Shivaji and His Times c20.s8: Sources

Shivaji and His Times c20.s8

Language: English

Sources

A. Marathi

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101. Shiva-chhatrapati-chen Charitra by Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad, written in 1694 at Jinji, by order of Rajaram; ed. by K. N. Sane,- 3rd ed. 1912. A small book of barely 100 pages, composed from memory without the help of written memoranda or documents. The events are not arranged in the order of time. Some of the statements are incorrect. Weak in topography, no dates. Language very condensed and sometimes obscure.

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But the most valuable Marathi account of Shivaji and our main source of information from the Maratha side. Later biographies in the same language have mostly copied this Sabhasad Bakhar and padded out their source (Sabhasad) by means of Sanskrit quotations, miracles, rhetorical flourishes, emotional gush, and commonplace remarks and details added from the probabilities of the case or from pure imagination. [In Sane's 4th ed. the text has been very unwisely mixed up.]

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Translated into English by J. L. Manker as *Life and Exploits of Shivaji* (Bombay, 1st. ed. 1884, 2nd ed. 1886.)

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102. *Chitra-gupta Bakhar*, composed about 1760; contains merely Sabhasad's facts (and even language), interspersed with copious extracts from the Sanskrit Scriptures. Useless.

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103. *Shiva-chhatrapati-chen Sapta-prakaran-atmak Charitra*, written by Malhar Ram Rao Chitnis in 1810, and ed. by N. J. Kirtane, 2nd ed. 1894. Incorrect, rambling or pure guess-work in many places. No State-paper used, no idea of correct chronology. Muhammadan names grossly incorrect and anachronistic. Moro Pant is perpetually conquering and having to conquer again "twenty-seven forts in Baglana &c." (pp. 41, 71, 124 and 176)! Worthless modern fabrication.

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104. *Shivadigvijay*, ed. or published by P. R. Nandurbarkar and L. K. Dandekar, (Baroda, 1895). Falsely described as written by Khando Ballal (the son of Shivaji's secretary Balaji Avji) in 1718. Fabricated by a writer familiar with the style of modern vernacular novels written by imitators of Bankim Chandra Chatterji. Too much gush (esp. pp. 453, 208, 444), rhetorical padding and digression. The author speaks of an English general being present at Shivaji's coronation (p. 435) and of goods from Calcutta being used in decorating his hall in 1674 (p. 417) !!! Shiva bows to his mother two years after her death (p. 296) ! Tanaji Malusare visits Haidarabad seven years after his death ! (p. 301.)

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105. *Shivapratap* (Baroda), an utterly worthless modern fabrication; does not even claim to be old.

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106. *Shrimant Maharaj Bhonsle-yanchi Bakhar* [of Shedgaon], pub. by V. L. Bhave (Thana, 1917.) Utterly worthless expansion of Sabhasad with forged letters and imaginary details.

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107-8. Two alleged old *bakhars* (called *More-yanchi Chooti Bakhar* and *Mahabaleshwar-chi Juni Mahiti*) pub. in Parasnis's *Itihas Sangraha*, *Sfuta lekh*, i. 21-29 and ii. 9-12. Full of palpable historical errors and deliberate fabrication (probably of the same factory and date as No. 106.)

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109. *Jedhe-yanchi Shakavali*, ed. by B. G. Tilak in *Chaturtha Sammelan Britta* (Puna.) A bare record of events with dates, kept by the Jedhe family of Bhor (Puna district.)

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The Shivapur deshpandes have preserved two *Shakavalis*, one in their *Yadi* (very short) and the other in their *Bahi*. I have secured a transcript of the very large Shivapur Deshpande *Shakavali* preserved in the library of the Bombay Royal Asiatic Society (Forbes collection.) The above three *Shakavalis* as well as three others are printed in the *Shiva-Charitra Pradip* (a very useful book) which also gives the *Jedhe Karina* (an amplification of the *Shakavali* from the purely family point of view). An uncorrected English translation of the Jedhe Shakavali and Karina is given in the *Shivaji Souvenir*.

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¹¹⁰ *Sanads and Letters*, ed. by P. V. Mawjee and D. B. Parasnis (1913) and

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111. Marathyan-chya-Itihasachin-Sadhanen, ed. by V. K. Rajwade and others; Vols. viii and xv-xxiv contain a few political letters and a vast mass of private legal documents and charters of Shivaji and his times. Some of them are clearly forgeries made to deceive the Inam Commission and other judicial bodies. Some others seem to have been faked to support "popular" history or family prestige.

