Shivaji and His Times c8.s12: §3. Jai Singh's anxieties and far-sighted preparations
Shivaji and His Times c8.s12
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§3. Jai Singh's anxieties and far-sighted preparations
c8.s12.1
It was, however, with no light heart that Jai Singh* set himself to the task of subduing Shivaji, against whom Bijapuris and rival Maratha chiefs, Shaista Khan and Jaswant Singh, had toiled in vain. The Deccan had been the grave of many a reputation, and he had the failures of his predecessors before him. Shiva had already established a name for stratagem, and his Mavles had measured swords with the best regular troops on more than equal terms. Then, again, there was the likelihood that the arrival of a large Mughal force in the Deccan would alarm Bijapur and Golkonda and throw them into the arms of Shiva to make a common cause against the invader from the north. Jai Singh, therefore, could not give his undivided attention to the Marathas: he had to keep an eye on Bijapur too. The problem before him was no easy one. As he wrote to the Emperor, "Not for a moment, in day or night, do I seek rest or ease from being busy about the task on which I have been sent." We see from his letters how he employed every possible device for dealing with an enemy, how wide-awake and full of many-sided activity he was, how he looked far ahead, and how he handled his force so as to cause distraction to the enemy or deal a concentrated blow at a vital point.
c8.s12.2
∗ My account of this war is based upon Jai Singh's copious letters (Haft Anjuman, Benares and Paris MSS., with a few extra letters in Faiyyaz-ul-qawanin), Aurangzib's letters (given in Paris MS. Suppl 476, with two stray letters in a miscellaneous Delhi MS.) and certain other letters given in Khatut-i-Shivaji (R.A.S. MS.) Some of these have been translated by me in the Modern Review. A. N. 887-907, though contemporary and authentic, has no independent value after the use of the above materials. Storia, ii. 120-125, 132-137, gives Manucci's personal experience of the war. The Marathi chronicles, Sabh. 38-46, and Malkaré 49, contain later and partly legendary accounts.
c8.s12.3
In view of his two enemies, Jai Singh very wisely decided to take up a position between both, *i.e.*, in the eastern part of Shiva's dominion, whence he could also easily threaten Bijapur, instead of pushing the war into the Western Ghats or the Konkan plain further west. So convinced was he of the wisdom of this plan that when Aurangzib urged him to make a descent into Konkan, he strongly objected and succeeded in carrying his point. He knew that if he could strike a fatal blow at the heart of the Maratha kingdom, its distant limbs would drop down of themselves.