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NEW HISTORY
OF
THE MARATHAS
VOLUME I
SHIVAJI & HIS LINE
[1600-1707]
GOVIND SAKHARAM SARDESAI, B. A.
Rupees Tent
Aix Rights Reserved by the Author
JF i r s t Impression 1 O
'Printed by B. G. Bhawaee at the Kannatak Printinfu Press ■Chira Bazar* Bombay 2
Published by K. B, Bhawale for Phoenix Publications - * Chira Bascar, Bombay 2
^ I 3
of
Sayaji Rao Gaelcwad
Sena*Khaslihel Samsher Bahadurp Grand Commander of the Star of IndUtp
Maharaja of Baroda
[1875-1939]
to whom 1 have given all my life’s years of Service, and who had led my young steps into the pleasant path of History*
Q. S. Sardesai
PREFACE
The great historian of the Rise of the Dutch Republic has truly remarked : “ The spectacle of a brave nation, inspired by the soul of one great man and rising against an overwhelming desix)tism, will always speak to the heart from generation to generation.” This hope has inspired me to write my book. And there is a special need in the present condition of India why we should know and ponder on such a history. Maratha history is no longer the cherished trea- sure of a single community or province ; it should prove a source of inspiration, wisdom and warning to all India.
The character and aclhevements of Shivaji and the Peshwas have left a permanent mark on the history of India. They form the most recent example of our genius for nation-making of which we today may well be proud. Of all the diverse races inhabiting the Indian Continent, each gifted with a peculiar trait of its own, the Marathas alone can claim to have made a distinct contribution to the political fortunes of this land by daring to establish Indian self-rule throughout the country, although measured by the length of time their construction proved too short-lived. For over half a centur^^ the politics of India were directed from Satara or Poona. The Maratha Government, with all its faults, inspired the people under its rule with a living sense of unity and co-opcration with- out which no self-rule is attainable. It thus provided free scope for the energies of all classes of the people, each according to its natural bent. This is a political ICvSSon which India sorely needs today. If the true function of history is to impart wisdom of the past for the benefit of present, to warn a nation in the days of prosperity against the hidden dangers of creeping deterioration, as also to sti- mulate its courage and call forth its recuperative energy in times of adversity, — then India cannot afford to ignore the lessons which Maratha history has left behind in its short but eventful career. The inspiring careers of Shivaji and Baji Rao I, the daring planning and earnest execution of Madhav Rao I and Mahadji Sindia, contrasted with the vices and follies of Raghunath Rao Dada and Baji Rao II, convey a moral which modern India will be the wiser for laying to its heart *
Unfortunately, however, no worthy narrative of Maratha achieve-
2
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
ments and failures has yet been written by weaving together all the fascinating and colourful material which the patient industry and critical acumen of modern scholars have made available to us. The subject still waits for scientific investigation by a trained mind en- dowed also with the constructive vision of a true historian. By far the largest proportion of the original sources exists in Marathi only, and they cannot reach workers ignorant of that language. On the other hand indigenous writers in Maharashtra are often handicapped by their ignorance of Persian, French and sometimes English also, and their want of access to essential books and manuscript records in these foreign languages ; for we should never forget that the history of India in the eighteenth century is made up of the varying strands of the European and Indian powers struggling for dominion in this vast land, and each of them has left records of its transactions written in its native tongue, which cannot be left out of account.
The historical ancestors of the Marathas such as the Mauryas, the Guptas, the Yadavas, the Parmars and others who had wielded the sceptre in this land at different times, have left very scanty records of their reigns. What remains to remind us of their times consists of a few cryptic inscriptions, fanciful eulogies (prashasti) of court poets, and a few old coins or stray notices of foreign travel- lers. No full and documented history can be built in such poverty of materials. But as the Maratha rule best known to us, happens to be a very modern phenomenon, there are available in the Marathi language the most valuable materials in the form of state-papers, news-reports, diplomatic despatches, legal decisions, diaries, chrono- logies, land-grants, official and private correspondence, military regu- lations, budgets and accounts. The enormous volume of these records can be judged from the fact that at a rough estimate they extend over a hundred thousand printed pages. This is a proud heritage of Maharashtra unshared by any other province of India.
The first history of the Marathas worthy of the name was pub- lished by Captain James Grant Duff in three volumes as far back as 1826. Since then a vast amount of original material unknown to him has come to light. Historical research in our country has made phenomenal progress during the present century, with the effect of profoundly altering the objective of historical treatment Besides fresh points of view are being forced on us by deep social changes bringing on a new mental outlook and by the advancing tide of re- search apd criticism in this field as in others. As Goethe observes :
PREFACE
3
History must from time to time be re-written, not because many new facts have been discovered, but because new aspects come into view, because the participant in the progress of an age is led to standpoints from which the past can be reviewed and judged in a novel manner/'
My second justification for attempting this task can be best stated in the words of Professor Goldwin Smith : “ Each nation in the main writes its own history best ; it best knows its own land, its own institutions, the relative importance of its own events, the characters of its own great men. Each nation has also its peculia- rities of view, its prejudices, its self-love, which require to be corrected by the impartial or even hostile view of others/’
An extreme form of national pride had hitherto kept our mo- dern Maratha historical workers back from using the English language, which is the only medium that can reach all parts of India and also make their researches available to the civilized world in general. The most glaring example of this mental attitude was the great explorer and life-long devotee of the muse of history in Maha- rashtra, the late Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade. Had he and other workers of his school published the results of their investigations in P/nglish, instead of exclusively in Marathi, they would have reached students of history all over India and enabled Maratha history to become a fruitful subject of higher study and criticism in our Indian Universities, and thus speeded up a healthy advance in our knowledge of this subject. Rajwade's scholarly dissertations on various historical topics, his illuminating discussions of problems of philology, grammar and religion as also tlie researches of the Poona Itihas Samshodhak Mandal, have for this reason remained a sealed book to all other provinces of India and indeed to the rest of the non-Marathi world.
I startcti my study of Maratha history forty years ago, and embodied the result in a work completed in nine volumes written in the Marathi language and entitled The Marathi Riyasat. In it I tried to bring together the scattered, disarranged and uncalendared (even unlisted) mass of historical data and opinions found in that tongue and, after comparing them with available materials in other languages, to construct a compact critical study of the rise and fall of the modern Maratha State. My work too like Rajwade’s, re- mained unknown to the world ignorant of my native language. The present New History of the Marathas, to be completed in three volumes (the whole now ready in manuscript), is the first attempt
4 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
to present a fresh and full treatment of Maratha history in English, embodying the results of the latest research. It is not a translation of my Marathi Riyasat ; nor does it pretend to be a work of the ideal merits as described above. Indeed no one individual, unless he has the encyclopaedic mind of a Gibbon, can do full justice to the subject, which requires rather the co-operative effort of a syndicate of scholars. In the absence of the hope of any such ideal combina- tion, this book is offered to the public in full consciousness of its imperfections. If it provokes further study and thought in any cor- ner of the great republic of letters, I shall be happy. And I shall be happier still if after a look at my book, some better gifted scholar is tempted to advance this subject, handle the enormous mass of materials and produce the long sighed for masterly History of the Marathas.
One word more of apology is needed from me. The Marathas have long been misjudged by their rivals and adversaries and painted in blackest colours both during and after the period of their downfall, as if they had no single good point to their credit. This attitude became confirmed in popular mind owing to the first flush and glow of the foreign conquest. But more than a century has elapsed since the Maratha State was extinguished, a sufficiently long period for the dust of passion to settle down and enable us to form a sober and rational judgment and to justly appraise the virtues and defects of that race. It is still a difficult task for a Maratha writer to paint his people's history on a canvas with colours that truly represent facts and avoid prejudices. In the following narrative I aspire to produce a true apologia (Kaiftat) of the Maratha people and place it before the impartial public. It is mostly made up of the utterances of the great figures who dominated the historic stage during ^the two cen- turies of our rise and fall.
A studied attempt has been made to weave into the narrative ample citations from original authorities. This appeared to be the only way of making the reader acquainted with the pith and essence of the Marathi papers. So far as possible the sources have been indicated in the foot-notes, though, it must be admitted, the materials are so varied and extensive that it is not possible to quote chapter and verse eyidence in every case. As a supplementary attempt the reader’s attention may be invited to the author’s “ Main Currents of Maratha History ” published a few years ago. In it have been dis-
PREFACE &
cussed some of the outstanding and debatable questions arising out of the past life of the Maratha people.
My grateful thanks are due to the numerous scholars and pub- lishers of original materials on which this work is mainly based. I cannot adequately acknowledge the debt I owe to my valued friend Sir Jadunath Sarkar for his patient revision of my manuscript, to him a labour of love, the worth of which those only can estimate who are acquainted with his extraordinary erudition and his rare critical acumen. I am equally indebted to Dr. V. G. Dighe, my constant companion and collaborator in all historical work during the last seventeen years without whose unstinted help I could never have completed my onerous undertaking. I am inscribing this work to the sacred memory of my first great inspirer the late Sayaji Rao Gaikwad of Baroda, whose grandson the present Maharaja Pratap- sinh Rao continues to take the same interest in my historical labours.
