Shivaji and His Times c13.s10.6

c13.s10.6

The disorder was further aggravated by local robbers. Most of the petty chiefs (the poligars or 'woodmen' as they are called in the old English and French records) of that region made peace with Shivaji by sending him tribute, and some even joined his army with their followers to share in the plunder. Nay more, the shock of the Maratha invasion dissolved the civil government and tempted every private robber to come out of his den with his band and hang in the rear of the Maratha army in the hope of picking up what the lion would leave undevoured. [Martin's *Memoires*.]