Shivaji and His Times c8.s24: § 1. Shivaji's fears and hopes from a journey to the Mughal Court
Shivaji and His Times c8.s24
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§ 1. Shivaji's fears and hopes from a journey to the Mughal Court
c8.s24.1
Jai Singh had undertaken to send Shivaji to the imperial Court. But it was no easy task. In the Treaty of Purandar, Shivaji had expressly stipulated that he was not to be called upon to enter the Mughal military service (*mansab*), nor to attend the imperial Court. There were strong reasons for it. For one thing, he and his countrymen had no faith in Aurangzib's word and believed the Emperor to be capable of any act of treachery and cruelty. Then, again, the Maratha chief had an inborn repugnance to bending his head before a Muslim; he had been brought up in the freedom and solitude of hill and woodland, away from cities and Courts; he had imbibed the orthodox Hindu spirit from his mother and his tutor, from the comrades of his boyhood and the saints whom he adored; and he had risen to independent sovereignty without ever filling any subordinate post as the servant of a higher authority. He was therefore at first averse to visit the imperial Court.
c8.s24.2
But Jai Singh plied him with hopes of high reward and "used a thousand devices" (as he repeatedly wrote in his letters), to induce him to go to Agra. The Maratha chronicles assert that Jai Singh gave Shiva hopes that after his visit to the Emperor he was likely to be sent back as Viceroy of Mughal Deccan, with sufficient men and money for the conquest of Bijapur and Golkonda.
c8.s24.3
The Emperor never committed himself to any such promise, and the Persian histories and Jai Singh’s correspondence are silent about it. But it is very probable that among the vague hopes which the wily Rajput general held out to Shiva, was that of being appointed Viceroy of the Deccan, where all the preceding imperial representatives, including Jai Singh himself, had failed, and only a born general and renowned conqueror like Shiva could be expected to succeed. The Deccan charge was so heavy and mere generals had so often wasted imperial resources there, that in 1656 and 1666 the Emperor had talked of going there in person and conducting the war against the local Sultans. Shiva’s past achievements promised success for such an enterprise, if the vast resources of Delhi were placed under a tried military genius like him. What could be more reasonable (Jai Singh may have argued) than that the Emperor, after seeing Shiva and personally learning of his merits, would appoint him Viceroy of the Deccan* to achieve its conquest and save himself the trouble?
c8.s24.4
Besides the problematical viceroyalty of the Deccan, Shiva had some humbler but more necessary objects which could be gained only by a personal interview with the Emperor. He had requested that the Emperor should order the Siddi, now an imperial servant, to cede Janjira island to him. On this point the reply from Delhi had been evasive; but much better result could be expected from an interview and personal representation. In spite of these temptations, Shiva hesitated long.
c8.s24.5
∗ Sabhasad, 46 and 50, says that Shiva himself made the offer of conquering Bijapur and Golkonda for the Emperor, if he were appointed Mughal commander-in-chief in the Deccan and permitted to annex the former Nizam-Shahi dominions, and that Jai Singh merely agreed to the proposal.
c8.s24.6
Both he and his friends were as much alarmed at the idea of his going to the Mughal Court as they had been at the prospect of his interview with Afzal Khan six years ago. They feared that a visit to Aurangzib would be only rushing into the jaws of an ogre (Ravan.) But the soothsayers whom he consulted assured him of a safe return home. (Sabh. 47; *T. S.* 22b.)
c8.s24.7
Jai Singh took the most solemn oaths possible for a Hindu that Shiva would not be harmed during his visit, while the Rajput Rajah's son and agent at Court, Kumar Ram Singh, similarly pledged his word for the safety of Shiva during his stay at the capital. In the Maratha council of ministers the majority favoured the journey.