Shivaji and His Times c13.s1: § 1. The Madras coast: its wealth
Shivaji and His Times c13.s1
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§ 1. The Madras coast: its wealth
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Shivaji's grand coronation in June 1674 had greatly reduced his treasury. Since then he had not been able to seize any very rich prize, though his roving bands had raided many places in Adil-Shahi territory. Added to this, his wars with the Mughals and the Bijapuris in 1674 and 1675 and his siege of Phonda had been costly affairs, and chequered by defeats, while his invasion of the Sunda country or Kanara uplands (May 1675) had failed. In the earlier months of 1676 he had suffered from a protracted illness, which had forced on him a long period of inactivity.
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He, therefore, looked about for some fresh field of gain. In the Mughal territory, Surat had been sucked dry by his two raids, while his permanent occupation of the Koli country of Ramnagar and Jawhar, close to Surat, had so alarmed that port that its trade and wealth were well-nigh gone. The rich Kanara coast had already been swept clean of booty. The disorder and misgovernment of the Bijapur State during the effete rule of the regent Khawas Khan and the civil war between the Afghan and Deccani parties at that Court had so impoverished the central part of the realm as to make it no longer an object of cupidity. An attack on the heart of the Adil-Shahi kingdom might also have united all the factions at the capital in a common resistance to the invader.
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But there was an outlying province of this kingdom which had enjoyed many years of peace and prosperity and whose wealth was fabulous. The Karnatak plain or the Madras coast was known in that age as the land of gold. It was an extremely fertile tract, rich in agricultural produce, with a population that led a life of primitive simplicity and consumed very little in food and clothing. The many ports on the long sea-board had fostered a brisk foreign trade from remote antiquity, while the rich mines of the hinterland brought wealth into the plains. Thus the annual addition to the national wealth was very large. A part of it was spent on the grand temples for which the land is still famous; but most of it was hoarded underground. (Dil. 113a.) From very early times the Karnatak has been famous for its buried treasure and attracted foreign plunderers.
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From this land Samudra-gupta and the Western Chalukyas, Malik Kafur and Mir Jumla, had brought away vast booties. And at the end of the 17th century, even after the recent raids of Mir Jumla and Muhammad Adil Shah, Shivaji and Nusrat Jang, the land had still enough wealth left in it to tempt the cupidity of Aurangzib. As the Emperor wrote (about 1703) to his general, "Many large treasures of olden times are reported to be buried in the Karnatak. The zamindar of Tanjore, who is of low origin (be-asal) and a grandson of Shahji, the father of Shivaji now in hell, is possessed of the country by usurpation. His kingdom is not very strong. Its revenue, according to the late Siddi Masaud Khan, is between 70 and 80 lakhs of hun. Why should it be left in his possession? Inquire into the state of the country and the means of wresting it from his hands." (Ruqat, No. 163.) To this real land of gold Shivaji's eyes were now turned. An attack on this frontier province would scarcely rouse the Government of Bijapur, as the Karnatak formed the fiefs of certain semi-independent nobles who alone were interested in its defence. Moreover, Shiva had a plausible claim to a portion of it.