The publisher and I highly regret that the abnormal conditions of life prevailing in the country now for years have not only delayed the publication of this work, but prevented us from executing our cherished desire of putting in maps, illustrations and other essentials of study adequately. We can only hope to make up the deficiency in the succeeding volumes.
Kamshet
Dt. Poona, 31st Oct, 1946
G. S. SARDESAI
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGES
I. Early Beginnings [Upto 1600 a.c.] . . 9
1. Origin of the Marathas. 2. The Marathi Language.
3. Political background of Maharavshtra. 4. Rise of the Manabhav Sect. 5. Manabhav literature. 6. Deaths of Chakradhar and Hemadri. 7. Successful revolt against Muslims. 8. Saints and Writers of Maharashtra. 9. Maratha character. 10. The Present day Marathas. 11. The Maratha country in pulsation.
IL Shahjt the Rising Sun [1614-1636] . . 41
1. Survey of the situation. 2. The family of the Bhocsies.
3. Battle of Roshangaon. 4. Shahji’s marriage, Shivaji born. 5. Battle of Bhatavadi. 6. Rebellion of Khan Jahan i^^di. 7. Shah Jahan ’s march against Nizam Shah.
8. Shahji’s bold stand. 9. Moral of the two figures.
III. SiiAHji's Later Career [1636-1664] . . 67
1. Shahji's work in Karnatak. 2. Shahji possesses Banga- lore. 3. Shahji under disfavour. 4. Shahji s two sons in action. 5. Shahji's death.
IV. The First Phase of the Moon [1644-1653] . . 85
1. Shivaji s birth and training. 2. His guardian Dadaji.
3. The first coup. 4. Dream put into action. 5. Indepen- dence achieved.
V. Rapid Progress [1654-1660] . . . . 109
1. Short work with Moray s. 2. Political situation of 1667.
3. North and South Konkan seized. 4. Administrative measures. 5. Afzal Khan’s end. 6. Panhala invested,
Shivaji escapes.
VI. Ups and Downs [1601-1665] . . . . 135
1. Kartalb Khan humbled. 2. English Factors confined.
3^. JSfight raid on Shaista Khan. 4. Surat sacked. 5. Bija- puri activities, Baji Ghorpade crushed. 6. Jay Sinh and Shivaji face to face.
CONTENTS 7
VII. The Lion Bearded in His Den [1666-1667] . . 163
1. Hesitation to visit Agra. 2. The audience hall. 3. The wonderful escape. 4. After effects, peace.
VIII. Still Greater Triumphs [1668-1673] .. 185
1. Fresh wave of Mughal fanaticism. 2. Shivaji's reply, recovers lost forts, 3. Second sack of Surat and its sequel. 4. Bloody toll of Salher, 5. Panhala taken.
6. Pratap Rao Gujar sacrifices himself.
IX. The Fulfilment [1674-1676] . . . . 205
1. The coronation, its true significance. 2. The ceremony.
3. A year of unrest all round.
X. The Conquest of the South [1677-1678] . . 223
1. Expansion southwards, necessity and opportunity.
2. Kopbal seized. 3. Grand vdsit to Bhaganagar. 4. Bija- piiri Karnatak seized. 5. The two brothers on their heritage, 6. Agreed division of patrimony.
XI. The Moon Sets [1678-1680] . . . . 245
1. Results of the Karnatak campaign. 2. Public remon- strance agaiqst Aurangzeb's intolerance. 3. Sambhaji’s desertion. 4. Effort to reclaim Sambhaji fails. 5. The end. 6. Family and religious preceptors.
Xri ji .iShivaji’s Character and Work . . . . 259
1. The Amatya's tribute, 2. Shivaji and Ramdas.
3. Shivaji and a Hindu Samrajya. 4. The Eight Minis- ters, and administration. 5. P'orts on land and sea.
6- , Army organization. 7. The navy and the Siddi of ianjira. 8. Shivaji's relations with the English. 9. Was Shivaji a mere plunderer? 10. Estimate of Shivaji by thinkers and writers, 1^8. 11. Conclusion.
XIII, Sambhaji the Violent [1680-1689] . . 293
1. Accession. 2. Akbar's flight to SJambhaji. 3. Aurangzeb descends into the Deccan. 4. Bloody beginning of Sam- bhaji's reign, 5. Grand projects. 6. Aurangzeb's discom- fiture. 7. The Portuguese cowed by Sambhaji. 8. Sad end of Akbar. 9. The chivalrous Durgadas. 10. Sambhaji captured. 11. Tragic death.
8 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
XIV. Rajaram the Quiescent [1689-1700]
319
1. Two stars of dazzling brilliancy. 2. Fall of Raigad, Ramchandra Pant’s leadership. 3. Maratha trek to Jinji.
4. The Emperor’s movements. 5. Jinji besieged. 6. The Maratha aims. 7. Besiegers besieged. S. Heroic deeds of Sanlaji. 9. Santaji’s tragic end. 10. Guerilla warfare des- cribed. 11. Rajaram escapes, Jinji falls. 12. Rajaram’s deatli and character.
XV. Retribution [1700-1707] 347
1. Tarabai opposes the Emperor. 2. Shahu in captivity.
3. Contact with Balaji Vishwanath. 4. Raybhanji Kaka.
5. Piteous appeals of Ycsubai. 6. Tragedy of Aurangzeb’s life. 7. Aurangzeb’s death. 8. Tarabai triumphant.
CORRECTION
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Page 27, line 3 bottom |
read ^ |
for |
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Page 62, line 20 |
read operations |
for operation |
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Page 69, line 8, first para |
read gold |
for good |
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Page 79, line 4 of 4th Section |
read An |
for As |
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Page 149, Section 5, “ Bijapuri activities, Baji Ghorpade crushed ”. |
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Page 180, lavSt line |
read 20 November ’ |
J |
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Page 210, line 2 of second para. |
read advisers |
for guru |
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Page 211, line 9 of Section 2 |
read weighed ” |
for “ weighted |
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Page 232, line 8 |
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for 30000 |
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Page 267, line 5 |
read subjugated |
for subjected |
Page 269, foot note 6 is given on next page.
CHRONOLOGY
CHAPTER I
{^Most of the dates are merely approximate.)
3.C. 73 — A.D. 218
LC. 550 — 753 608 — 642 634
750— 975 800—1000 884— 959 975 — 1189 1187—1294 1153 — 1276
1276
1290
13110
1323
1325
1336 April 18 1347
c. 1350
1565 Jan. 22 1548 — 1599 c. 1600
1607—1650
Satavahanas rule over Maharashtra : Bhaja, Karla and other caves excavated.
Early Chalukya dynasty.
Ctelukya ruler Satyashraya Pulakeshi.
The country of Mahi^ashtra officially de- fined.
Rashtrakuta rule.
Early Marathi writers.
Rajashdchar, great poet in Maharashtri.
Later Chalukyas.
The dynasty of the Yadavas.
Chakradhar, founder of the Manabliav sect.
Chakradhar and Hemadri meet their death.
Saint Jnaneshwar wrote his great work.
Muslim subjugation of peninsular India completed.
Prataparudra of Warangal captured by Md. Tughlak.
Muhammad Tughlak makes Deogiri his capital.
Harihar crowned King of Vijayanagar.
Ala-ud-din Hasan Shah founds the Bah- mani kingdom.
Saint Namdev flourishes.
Battle of Talikot ; Vijaynagar destroyed.
Saint Eknath.
Rise of the Bhosles to prominence.
Saint Tukaram.
CHAPTER I
EARLY BEGINNINGS
[Up to 1600 AC)
1. Origin of the Marathas.
3. Political Background of Maharashtra.
5. Manabhav literature.
7. Successful revolt against Musi* ns.
9, Maratha character.
11. The Marath
2. The Marathi language.
4. Rise of the Manabhav sect.
6. Deaths of Chakradhar and Hemadri.
8. Saints and writers of Maha- rashtra.
10. The present day Marathas. country pulsation.
1. Origin of the Marathas. — ^The latest census has computed two and a half crores of persons to be the Mariathi* speaking population of India, and most of them inhabit that portion of the country which has been known by the ancient name Maharashtra, ‘ the great nation of the Rathas, Rathikas or Rashtrikas’, famous from the days of yore for valour and energy. In the literature of the early Christian centuries the words Maharashtra, Mahdrashtrika and Mahdrdshtri (the last being the name of one of the Prakrit languages) occur in copi- ous frequency. Mahdrathi (masculine) and Mahdrathini (femi- nine) are words in the Karla cave and other inscriptions of the Satavahana period. Varahamihira, a famous astronomer of the sixth century, uses the word Maharashtras, which later came to be corrupted into Mahriatta or Maratha. Rajashekhar, a Sanskrit author of the 9th century, uses the word Marahatti in the feminine gender. The word occurs in various forms in all subsequent literatures of India.^
Maharashtra, as its plain meaning shows, is a great RSshtra or nation formed by a race of men who in ancient times were probably known as Ratthas, some of whom came to be styled Maharatthas or great Ratthas. The land which they occupied also came to be called after them, that is, the
1. Several hypotheses have been put forth by different scholars on the origin of the word Maratha.
12
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
country of great men. Their language too was first known as Maharashtri, a Prakrit dialect whose range was originally much wider than that of the present Marathi, its later deri- vative. The large tract of western India known to this day as Maharashtra, extended from the Arabian sea on the west to the Satpura mountains in the north, and comprised the modern tracts of Konkan, Khandesh, Berar, part of the Central Provinces, the British Deccan and about a third of the Nizam’s dominions, the whole being known as Maratha-vada.
