Shivaji and His Times c9.s2: §4. Surat threatened for chauth
Shivaji and His Times c9.s2
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§4. Surat threatened for chauth
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From the neighbourhood of Ramnagar, Moro Trimbak Pingle sent three successive letters on behalf of his master to the governor and leading traders of Surat demanding four lakhs of Rupees as blackmail, and threatening a visit to the city in the case of their refusal. The third of these epistles was very peremptory in tone; in it Shivaji wrote, "I demand for the third time, which I declare shall be the last, the *chauth* or quarter part of the king's revenue under your Government. As your Emperor has forced me to keep an army for the defence of my people and country, that army must be paid by his subjects. If you do not send me the money speedily, then make ready a large house for me, for I shall go and sit down there and receive the revenue and custom duties, as there is none now to stop my passage."
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∗ Now called Dharampur. The old capital Ramnagar, now known as Nagar, stands 24 m. s. w. of Dharampur, the new capital.
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At the first news of the arrival of the Maratha army in Ramnagar, the governor of Surat summoned all the leading Hindu and Muhammadan merchants and proposed that they should subscribe Rs. 45,000 for engaging 500 horse and 3,000 foot to guard the town for two months. Officers were immediately sent to make a list of all the Hindu houses in the town for assessing this contribution. But no soldiers were enlisted, and the governor pocketed whatever money was actually raised for the defence.
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On the receipt of the third letter from Shiva, the helpless citizens were seized with a panic. The richer men went to the governor that very night and wanted permission to remove their families to Broach and other towns for safety. He kept them waiting till after midnight, gave them the permission, but retracted it next morning, when he held a second conference with the townsmen, asking them to raise the blackmail demanded, —the merchants paying one *lakh* and the *desais* raising two *lakhs* from the cultivators of the villages around. After a discussion lasting a day and a night, in which he reduced his demand to Rs. 60,000, the people finally refused to pay anything, as they knew too well that he would appropriate the money instead of buying the enemy off with it. Thereafter, every time that there was an alarm of the approach of Shivaji's troops, the citizens of Surat hastened to flee from the town, but the governor shut the gates to keep them in!*
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We may conclude the history of the Koli Rajahs here. Vikram Shah, the ex-chief of Jawhar, on losing his kingdom in June 1672, fled to the adjoining Mughal district of Nasik. From this place he used to sally forth with roving bands of his own, plunder the peasantry, and cut off communications in the north Thana district, now in Maratha hands. His son joined Dhara Rai Koli (another dispossessed chief) and took to brigandage, causing considerable loss to Maratha territory and military routes. Finally both were captured and executed. (J. S.; T. S. 40a.)
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§5. Further Maratha successes in 1672, but raid into Khandesh and Berar, Dec. 1672, defeated.
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From their base in the Koli country of Jawhar and Ramnagar, a Maratha force under Moro Trimbak easily crossed the Ghats into the Nasik district, in the middle of July 1672, plundered and occupied it. Jadav Rao Deccani, a great-grandson of Lakhji Jadav (the maternal grandfather of Shivaji), with 4,000 men, was the Mughal thanahdar of Nasik-Trimbak. He was defeated and captured after losing many of his troops in battle. Siddi Halal, the thanahdar of Vani-Dindori (or North Nasik district), was also defeated and his charge looted by the Marathas. For this failure, both the officers were sharply reprimanded by Bahadur Khan, and in anger they deserted to the Marathas, with two other officers and all the men of their "four great regiments of horse" (October.) Other desertions were apprehended, and Dilir Khan was left in great danger with a weakened army to defend the province of Gujrat against the exultant enemy.*
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∗ Conquest of Koli country and its effect on Surat: F. R. Surat, Vol. 3, Consult. Surat 21 June, 1672; Vol. 87, Surat to Bombay, 21 and 25 June; Vol. 106, Bombay to Surat, 8 July; O. C. 3649; F. R. Surat, Vol. 87, Surat to Persia, 1 November 1673; Sabh. 72; Jadhe. The threatening letter is given (in Persian) in the R. A. S. MS. Persian 71 (Khalut-i-Shivaji), 3, and the reply to it in A. S. B. MS. F. 58, p. 98.
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On 25th October, a large Maratha army appeared at Ramnagar again, and Surat trembled in alarm, especially as a party of Shivaji's horse advanced to Chikli. But that city was not Shivaji's objective now. He made a lightning raid into a different corner of the Mughal empire.
