Shivaji and His Times c12.s4: § 7. Naval war, 1672-1675

Shivaji and His Times c12.s4

Language: English

§ 7. Naval war, 1672-1675

c12.s4.1

Towards the end of 1672, Aurangzib sent a fleet of 36 vessels, great and small, from Surat to assist the Siddi of Danda-Rajpuri by causing a diversion by sea. This squadron did Shivaji "great mischief, burning and plundering all his sea-port towns and destroying also above 500 of his vessels" (evidently trading boats.)* At this time (21st December) Shiva had six small frigates, which he laid up in Bombay harbour in fear of the Mughal armada, and which the English saved from the latter by pretending that they themselves had attached them as compensation for the plunder of their Rajapur factory in 1661. (O. C. 3722.) Early in January next, the Mughal fleet visited Bombay after its successful campaign against the Marathas. At this time both Shiva and the Emperor were eagerly courting the naval help of the English in a war with the other side. But the foreign traders very wisely maintained their neutrality, though it was a "ticklish game." (O. C. 3734 and 3722.) In the following August, however, the ship *Soleil d' Orient* of the new French East India Company founded by Colbert, arrived at Rajapur and secretly sold 80 guns (mostly small pieces) and 2,000 maunds of lead to Shiva's fleet. The French gave similar help in November 1679 when they sold him 40 guns for the defence of Panhala. (F. R. Surat 87, Surat to Co., 12 Jan., 1674; Vol. 108, Rajapur to Surat, 30 Dec., 1679.)

c12.s4.2

The difference between the English and Shivaji was utilized by Reickloff Van Goen, the Dutch commodore, who about March 1673 opened negotiations with the Maratha chief, promising him the help of the entire Dutch fleet (of 22 ships) in retaking Danda-Rajpuri, while Shivaji was to lend 3,000 of his soldiers for a Dutch attempt to conquer Bombay. Shivaji, however, durst not trust the Dutch and continued to remain friendly to the English, though he had by this time spent a vast treasure and incurred the loss of nearly 15,000 men in his vain attacks upon the Siddi strongholds. (O. C. 3760.)

c12.s4.3

∗ "Sacked and burnt Dabhol, burnt the fleet of Shivaji at Kelsht (17.55 N., near Bankot) and eight large vessels,......robbed all the coast." [Portuguese records, Pissur., i. 35-37.]

c12.s4.4

The Mughal fleet of 30 frigates, commanded by Siddi Sambal, returned from Surat to Danda-Rajpuri, in May 1673, and after passing the south-west monsoon (June-September) there, sailed down the coast, taking many Maratha trading vessels and some ships of war. On 10th October it entered the Bombay harbour, sent landing parties to the Pen and Nagothna rivers, laid waste the Maratha villages opposite Bombay, and carried off many of the people. These devastations were frequently repeated. But at the end of the month, "some of Shivaji's soldiers [from Raigarh] surprised a parcel of the Siddi's men as they were on shore cutting the standing rice in his country, and destroyed about a hundred of them, carrying away the heads of some of the chiefest unto Shivaji." The great cruelty practised by the Siddis on his subjects and their burning of several small towns in his territory "provoked Shivaji much," and his reprisals were apprehended in the Mughal dominions, especially at Surat. (O. C. 3779 and 3870.)

c12.s4.5

In February 1674 we learn from an English letter, "The war betwixt the Siddi and Shivaji is carried on but slowly, they being both weary," and the President of Surat was requested by the Siddi "to mediate a peace between them." (O. C. 3939.)

c12.s4.6

Next month (March 1674), however, Siddi Sambal attacked Shivaji's admiral Daulat Khan in the Satavli river (i.e., the Muchkundi creek in the Ratnagiri district), both the admirals being wounded and the two sides losing 100 and 44 men respectively. The Marathas were left victors, and Siddi Sambal withdrew to Harishwar, a port 21 miles south of Janjira. In May Shivaji, who "was resolved to take that castle (Danda-Rajpuri) let it cost him what it will," was reported to be daily sending down more artillery, ammunition, men and money to strengthen his siege-troops. In the course of this year he reduced the whole coast of South Konkan from Rajpuri to Bardes north of Goa, but not the fort of Danda-Rajpuri. (F. R. Surat 88.) By the end of 1672 he had already spent a vast treasure and 15,000 soldiers in his futile attacks on Janjira. (O. C. 3760.)