Shivaji and His Times c11.s2.41

c11.s2.41

On 8th February 1665 Shivaji left Malvan with a fleet of 85 frigates and three large ships, sailed past Goa to Basrur,[*] the chief port of the Bednur kingdom, where he was quite unexpected, so that he took immense plunder in one day. Then setting out on his return, he landed at the holy city of Gokarna, on the coast, 22 miles south of Karwar, and took a purifying bath with all religious ceremonies before the great temple of Mahabaleshwar. From this place he marched to Ankola (nine miles northwards) with 4,000 infantry, sending all his fleet back, with the exception of twelve frigates, which he detained for transporting his army over the rivers on his way back to North Konkan. On the 22nd he reached Karwar. The English factors, having got early news of his coming from the spies they had sent out, put all the Company's ready money and portable goods on board a small hundred-ton ship belonging to the Imam of Maskat, then lying in the river, its captain Emanuel Donnavado promising to defend it as long as he lived or his vessel kept floating. The factors themselves took refuge in the ship. Sher Khan,* a son of the late Khan-i-Khanan Ikhlas Khan and a subordinate of Bahlol Khan, arrived in the town that very night, without knowing anything about Shivaji's approach. With the help of his escort of 500 men he quickly fortified himself as well as he could to protect the goods he had brought down, and sent a messenger to Shiva in the night, warning him not to enter the town as he would resist him to the utmost. Sher Khan was famous throughout the country for his valour and ruling capacity, and his chief, Bahlol Khan, was "one of the potentest men in the kingdom of Bijapur." Shivaji, therefore, shrank from provoking him, and after much discussion "condescended to go a little out of the way, and so came and encamped with his army at the mouth of the river" Kalanadi, sparing the town.