Shivaji and His Times c5.s3: §3. Difficulty of reconstructing Shivaji's early history
Shivaji and His Times c5.s3
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§3. Difficulty of reconstructing Shivaji's early history
c5.s3.1
The true history of the first thirty years of Shivaji's life (1627—1657) presents a puzzling and almost insoluble problem. From the nature of the materials available, it is hopeless to reconstruct the narrative of his early career with any degree of certainty.∗ Here the widest differences of opinion are possible as to the details, but happily the broad outlines are clear and generally accepted.
c5.s3.2
∗ It is impossible to come to any universal agreement on questions like,—Where did Shivaji spend the years 1637 and 1638, at Puna or at Bijapur? Was it Dadaji Kond-dev or Shivaji who subjugated the Mavals? When did Dadaji die? What was the first Bijapuri fort taken by Shivaji and in what year? In what year or years did he establish his own authority over those forts of his father, which had not been at first placed under him? What were the order and dates of his acquisition of the 40 forts of which he was admittedly in possession in 1659?
c5.s3.3
My own conclusions,—often formed only by balancing probabilities against one another, and in a few cases adopted as "working hypotheses,"—will be given in detail in the rest of this chapter; but they may be briefly summarized as follows:—
c5.s3.4
(i) Shivaji was born on Monday, 10th April, 1627, and lived in Shivner fort till 1637, when he was removed to Puna.
c5.s3.5
(ii) He first captured one or two obscure or out of repair forts in the western side of the Puna district, in the neglected and unsubdued new frontier of the Bijapur State, from 1646 to his father's arrest (25 July 1648); the arrest was due to a cause quite unconnected with the son's usurpations and was ended by other means than Shivaji's restoration of forts to Adil Shah.
c5.s3.6
(iii) From the release of Shahji (end of 1649) to the invasion of Javli (January 1656), Shivaji did nothing conspicuous or likely to give strong provocation to Bijapur; there were the usual small raids and (very doubtfully) conquests in the Kolaba district which did not then really own Bijapuri sovereignty. His military and financial resources* at this stage were very limited, and he could not have undertaken any extensive or distant conquest, though he was steadily and prudently increasing his power and placing it on a solid basis by building new and repairing old forts, increasing his army, and accumulating treasure by husbanding his revenue and gains from plunder. During these six years he took only a few forts (if any at all) subject to Bijapur, nor did he invade the Kalian district.
c5.s3.7
(iv) The forts in his father's Puna jagir were not taken by Shivaji immediately after Dadaji's death nor all at the same time. The forcible expulsion of Shambhuji Mohite from Supa fits in better with the year 1656 than with 1647 or 1648.
c5.s3.8
∗ His entire army consisted of 3,000 horsemen [besides a fluctuating number of Mavle infantry.] But two thousand of these troopers were the owners of their horses and arms, and could have left Shivaji any day for a higher bidder. He had remounts of his own for only 1,200 men. [Sabh. 8.] The income of the entire Puna jagir of Shahji was only a lakh and a half of Rupees, and some portions of it were not yet in Shivaji's hands. The building and repairing of forts consumed much of his small gains of treasure trove and booty.
c5.s3.9
(v) After the conquest of Javli (January 1656), came the rapid extension of his territory and forces. His striking power and material resources were at once more than doubled by this annexation, and soon afterwards he rounded off his possessions by completing the seizure of his father's entire western jagir and invaded Konkan. The four years 1656—1659 were for him crowded with conspicuous achievements, which made his ascent to an independent throne but a single and easy step.