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He sent his light cavalry to plunder Berar and Telingana.† The viceroy Bahadur Khan, on hearing of it, set out from Ahmadnagar due eastwards, left his heavy baggage at Bir (70 miles to the east) and Qandahar, and arrived as fast as he could near the fort of Ramgir (18·35 N. 79·35 E.) in pursuit of the raiders. But they had been two days beforehand with him, looted the village at the foot of the fort, and carried off the families of most of the inhabitants for ransom. So the baffled Mughal general returned by way of Indur (modern Nizamabad), 95 miles due west of Ramgir. Entering the Qutb-Shahi territory, he ravaged the land at the instigation of Dilir Khan. The Marathas in their retreat divided into two bodies; one turned south-west to their own country by crossing the frontier of the Golkonda State, and the other moved northwards by way of Chanda into imperial territory. Dilir Khan was sent off to pursue the first division, while Bahadur Khan tried to bar the advance of the second.
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∗ *Dil.* 116; *F. R. Surat* 87, Surat to Bombay, 20 July, 1672, Vol. 3, Surat, 26 October; Bombay to Surat, 18 October, in *F. R. Surat* 106. *T. S.* 33b for the two deserters. Siddi Halal, formerly an officer of Afzal Khan (of Bijapur), entered the Emperor's service, but used to write secretly to Shivaji news of everything that occurred at the Mughal head-quarters. *Akh.* 13-18. (MS. reads Shah for Siddi.)
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† *Dil.* 116, 120-122 (full.) The exact month is uncertain. The *Shivapur Yadi* merely says that "Shivaji took horse on 29 Dec. 1672 and Annaji Pant, was sent on 6 Jan. 1673"—without giving their destinations.
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Sending his heavy baggage back to Aurangabad from the neighbourhood of the village of Jamkhed, the viceroy hastened by way of Partur, Shellode and Peedola, and arrived near the pass of Antur (38 miles north of Aurangabad.) Here the Marathas turned at bay, and attacked the Mughal Van under Sujan Singh Bundela. But they were repulsed and pursued till evening, many of the horses of traders and other kinds of booty were recovered from the enemy and restored to their owners. Next day the Mughals crossed the pass and encamped at Durgapur, four miles from the fort of Antur.
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The following day, when they were marching to Aurangabad in rather straggling groups, before the time fixed for the starting of the general, one body of 10,000 imperialists was charged by 750 picked Maratha cavalry on the left of the pass of Bakapur, six miles off. After an obstinate battle, in which the Mughals were reinforced by their general, the Marathas retreated, leaving 400 of their number dead on the field. The credit of this victory belongs to the Bundelas under Subh-Karn, whose gallant son Dalpat Rao was wounded in the fight.
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The division under Dilir Khan rejoined Bahadur Khan after pursuing the other Maratha band into west Bijapur territory, and capturing much booty. The general cantoned his troops at Pathri, 76 miles s. e. of Aurangabad. This Maratha raid into Khandesh and Berar, unlike their first incursion in December 1670, was completely foiled, and the Mughal troops showed commendable mobility and enterprise. (Nov.-Dec. 1672.)
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To guard against a repetition of these two Maratha penetrations into Khandesh from Balaghat, Bahadur Khan set up gates across the tops of the chief passes and posted troops with artillery at each of them. Bajaji Nayak Nimbalkar, "a great Deccani zamindar" and father of Shiva's son-in-law Mahadji, with his family, was now won over by the Mughals. (Dil. 122 and 125.)
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§6. Desultory fighting in Desh, 1673.
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Maratha activity, thus shut out of Khandesh and Berar, burst forth in another quarter. They next assembled in the Puna district. Bahadur Khan left his baggage at Chamargunda, hastened to meet the invaders, and defeated them after a severe battle.* Then he encamped at Pedgaon, on the north bank of the Bhima, eight miles due south of Chamargunda. This place became the residence of his army for many years afterwards, and here a fort and town grew up from their cantonment, which the Emperor permitted him to name Bahadur-garh. (Dil. 126.)