The land south of the river Narmada was called by the Aryan settlers as Dakshinapatha and included the Dandakia- ranya which was so named from the vast forest that stretched southwards from the Tapti to the Godavari. During the early centuries of the Christian era Mahariashtra consisted of three distinct portions, viz. the first, Vidarbha or Berar ; the second, Asmaka or the Godavari basin (later known as Seuna Desh) ; and the third Kuntala, that is the valley of the river Krishna. It also embraced the western coastal region known as Apa- r^ta or Konkan, stretching from Daman in the north to Goa or even Karwar in the south. Thus, the lands between the Narmada and the upper Krishna practically formed the main Maharashtra country in which first the Prakrit Maharashtri and later its derivative Marathi, was spoken and which lin- guistically and geographically is one solid homogeneous block, although at present cut up into several disjointed political areas.^*
Thus Maharashtra proper where the Marathi language prevails, can be understood with almost exact accuracy as a right-angled triangle, of which one side is represented by the western coast line from Daman to Karwar and the other from
2. The Aihole inscription of the famous Chalukya monarch Satya- shraya Pulakeshi dated the Christian year 634 (556 Shaka), accurately mentions the extent of Maharashtra, as containing three portions, alto- gether comprising 99,000 villages. The three parts probably are Vidarbha (including Asmaka), Kuntala, and Aparanta.
5rt»firrT n
Subsequent to the date of this inscription ample testimony is avail- able confirming this description of Maharashtra, but the exact munber of villages in it and its accurate demarcation are still <^en questions.
EARLY BEGINNINGS
13
Daman straight east to Nagpur and Gondia, practically along the river Tapti. The hypotenuse of this triangle would be an irregular line joining Gondia to Karwar and touching in its course the towns of Belgaum, Sholapur and Bidar. The North Khandesh territory lying between the rivers Tapti and Napnada is indeed a border land of essentially Maharashtrian character. In the daily religious rites of the Maratha people this demarcation of Maharashtra is still being commonly repeated.^*
The people of this land were known in early ages as Ratthas, Maharatthas or Rashtrakutas, who had long since earned great distinction for wealth, valour and political power. An image of a Maha-rattha warrior is to be seen to this day in the Nane-Ghat caves near Junnar, which were carved by the Andhra rulers about the first century of the Christian era. The present Marathi tongue is the direct descendant of the literary Prakrit Maharashtri, the language of Maharashtra.
These ancient Ratthas came to be divided into and known 5 by the names of several sub-tribes or families, such as the} Satavahanas, the Bhojas, the Mauryas, the Kadambas, thej Silaharas, the Yadavas, the Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, etc.,? some of whom established in this region powerful kingdoms of' their own, patronized arts and literature and produced many great rulers of outstanding merit. Their cultural adiievements are perpetuated to this day by the unique execution and grandeur of the caves of Bhaja and Karla, of Ellora, Ajanta and Elephanta, and the temples and sculptures in which this land of Mahamshtra so fully abounds. These Ratthas or Maharatthas must have been a hardy race in whose character the best traits of the Aryan settlers from the north were blended with the best characteristics of the indigenous stock of western India.
2 The Marathi language. — ^The Aryan settlers when they first entered this vast Indian continent brought with them their ancient Vedic culture and their highly refined tongue Sanskrit, which in due course imparted its polish to the origi-
3. “ >Tr^^«rt; 3^ or 3[%St or '
14 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
nal dialects which used to be spoken in the various wild recesses of the land. These local speeches came to be styled under the common denopiination “ Prakrit ”, meaning the natural and unartificial dialects used by the common folk as distinguished from Sanskrit, which was the refined piedium employed by learned priests, poets and authors in their works. These Prakrit speeches came to be classified, according to their regional character or religious importance, into five or six main divisions each with a literature and a grammar of its own, viz. Maharashtri, Pali or Magadhi, Ardha-Magadhi, Sauraseni and Paisachi, not to speak of Tamil and other primary Dravidian tongues which prevailed in the southern peninsula. Of all these mediaeval languages, Maharashtri was the most highly cultivated and at one time it was most widely used in popular speech and literature, right frqm the borders of Malwa and Rajputana in the north to the banks of the Krishna and the Tungabhadra in the south. Buddhist literature mostly exists in Pali and Jain literature in Ardha-Maiigadhi, while Saura- seni prevailed in the region round about Mathura, the land of the Saurasenas, and Paisachi had its hold in the north-west, i.e., in the western Punjab and beyond. All these Prakrit languages have been freely employed by clas.sical writers like Kalidas and others in the dramas that they produced, Sanskrit being spoken by the higher characters and the Pr^ikrits by the females, servants and lower classes. It is clear that by about 500 B.c. Sanskrit had gone out of use as a spoken language and the Prakrits had taken its place in popular parlance. The most important of these Prakrits was doubtless Maharashtri in which there exists a copious literature, consisting of several well-known works of high merit, such as Sapta-Shati, Setu- bandha, Gauda Vaho and Karpura-Manfari, etc. The first of these, that is, Sapta-Shati, is a famous anthology of 700 verses selected from different writers by King Hala of the Satavahana dynasty, who flourished about the first century after Christ. This Sapta-Shati contains the names of mountains, rivers and towns of MaharS-shtra, many of which are still extant. Gram- marians specifying rules for the various Prakrits mainly depend upon Maharashtri for their illustrations. The word MaharSshtri-came to be corrupted into Marhati or as it was latterly called, Marathi. Rajashekhar, a learned Maharashtra
EARLY BEGINNINGS
15
poet, who is known to have lived from 884 to 959 A.c., has written several Sanskrit and Prakrit works, Ramayana, Bala- Bharata, Viddha-Shala-Bhanjika, Karpura-Manjari, etc., and his Prakrit works in point of style mark the borderland be- tween the outgoing Maharashtri and the incoming Marathi.
If one were to trace the linguistic development of India through ancient times, one might roughly put down Vedic Sanskrit to be the spoken speech of the early Aryans until about 500 B.C. ; Maharlashtri and the other Prakrits were in vogue for about a thousand years from 500 B.C. to 500 a.c., after which Marathi and other modern Indian languages gradually began to take shape ; and Marathi became the language of the court and learned writers from about 800- 1000 A.C. onwards. BMvurtha-Dipika, a commentary on the Bhagavadgita by the first great writer in Marathi, Jnaneshwar, is the earliest celebrated work in Marathi, having been com- pleted in the year 1290 A.c. during the reign of King Rama- chandra Yadav of Devgiri, only four years before he was attacked and his kingdom destroyed by the Muslim conqueror Ala-ud-din Khilji. Jnaneshwar concludes his work with these words, “ I have thus decorated the Goddess of Gita with this country ornament.” ‘ Side by side with the use of the Prakrits and Marathi, the use of classical Sanskrit was never abandoned as the literary tongue par excellence. Learned scholars always preferred to write in Sanskrit.
One may be curious to know what are the oldest existing compositions in Marathi. Curiously enough, the oldest writ- ing"’ in Marathi comes from the Mysore State, being dated 983 A.c. A few inscriptions in old Marathi have been found in different places, such as Palasdev (1157 A.c.), Ter (1184 A.C.), Parel (A.c. 1180), another at Patan in Khandesh (A.C. 1206) and one at Pandharpur (A.c. 1273) . Some stray pages of Panchatantra translated from Sanskrit into old Marathi and
^'1^ I •
5. “ Executed by Chamund Rai ” is an inscrip-
tion near the left-foot of the statue of Gomateshwar at Sravana-Bel-gola about 60 miles north-west of Mysore.
16 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
an astronomical treatise by Shripati called Ratnamala are known to be the earliest extant compositions in Marathi. Mukundraja preceded Jnaneshwar by about a hundred years and wrote his work Viveka-Sindhu in Marathi, although the present manuscripts gi\'e a modernized form of it. The Maha- nubhav literature of the last quarter of the thirteenth century is also available for the study of old Marathi. While,' there- fore, we are sure that modern Marathi began to take a definite shape about 1200 A.C., the writing, the forms and structure now available to us, belong to a much later period.
It was Jnanadev’s boast to have transplanted the best thoughts of the Sanskrit language into the popular Marathi. He bestows the highest eulogy on Marathi and declares it to be in no w'ay inferior to the polished Sanskrit. What height the Marathi language and the Maratha people had then attained can well be imagined from the following eloquent words of Jnanadev. “ There rules,” says he, “ Shri Rama- chandra, the magnificent scion of the Yadav dynasty, the sup- porter of all arts, a monarch who rules justly.” ®
Since the days of Jnaneshwar a regular succession of .saints and poets began to appear rapidly and to enrich the Marathi language in increasing volume and grandeur, till the advent of the great Maratha hero Shivaji. A people is thus insepar- ably connected with its land and language.