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Many documents of this class have been also printed in the Annual Proceedings (Varshik Itibritta), Conference Reports (Sammelan Britta) and Quarterly (Traimasik) of the Bharat Itihas Samshodhak Mandal of Puna, in the Shiva-Charitra-Pradip, (1925), Shiva-Charitra-Sahitya (ed. by K. V. Purandare, 1926), Itihas Ani Aitihasik, Vol. 5 (ed. by Rajwade), Marathi Daftar, Vol, 3 (ed. by V. L. Bhave, 1928), Shiva Samsmriti and Shivaji Souvenir (English tr.), ed by G. S. Sardesai (1927.)

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112. Powadas, or Marathi ballads, collected by H. A. Acworth and S. T. Shaligram, 2nd (really 3rd) ed., 1911. All legendary and of a much later date than Shivaji's lifetime. The Afzal Khan ballad is the oldest, and probably belonged to Shambhuji's reign. Only two of the ballads deal with Shivaji, but are unhistorical. A new and critical edition by Y. N. Kelkar (1927.)

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English tr. of ten of the ballads (with an excellent introduction), by Acworth (Longmans, 1894.)

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113. Savant-vadi-Samsthancha Itihas, by V. P. Pingulkar (1911.) Useful; but the dates of some of the Persian farmans have been wrongly transcribed, and the seal has been incorrectly ascribed to the Emperor (whose name stands on the top of it) instead of to the owner of the seal (whose name is modestly put below that of the Emperor.)

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114. Ajna-patra of Ramchandra Amatya, 2nd. ed. 1923. A book of "good counsels," but not a genuine document by a contemporary of Shivaji. Throws no real light.

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115. V. L. Bhave published a number of pamphlets on incidents of Shivaji's life, which, in spite of their minute and lawyer-like argument, are vitiated by the fact that he lumped together all the dates and incidents given by every known work, without critically sifting their evidence.

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116. Tanjavarcha Shilalekh, a prodigiously long (2652 lines in print) inscription in Marathi carved in December, 1803, on stone in the Vrihadishwar temple of Tanjore. Printed by Rajwade in the Prabhat and included in his Sadhanen, vol. ix (1906); another ed. by T. Sambamurti Row in Tanjore (1907.) Utterly worthless modern concoction of the history of Shahji and Shivaji, evidently for exalting the junior Bhonsle branch, (the House of Tanjore.)

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¹¹⁷ 91 qalmi Bakhar, also called 96 qalmi Bakhar, containing that number of paragraphs (mostly very short.) The manuscript from which Rajwade printed his text (in vol. ix. of his Sadhanen) is described in the colophon as in the handwriting of Khando Anaji Malkare, the son of Anaji Ranganath Malkare, who was appointed accountant (majmuadar) of the army of Hambir Rao by Shivaji. An incorrect text (with many variants) is printed in Parasnis's Bharat-varsha. It is the same work as the "Raigarh Life of Shivaji," (Eng. trans. in Forrest's Selections from the Letters &c., in the Bombay Secretariat, Maratha Series, vol. i, pp. 1-22, 1885). The

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expanded Persian translation is known as the *Tarikh-i-Shivaji*. (For its nature and value, see the introductory discussion to this Bibliography.)

B. Sanskrit

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118. *Radha-madhava-vilasa-Champuh*, by Jayaram Pindyé, ed. by Rajwade (1922.) Fulsome adulation of Shahji and the boy Shivaji by a Court-poet. Gives no useful information.

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119. *Shiva Bharat*, by Paramanand, ed. with a Marathi trans. copious notes and portentously long disquisitions (*à la* Rajwade) in a sumptuous edition by S. M. Divekar (1927.) An epic poem on Maloji, Shahji and Shivaji (ending abruptly with Shiva's conquest of the Ratnagiri district in April 1661, canto 32, v. 9.) Narrated in the form of a dialogue between the poet and the Brahmans of Benares, where Paramanand had come on a pilgrimage (between 1664 and 1673.) A Hindu priest-pilgrim to far off Benares could not, in those days of difficulty of transport and unsafe travelling, have burdened himself with history books, and yet our poet, writing about 1670, professes to give minute details and long lists of generals (sometimes on three sides) for battles that were fought in 1624 and even earlier! This holy Brahman must have had a prodigious memory for non-Scriptural matters! His nauseating flattery of his patron and absurd exaggerations have been already noted in my preliminary paragraphs. Such a work cannot be taken literally as history.

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120. *Parnal-parvat-grahan-akhyanam*, by Jayaram, ed. by S. M. Divekar (1923.) Matter-of-fact straightforward narrative, singularly free from the usual hyperbole and verbosity. The five cantos cover only a small portion of Shivaji's career (1673.) Very reliable and useful.

