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Shivaji and His Times c17.s8: §8. Effect of Shivaji's reign

Shivaji and His Times c17.s8

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§8. Effect of Shivaji's reign

c17.s8.1

So much for Shivaji's regulations in theory. But in practice they were often violated except where he was personally present. Thus, the assertion of Sabhasad and Chitnis that his soldiers had to deliver to the State every item of the booty taken by them, is contradicted by the sack of Dharangaon (1679), where the English factors were robbed of many things without these being entered in the official papers of the Maratha army or credited to Shivaji's Treasury (Ch. 14.) Shivaji could not be everywhere and at all times; hence it was impossible for him to prevent private looting by his troops and camp-followers. In the wake of the Maratha army, gangs of private robbers took to the road. The Pindharis were the logical corollary of the Maratha soldier, to whom rapine was a normal duty.

c17.s8.2

∗ *Shivaji and Ramdas*: Chit. 44-53, also his *Shambhaji Bakhar*, 5-6; Prof. Bhate's *Shivaji ani Ramdas*; the publications and now-defunct monthly magazine of the Ramdasi coterie of Dhulia (notably Mr. Rajwade.)

c17.s8.3

Shivaji justified his spoliation of his neighbours by saying, as he did to the Mughal governor of Surat (1672), "Your Emperor has forced me to keep an army for the defence of my people and country. That army must be paid by his subjects." (Ch. 8 §4.) Such a plea might have been true at the beginning of his career and in relation to Mughal territory only, but cannot explain his raids into Bijapur and Golkonda, Kanara and Tanjore. It fails altogether as a defence of the foreign policy of the Peshwas.

c17.s8.4

But whatever might be the moral quality of the means he employed, his success was a dazzling reality. This petty jagirdar's son proved himself the irrepressible opponent of the Mughal empire and all its resources. This fact deeply impressed the minds of his contemporaries in India and abroad. Aurangzib was in despair as to how he could subdue Shiva. A significant statement is made in a news-letter of his Court in 1670 that the Emperor read a despatch from the Deccan, recounting some raids of Shiva and then "remained silent." In the inner council of the Court he often anxiously asked whom he should next send against Shivaji, seeing that nearly all his great generals had failed in the Deccan, and Mahabat Khan irreverently replied with a sneer at Qazi Abdul Wahab's influence over the Emperor, "No general is necessary. A decree from the Chief Qazi will be sufficient to extinguish Shiva!" The young Persian king, Shah Abbas II., sent a letter taunting Aurangzib, "You call yourself a Padishah, but cannot subdue a mere zamindar like Shiva. I am going to India with an army to teach you your business."

c17.s8.5

To the Hindu world in that age of renewed persecution, Shivaji appeared as the star of a new hope, the protector of the ritualistic paint-mark (*tilak*) on the forehead of Hindus, and the saviour of Brahmans. [Bhushan’s poems.] His Court, as later his son’s, became the rallying-point of the opposition to Aurangzib. The two rivals were both supermen, but contrasts in character.

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