3. Political background of Maharashtra How was
this land of the ‘ great nation ’ ruled in bygone ages ? The earliest glimpse we obtain in this connection refers to Chandra-
6. t%55RI I ^ ^55T !
i n
This compliment paid by the great author to King Ramadeva need not be interpreted as an accurate historical statement. It was rather the formal expression of a poet’s reverence towards the ruling sovereign.
About Marathi Jnaneshwar says —
JJ® — I RTist jflra: tfi’iwr I
arhigHr I ^ ii
iTifTf I ^ qsrr i
I ti
EARLY BEGINNINGS
17
gupta Maurya, an Indian warrior contemporary with Alexander the Great, who had established his sway over Maliarashtra. Chandragupta’s grandson Ashoka took the cue from his grand- father and extended his Empire to the east and the south. Throughout this Indian continent his numerous edicts have been discovered, which prove that great monarch’s zeal for the spiritual amelioration of his people and his enthusiasm for the spread of the teachings of Lord Buddha. Thereafter during the early centuries of the Christian era, Maharashtra was ruled for about 300 years (b.c. 73 to A.c. 218) by a dynasty of rulers known as Andhra or Satavahana whose capital city was Prati- sthan or Paithan, situated on the river Godavari, then a lenowned seat of learning, culture and corpmercial activity. Some of the Puranas enthusiastically describe the conquests and achievements of these Satavahana rulers, after whom the present Shaka era has been named. The Satavahanas attained a high degree of civilization which is disclosed by the wonder- ful caves of Nasik, Karla, Bhaja, and Kanheri, as w'ell as by a number of coins and inscriptions which have been dis- covered, belonging to that dynasty.
The several clans of the ancient Ratthas, among whom may be included the Rashtrakutas, the Banas, etc., exercised influence at different places under the Satavahanas, although they were then too weak to assert any organized political power. During the 4th and 5th centuries the Gupta Emperors of northern India now and then extended their influence over rulers of the Deccan such as the Vakatakas, Kalachuris and Kadambas, but it is doubtful if the Guptas actually ruled over any portions of these Deccan lands. At the beginning of the sixth century, however, a new' dynasty of the Chalukyas appeared on the scene and gave this land a succession of wise and strong rulers for more than a century and a half. They ruled from Badami, now a towm in the district of Bijapur.
Satyashraya pulakeshi, the most famous ruler of this Chalukya dynasty,^ who reigned from 608 — ^42 .'V.c., successfully re- pelled an attack of the Emperor Harsha and strongly guarded
7. See note 2 on page 12. O ^
2 7 "I 3 7
5 dec "3)0
r
18 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
and has left an illuminating account of that ruler’s policy and achievements, and of the Maratha people as well. The Chalukyas worshipped the God Shiva and assumed grand titles significant of their power and fame.
The CMlukyas were succeeded by another powerful dynasty, the Rashtrakutas, w'ho ruled Maharashtra for a period of 225 years from about 750 to 975 A.C., the longest on record for any southern Hindu dynasty to hold sway. It is a most important epoch in the history of the Deccan, w'hen both the Karnatak and MahiarSshtra were welded into one political entity. Most of the rulers were able men ; in a line of 14 kings only 3 were found to be inefficient. Jainism, Hin- duism and Buddhism lived side by side in this land in perfect harmony under these Riashtrakuta rulers.
Krishna I of this dynasty was a great builder who caused to be excavated out of solid rock the celebrated Kailas temple ot Ellora, a magnificent specimen of Hindu art and a veritable wonder of the world. The name Rashtraliuta was in local parlance changed into Rathod a clan-name later assumed by the proud rulers of the Jodhpur State. This dynasty had its main capital at Manyakhet (Malkhed) with minor capitals, such as Chandrapur (Clumdwad) , Lattatur (Latur) , etc. at different tijnes. However clever and valiant might have been these Rashtrakuta rulers, they" altogether neglected the naval defence of their country, in which the Arabs of the west seemed to excel at this period.
It was the later Chsalukyas again who gave a death-blow to the Rashtrakuta power and ruled Maharashtra for some two hundred years from 975 to 1189 A.c. from their capitals of Manyakhet and Kalyani near Bidar. They produced some ten brilliant rulers of outstanding merit. Tribhuvanmalla Vikra- maditya VI was the greatest monarch of this dynasty, and he founded an era named after himself. His prime minister Vijna- neshwar, the author of the Mitdkshara, is still held in high esteem as an eminent jurist of Hindu Law.
After the later Chalukyas, Maharashtra came to be ruled by another powerful dynasty, the Yadavas, a clan from north India who had been striving in ages past to wield power and influence at different places. They wrested the sceptre from
EARLY BEGINNINGS
19
the Chalukyas and ruled for over a hundred years from 1187 to 1294 from their famous capital Deogiri, which the Muslims later named Daulatabad. Four eminent Yadava rulers, Sin- gh2ma, Krishnadeva, Mahadeva and Riamadeva became cele- brated in the history of the Deccan for having patronized art and literature, the signs of which are amply visible to this day. The great mathematician Bhaskariacharya, the Yadava minister Hemadri, a versatile writer and inventor of many practical arts, and Hemadri’s right-hand helpmate the scholarly Bop>a- deva, are all names among many others, still cherished in Maratha memory with peculiar reverence.
Hemiadri holds an important place in the history of Maharashtra. He was in many respects far ahead of his times. He was not only a learned scholar, but also a minister (Shri- kmanadhipa) of the Yadava rulers possessing great powers of organization and a wide outlook directed to the many-sided improvement of the people inhabiting the Yadava dominion. With the help of a number of scholars he promulgated a huge compendium of religious observances, entitled Chaturvarga- Chintamani. He also produced works on medicine, introduced a code of private and official etiquette and of forms of address in private and public correspondence. He changed the Dev- nagari script so as to suit a fast running hand by joining the letters, a mode which is known as Modi and which has long been current in Maharashtra.* A special art of constructing houses and temples with hewn stones piled one upon another without the use of cement or mortar, was invented by Hema- dri and capie to be widely adopted throughout Maharashtra. The grain Bajri as a cheap food-stuff of plentiful yield, is said to have been first introduced by Hemadri. To his great work Ckaturvarga-Chintamani he has added an illuminating sup- plement entitled Y adav-Prashasti in which he has immortalized the history of the Yadava rulers ending with Mahadeva Yadava.
4. Rise of the Manabhav sect. — With the changes of dynasties, Maharashtra preserved its political freedom for some two hundred years more than its sister provinces in the
8. The oldest paper now available in this script dates about half a century after Hemadri.
20 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
north. Here foreign conquest was never dreamt of and no provision against it was considered necessary. About 1000 A.c. the Muslims began to knock at the gates of India, and by the end of the twelfth century Delhi passed into their hands, ushering in a new political experience for the warring indigen- ous princes of this vast country. It required a hundred years more for the shock to reach Maharashtra from Delhi. During the last quarter of the thirteenth century between about 1270 and 1295 when Jnaneshwar was penning the eulogy of I^ma- chandra Yadava, a. sudden collapse came, which requires to be explained on the basis of recent historical research. A dim light in the midst of complete darkness is perhaps to be found in the rise of the Manabhav sect and the conflict it provoked in the religious sphere. Let us see what the Manabhav revo- lution effected in the spheres of religion, society and politics of the period.
The word ManabMv is a corruption of the Sanskrit original MaMnubhava, meaning great respectability. The Manabhav sect, also knowm as Jayakrishna or Achyuta, is an imporfanf body of free-thinkers advocating a distinct depar- ture from the traditional Vedanta .system of religion formu- lated by Shankaracharya. Indeed, from about the eleventh century onwards, as in earlier times, there has been a peculiar upheaval in Indian religion and society, giving rise from time to time to a number of divergent .sects, such as the Vaishnavas, the Shaivas, the Lingayats, the Nath-panthis and Warkaries of the Pandharpur movement. During the thirteenth century a learned Nagar Brahman from the district of Broach in Gujarat named Haripaldev migrated to Ridhpur near Amraoti in Berar, and there under the inspiration of a learned saint named Govind Prabhu started preaching doctrines of a revolt against some of the absurdities of current orthodoxy.
This Haripaldev, newly napied Chakradhar by his guru, toured through Maharashtra and by his earnest oratory and forceful reasoning, collected round himself a large number of disciples, mostly learned Brahmans from different places. He possessed a w^onderful mastery over the Marathi language and explained through its medium the best thoughts in the Upani- sliads and other old philosophical works, exposing the incon-
EARLY BEGINNINGS
21
gruities that existed between the real ideals and the actual practice of the Hindus of his time. Chakradhar soon came to be worshipped and respected by large masses of people as the very incarnation of God wherever he went. Thus a new sect came into existence, although Chakradhar himself never avow- ed that he was preaching a new religion. He is credited with an abnormally long life of more than a century, 1153 to 1276 A.C., which he spent in passionate preaching and enforcing rigid discipline upon his followers in every minute detail of conduct and worship. He did not confine his activities to Maharashtra only, but travelled over wide regions outside, extending roughly from the river Krishna in the south to the bank of the Indus in the north, a unique performance in the history of religious movements. Chakradhar’s successes ex- tended even beyond the Indus to Peshawar and on to Kabul, where his followers read and recited the sacred texts in the language.
