Shivaji and His Times c8.s13.2

c8.s13.2

In January he had sent his Brahman emissaries to various Deccani chieftains, to stir them up against Shiva. The zamindars of Karnatak were asked to help the Mughals by threatening Bijapur from the south; and agents from two such chiefs, namely Shivappa Nayak and the zamindar of Basavapatan, reached Jai Singh's camp in April with offers of service (Paris MS. 132a.)† Towards the end of January an envoy from the Rajah of Jawhar had met Jai Singh at Burhanpur with a proposal to join the Mughal side; he had been conciliated, promised a *mansab*, and asked to send his son or brother with a contingent of troops. Every one who bore a grudge to Shivaji or envied the sudden rise of the Bhonsles had been approached by the Mughal general's spies. Baji Chandra Rao and his kinsman Ambaji Govind Rao More,—the family from which Shivaji had wrested Javli,—in response to Jai Singh's invitation, sent to him a Brahman named Mudhá, asking for a safe conduct and money help, (middle of February.) These were given, and they reached his camp, along with Mankoji Dhangar, and were enlisted in the Mughal army (4th week of March) (Paris MS. 113a, 123a.) Similarly, Afzal Khan's son, Fazl Khan, solicited from Jai Singh a command and an opportunity of avenging his slaughtered father on Shivaji. (120b.) The adhesion of the petty Rajahs of the Koli country north of Kalian was secured through Niccolao Manucci, then chief of Jai Singh's European artillery. (Storia, ii. 132-133.)