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Pedgaon occupies a position of great strategic importance. It stands on the plain just clear of the long mountain spur running eastwards from Puna. From this place the Mughal general could at will move westwards along the north of the range to protect the valleys of the Mula and the Bhima (the North Puna district), or along the south of it to guard the valleys of the Nira and the Baramati (the southern portion of the district.) Northwards he could communicate with his great depot of arms and provisions at Ahmadnagar, without having to cross any river (except at the foot of that fort); and southwards he could easily invade Bijapur through the Sholapur district. In short, the cantonment at Pedgaon served as the Mughal advanced base for some years after this time, exactly as Aurangzib's camp at Brahmapuri, 90 miles s. e. e. of it, did twenty-two years later, when the Mughal empire had extended further south.
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∗ It is probably this campaign that is referred to in M. A. 128, among the Court news of 1673, in the following terms: "Bahadur Khan had defeated Shiva after a forced march of 120 miles, made large captures of spoils and sent them with Dalpat to the Emperor, who viewed them on 22 Oct."
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It was most probably in this year (1673)* that Shivaji met with a sore disappointment. The fort of Shivner, a mile west of Junnar, was no doubt of strategic importance, as it guarded the Mughal frontier in the north of the Puna district and blocked the shortest route by which he could sally out of North Konkan to overrun Mughal Deccan. But what gave it the greatest value in Shivaji's eyes was that it was his birth-place. The Mughal governor of Shivner was Abdul Aziz Khan, a Brahman convert to Islam and one of the most faithful and valued servants of Aurangzib. Shivaji promised him "mountains of gold" for surrendering the fort into Maratha hands; and he, pretending consent, received the money, appointed a day for the delivery, and asked Shivaji to send 7,000 cavalry to take the fort over. But Abdul Aziz at the same time secretly informed Bahadur Khan of the plot; the Maratha army fell into an ambuscade planned by the Mughals, and retired in disappointment with heavy loss. (Fryer, i. 339-340.)
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∗ But J. S. asserts that he once besieged Junnar (i.e., Shivner) in Sept. 1670.
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§7. Gains from Bijapur and raids into Kanara, 1673.
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In another direction, however, a wide door for conquest was now opened to the Marathas. Ali Adil Shah II. died on 24th Nov., 1672, and was succeeded on the throne of Bijapur by Sikandar, a boy of four years. Khawas Khan (an Abyssinian general) became regent and monopolized all the power in the State, thus breaking his former agreement to share the government of the realm with the other three leading nobles,—by which Abdul Muhammad (ex-wazir) was to hold the eastern province, Bahlol Khan the western (with Panhala fort), Muzaffar Khan the Kanara districts, and the regent the capital. He refused to hand over to them the royal forts in their respective districts, and they therefore left him. "Disturbances broke out on all sides," and the Government was weakened by this internal discord.
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Shivaji was not the man to miss such an opportunity. He broke off friendly relations with the new regent and recalled his ambassador Babaji Nayak Punde, from Bijapur. Then he sent a strong force under Annaji Pant on a secret enterprise of great importance. This force assembled at Rajapur. One division of it, equipped for scaling and storming forts, was sent in advance under Kondaji Farzand, with orders to march secretly by night only, while Annaji himself with the rest of the troops remained concealed in the great forest of the Ratnagiri district.
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In the pitch dark night of 6th March, 1673, Kondaji arrived at the foot of Panhala, and taking sixty picked Mavles with him, silently scaled the steep hill-side, every man helping his next comrade up by the hand. On reaching the summit, they suddenly blew their trumpets from different sides and charged through the fort. The surprise was complete. The wildest confusion and alarm reigned among the garrison, which was heightened by the drums beating to arms and the hastily roused soldiers running hither and thither. A confused hand to hand fighting raged for the rest of the night. Kondaji himself attacked and slew the commandant of the fort. The chief civil officer or Paymaster Nagoji Pandit fled away with his bare life. The other Maratha troops swarmed into the fort, the day dawned, and the whole place was soon occupied by the victors, who seized the local officials and beat them to discover the hidden treasure in their own houses and the Government offices.
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On hearing of the victory, Annaji came up from the rear, and Shivaji himself arrived from Raigarh, and spent a month in the newly acquired fort which he planned to turn into an impregnable tower of refuge. The success of the Marathas continued; Parli was captured on 1st April and Satara on 27th July.∗
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∗ *B. S.* 436—440; *Jedhe*; the Sanskrit poem *Parnal-parvat-grahan-akhyanam* by Jayaram. *Jedhe* says that Panhala was taken by seducing some of the garrison; but Jayaram contradicts him and *Basatin* is silent on the point.