Chakradhar concentrated his teaching upon the worship of Krishna, emphasising dualism in contravention to the then existing Advait system as enunciated by Shanlcaracharya and adopted for centuries by the common masses and rulers of the Yiadava dynasty. The main points on which this new teaching differed from the old can be thus summarized : (1) Chakra- dhar did not accept the sanctity of the Vedas as the ultimate authority, (2) he denounced the artificial divisions of caste and (3) the adoration of the numerous gods, their forms and incarnations. (4) He also rejected the pollution by touch in any shape or form, upholding all human beings as equal in sanctity. He also enforced a strict vegetarian diet and allowed no sensual excesses imlike the Shaktas and Tantrikas. The Manabhavs have two distinct orders, the householders and the recluses. The latter admit even women to the status of religious celibates ; the former live much the same social life as the common mass of their brother Hindus, and can be hardly distinguished by any special conduct at this day,
5. Manabhav literature.— But it is more in the literary sphere than in the religious, that the Mianabhavs have ren- dered their greatest service, which is not yet widely nor ade-
22
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
quateiy recognised. They rigidly prohibited the use of Sans- krit either in common prayer or in their literary works. They adopted pure Marathi as the only channel of expression hold- ing it to be as sacred as Sanskrit and, like our popular Maha- rashtra saints, made available to the common folk the highest philosophical thought of the old Sanskrit works. They were the first to create Marathi proto-types of the various forms, con- structions and styles of classical writers, their Samhitas, Sutras, Bhiashyas and even the metres of the Sanskrit verse, both of the Aksaragana and the Matrdgana systems. The MSnabhav scholars were the first to write elegant Marathi prose, unlike the Sanskrit writers who preferred the metrical form. This Manabhav prose is of the blank verse type.
Chakradhar himself never wrote any work of his own. He had a large number of gifted disciples all passionately devoted to him and whole-heartedly co-operating with him in his attack on orthodoxy. Every act and incident of his life, as also every utterance of his, were properly recorded and later
arranged in two impxjrtant works, -the first containing his
sermons and utterances is termed Siddhanta-Sutra-path^ and has become the sacred IxKik of the sect which the followers read and recite. The other, recording his acts and incidents, is called Lilacharitra}" In order to preserve the sanctity of the text of these works, they were purposely written in thirteen different code-scripts according to as many sub-divisions, which prevented their being tampered with by ignorant readers. These two form the sacred scriptures of the Manabhav sect and are the compositions of Mahindra Bhatt Vyas, a learned scholar, who was helped in his task by half a dozen other scholars of equal calibre. One noticeable peculiarity of these works is that exact dates and places are mentioned in most cases for the occurrences that are narrated, and this fact mate- rially helps the student of history. The use of the code scripts has preserved the original language from any manipulation or interpolation by subsequent scribes, so that in the Manabhav works we find today the very words, phrases and forms of the day of their composition, without the modernization which has
10, 55t55Rft5t.
EARLY BEGINNINGS 23
vitiated the contents and form of the writings of our other Mahi^shtra saints like Jnaneshwar and Eknath.
Other works of high literary merit came to be written in quick succession by Manabhav writers on the model of the old poetical compositions of the Sanskrit Kavyas : the follow- ing seven of these are held in great esteem —
1. Rukmini-Swayamvara by Narendra Borikar ;
2 & 3. Shishupdla Vadha and Uddhav-gita by Bhaskar- bhatt ;
4. Vatsdld-H arena by Diamodar Pandit ;
5 to 7. Riddhipur Varnan, Jnana-bodh and Sahyddri- Varnan are three descriptive narrations.
The first of these Rukmini-Swayamvara is contemporary with the Jnaneskwari ; the others belong to a little later period. All are in the common ovi metre and can take a high rank for their literary merit. Not a few women have figured among their authors. These Manabhav compositions long remained unnoticed by the scholarly world probably on account of the strange antipathy that Hindu orthodoxy entertained towards that sect. How and why such antipathy arose is a riddle which deserves to be satisfactorily solved.
6. Deaths of Chakradhar and Hemadri. — ^The propa- gation of the ManabhSv doctrines appears to have had an inti- mate relation with and was certainly a contributory cause of the sudden fall of the Yadavas of Deogiri, the very heart of the region, where Chakradhar first began his fanatical activities by openly preaching against orthodox beliefs and practices. He was doubtless a contemporary of the great Hemadri, the Shrikaranddhipa of the powerful king Mahadeva Yiidava (a.c. 1260-1271), so that Hemadri and Chalcradhar are found act- ing on the stage of mediaeval history, both learned and possess- ing extraordinary capacity for organization and using their utmost powers, the one upholding the orthodox system and the other preaching a revolt. It would appear that Hemadri purposely promulgated his comprehensive code of religious observances (the ChaturvargOr-Chintamani) consisting of four large books or parts, (1) the Vratakhanda or vows, (2) the
24 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
Dana-khanda or charities, (3) the Tirtha-khanda or pilgrim- ages, and (4) the Moksha-khanda or salvation, with several supplements (Parishesha-khanda) emphasizing the worship of various deities, of the manes and ancestors, the daily and sea- sonal duties with penances for failure. Hemadri completed this work during the regime of Mahadeva Yadava, who was suc- ceeded by his nephew R^achandra in 1271. Ramachandra obtained the crown by cruelly putting to death Mahadev’s son Aman, and confirmed Hemadri in his post. It is well-known that these Yadava rulers traced their descent from Shrikrishna and were his ardent devotees, just as were Chakradhar and his followers, who on that account were freely admitted into the pialace and harem of Deogiri in a brotherhood of common worship, a result which the minister Hemadri highly resented and opposed with all the powders he possessed.
Recent research based on the evidence of the Manabhav writings throws a lurid light on the manner in which both Chakradhar and Hemadri met with their deaths.^^ A certain manuscript of the Lild-Charitra, written shortly after 1276 (and not yet published) mentions that Hemadri with the help of his owm priests and those of the Yadava rulers discovered the whereabouts of Chakradhar, sent his troops after him and had him killed in 1276 at Khokargaon (near Pathardi, Dis- trict Ahmadnagar) . When this event came to be reported to Ramdev, he was filled w'ith wrath against Hemadri and soon after put him to a cruel death in retaliation for Chakradhar’s death. This conclusion is indirectly corroborated by some verses in the Mahikdvati hakhar published by Rajawade.’^
This story may be true or false, but the reason of the sudden fall of king Ramachandra Yadava may be looked for in the weak and vicious character of his rule (notwithstanding his eulogy by Jnaneshwar) aggravated by religious disputes distracting the king’s attention from preparations for defence
11. A large amount of literature of inscriptions and prashastis is available on the life and) work of Hemadri, but there is no mention how he came by his death. See K. A. Padhye's Life of Hemadri, wherein are reproduced all the inscriptions and Prashastis in full.
12. Page 81, verses 54 and 55. See Prof. V. B. Kolte’s paper in the Nagpur University Journal, December, 1941.
EARLY BEGINNINGS
25
against attacks from outside. Disorder and neglect certainly appear to have facilitated Ala-ud-din’s sudden and successful attack upon Deogiri in 1294, probably incited thereto by Manabhav agents ipiparting secret information to the con- queror about the weakness of Yadava rule.
But here we must first turn to the strong Hindu reaction which the rapid Muslim conquest provoked in the southern lands of this continent.
7. Successful revolt against the Muslims. — Towards the end of the 10th century of the Christian era a new race of conquerors from beyond the Himalayas began to knock at the gates of India. The task was begun by that consummate Turkish general Mahmud of Ghazni and completed by an equally tenacious mnqueror known to history as Muhammad of Ghor. Within two hundred years, the whole of northern India was reduced. A hundred more years passed and the Muslims undertook the subjugation of the Deccan by crossing the Narmada for the first time.
There were at the time, in the south, four or five import- ant Hindu Kingdoms which the Muslims reduced within less than a quarter of a century. Ala-ud-din Khilji attacked Deo- giri in 1294 and forced its ruler Ramdev Rao into submission. Malik Kafur, Ala-ud-din’s Lieutenant, overran and destroyed the Kiakatiya kingdom of Warangab’ in 1309, and the Hoy- sala kingdom of Dwarasamudra in 1310. Immediately after these successes he overran the Chola and Pandya kingdoms of the extreme south and planted the green banner of Islam on the southernmost point of India. Thus Ala-ud-din Khilji before his death could boast of having subjugated the whole of the Indian Continent. His son Mubarak Khilji and there- after the stern Tughlak Sultan Muhammad, extinguished the last vestiges of Hindu power in the south ; and this Tughlak ruler in order to hold the lately conquered territory in perfect submission, in 1325 transferred his capital to Deogiri, which he named Daulatabad, and for some years after he took up his residence here in the south. Thus the Muslim conquest of
13. Old name Ekashita-Nagari or Varmkula, hence the present name.
2
26 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
India appeared to be complete by the year 1326. In this way all the work of the great builders from Chandragupta Maurya to Riamdev Rao of Deogiri and of Prataprudra of Warangal, covering a period of some sixteen and a half centuries, was undone wthin less than a quarter of a century, an extraordi- nary phenomenon, for which no parallel can be found in the history of the world.
