Shivaji and His Times c8.s30: §10. Adventures of Shivaji during his flight
Shivaji and His Times c8.s30
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§10. Adventures of Shivaji during his flight
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The fugitives pursued their way, constantly changing their disguise, sometimes passing for religious mendicants, sometimes as petty traders, and escaped detection because no one dreamt of their going to the eastern provinces of India while their destination was the west. They, however, had some hairbreadth escapes.
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In one town they were arrested on suspicion by the faujdar Ali Quli, who had learnt of Shivaji's flight from a letter of his Court agent before he received the official intimation of it. A close examination of the prisoners was begun. But at midnight Shivaji met the faujdar in private, boldly disclosed his identity and offered him a diamond and a ruby worth a lakh of Rupees as the price of his liberation. The faujdar preferred the bribe to his duty. (K. K. ii. 218.)
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After performing his bath at the junction of the Ganges and Jamuna at Allahabad, Shivaji proceeded to Benares. Here he hurriedly went through all the rites of a pilgrim in the dim morning twilight and slipped out of the town just as a courier arrived from Agra with the proclamation for his arrest and a hue and cry was started.*
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Still moving eastwards, he visited the famous Hindu shrine of Gaya and was joined by two of his men whom he had sent there beforehand. Then they turned south-westwards and returned home by way of Gondwana, Haidarabad and Bijapur territories. "Through travelling long distances on foot every day, he felt a desire for riding. At the time of buying a pony he had not a sufficient number of Rupees with him. So, opening his purse of gold coins, he gave a few of them to the horse-dealer. The flight of Shivaji had already been noised abroad, and the man cried out, 'You must be Shiva, as you are paying so much for a little pony!' At this Shivaji gave him the whole purse [as hush money] and fled from the place." (Dil. 61.)
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We have a characteristic anecdote about an incident during this journey. The story runs (Malkaré 54), that the pretended *sannyasis* one evening took refuge in the house of a peasant in a village on the Godavari. The old mother of the host apologized to the holy men for the poor fare placed before them, saying that the troopers of the brigand Shivaji had recently robbed the village. She cursed them and their master to her heart's content. Shivaji noted the names of the peasant and the village carefully, and on his return home, summoned the family of his host and gave them more than what they had lost in the raid.
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∗ In this connection Khafi Khan (ii. 219-220) writes :—"When I was at the port of Surat, a Brahman physician named Nabha [or Babha] used to tell the following tale: 'I had been serving one of the Benares Brahmans as his pupil, but he stinted me in food. At last, one morning when it was still dark, I went to the river-side as usual; a man seized my hand, thrust into it a quantity of jewels, *ashrafis* and *huns*, and said, 'Don't open your fist, but quickly finish the bathing rites for me.' I immediately hastened to shave and bathe him, but had not done ministering to him, when a hue and cry was raised and the news spread that sergeants at the mace had arrived [from the Court] in search of Shiva. When I became attentive I found that the man to whom I had been ministering had slipped away. I [then] knew that it was Shivaji. He had given me 9 gems, 9 *ashrafis* and 9 *huns*. Then without going to my preceptor I returned to my country and reached Surat. The grand house that I have here was bought with that money.'"
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A late tradition gives a charming picture of the scene of Shivaji's home-coming. "He went to the gate of Raigarh (sic), where his mother resided, and requested admittance to the presence of Jija Bai. The guards informed her that some strange Bairagis or religious medicants were at the gate of the fort and requested to see her. She desired that they should be admitted. When they came into her presence, Niraji Pant blessed her after the manner of the Bairagis; but Shiva advanced towards her and threw himself at her feet. She did not recognize him and was surprised......that a Bairagi should place his head on her feet......Shivaji then placed his head in Jija Bai's lap and took off his cap. She immediately perceived, by a mark on his head, that he was her son and embraced him." (Malkaré 54; Forrest, i. 17.)
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His return to Rajgarh (20th November 1666) was followed by widespread rejoicings among his family, officers and subjects. It was a national deliverance, as providential as it was romantic.
