Shivaji and His Times c8.s27: § 4. Shivaji's interview with Aurangzib
Shivaji and His Times c8.s27
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§ 4. Shivaji's interview with Aurangzib
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The 12th of the month was appointed as the day of his audience.* It was the 50th lunar birthday of the Emperor. The Hall of Public Audience in Agra Fort was splendidly decorated for the occasion. The courtiers appeared in their most gorgeous robes. All things were ready for weighing the Emperor against gold and silver, which would then be given away in charity. The nobles of the empire and their retainers in thousands stood in marshalled ranks filling that vast hall of pillars and the ground beyond on three sides of it, which was covered with costly canopies.
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Into this *Diwan-i-am*, Kumar Ram Singh ushered Shivaji with his son Shambhuji and ten of his officers. On behalf of the Maratha chief, 1,500 gold pieces were laid before the Emperor as present (*nazar*) and Rs. 6,000 as benedictory offering (*nisar*). Aurangzib graciously cried out, "Come up, Shivaji Rajah!" Shivaji was led to the foot of the throne and made three *salams*. Then, at a sign from the Emperor, he was conducted back to the place reserved for him among the third-grade nobles, the work of the darbar proceeded, and Shivaji seemed to have been forgotten.
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∗ Shivaji's audience with Aurangzib: *A. N.* 963, 968—970; *H. A.* 238*a*; Surat to Karwar, 8 June, 1666; in *F. R. Surat*, vol. 86; (all contemporary.) Sabh. 49; *Storia*, ii. 138; *K. K.* ii. 189—190; *Dil.* 58—59; (all reliable.)
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This was not the kind of reception he had so long been picturing to himself and expecting* as almost a certainty from his many conversations with Jai Singh. Ever since coming to Agra his mind had been ill at ease. First, he had been welcomed on behalf of the Emperor in the environs of the city by Ram Singh and Mukhlis Khan, two petty officers holding the nominal ranks of 2,500 and 1,500 respectively. No costly present, no high title, no kind word even, had followed his bow to the throne. He found himself standing behind several rows of nobles who almost shut him from the Emperor's view. He learnt from Ram Singh that he was standing among the commanders of 5,000. "What!" he exclaimed, "my little son of seven years was created a 5-hazari without having had to come to the Emperor's presence. My servant Netaji is a 5-hazari. And am I, after rendering all these services and coming all the way to the Court, to get the same low rank?" Then he asked, who the noble standing in front of him was. Ram Singh replied that it was Maharajah Jaswant Singh. At this Shiva cried out, "Jaswant, whose back my soldiers have seen! I to stand behind him! What does it mean?"†
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∗ This view is supported by the Persian and English accounts, "Shiva cherished some absurd fancies and hopes. So,......after standing for a while, he created a scene, retired to a corner and told Kumar Ram Singh that he was disappointed, making unreasonable and foolish complaints." (A. N. 969.) "His spirit could not bear such humiliation as the other Umarahs to wait at a distance with their hands before them, like mutes. The thought thereof put him into a fever, which the king hearing (it is said) sent to comfort him with promises of great preferment." (Surat to Karwar, 8 June.) Also K. K.
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† Here I follow Sabhasad. Dilkasha, 58, says that it was Rai Singh Sisodia (a subordinate of Jai Singh and the son of Maharana Bhim Singh), who was created a 5-hazari for his services at Purandar (M. U. ii. 300; A. N. 868, 989.)
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Stung to fury by what he considered a public humiliation, Shivaji expostulated with Ram Singh in a high tone, and even wanted to commit suicide* rather than outlive such a shame. Ram Singh, alarmed at this unexpected development and the breach of Court etiquette caused by Shiva's loud voice and violent gestures, tried his best to pacify him, but in vain. Swelling with suppressed anger and fretting within himself in bitterness of mortification, Shivaji fell down in a swoon. (Dil. 59; K. K. ii. 190; Surat to Karwar.) There was a stir among the courtiers. The Emperor asked what the matter was. Ram Singh diplomatically replied, "The tiger is a wild beast of the forest. He feels oppressed by heat in a place like this and has been taken ill." He also apologized for the Rajah's rude conduct by saying that he was a Deccani unfamiliar with Courts and polished manners. Aurangzib graciously ordered the sick Rajah to be removed to an ante-room and sprinkled with rose-water, and, on his restoration to his senses, gave him leave to go to his quarters without waiting for the close of the darbar.
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§5. Shivaji placed under guard by order of Aurangzib.
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On returning from the Court, Shivaji openly taxed the Emperor with breach of faith towards him, and asked to be put to death as a lesser evil. There were men about him who reported his angry words and complaints here and in the darbar hall to Aurangzib, and it only increased the Emperor's dislike and distrust of the Maratha chief. Ram Singh was ordered to lodge him in the Jaipur House outside the city-walls, and be responsible for his custody. Shiva was forbidden the Court, though Shambhuji was asked to come now and then. Thus, Shivaji's high hopes were finally dashed to pieces and he found himself a prisoner instead. (Dil. 59; A. N. 969.)
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∗ Here I follow K. K. ii. 190 and Storia, ii. 138. But Sabhasad, 49, says that he begged for Ram Singh's dagger in order to kill Jaswant! The prolific imagination of the Hindi poet Bhushan has distorted the incident into the following absurd shape: "On the day of the Court festivity [birthday], Aurangzib sat on the throne like Indra, with his subjects around him. But the sight of all this splendour could not make Shiva tremble. He made no salam, he despised the pomp and force of the Padishah......They made him stand in the ranks of the 5-hazari mansabdars, as if he were not distinct from them. Bhushan says that Aurangzib's ministers had no sense of propriety. He (Shivaji) could not get the sword from the belt [of Ram Singh] and the Muslim (Aurangzib) saved himself [by running] into the ghushalkhana." (Bhushan, Granthavali, pp. 66, 70, also 68.)