There had been foreign conquerors in India before ; and they had all been quickly absorbed and assimilated in the body of Hindu society. But these new Turkish fanatics were of an entirely different type. They were not content with the acqui- sition of mere political jxjwer. They descended upon the plains of Hindustan not as mere conquerors and plunderers, but as crusading warriors bent upon spreading their holy faith in the land of the infidels. When they overthrew the Hindu king- doms of the north and established themselves in the land, they set about systematically to force their religion upon the people, to desecrate the Hindu tqmples and their magnificent edifices, to break down the idols, mutilate statues and works of art, disfigure stone inscriptions beyond recognition. Out of the material obtained by such wanton destruction, they erected prayer-houses for the use of the Faithful. In order to stamp out heathenism and gather the Indian people within the fold of Islam, these ruthless vandals prohibited the public exercise of the Hindu religion and subjected its devotees to di.sabilities and penal laws. The Hindus were not allowed to dress well, live well or appear prosp»erous. Vexatious taxes were imposed upon them and their seats of learning were destroyed.
North India is a huge plain with hardly any natural im- pediment or stronghold to withstand hardy and determined soldiers sweeping from Attock down to the Bay of Bengal. The Hindus of this vast region internally diVided and dis- organised as they were, offered little or no resistance to their Turkish oppressors. They meekly submitted to all the ill- treatpient that was inflicted upon them, and betrayed a strange incapacity to offer a combined ojp^sition in defence of their land and religion. But the Hindus of the south, particularly the stern KSpSlika and Shaiva sects, the Manabhavas and the Lingayats inhabiting the lands of Kampli, near Anagondi and
EARLY BEGINNINGS
27
Warangal, were not slow to react and resist the Muslim aggres- sion. How this revolt was successfully organised forms an instructive study.
Warangal was the capital of Telangana, the coastal region between the Godavari and the Krislma, and for centuries it was ruled by a dynasty of the Kakatiyas. It was first attacked in 1303 by Ala-ud-din’s general Malik Fakhruddin Juna, who later figured as the notorious Sultan Muhammad Tughlak of Delhi. He was routed with heavy loss by the valiant ruler Prataprudra Kakatiya, who then became an eyesore to the Muslim conquerors. Years passed. The Khiljis were suc- ceeded by the Tughlaks, who sent a strong expedition against Warangal in 1321. For two years the struggle continued un- abated. Prataprudra was overosme and captured alive. He was being taken to Delhi as a trophy of the war, when, finding the insult too bitter to bear, he put an end to his life in 1323. This sad end of their valiant leader roused the people as nothing else would have done.“
After a year’s time Muhammad Tughlak became the Sul- tan of Delhi and at once removed his capital to Deogiri (1325) ; and from his seat in that strong fort he started measures to put down the rising opposition of the Hindus. The fall of Warangal had spread the infection of revolt to the neighbouring region of Kampli on the Tungabhadra, where another brave Hindu warrior Kamnath, inflicted crushing defeats upon the forces sent against him by the Sultan from Deogiri. Exasperated by this disgraceful reverse, the Sultan sent another and more powerful expedition for the conquest of Kampli in 1327. Kampildeva finding resistance hopeless, prepared a huge fire and along with all his women folk burnt
14. For this and the following narrative N. Venkataramanayya’s The Early Muslim Eximnsion In South India (Madras Univ. Publication, 1942), is the main authority. On p. 188 occurs this evidence on the foundation of Vijayanagar. —
28
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
himself alive in it in order to escape the disgrace of falling into the enemy’s hands. A large number of prisoners was however captured and carried in chains to the Sultan, whose joy at this success was unbounded. He returned to Delhi with his booty and prisoners. Among these latter were two brothers, Harihar and Bukka, who had forjmerly served as ministers at Kampli and helped Prataprudra of Warangal. The Sultan knew their worth, converted them to Islam and used them well with a view to employing them in the event of any Hindu revolt in the south. These spirited brothers had witnessed the changing fortunes of the Hindus ever since the fall of the Yadavas and secretly nursed in their hearts a feeling of revenge, and they waited for a suitable opportunity.
Sultan Muhammad Tughlak soon found himself involved in serious troubles as much in the north as in the south, but he was not a bit inclined to relent in his resolve to put down the Hindu Kafirs. During* 1330 and 1331, one Kapayya Nayak of Warangal and another Somdevraj of Kampli rose against the Sultan, put the Muslim governors to flight and asserted in- dependence in their respective localities. The news reached the Sultan at Delhi. He held a council of war with his advisers and decided upon their suggestion to employ the services of the two brothers Harihar and Bukka, now Muslim converts and as such expected to do their best to uphold their adopted faith in the same manner as their predecessor Malik Kafur had done. The two brothers accepted the mission readily and fully pro- vided with men and materials soon appeared before Kampli.
How wide-spread and bitter was the Hindu feeling of revolt at this time can be gathered from the conspicuous part which the Shankaracharya M&dhav Vidyaranya, the learned and influential head of the Shringeri Math, played by taking the lead in politics for putting down Muslim aggression. Madhavacharya and his two equally competent brothers, Sayannla and Bhojaniath held deliberations with the two heroes Harihar and Bukka, persuaded them to renoimce their newly- accepted faith and after bringing thqm back to the Hindu fold by means of certain Finances, made them lead the whole njovement to a successful issue. Thus were politics and reli- gion put to the highest test in the nation’s cause. The example
EARLY BEGINNINGS
29
proved highly rousing. The Sultan’s plans were entirely foiled. The holy Guru Madhavacharya took up his residence at Ana- gondi where the two brothers Harihar Rai and Bukka Rai paid him due reverence. A fresh plan was conceived in mutual consultation for founding the seat of a new Hindu Empire at the bend of the river Tungabhadra, just opposite Anagondi. This was the origin of Vijayanagar which rapidly grew into a well-protected, wealthy and powerful city. In this new capital the two brothers were crowned kings on 18 April 1336. Muhammad Tughlak had the mortification to lose his southern provinces for good.
This newly created Empire of Vijayanagar gradually increased in power and extent and for more than two hundred years stemmed the tide of Muslim conquest in the south. Although thereafter Vijayanagar was itself destroyed by the combined power of the Muslim rulers in the famous battle of Talikot (January 22, 1565) , the various local powers that sur%fived, were never crushed altogether, but continued to drag on a submerged existence in different localities right up to the British conquest of India. Historically, however, this experi- ment of Vijayanagar served as a source of power and inspira- tion to the genius of Shivaji, since his father Shahji had his Life’s activities concentrated upon the region of Bangalore, Kampli and Kanakgiri, and, we may be sure, that Shivaji took his cue from the exapiple of Harihar and Bukka, of personal valour joined to the spiritual power of the Shankara- chlarya. It is well known, that Shivaji closely followed this model and revered his gurus Tukaram and Ram<Ms. The causes of this Hindu rebellion against Muhammad Tughlak, as later of Shivaji’s against Aurangzeb, were, it should be noted, more cultural than political ; the Hindus always attached greater importance to the preservation of tlieir reli- gion than to political freedom. Herein lies the importamce to Maratha history of the Hindu revolt which led to the founda- tion of Vijayanagar.
8. Saints and writers of Maharashtra. — As a reaction to Muslim aggression in India, the spirit of revolt rapidly spread throughout the land and paralysed all the energy of Muham-
30
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
mad Tughlak. Maharashtra was not slow to follow in the footsteps of Vijayanagar, but here the revolt took a different shape. Husain Zafar Khan, a trusted commandant whom the Tughlak Sultan despatched to quell the rebellions in the south, himself assumed the lead of the rebels, and declared his own independence at Gulburga, assuming the royal title of Ala-ud- din Bahman Shah and founded in 1347 what came to be known in history as the Bahamani Kingdom. This Muslim ruler was shrewd enough to realize that it was no use exasperating the Hindus by interfering with their religion. They readily accepted his new tolerant rule though alien in faith. During the next two hundred years this Bahamani Kingdopi, like its sister of Vijayanagar, went on flourishing side by side, although between them a spirit of rivalry and mutual aggression conti- nued all the time. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the Bahamani Kingdom broke up into five separate branches, of which three, namely those of Bijapur, Alimadnagar and Golkonda became fairly powerful after absorbing the other two of Bidar and Berar. These three have become known to history as the Adil Shahi, Nizam Shahi, and Qutb Shahi, froin the names of their respective founders. We are not here con- cerned with the internal administration of the original Baha- mani kingdom or of its later branches, except in so far as they contributed to the Maratha rise.