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He spread a false report that Shambhuji had died, and even went into mourning for him. Then, when the suspicion of the Mughal officers along the Deccan road had been thus lulled asleep, and some months had elapsed, he wrote to Mathura for his son, and the three brothers with their whole family migrated to Maharashtra, bringing Shambhuji disguised as a Brahman kinsman, with them.
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At a certain outpost on the road, the Mughal officer suspected that Shambhuji was not of their family or caste; but his Brahman protectors dined with him to prove their kinship, and the danger was passed. (T. S. 25a; Dil. 61 gives a variant.) Shiva royally rewarded the faithful three—Krishnaji, Kashi Rao and Visaji,—gave them the title of *Vishwas Rao* (Lords Fidelity) and a lakh of gold pieces, and settled on them an annual revenue of 10,000 *hun*. The devoted companions of his own escape were similarly rewarded. (Sabh. 57.)
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Shivaji's escape from captivity caused lifelong regret to Aurangzib. As the Emperor wrote in his last will and testament: "The greatest pillar of a Government is the keeping of information about everything that happens in the kingdom,—while even a minute's negligence results in shame for long years. See, how the flight of the wretch Shiva, which was due to carelessness, has involved me in all these distracting campaigns to the end of my days." (*Anec.* §10.)
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§11. *Jai Singh's anxieties and plans about Shivaji.*
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We now turn to Jai Singh's anxieties, plans, and measures during Shivaji's absence from the Deccan. His correspondence with the Emperor and with Kumar Ram Singh during the three months of Shiva's captivity has been given before.
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His position was rendered infinitely worse by Shiva's escape from Agra (19th August.) He had been disgraced in the eyes of the Emperor by the failure of his invasion of Bijapur. And now his son Ram Singh was openly suspected of having connived at Shiva's flight.
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As he writes in bitterness, "All the plans and devices that I had employed in sending Shiva to Court have been spoiled, and measureless distraction has fallen to my lot. But there is no remedy against Fate and what is written on a man's forehead. I learn from the letters of some Court agents that there is a proposal to dismiss Ram Singh from his rank (mansab) and jagir, because Shiva's Brahman followers, at the instigation of selfish men [my enemies at Court], have alleged that the flight of Shiva was due to the advice of Ram Singh, and resulted from the latter's omission to watch him well. May God give death to the man who cherishes the very thought of such an act of faithlessness in his heart! Why should Shiva's men's words be believed against mine, when I had reduced him to such an extremity [in war]?" [H. A. 201a.]
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The anticipated return of Shivaji to the Deccan greatly added to Jai Singh's fears. As he wrote on 5th November, 1666:—"The times are bad for me. My anxieties are ceaseless. The lying Bijapuris are wasting time [by delusive negotiations.] There is no trace or news of the fugitive Shiva. My days are passing in distraction and anxiety. I have sent trusty spies, in various disguises, to get news of Shiva." [H. A. 199b—200a.]
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About this time the officers left by Shiva in the Deccan when starting for Agra began to display ominous activity. Sayyid Masaud, the Mughal qiladar of Rohira, wrote to Jai Singh's Paymaster complaining of the lack of provisions, etc. in the fort, and the collection of lead, gunpowder, rockets and infantry in the neighbourhood by some men who gave themselves out to be Shiva's followers and pretended that they intended to invade Bijapuri territory. At this alarming news Jai Singh sent orders to provision the fort as a precaution and to hold it strongly, pending the arrival of Udai-bhan [the permanent qiladar?] A reinforcement of 500 infantry under Sukh-man Chauhan was also ordered to be thrown into the fort if necessary. [H. A. 234.]
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At last in December, 1666, definite news was received of Shiva’s arrival at Rajgarh. As Jai Singh’s secretary wrote, “Trusty spies have now brought the news that Shiva himself has arrived but is very anxious about his son who has not returned with him. He professes a determination [to submit] to the imperial Government. But who knows what is in his heart? For some time past Mahadji Nimbalkar, the son of Bajaji, the zamindar of Phaltan and son-in-law of the infernal Shiva, has been causing disturbances in the region of Puna and other places. My master [i.e., Jai Singh] has appointed the jagirdars of that tract, such as, Tanaji [or Babaji?] Bhonslé and others to Supa, Halal Khan to Indapur, Ghalib Khan to Chamargunda, Hasan Khan, Abdur Rasul and other Deccanis also to that side, and Trimbakji Bhonslé and others to Raisin. Before the others could arrive at their posts, Tanaji Bhonslé went to his jagir and getting an opportunity attacked Mahadji, sent many of his followers to hell, captured his flag, torah, 150 horses, arrows, etc., and returning lived in peace of mind. As the Deccanis have some [unknown] need for the flag and torah, Mahadji trod the path of submission and humility; but Tanaji declined [to restore them.] At last, four days afterwards, that wretch got help from the Bijapuris and attacked Tanaji by surprise. That loyal and martial officer fought valiantly on foot, till he fell in the Emperor’s service. And Anaji (or Dataji) Deshmukh went to hell in the neighbourhood of Pandharpur. It is reported that Mahadji also was wounded......Jai Singh at first wanted to march there in person [and retrieve the disaster], but was persuaded to give up the idea, lest the Bijapuris should take advantage of his absence. So, he has decided to send Abdul Hamid with 5,000 men to that quarter." [H. A. 211b.]
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Then, in a letter to the prime-minister Jafar Khan we have this astounding proposal from Jai Singh to entrap Shiva by the false proposal of a marriage between his daughter and Jai Singh's son, and get him murdered during his journey to the Rajput general's camp :—
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"I have not failed, nor will I do so in future, to exert myself against Bijapur, Golkonda and Shiva in every possible way.........I am trying to arrange matters in such a way that the wicked wretch Shiva will come to see me once, and that in the course of his journey or return [our] clever men may get a favourable opportunity [of disposing of] that luckless fellow in his unguarded moment at that place. This slave of the Court himself, for furthering the Emperor's affairs, is prepared to go so far, regardless of the praise or blame of his act by other people,—that if the Emperor sanctions it, I shall set on foot a proposal for a match with his family and settle the marriage of my son with his daughter,— though the pedigree and caste of Shiva are notoriously low and men like me do not eat food touched by his hand (not to speak of entering into a matrimonial connection with him), and in case this wretch's daughter is captured I shall not condescend to keep her in my harem. As he is of low caste, he will very likely be caught by this bait. But great care should be taken to keep this plan secret. Send me quickly a reply to enable me to act accordingly." [*H. A. 139a.*]
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This letter throws a lurid light on the political morals of the 17th century. When people argue that Afzal Khan could not have possibly intended to stab Shivaji during an interview, they should remember that the sanctimonious Jai Singh was prepared to prove his loyalty by lowering his family honour and laying a fatal snare for Shivaji, a brother Hindu.
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CHAPTER VII
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§1. State of Mughal Deccan, 1667.
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On returning home from Agra in November 1666, Shivaji found the political situation in the Deccan entirely changed. The Mughal viceroy, Jai Singh, was no longer in a position to repeat his former success over the Marathas. Worn out by age, toil, disappointment and domestic anxieties, discredited in his master's eyes by the failure of his invasion of Bijapur, and expecting every day to be removed from his post, Mirza Rajah was visibly hastening to his grave. In May 1667 Prince Muazzam, the newly appointed governor, reached Aurangabad and relieved Jai Singh of his charge. The Rajput veteran set out on his homeward journey in extreme misery of mind and sense of public humiliation, and died on the way at Burhanpur on 2nd July.