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121. *Shiva-raj-Rajyavishek-Kalpataru*, a short poem in 234 verses, describing Shivaji's coronation (1674) in the form of a dialogue between Govinda and Nishchala, two Brahmans on a pilgrimage to the holy places in South Konkan, (Asiatic Society of Bengal, MS. 3088.) Merely descriptive.

C. Hindi

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122. *Bhushan's Granthavali*, ed. by Shyam Bihari Mishra and Shukdev Bihari Mishra (Nagri Pracharini Sabha, Benares, 1907.)

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Fulsome adulation of Shiva, by means of an infinite variety of similes and parallels from Hindu Scriptures and epics! No history, no date. But shows us the atmosphere and the Hindu mind of the time. Its authenticity has been denied and its composition ascribed to the Court of Chhatra Sal (about 1725), by a critic in the *Nagri Pracharini Patrika*.

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123. *Chhatra-prakash* by Lal Kavi (Nagri Pracharini Sabha, Benares.) Canto xi deals with Chhatra Sal's visit to Shiva. English trans., in Pogson's *History of the Boondelas*, (Calcutta, (1826.)

D. Persian

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Most of the Persian sources have been described and discussed in my *History of Aurangzib*, Bibliographies at the end of Vols. ii. and iii. (1st.

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ed.), and for convenience of reference I here give them the numbers which they bear in that work.

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2. Padishahnamah, by Abdul Hamid Lahori.
4. Amal-i-Salih by Kambu.
5. Alamgir-namah by Mirza Md. Kazim.
6. Masir-i-Alamgiri by Saqi Mustaid Khan.
9. Muntakhab-ul-Lubab, by Khafi Khan.
10. Nuskha-i-Dilkasha by Bhimsen Burhanpuri.
11. Fatuhat-i-Alamgiri by Ishwardas Nagar.
29. Akhbarat-i-Darbar-i-muala.
116. Muhammad-namah (or History of Muhammad Adil Shah) by Md. Zahur, the son of Zahuri, (my own copy made from the Kapurthala MS.)
27. Tarikh-i-Ali Adil Shah II. (only the 1st ten years of his reign), by Sayyid Nurullah, (copy made for me from the India Office MS.)
25. Basatin-i-Salatin, by Md. Ibrahim Al Zubairi. The lithographed ed. (Haidarabad) cited in this 3rd ed. (while a MS. was cited in the first two editions of my Shivaji.)
19. Tarikh-i-Shivaji, India Office Persian MS. 1957, (Ethe No. 485). same as Rieu i. p. 327. Trans. by me in Modern Review, 1907 and Jan. 1910.
16. Adab-i-Alamgiri by Qabil Khan.
44. Haft Anjuman by Udiraj Tala-yar, Paris MS. and Benares MS.
45. Faiyyaz-ul-qawanin.
39. Khatut-i-Shivaji, R. A. S. MS.
21. Ahkam-i-Alamgiri by Hamid-ud-din Khan, tr. by me as Anecdotes of Aurangzib.
33. Ruqat-i-Alamgiri, lithographed bazar ed.
117. Parasnis MS.—A volume in which some Persian letters from the Mughal Government to Shivaji and his descendants have been copied (evidently for the use of Grant Duff) by order of the Rajah of Satara. Some of the dates are wrong. There is a MS. English translation in another volume.

E. English

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[When I began my study of Shivaji's history, Foster's English Factories in India had not reached the period of his activities. I had, therefore, to get transcripts of the old records in the India Office, London, at great cost and some risk of error in the copying. (Two serious ones were discovered too late for the second edition.) Now that Foster's series has been continued to 1670, I have retained my references to the documents themselves as more convenient to inquirers than citations of the pages of Foster's book.]

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124. Original Correspondence (O. C.), India Office MS. records. This series includes letters from Surat and Bombay to the E. I. Co., (London) and letters between Surat and Bombay and the subordinate factories. There is a catalogue of these, giving writer, place and date, but very little indication of the contents. In most cases there is a volume for every year. O. C. volumes deal indiscriminately with all parts of India where the Company had factories. From 1682 to 1689 they contain little beyond duplicates of what is given in the *F. R.*

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125. *Factory Records* (*F. R.*), India Office MS. records. There is a distinct series for each principal factory, such as Rajapur, Surat, Bombay, Fort St. George, &c. They include (*a*) Consultations at these factories and (*b*) copies of letters received and dispatched by them (some being repeated in *O. C.*) There are several gaps in the period 1660-1689 and the existing volumes are unindexed.

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*Surat Consultations*—none extant for 1636-'60, 64, 67, 68, 71, 73, 75, 76, 78, 80, 81, and 84-96, but the gaps are partially filled by the *Letters received and dispatched* and the *O. C.* Only four volumes have survived for 1660-1683.

