defeat and death of Santa.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c75.s7
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§ 9. Defeat and death of Santa.
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He finally returned to the homeland in March 1697. Here an internecine war now raged between him and Dhana, all the other captains being ranged on the two sides. They fought together in the Satara district in March 1697. But fortune now deserted Santaji; his severity and insolence had disgusted his officers and most of them were secretly corrupted by the agents of Dhana. Hanumant Rao Nimbalkar, in concert with Dhana's troops, fell on Santa's baggage train, and most of the latter's officers deserted to Dhana, while the rest were killed or wounded. Santa, despoiled of all and deserted by his army, fled from the field with only a few followers to Mhaswad, the home of Nagoji Mané whose wife's brother Amrit Rao he had killed. With Nagoji, however, the sacred rights of hospitality to a refugee rose higher than the claims of blood-feud; he gave Santa shelter and food for some days, and then dismissed him in safety. But his wife Radha Bai followed her brother's murderer with a woman's unquenchable vindictiveness. She had urged her husband to slay their guest, but in vain. And now when she saw him escaping unscathed, she sent her surviving brother after him. Of the many diverse accounts* of his death the one accepted by Khafi Khan is that the pursuer (wrongly called Nagoji Mane by both Khafi Khan and Z. S.) came upon Santaji when, exhausted by fast travel, he was bathing in a *nala* near the Shambhu Mahadev hill, in the Satara district. The party from Mhaswad surprised him in this helpless situation and cut off his head, (June, 1697.) "Mane [i.e., Nimbalkar] threw it into the saddlebag fastened behind his seat...On the way the bag got loose and fell down. Firuz Jang's spies, who had spread in that hilly region, in pursuit of Santa, picked it up, recognised it as that general's head, and sent it to Firuz Jang, who......sent it on to the Emperor. The severed head was paraded through the imperial encampment and some cities of the Deccan." [M. A. 401-402, Z. S., K. K. ii. 447-448, Dilkasha 112a.]
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∗ Admittedly diverse and conflicting, according to M.A.
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§ 10. Character of Santa Ghorparé.
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Thus died Santaji Ghorparé, like Charles XII of Sweden, most ignominiously at the end of a most dazzling military career. But his greatest monument is the abject fear he inspired in all ranks of the Mughal army,* which is faithfully reflected in the
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402, which omits all of them. The Mane family "old paper" printed in Parasnis's *Itihas Sangraha*, *Junya Aitihasik Goshti*, ii. 45, is so palpably incorrect as to suggest an opium-eater's tale. Khafi Khan, after giving the account adopted by me above, adds, "There is another story current [about his end]. God alone knows the truth!" [ii. 448].
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∗ "When the news arrived that Santa had come within
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curses and abuses invariably used as the epithet to his name in the Persian histories.
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Santaji had an inborn genius for handling large bodies of troops spread over a wide area, changing his tactics so as to take prompt advantage of every change in the enemy's plans and condition, and organising combined movements. The success of his tactics depended on the rapid movement of his troops and on his subordinates carrying out his orders punctually to the minute. He, therefore, insisted on implicit obedience from his officers and enforced the strictest discipline in his army by draconic punishments. As Khafi Khan writes [ii. 446], "Santa used to inflict severe punishments on his followers. For the slightest fault he would cause the offender to be trampled to death by an elephant."
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The man who insists on efficiency and discipline in a tropical country makes himself universally unpopular, and, therefore, we are not surprised to learn that "most of the Maratha nobles became Santa's enemies and made a secret agreement with his rival Dhana to destroy him." [Ibid.]
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The two lifelong rivals, Santa and Dhana, were both army leaders and organisers of the highest
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16 or 18 miles of him, Firuz Jang [Aurangzib's highest general] lost colour in terror, and making a false announcement that he would ride out to oppose him, appointed officers to clear the path, sent his advanced tents onward, but then fled towards Bijapur by a roundabout route!" [K. K. ii.446].
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ability courage and activity, but with contrasted characters. Dhana made war like a gentleman. He knew that the fickle goddess of Fortune might desert him in the field any day; therefore he never went to an extreme. He was moderate in victory, generous to the vanquished, polite in his address, practised in self-control, and capable of taking long views and making statesmanly arrangements. His inborn courtesy to the Mughal generals who had the misfortune to encounter him, is noticed with praise by the Muslim historians. Moreover, he served his country's Government unselfishly for many years.
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Santaji Ghorparé, on the other hand, was in comparison with Dhana, a barbarian devoid of culture or generosity, unable to restrain his passions or to take thought of the distant future. He loved to hustle all whom he met with, not excepting his king. The hour of his victory was the hour of gratification of his vindictiveness. He showed no mercy and expected none. Therefore, he excited among the Mughal generals, as well as his Maratha adversaries, a feeling of mixed terror and repulsion.
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By his temperament, Santa was incapable of co-operating with others, and he had not the patriotism to subordinate his own will to the needs of his nation. He lived and died merely as a most successful brigand and selfish adventurer, and exercised no influence on the political history of the Marathas or even on the general effect of Aurangzib's campaigns. He flashed through the Deccan sky like a lonely meteor, without ever having a companion or ally or even sharing the counsels of his nation's leaders, among whom he might have naturally claimed a place.