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The return of the weak and indolent Muazzam and the friendly Jaswant to power in the Deccan (May 1667) relieved Shivaji of all fear from the Mughal side. It is true that soon afterwards an able and active general, bearing implacable hatred to the Marathas, joined the Mughal camp. Dilir Khan returned from the Gond country to the side of Prince Muazzam in October 1667, but the coming of this famous warrior brought no accession of strength to the imperialists. The Prince was jealous of Dilir's influence and prestige at his father's Court, resented his insubordinate spirit, and regarded him as a spy on behalf of the Emperor. The proud Rohila general, on his part, publicly slighted Maharajah Jaswant Singh, the right-hand man and trusted confidant of the Prince. Nor was this the only source of discord in the Mughal army in the Deccan. Rao Karn Rathor, the chief of Bikanir, was an officer in Dilir's contingent. His Rajputs practised gang-robbery in the camp at night. Dilir Khan, to save his credit with the Emperor, reported the matter to Court, and the Emperor in reply ordered him to arrest the Rao. Dilir was sent towards Bidar to punish the enemy, but Rao Karn remained behind at Aurangabad by order of the Prince. (Dil. 66-68.) The Prince used to help the Rao with money in his distress and enforced idleness. Thus, Dilir's enemies found a ready shelter with Muazzam.
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But even if the viceroy of the Deccan had been a man of greater spirit and enterprise, it would have been impossible for him for some years from this time to get the men and money necessary for crushing Shivaji. The resources of the empire had to be concentrated elsewhere, to meet more pressing dangers. Within a fortnight of Shivaji's escape from Agra, a large army had to be sent to the Panjab to meet the threat of a Persian invasion, and the anxiety on this point was not removed before December. But immediately afterwards, in March 1667, the Yusufzai rising in Peshawar took place, which taxed all the strength of the empire for more than a year afterwards.
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It was, therefore, the Emperor's interest not to molest Shivaji at such a time.
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§2. Shivaji makes peace with the Mughals, 1668.
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The Maratha chief, on his part, was not eager for a war with the imperialists. For three years after his return from Agra, he lived very quietly at home, and avoided giving any fresh provocation to the Mughals. He wanted peace for a time to organize his Government, make a revenue settlement of his lands, repair and provision his forts, and consolidate and extend his power on the western coast at the expense of Bijapur and the Siddis of Janjira. As early as April 1667 he had sent a letter to the Emperor professing terror of the imperial army which was reported to have been despatched against him, and offering to make his submission again and send a contingent of 400 men under his son to fight under the Mughal banners.*
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Aurangzib had taken no notice of this letter. But Shivaji made another attempt. He entreated Jaswant Singh to be his intermediary in making peace with the empire. He wrote to the Maharajah, "The Emperor has cast me off. Otherwise I intended to have begged the task of recovering Qandahar with my unaided resources. I fled (from Agra) in fear of my life. Mirza Rajah, my patron, is dead. If through your intercession I am pardoned, I shall send Shambhu to wait on the Prince and serve as a *mansabdar* at the head of my followers wherever ordered." (*Dil.* 69-70.)
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Jaswant Singh and Prince Muazzam jumped at the offer and recommended Shiva to the Emperor, who accepted the proposal,† and recognized Shiva's title of Rajah, but so far as we can judge did not restore to him any of his forts. Thus a peace was made which lasted nearly two years.
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∗ *Akhbarat*, 10-9. Shivaji's three years' peace with the Mughals 1667-1669 and the causes of rupture: Sabh. 59-62; Jedhe S.; *Dil.* 69-71. The terms of this treaty are nowhere given in detail. *F. R. Surat*, 105.
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† Muazzam's letter to Shivaji, dated 9th March 1668, informs him of the granting of the title of Rajah, and states that his other demands were under consideration. (Parasnis MS., Letter No. 11.)
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In terms of the agreement with the Mughals, Shambhuji was sent to the viceroy's Court at Aurangabad. He interviewed the Prince on 4th November 1667 and was next day permitted to return home. On 5th August next year a Maratha contingent was sent to Aurangabad under Pratap Rao and Niraji Raoji. [Jedhe.] Shambhuji was created a Commander of Five Thousand again and presented with an elephant and a jewelled sword. Jagirs were assigned to him in Berar. Half his contingent attended at Aurangabad, while the other half was sent to the new jagir to help in collecting the revenue. (Dil. 70.) For a year and a half the Maratha contingent lived in the jagir, "feeding themselves at the expense of the Mughal dominion," as Sabhasad frankly puts it.