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§8. Battle of Umrani, 1673.
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The loss of Panhala roused the Court of Bijapur from its sleep. Khawas Khan was blamed for his incompetence and neglect in defending the realm. Bahlol Khan was sent to recover the fort, while three other great generals were summoned from the provinces to join him and with Mughal co-operation make a united attack on the Marathas. But, as usual, Shivaji struck the first blow and upset his enemies' plans. He detached Pratap Rao, Anand Rao and several other generals, at the head of 15,000 troops to attack Bahlol before his allies could join him. By two night-marches of great speed and secrecy, the Marathas came up with Bahlol at Umrani, 36 miles west of Bijapur city, and completely enveloped his camp at a distance, before he knew of their presence. They quietly cut him off from his water-supply, and next morning charged his camp in successive groups from different quarters. The battle raged all the day with intense ferocity. Many were slain and wounded, though the light and elusive Marathas suffered less than the hard-pressed and densely crowded Bijapuris. But Bahlol's Afghans held their ground with desperate tenacity. Indeed, flight would have meant destruction for them after that day-long fight in April heat without any water to quench the thirst of man or beast and with an exultant light cavalry hanging on their heels.
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At nightfall the two forces separated. Bahlol sent a secret message to Pratap Rao saying that he was not really going to fight against Shivaji, but had to make a show of hostility in order to satisfy his Government, and therefore each side should spare the other. Pratap Rao agreed, probably for a bribe, and withdrew his troops from a point in the line of investment, through which Bahlol's wounded army safely fell back on his base Tikota, with the loss of one war-elephant and some baggage only, (about 15th April.)
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Shivaji sharply censured his general for letting Bahlol escape when he could have easily crushed him and seized his entire camp.∗
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∗ Umrani: Sabh. 78; *Parnal-parvat-grahana*; B. S. 440. Nesari : Sabh. 79, and F. R. Surat 88 (Narayan Shenvi's letter.)
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From the field of Umrani, Pratap Rao made a dash south-westwards into Kanara, robbing many places, in May. (Ch. 10 § 9.) Shortly afterwards, Bahlol with a replenished army, took post near Kolhapur, where he continued for some months, defeating the Marathas in several encounters and forcing all their roving bands to leave Kanara. We hear of his pressing hard upon Shivaji and successfully defending that region throughout June, July and August, 1673. But in September he fell very ill at Miraj, and the Bijapur and Golkonda Governments sought Shivaji's help in defending themselves from a Mughal invasion threatened by Bahadur Khan. As Gerald Aungier, the President of the Bombay Council, wrote on 16th September, "Shivaji bears himself up manfully against all his enemies;...... and though it is probable that the Mughal's army may fall into his country this year and Bahlol Khan on the other side, yet neither of them can stay long for want of provisions, and his flying army will constantly keep them in alarm; nor is it either their design to destroy Shivaji totally, for the Umaras maintain a politic war to their own profit at the king's charge, and never intend to prosecute it violently so as to end it." (F. R. Surat 106.)
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At the end of the rainy season, Shivaji opened a grand campaign on 10th October (the dashahara day) and raided Kanara, both upland and coast. Here he continued till the middle of December, being finally forced to retire by the pressure of Bahlol, Sharza and other Bijapuri generals. (Ch. 10 § 9.)
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§ 9. Battle of Nesari and death of Pratap Rao, 1674.
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It was to restore his prestige after this set back in Kanara that he next month (January 1674) sent Pratap Rao against Bahlol Khan, severely censuring him for his neglect in having let that Bijapuri general off instead of crushing his power once for all, when he was at his mercy at Umrani in April last. The Rajah wrote to his general in anger, "Bahlol has come again. Go with your army, destroy him and win a decisive victory. Otherwise, never show your face to me again!"
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Stung to the quick by this letter, Pratap Rao sought Bahlol out at Nesari, "in a narrow passage between two hills," (24 Feb. 1674.) Smarting under his master's censure, he threw generalship to the winds, and rushed upon the Bijapuri army followed by only six horsemen, the rest of his soldiers hanging back from the mad charge. The gallant seven were cut down by the swarm of foes, and much havoc was done among the Marathas who were disheartened by the fall of their leader; "a river of blood flowed." Shivaji greatly mourned the death of Pratap Rao and repented of his angry letter. The dead general's relatives and dependents were well provided for, and his daughter was six years later married to Rajaram, the favourite son of the king.