As the founder of the Maratha kingdopi had his home near the western ghats, his fortunes came to be mainly con- nected with only the Nizamshah of Ahmadnagar and the Adil- shah of Bijajpur. AltTiough tbe five~comKme3 TVIuslim ruTers dealt a death blow to the Hindu kingdom of Vijaynagar, they did not succeed in subjugating the more southernly terri- tories of that Hindu power. The general policy of these Deccani rulers was of tolerance towards the Hindus, as they had become wiser by the fate which the intolerant Khiljis and Tughlaks had to suffer on account of their extreme hatred towards the main populace over whom they ruled. In all essentials the Bahamani rulers and the Sultans of the off- shoot kingdoms, depended upon the Hindus for their own existence and studiously refrained from injuring Hindu senti- prient. The hilly regions of the west remained practically un-
EARLY BEGINNINGS
31
conquered. The Muslim character of the rulers was confined only to their personal religion and did not affect their subjects. Writes Ranade, “ These nominal Muhammadan rulers were virtually controlled both in the civil and military departments by Maratha statesmen and Maratha warriors. The hill-forts near the Ghats and the country thereabout, were in the hands of Maratha captains, who were nominally dependent upon these Muhammadan sovereigns.” Indeed, if Muhammad Adil- shah of Bijapur, who came to the throne in 1627 and who cqmpletely reversed the tolerant policy of his father Ibrahim Adilshah, a ruler of exceptional impartiality who had been revered as Jagat-Guru by the Hindus themselves, had not resumed the old practice of desecrating Hindu temples and plundering their wealth, it is probable that Shivaji would not have imdertalcen to found an independent Maratha Kingdom. Under the advice of his minister Mustafa Khan, Muhammad Adilshah promulgated fresh regulations’" for putting down the Hindu religion and thus invited the extreme wrath of promin- ent Marathas of the day. The conversion of Bajaji Nimbal- kar of Phaltan to the Muslim faith is an evidence of this changed policy of Bijapur which impelled Shivaji to make a fresh bold move.
The Hindus in general — the Maratha forming no excep- tion-have during historic times cared more for their religion than for political power. When the Ghaznivides and the Ghoris, the Khiljis and the Tughlaks practised fearful perse- cution in religious matters, they provoked opposition and re- volt. The great Emperor Mbar wisely changed this policy and thereby strengthened his empire. Akbar’s policy was reversed by Aurangzeb and this generated the Maratha move- ment for independence, a repetition of the same experiment that had led to the foundation of Vijayanagar. This vein of rebellious sentiment runs through the vast Marathi literature of the three or four centuries that followed the extinction of the Yadavas of Deogiri ; from the time of Mukundraj and Jnaneshwar to that of Tukaram and Ramdfis, the whole range of Marathi literature accurately reflects the workings of the
15. See Regulations of Md. Adilshah, Nos. 21, 44, 48, 51 and 53 in, Parasnis’ Itihas-Sangraha, Aitihasik Spkuta Lekk 2-7.
32
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
popular mind. Viewed in this light the teachings of these saints are dearly marked by three successive schools of thought, first that of Jnaneshwar and Namdev (13th and 14th I centuries) , the second Eknath and Tukaram (15th and 16th 1 centuries), and the third of Ramdas (17th century), the last j being contemporary of Shivaji himself. These saints and i writers were mostly men of learning and experience, having widely travelled on pilgrimages throughout India on foot, and gained first-hand information of local occurrences which they often actually witnessed. They can be likened to our present day newspaper reporters. They delivered orations and held Harikirtam which were avidly listened to, and which supplied the spiritual backgroimd to the political aims of workers like Shivaji.
There are two particular services which these writers have rendered to society. The old precious store of learning and philosophy which till then had been confined only to Sanskrit and was consequently unintelligible to the masses, was rendered by them into various popular and attractive forms of Marathi verse, often set to musical tunes ; and secondly, they made an ardent and piteous appeal to God Almighty through their favourite deity to intervene on behalf of the oppressed peoples and bring them relief from Muslim persecution. The well- known story of Dasmaji Pant, a revenue collector of the Bedar district, is a typical instance in which he miraculously escaped the wrath of his master for having distributed gratis govern- ment stores of com, through the actual intervention of the Vithoba of Pandharpur.‘“ A studied effort was made by some of the saints towards reconciling the two conflicting faiths in mutual recognition of the essential tmity of Rama and Rahim, of Vithoba and Allah. The warring sects of the Hindus them- selves, the Shaivas and the Vaishnavas were reconciled in a symbolized installation of Vithoba at Pandharpur.^^ Tukaram
16. The story refers to a devastating famine which occurred in Maharashtra for seven long years from 1396 a.c., which is still remembered as Durgadi.
17. “ It cannot be doubted,’' writes S. M. Edwardes, “ that the re- mr^jkable movement which centres st) largely about the God Vithoba and Pandhaipur^ embraced persons of various castes and elevated to sainthood
EARLY BEGINNINGS
33
represented the Pandharpur movement of passionate prayer of complete non-violence and patient resignation to the Divine Will. “The pulsation of a new national life began to stir throughout the land and was accompanied in the popular belief by the revolt of the Hindu pantheon against the tyrannous deity of the Muslim.”^®
The rapid change in the structure of the Marathi language itself bears unmistakable evidence to the political domination secured by the Muslim conquerors. While the great work of Jnaneshwar contains not a single Arabic or Persian word, Eknath’s writings exhibit a very large percentage of those foreign words imposed on Marathi. When Shivaji came forth boldly to oppose Muslim aggression and renovate Hindu reli- gion and culture, he promulgated his own Sanskrit code of official terms, replacing the Persian ones of the court language of the foreigners. The change back to Sanskrit becajne duickly effective during Maratha rule.
But there is another class of writings which tried to account for this new agitation in Maharashtrian life. They consist of early bakhars and prashastis (introductions) attached to Sanskrit works. Most of the bakhars of Shivaji, Hanmante’s introduction to the Rajavyavahdr Kosh, Gagabhatt’s foreword to the Kuyastha-Dharma-Pradip composed by him, and the Bhatta-Vansha-Kdvya, the elaborate exposition of Pamaa- nand’s Shiva-Bhdrat (two long chapters), some of the Hindi works of poets Bhushan and Lai Kavi, an anonymous poem purporting to be Shivaji’s letter to Jaya-Sinh, all these parti- cularly treat the subject of the rise of Shivaji, but explain it in a different manner. They describe the Earth as personified, unable to bear the atrocities of the Mlechhas towards gods, brahmans and cows, and seeking relief from the god Brahma, who in his turn appeals to Shankar, Vishnu or the goddess Bhavani, and ultimately these gods heeded the solemn prayer of the Earth and agreed to undertake a fresh incarnation for redressing the prevailing wrongs, and thus is Shivaji des- cribed to have been born. This is the orthodox explanation
representatives of even the lowest castes in Mahaifishtra ” ( Intr. Grant Duff’s History, p. Ixxiii).
18. Introduction to Maratha Ballads hy Acworth.
34 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
of the rise of Shivaji recorded before the days of the present epoch of historical research.*"
9. Peculiarities of the Maratha race — M. G. Ranade, the author of Rise of the Maratha Power, has propounded two important questions which a student of Maratha history has to solve. They are; (1) Why was the first successful attempt to throw off the Muhammadan yoke made in western India, and (2) what are the circumstances in the nature of the country, and the habits and institutions of the people inhabit- ing it, which favoured such an attempt and rewarded it with success? The veteran administrator and erudite scholar Sir Richard Temple has supplied an answer to these questions."" He says: — “ The Marathas have always formed a separate nation and still regard themselves as such. They possess plain features, short stature, a small but wiry frame. Their eyes are bright and piercing and under excitement will gleam with passion. Though not powerful physically as compared with the northern races of the Punjab and Oudh, they have much activity and an unsurpassed endurance. Born and bred in and near the western Ghat mountains and their numerous tributary ranges, they have all the qualities of mountaineers. Among their native hills they have at all times evinced des- perate courage. Away from the hills they do not display re- markable valour except under the discipline supplied by able leaders of other races. They never of themselves shov/ an
19. For instance I may quote a few lines —
I i cicf i
A: u
Trans. - Sire, these Muslims, the enemic*s of the gods, are severely oppressing the Earth ; therefore you must rescue her from her agony by killing them at once. You must take your birth in a human form from this lady (Jija Bai), the wife of the brave Shahji, and bring about the happiness of the earth, by killing the Mlechhas and restoring the spiritual bliss of the people.
So the god Vishnu took a fresh incarnation in order to protect the Brahmans who had been terrorized by the Yavan Emperor Aurangzeb.
20. Oriental Experience, p. 339.
EARLY BEGINNINGS
35
apititude for organization, but when so organized, they are reckoned among best soldiers. After the fall of the Maratha Empire, they have betaken themselves mainly to cultivation and to the carrying business connected with agriculture.
“The Maratha peasantry possess manly fortitude under suffering and misfortune. Though patient and good-tempered in the main, they have a latent warmth of temper and if oppressed beyond a certain endurable limit, they will fiercely turn and rend their tormentors. Cruelty is also an element in their character. Traditions of plunder have been handed down to them from early times and many of them retain the pre- datory instincts of their forefathers. The neighbourhood of dense forests, steep hill-sides and fastnesses hard of access, offers extraordinary facilities for the display of valour and the preservation of liberty. They w’^ork hard in the fields and possess a fund of domestic virtue. The Marathas are bom equestrians and sportsmen. As a rule they are not moderate in living and are not infrequently addicted to intemperance. They often feel proud of their low origin even after attaining greatness. The Sindhias boasted of having been the slipper- bearers of the Peshvas.”