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During 1667, 1668 and 1669, Shivaji lived at peace with the Mughal Government. The English factory letters at the close of 1668 and in 1669 describe him as "very quiet" and as "Aurangzib's vassal, (bound) to do whatsoever is commanded by the Prince." His relations with Bijapur also were pacific. "The country all about [Karwar] at present is in great tranquillity. Shivaji keeps still at Rajgarh, and though as yet there is no peace made between this king [Adil Shah] and him, yet both refrain from committing any acts of hostility against one another." [F. R. Surat Vol. 105, Karwar to Surat, 16 Sep., 1668.] Still later, on 17th July, 1669, the English traders at Hubli speak of "Shivaji being very quiet, not offering to molest the king's country." (Ibid.)
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In fact, during these three years (1667-69), he was busy framing a set of very wise regulations, which laid the foundations of his Government broad and deep, and have remained an object of admiration to after ages. (Sabh. 27-33, 58.)
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But the peace was essentially a hollow truce on both sides. Shivaji's sole aim in making it was to save himself from the possibility of a combined attack by three great Powers and to recover his strength during this respite from war. Aurangzib, ever suspicious of his sons, looked upon Muazzam's friendship with Shiva as a possible menace to his throne, and he secretly planned to entrap Shivaji a second time, or at least to seize his son and general as hostages. (Sabh. 62.)
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Sabhasad tells us that Aurangzib wrote to his son to arrest Pratap Rao and Niraji Pant, the Maratha agents at Aurangabad, and attach the horses of their troops, and that the Prince, who had learnt of the order beforehand from his Court agent, revealed it to Niraji and instigated the Marathas to escape, while the imperial order arrived a week afterwards, when it was too late to carry it out. (Sabh. 61-62.)
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The rupture, inevitable in any case, was precipitated by financial causes. Retrenchment of expenditure had now become a pressing necessity to Aurangzib, and he ordered the Mughal army in the Deccan to be greatly reduced. The disbanded soldiery took service with Shiva, who had to find employment for them. Another ill-judged measure of imperial parsimony was to attach a part of Shiva's new jagir in Berar in order to recover the lakh of Rupees advanced to him in 1666 for his journey to the Court. The news of it reached Shivaji when he had completed his military preparations.∗ He sent a secret message to Pratap Rao to slip away from Aurangabad with his men. The other half of the contingent fled from Berar at the same time, plundering the villages on the way! (Dil. 71.)
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∗ There is no evidence for holding that Shivaji broke the peace with Aurangzib (Jan. 1670) as a protest against the latter's general order for temple destruction (9 April 1669), though the two events are placed immediately after one another in an English Factory letter (Foster, xiii, 256) and Jedhe.
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∗ Sabhasad, 59, says, "In four months he recovered the 27 forts he had ceded to the Mughals." But it is an exaggeration. There is a most spirited but legendary ballad on the capture of Singh-garh (Powadas.) The Akhbarat and Dilkasha have been of invaluable help in the history of the campaigns of 1671 as reconstructed here, with a few dates from Jedhe.
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§3. War with the Mughals renewed, 1670.
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This breach with the Mughals occurred early in January 1670, or a fortnight earlier. On 11th Dec. 1669, the Emperor received a despatch from the Deccan reporting the desertion of four Maratha captains of Shiva's clan (biradari) from the imperial service. Aurangzib soon set to strengthening his forces in the Deccan. On 26th January 1670 an order was sent to Dilir to leave Deogarh in the Gond country and hasten to Aurangabad. Daud Khan was ordered to arrange for the defence of his province of Khandesh and then go to Prince Muazzam's assistance. Many other officers were transferred from North India to the Deccan. (Akhbarat, year 12.)
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Shivaji opened his offensive with great vigour and immediate success.* His roving bands looted Mughal territory, and he attacked several of the forts which he had ceded to Aurangzib by the Treaty of Purandar. **The imperial officers in command of most of these forts fell after fighting heroically. Every day the Emperor got news of such loss of forts. But some of these places defied capture by reason of the strength of their fortifications and abundant supply of war material." (Dil. 64.)