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Anand Rao, a lieutenant of Pratap Rao, rallied the disheartened army of his chief. Shiva appointed him to an independent command and ordered him not to return alive without defeating the enemy.[*] At this Anand Rao went off with the whole body of his cavalry far into Bijapur territory in search of Bahlol. Dilir Khan with the Mughal army advanced promptly to the succour of his brother Afghan, Bahlol Khan. But Anand Rao, not daring to fight two such large forces, retreated towards Kanara, making forced marches of 45 miles a day. The two Khans, unable to overtake the mobile Marathas, gave up the pursuit and turned,—Bahlol to Kolhapur and Dilir to Panhala, whence, after a 5 days' halt with the intention of besieging it, he fell back on his base (Parnir?)
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∗ The Maratha achievements in this paragraph and the next two are ascribed to Hansaji Mohite by both Sabhasad and Chitnis. But Narayan Shenvi, writing from Raigarh, only a month later, on information supplied by Shiva's ministers, states that it was Anand Rao who rallied the Maratha army after the fall of Pratap Rao, and was the leader in all these campaigns. Jedhe supports him, and I have followed these original authorities. The place of Pratap Rao's death is called Jesari (a misreading for Nesari) in Sabhasad and Nioti in Jedhe, and described as situated in the Panhala district. This Nesari lies 45 m.s. of Kolhapur, in the Garh-Hinglaj sub-division of the Kolhapur State, one mile north of the Ghatprabha river, and 11 miles south of Garh-Hinglaj town. [Degree sheet 47 L.] There is "a narrow passage between two hills" near it. There is another Nesari,
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Anand Rao, penetrating further into Kanara, robbed the bazar (peth) of Sampgaon, about 20 miles from Bankapur, in Bahlol's jagir, capturing 150,000 hun worth of booty (23 March.) Thence he set out on return with 3,000 ox-loads of plunder. Bahlol and Khizr Khan, with 2,000 cavalry and many foot-soldiers, tried to intercept him near Bankapur, but were defeated after a desperate battle and put to flight with the loss of a brother of Khizr Khan. Anand Rao robbed the entire Bijapuri army, captured 500 horses, 2 elephants, and much other prize. (March, 1674.)*
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but too far from Panhala to be the battle field, viz., Nesargi of Ind. Atlas, Sheet 41 N. E., 18 miles east of Belgaum, on the Belgaum-Kaladgi road. It was the halting place of Little's detachment when co-operating with Parashuram Bhao, (Moor, p. 15; Bom. Gaz. xxi. 591.)
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∗ The Dutchman Van Reade, 15th Dec. 1674, (Dutch Records, Vol. 32, No. 824), calls the pillaged bazar "Honspent, situated on the borders of Bijapur near Bankapur." Narayan names it "a city called Pench, 8 leagues from Bankapur." Sabhasad refers to this campaign on p. 80, but gives other names to the two generals: "Hambir Rao went with his army to Sampgaon [19 m. s. e. of Belgaum.] Husain Khan Miana, a great Bijapuri general, with 5,000 Pathans marched against Hambir Rao. A severe battle took place between them, from noon till next morning. Many men, horses and elephants were slain in Husain's army. He was captured with 4,000 horses, 12 elephants, many camels, and property beyond calculation. His whole army was destroyed."
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But the Bijapuris had their revenge immediately afterwards. Bahlol Khan, "regarding the loss [of the elephants] as a great disgrace to him, became desperate, attacked the robbers again, and being reinforced secured such a victory that the robbers had to abandon 1,000 horses and were pursued for a long distance." It was not the Maratha policy to fight pitched battles during a raid. So, Anand Rao rapidly retreated with his booty to Shiva's dominions, left it there in safety, and then at the beginning of April was ordered to ascend the plateau (bala-ghat) for raiding more towns.*
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On 8th April, Shivaji held a grand review of his troops at Chiplun, and appointed Hansaji Mohite commander-in-chief with the title of 'Hambir Rao' in succession to Pratap Rao Gujar. Bounties were lavishly distributed among the soldiers. [Sabh. 79; Jedhe S.] The fort of Kelanja (Mohangarh) fell to him on 24th April.
