A History of Agriculture in India v2.c86.s2: Sivaji (1627-1680)

A History of Agriculture in India v2.c86.s2

Language: English

Sivaji (1627-1680)

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Leadership to the revolt was provided by the chiefs who were men of families who had for generations filled the offices of heads of villages or functionaries of districts, and had often been employed as partisans under the governments of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur. One such chief was Maloji Bhosla, who rose to a command of 5,000 horses in the service of Sultan of of Ahmadnagar. His son was Shahji, the father of Sivaji.

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At the age of fifteen Sivaji freed his *jagir* of Poona. His constant companions were the Mawalis, the hillmen, who taught him to ride and shoot, and to find his way in the pathless jungle, which covered a great part of the country. Like Akbar, he was unable to read and write, and his education was oral. He avidly listened to epics, like the *Mahabharata*.

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Sivaji built a great reputation for skill in reducing forts. He conquered the fort of Torna, some twenty miles (32 km) from Poona. 'By fraud and stratagem, and by his marvellous skill in the conduct of seiges, every fort that he approached fell into his hands after a few days investment,' states Khafi Khan. 'He reduced Sattara, Pannala and ten other forts belonging to Bijapur. He rebuilt the forts which had formerly stood on the sea-shore, and he constructed also vessels of war, which were kept under the guns of the fortress. With these vessels he attacked and plundered ships which were proceeding to Europe and to Mecca. The inaccessible forts of Rajgarh and Chakna were his abodes, and he had secured several islands in the sea by means of a fleet which he had formed. He built several forts also in those parts. Altogether, he had forty forts, all of which were well supplied with provisions and munitions of war.'

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In 1648 Sivaji occupied the whole of the northern Konkan. His rule extended on the sea-coast from Kaliani in the north to the neighbourhood of Goa, a distance of over 250 miles (402 km); east of the Ghats, it reached to Mirich on River Krishna; and its breadth in some parts was as much as 100 miles (161 km). It was not a vast dominion, but it supported an army of over 40,000, and had been built with incredible patience and daring.

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His return to the Deccan from Delhi was followed by a series of triumphs. Surat was again sacked (1671), and the Maratha swarms spread southerly past Madras to Tanjore, levying blackmail wherever they went. In June 1674, he was enthroned at Raigarh. As he was meditating still greater aggrandizement, a sudden illness put an end to his career in 1680, when he was not quite fifty-three years of age.

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Sivaji was a man with an extraordinary personality. According to Ramchandra Nilakanth Amatya, 'He overcame every enemy, some he openly attacked, some he compelled to accept a fight, some he surprised by means of ingenious contrivance, others he weakened by involving them in mutual dissensions, sometimes secretly fomenting quarrels; others he confounded by sudden raids upon their camps and habitations. Some he boldly met in open combat, some he won over through tempting offers, some he boldly went to visit personally, some were scattered through curious stratagem.'⁵

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⁵ Sardesai, Govind Sakharam. *New History of the Marathas*, Vol. I, *Shivaji and His Line*, 1600-1707, p. 262

Linked texts (1)

Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit