Shivaji and His Times c9.s2.4

c9.s2.4

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!*