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*Surat Letters*—about 20 volumes for the period in question.

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*Records of Fort St. George*: *Diary and Consultation Book*, for 1672-78 and 1678-79, printed at Madras. (1910 and 1911.) A few other papers are given in Love's *Vestiges of Old Madras*, 3 vols.

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*Orme MSS.* in the India Office Library (catalogued by S. C. Hill) contain copies of several factory records the originals of which have perished.

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After 1683 the English factory records are very scanty.

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*Diary of W. Hedges*, ed. by Yule, (Hakluyt Soc.) Vol. II. p. ccxxvi gives *Surat to Co.*, 20 Nov. 1670.

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126. *Dutch Factory Records* preserved in the India Office, London. Vols. 23-29, covering 1659-'70, are in English translations, while Vols. 30-42, covering 1670-89, are in Dutch. They are very disappointing to the historian of Shivaji and contain very few references to the Marathas. The volumes from 1671 onwards contain scarcely any remarks on the affairs of Western India. "Up to 1664 or so, the compiler copied the letters from India into the *Dagh Register*, verbatim or almost so. From about 1665 to the end of the series, the Indian letters were copied into a different Register, viz., ‘Incoming letters’; the *Dagh Register* refers to this for details, and gives at most an occasional scrap of news. It is conceivable, but I fear very improbable that the Registers of Incoming Letters, or some of them, may be in existence at Batavia." (Moreland.)

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127. *Storia do Mogor* or travels of Manucci, tr. by W. Irvine, 4 vols.
128. *Bernier's Travels*, ed. by Constable.
129. *Tavernier's Travels*, ed. by Ball, 2 vols.
130. *J. Fryer's New Account of East India*, ed. by W. Crooke, 2 vols. (1909.)
131. *Orme's Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire &c.*, London (1805.)
132. *J. Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas*, (1826.)

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The *Madras District Manuals* are the old ed., while the *Gazetteers* are the new, ed.

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English translations are mentioned under their Marathi Persian or Hindi originals.

F. Portuguese

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133. *Vida e accoens do famoso e felicissimo Sevagy* escrita por Cosme de Guarda, natural de Murmugao. (Lisbon, 1730.) Composed in 1695 (p. 40.) Contains 168 pages. Full of gross inaccuracies, mistakes of persons, useless digressions, bazar gossip and things known to us from other sources. It may more properly be styled 'The marvellous romance of Shivaji,' as it contains a minimum of facts dates and proper names and a maximum of words and general descriptions. It tells us nothing new that is historically true. C. da Guarda was not the real author's name.

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Dr. D. G. Dalgado of the Academy of Sciences, Lisbon, informed me (on 15 Feb. 1919) that he could find no Portuguese State-paper relating to Shivaji in the Lisbon Archives he had consulted.

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134. *Colleccao de Tratados* by J. F. Biker, tomo iv. (Lisbon, 1884.) Contains treaties and diplomatic correspondence. They were first printed in the Government Bulletin of Goa, which I inspected during my visit to Goa in October 1924.

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135. *Portugueses e Maratas*, i. Shivaji, by Panduranga Pissurlencar, (reprinted from the Boletim do Instituto Vasco da Gama. The fullest and most scholarly work on the Portuguese relations with Shivaji. Supersedes all other works on the subject.

G. French

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136. *Voyage des Indes Orientales*, par M. Carre, 2 vols. (Paris, 1699.) Contains an account of Shivaji in 1671-72. Hearsay.

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137. *La Mission du Maduré*, par J. Bertrand, tome 3. (Paris, 1850.) Contains the annual Jesuit letters from the Madura mission.

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138. *Memoires of Francois Martin*, 1664-1696. (MS. T. 1169 of the Archives Nationales of Paris.) I secured a transcript of the portion relating to Shivaji and published a condensed English translation of it in the *Modern Review*, Feb. 1924.

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The Journal of B. Deslandes (from the Paris MS.) has been translated by me into English and published in the Puna Mandal's periodical.

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139. *La Compagnie Indes Orientales et Francois Martin*, par Paul Kaeppelin (Paris, 1908). Extremely valuable narrative with exact citations of original documents (and even extracts from them.)

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140. The *Histoire de Sevagi et de son successeur*, par J. D'Orleans, S. J., appended to his *Histoire des Deux conquerans Tartares*, (Paris, 1688), though the earliest life to be printed, is worthless. I have published an English translation of it in the *Modern Review*, May, 1924.

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The other French and Dutch works that treat of Shivaji—of very little value,—are described in Orme's *Fragments* (ed. of 1805), pp. 171-179.