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§10. Defeat of Dilir Khan, January 1674.
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Late in January 1674, a Mughal army tried to descend into Konkan and cause a diversion in that quarter simultaneously with the Bijapuri invasion of the Panhala region. But Shiva stopped the paths by breaking the roads and mountain passes and keeping a constant guard at various points where the route was most difficult; and the Mughals had to return baffled. It was probably this expedition to which the English merchants refer in a letter written at the end of January 1674, in the following words, "Dilir Khan hath lately received a rout by Shivaji and lost 1,000 of his Pathans, and Shivaji about five or six hundred men.” If so, Dilir Khan had either made a rash frontal attack on one of the entrenched passes or fallen into an ambuscade of the Marathas. Throughout these four months, December 1673 to March 1674, Shivaji’s wars with Adil Shah and the Siddis were carried on languidly with only occasional outbreaks of vigour. The soldiers on both sides were weary of fighting and their commanders not in earnest to end this paying business. The winter rains of this year were very heavy and bred pestilence. Shiva in December and January was compelled to distribute his horses throughout his dominions in order to stable them in comfort.*
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∗ Sabhasad, 81, says that the raid (under Hambir Rao) extended over Khandesh, Baglana, Gujrat, Ahmadabad, Burhanpur, Berar, and Mahur, to the bank of the Narmada, and that the tired Mughal pursuers always lagged 30 or 40 miles behind, so that the Marathas returned home unmolested and with all their booty.
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Soon afterwards the Mughal power in the Deccan was crippled. The rising of the Khaibar Afghans became so serious that Aurangzib had to leave Delhi (7th April) for Hasan Abdal, in order to direct the war from the rear, and next month Dilir Khan was called to the North-western frontier. Bahadur Khan was left alone in the Deccan with a greatly weakened force. This lull in the war was utilized by Shivaji to crown himself with the greatest pomp and ceremony. (M. A. 132; F. R. Surat 88, Oxinden’s *Letter*, 21 May, 1674.)
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The eve of Shivaji’s coronation affords a suitable time for making a survey of his territorial position. We have seen in Chapter 3 §5 what his kingdom was in 1648 and in 1659. His gains between November 1659 and February 1660 were shortlived except in S. Konkan. Here he completed the conquest of the Ratnagiri district by taking possession of its western part (including all the ports except Rajapur and Vingurla as well as its southern extremity. From this time his power began to impinge on that of the Savants of Vadi (or the desais of Kudal, as they were then called), and after a long and confused struggle much of the latter's territory as well as the ports of Rajapur and Vingurla passed into Shivaji's hands, (by the middle of 1663), and all South Konkan owned him as its sole master. He had already wrested the western coast of the Kolaba district from the Siddis.
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∗ Narayan Shenvi’s letter from Raigarh in F. R. Surat, Vol. 88; O. C. 3906 and 3939; Dutch Records, Vol. 34, No. 840.
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What he ceded to the Mughals by the Treaty of Purandar (1665) touched only his territories in the Puna and Thana districts, while his acquisitions in middle and south Konkan remained intact. Most of these cessions even were recovered in 1670 and 1671.
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From 1664 the Marathas began to raid Kanara,—both the Karwar coast and the uplands of Hubli and Bednur; but their actual conquest of the coast was achieved as late as 1675.
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Maratha activities in 1671 and 1672 resulted in the annexation of Baglana (north of the Nasik district) and the Koli country (Jawhar and Ramnagar) in North Konkan, between Surat and the Thana district. The hill-forts in the Chandor range seem to have repeatedly changed hands between the Mughals and the Marathas. But their importance in Shivaji's eyes was only strategical, as they secured his northward route to Baglana and Khandesh.
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Southwards, Shivaji's power was firmly planted by his annexation of Panhala in 1673 and Kolhapur and Phonda in 1675. Thus his boundary in 1675 extended beyond the Kolhapur district well into western Karnatak or Kanara uplands.
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The full extent of his kingdom at his death (1680) will be described at the beginning of Ch. 15.
Linked texts (4)
- Junnar
- Nesari
- Tikota
- Ciṭṇīs bakhar — Malhār Rāmrāv Ciṭṇīs 1810, Marathi