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His most conspicuous success was the capture of Kondana from Udai-bhan, its Rajput qiladar, (4th Feb. 1670). Assisted by some Koli guides who knew the place well, one dark night Tanaji Malusare, with 300 picked Mavle infantry men, scaled the less abrupt hill-side near the Kalian gate by means of rope-ladders and advanced into the fort, slaying the sentinels. The alarm was given; the Rajputs, stupefied with opium, took some time to arm and come out; but in the meantime the Marathas had made their footing secure. The garrison fought desperately, but the Mavles with their war cry of Hara! Hara! Mahadev! carried havoc into their ranks. The two chiefs challenged each other and both fell down dead, after a single combat. The Marathas, disheartened by the fall of their leader, were rallied by his brother Suryaji Malusare, opened the Kalian gate to their supporting columns, and took complete possession of the fort. The rest was butchery. Twelve hundred Rajputs were slain, and many others perished in trying to escape down the hill-side. The victors set fire to the thatched huts of the cavalry lines and the signal blaze informed Shivaji at Rajgarh, nine miles southwards, that the fort had been taken. He mourned the death of Tanaji as too high a price for the fort, and named it Singh-garh after the lion-heart that had won it.
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On 8th March, Nilo Pant recovered Purandar, capturing its qiladar Razi-ud-din Khan. (M. A. 99.) A few days later the Marathas looted the village of Chandor, seizing an elephant, 12 horses and Rs. 40,000 belonging to the imperial treasury, then entered the town and plundered it, while the imperial qiladar was shut up in the fort. At one place, however, he met with repulse. The fort of Mahuli (in North Konkan, 50 miles n. e. of Bombay) was held for the Emperor by a gallant and able Rajput named Manohar Das Gaur, the nephew of Rajah Bithal Das of Shah Jahan's time. Shiva invested it in February 1670 and attempted a surprise at night. He sent up 500 of his men to the ramparts by means of rope-ladders. But Manohar Das, who "used to be on the alert day and night," fell on the party, slew most of the men and hurled the rest down the precipice. Shivaji then raised the siege, turned to Kalian-Bhivandi and recovered it after slaying its thanahdar Uzbak Khan and driving out the Mughal outpost there. (Dil. 65; O. C. 3415, Surat to Co., 30 March 1670.) Ludi Khan, the faujdar of Konkan, was wounded in a battle with the Maratha forces, defeated in a second encounter, and expelled from his district. The Mughal faujdar of Nander (?) fled away, deserting his post.
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The only officer who made an attempt to uphold the imperial prestige in the Deccan was Daud Khan Qureshi, who had been second only to Dilir Khan during Jai Singh's Maratha campaign of 1665. Leaving the province of Khandesh in charge of his son, Daud Khan arrived at Ahmadnagar on 28th March 1670. Six days afterwards he set out with 7,000 cavalry to expel Shiva's men who were roving near Parnir, Junnar, and Mahuli. They evacuated Parnir and Junnar and retired before him, while he occupied these two posts. Meantime, Shivaji had invested three Mughal forts in that region, and Daud Khan left Junnar to relieve them. But at the approach of his Van (under his gallant son Hamid and Ludi Khan) the Marathas raised the siege.
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and fled away, and the Mughal advanced division fell back on their main body.
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Soon afterwards, these two officers went with a detachment and destroyed an old fort which the Marathas were repairing on the frontier, 20 miles from Mahuli. Towards the end of April, Daud Khan himself marched to Mahuli, and after throwing provisions into the fort, returned to Junnar. The Emperor in open Court highly praised Daud Khan for his spirit in invading the enemy's country, regardless of the smallness of his own force, and thereby creating a useful diversion of Shivaji's attention. (*Akhbarat*, year 13.)
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On 16th June Mahuli too was lost to the Emperor. Manohar Das, conscious of the inadequacy of the garrison and provisions in the fort to repel another attack of the superior Maratha forces, resigned his post in despair of getting reinforcements. Shivaji seized the opportunity, and captured Mahuli, slaying its new commandant Alawardi Beg and his garrison of 200 men. (*Dil.* 65.) By the end of April 1670* he had looted 51 villages near Ahmadnagar, Junnar and Parenda.