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He took counsel with his devoted followers and with Raghunath Pant Korde, his agent at the imperial Court, as to how he could effect his release. They advised him to play on the Emperor's greed of territory and to promise the conquest of Bijapur and Golkonda* as the price of his restoration to liberty. A petition to this effect was presented by the hand of Raghunath Korde, but the Emperor only answered, "Wait a little and I shall do what you ask for." Shiva knew the answer was evasive. He had begged for a private interview with the Emperor in which he promised to make a secret communication very much to the benefit of the latter. The Maratha chronicles say that the prime-minister Jafar Khan, warned by a letter from Shaista Khan, dissuaded the Emperor from risking his person in a private interview with a magician like Shiva. But Aurangzib hardly needed other people's advice in such a matter. He was too wise to meet in a small room with a few guards the man who had slain Afzal Khan almost within sight of his 10,000 soldiers, and wounded Shaista Khan in the very bosom of his harem amidst a ring of 20,000 Mughal troops, and escaped unscathed. Popular report credited Shiva with being a wizard with "an airy body," able to jump across 40 or 50 yards of space upon the person of his victim. The private audience was refused.
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∗ Or Qandahar, according to Dil. 69.
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Shivaji next tried to win over the prime-minister, and paid him a visit, begging him to use his influence with the Emperor to send him back to the Deccan with adequate resources for extending the Mughal empire there. Jafar Khan, warned by his wife (a sister of Shaista Khan) not to trust himself too long in the company of Shiva, hurriedly ended the interview, saying "All right; I shall speak to the Emperor and make the arrangements." Shiva knew that he meant to do nothing. (Sabh. 50-51.)
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He was now thrown entirely upon his own resources. At the same time his position became worse than before. Fulad Khan, the police chief of Agra, was ordered to place a guard with artillery round the house of Shiva, who now became a prisoner in appearance as well as reality. "This made the Rajah lose heart; he felt sad and lamented long, clasping Shambhuji to his breast." In this state he passed three months.
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§ 6. Mughal policy during Shivaji's confinement at Agra.
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We now turn to the policy of the imperial Government and the action of Jai Singh during this interval. Aurangzib had intended to present Shiva with an elephant, a robe of honour, and some jewels at the end of his first audience. But Shiva's violation of Court etiquette made him change his mind, and as a mark of displeasure he withheld these gifts, at least for a time. (H. A. 238a.) The Maratha chief, on his part, complained that the promises made to him on behalf of the Mughal Government had not been kept. Aurangzib, therefore, wrote to Jai Singh asking him to report fully and exactly what promises he had made. The Rajah replied by repeating and explaining the clauses of the Treaty of Purandar, and solemnly asserting that nothing beyond them had been promised. (A. N. 970. But H. A. does not contain Jai Singh's reply.)
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Jai Singh was placed in a dilemma by this unexpected result of Shiva's visit to the Court. True, he had sent Shiva away to Northern India "by a thousand devices" in order to get him out of the Deccan when the military situation there turned against the Mughals; but he had also pledged his honour for the safe return of his ally. He, therefore, tried to persuade the Emperor that he would gain nothing by imprisoning or killing Shiva, as the Maratha chief's wise arrangements had made his Government independent of his personality; on the contrary the imperial interests in that quarter would be best promoted by turning Shiva into a friend, at the same time that such a course would convince the public of the sacredness of the imperial officers' words. All the while Jai Singh continued to write to his Court agent, Ram Singh, to see to it that Shiva's life was safe and the solemn assurances of Jai Singh and his son remained inviolate. (H. A. 234a.)
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This, however, was no easy matter. It was impossible for Jai Singh to change Aurangzib's crooked policy, or, at times, even to divine it. The Emperor seemed at first to have played a waiting game—to keep Shiva under surveillance in order to prevent his escape, and to decide after the conclusion of the Deccan campaign if and when he would be released. At first Ram Singh was ordered to stand bail and security for the good conduct and presence of Shiva at Agra. Jai Singh protested against this responsibility being thrown on his son, and urged the latter to try his best to be relieved of it. After a short time, Aurangzib changed his mind, evidently because he distrusted a Hindu prince as the keeper of another Hindu prince, and for a few days talked of taking Shiva out of his bail and sending him to Afghanistan, where he would be beyond the possibility of escape, as was actually done in the case of Netaji Palkar afterwards. But the idea was soon dropped. (H. A. 196b; Dil. 69; Surat to Karwar.) Then the Emperor proposed to set out for the Deccan to conduct the war in person, while Shiva would be left a State-prisoner at Agra in charge of Ram Singh, who would be appointed qiladar of the capital for the purpose. Jai Singh vehemently urged his son to avoid this disagreeable duty, but advised the Emperor to leave Shiva at Agra. "When I prayed that Shiva might be permitted to return home, affairs [in the Deccan] were in a different condition. Now that they have changed altogether [against us,] it is not at all politic to send him to this side. Please detain him in such a way that his officers may not despair [about his return], go over to Adil Shah and raise disturbances [against us.]...... It would be expedient to leave Shiva at Agra. He ought to be conciliated and assured that he would be summoned to the Court after it had arrived in the Deccan. His son should, as a matter of policy, be kept with the Emperor, in order that his followers may not be thrown into despair.
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but may loyally serve us." [*H. A.* 194*a*, 197*a*.] But the war in the Deccan steadily went against the Mughals, and Shiva's hope of an early release grew dimmer and dimmer.