Writes Yuan Chwang in the middle of the 7th century —
“ The manners of the Marathas are simple and honest. They are proud and reserved. If any one is kind to them he may be sure of their gratitude, but if any one injures them, they will take their revenge and risk their life to wipe out dishonour. If any one in distress appeals to them, they will leave aside all thoughts of self in their anxiety to help. Even if they have an insult to avenge, they never fail to warn their enemy. In battle if they pursue the fugitives, they always spare all who surrender. These men love studj^ and there are many heretics among them.” These traits of the Maratha character are foimd even to-day.
10. The present day Marathas. — Thus from the Maur- yas to the Yadavas there stretched a period of fifteen centuries, during which many great races and families came, settled and ruled in Maharashtra, only a few of whom have been pro- minently mentioned here. But there were certainly a large
36 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
number of others, who, like the Kadambas of Banavasi, or the Silaharas of Kolhapur, Karhad and Thana, or the Vakatakas of Berar, the Kakatiyas of Warangal and the Ballals of Sagar, cannot all be here minutely enumerated, though they un- doubtedly entered into the composition of the present-day Maratha nation at one time or another of our post history. Conquest and rule formed the sole occupation of these races and families. The conquerors often took for their wives maidens from the defeated races, thus giving rise to a free mixture of blood. The present day Maratha race boasts of including at least 96 separate families of whom several were long consider- ed to be of very noble blood such as the Mauryas, the Sendra- kas, the Rathods, the Silaharas, the Yadavas, etc., each with its high traditions of past valour and glory. The physical and mental powers of the present-day Marathas are a proof of the laws of heredity.
The rise of the Marathas under Shivaji is a problem which has been thoroughly analysed and reviewed by different writers in recent times. The Marathas as a p)eople doubtless px)ssessed in their vein high blood and noble tradition derived through ages from their royal ancestors such as the Mauryas, the Rash- trakutas, the Chalukyas and the Yadavas, not to mention the more recent additions to the original stock by the arrivals from time to time of north Indian Rajput tribes such as the Para- piars (the present day Pawars), the Solankis, the Bhosles, the Ghorpjades, the Mohites, the Mahadiks, the Gujars, the Shirkes, the Sawants, the Ghatges, the Manes, the Dafles, the various Deshmukhs of the Mawals, several of whom adopted new surnames, in some cases from the places they occupied in the Deccan and from other sources. The Nimbalkars of Phal- tan, for instance, are indeed the Paramars of Dhar who, after being expelled by Muslim conquerors from their habitation in Malwa, at first took their residence at Nimbalak in the Deccan and received their present name from that village. The Bhosles sipiilarly are believed to have migrated from Rajputana and settled near Verul in the vicinity of Daulatabad. Shivaji’s mother came from the Jadhao family, doubtless descendants of the ruling Yadavas of Deogiri, who continued to drag on a subdued existence in the region once ruled by their royal
EARLY BEGINNINGS
37
ancestors. The Ghorpades are indeed a branch of the Bhosles who acquired that surname from one of their ancestors captur- ing a fort by climbing up a rampart on a rope tied to an aguana {i.e. Ghorpad) . The several Deshmukhs of the Maval valleys such as the Jedhes, the Bandals, the Khopdes, the Pasalkars, the Silimkars and so on, acquired their present sur- names when they came into and colonized thoi^ regions west of Poona, and figured prominently as early associates of Shivaji.
11. The Maratha country in pulsation. — ^To quote Tqmple,^^ “ The Maratha country is strategically important as well as highly picturesque. Much of it lies in the bosom or near the skirts of the Ghat mountains. The vapours from the Arabian Sea are propelled by the south-west paonsoon against the mountain tops of the Sahyadri range and produce an abund- ance of regular rainfall giving rise to luxuriant vegetation and the spectacle of numerous cascades tumbling down the per- pendicular flanks of the mountains.
“ The mountains stand in the midst of a fertile and popu- lous coimtry. On both sides of them are rich valleys, cultivated plains, numerous villages and large towns. Thus insurgents or warriors had here a complete military base with sources whence supplies could be drawn and with strongholds for organising power or for securing refuge. This hill country has been regarded by strategists as one of the strongest in India in a military sense. It extends over nearly 500 miles from north to south and has nuimerous fortresses w’hich are virtually im- pregnable when resolutely defended. Several of these are surrounded with historic tradition. In former times there was no road worthy of the name across these mountains. No means of passage existed for wheeled traffic save steep rugged path- ways for footmen and pack animals. It is this range of the Western Ghats which enabled the Marathas to rise against their Muhammadan conquerors, to reassert their nationality against the whole power of the Mughals and to establish in its place an Empire of their own. It should be remembered that the principal power, the widest sovereignty whidi the
21. Oriental Experience, p. 345.
38
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
British overthrew in India was that of the Marathas. It was against theim that the British had their stillest and sanguinary actions.
“The political importance of these western mountains is indeed striking. Firstly, they nourish a resolute, enduring, daring almost audacious spirit among their inhabitants. Secondly, they offer strongholds and fastnesses to which these inhabitants can resort whenever they are pressed by an enemy. In fact they long and successfully defied the attempts of the Muslim rulers of Bijapur and Ahmadnagar to subdue them ; and thirdly, they lie between fertile countries, consequently, the men of the hills can make rapid raids for plundering or maraud- ing purposes, just as the eagle swoops from its eyrie upon the quarry. After these sudden descents they can rapidly carry off plunder, treasure and the like to the hills, and once they are there, it is difficult to approach them.” Innumerable instances have occurred in Maratha history in which the agents of Government removed their valuables and womenfolk to these mountain fastnesses and thus prevented them from falling into the enemy’s hands. Indeed, the possession of these strong- holds has often formed a subject of bitter strife between various Maratha clans. It is thus that these regions became the cradle of greatness, power and Empire for the Marathas.
It will be clear from the foregoing analysis of the condi*- tion of Mahartashtra and its people that it was never com- pletely subjugated by the Muslim conquerors. The prevalent system of village autonomy ensured the peoples’ freedom in point of justice and police. The various landlords enjoyed practical independence for ages. The physical character of the country and the mental cast of its people, were entirely differ- ent from those of the other parts of India. The people of Maharashtra always possessed a spirit of revolt and inde- pendence and only needed some capable leader to organise them. It has often been a moot question in historical disqui- sition, whether it is the sudden advent of a qualified leader that moulds the character of a people and exacts national service from them ; or whether it is the circumstances and the situa- tion of a people which bring forth the sort of leader they need. We cannot categorically maintain either the one view or the
EARLY BEGINNINGS
39
other. Very often there is partial truth in both. Carlyle says, “ a hero is both the creature and the creator of the times he lives in,” Revolutions do not invariably become successful because there are bound 'to be a large number of favourable and adverse factors in any situation.
The rise of the Bhosles to power will be the theme of the next chapiter. In addition to the several causes which facili- tated and hastened that rise, one can doubtless notice in the ancestry of Shivaji the two traditions of royalty and independ- ence, one handed down to him through his mother, who enter- tained a vivid memory of the glory of the royal rule of her Yadav ancestors ; and the other reaching him through his father Shahji, who had taken his cue for his life’s exploits from the theatre of the old Vijayanagar Empire, the traditions of which could not have yet become totally lost to memory. The Bahamani kingdom although Muslim in character, was not able to destroy or obliterate these old lingering traditions ; the actual sway of the Vijayanagar Empire over Mahariashtra, over, for instance, Karhad, Sangameshwar, Prabhavali and other places is still preserved in the anecdotes of Dado Nara- sinh and the colonization effected by the black and the white Khojas.^^ Shivaji’s father performed his life’s work in the old Vijayanagar territories as the sequel will .show.
22. These anecdotes refer to the colonization and government of the western regions by the Hindu and Muslim rulers of Vijayanagar, Bedar, and the Silahar Kings of Karhad and Kolhapur. The details of these transactions are scattered over many sources among which may be mentioned Skiva-CharitiaSahitya, Vol. I, No. 2 ; the Sardesai Bakhar in the history of that family, vol. 1, pages 49-53 ; Raj. vol. 8, letters 1 and 2 ; Rajwade Introduction, p. 418 ; Rise of the Maratha Power, p, 33, etc.
1552
1592
1594 March 15 1594
1597
11599
1599^^-1631
1600
1600 Aug. 19 1605
1605 Nov. 5 1608 1609
1616 Feb. 4
1616 Oct. 16
1617 Oct. 12 1616 Nov. 10
1619
1620
1621 April 4
1622 March 24
1624 November
1625
1626 May 14 1626 October
CHRONOLOGY
CHAPfTER II
Maloji Bhosle bom.
Shah Jahan born.
Shahji Bhosle born.
Death of Burhan Nizam Shah : Mu- ghals invade the Deccan.
Death of Babaji Bhosle.
Akbar marches into the Deccan.
Murtaza Nizam S. mles from Deogiri.
Defence of Ahmadnagar by Chand Bibi.
Ahmadnagar falls : King Bahadur Shah taken prisoner.
Death of Akbar : accession of Jahangir.
Sliahji married to Jija Bai.
Jahangir begins conquest of Deccan.
Malik Ambar's son Path Khan mar- ried at Bijapur.
Battle of Roshangaon, Ambar routed.
Khurram moves from Ajmere against Malik Ambar.
Jahangir takes up residence at Mandu.
Khurram returns victorious to his father at Mandu.
Sambhaji bom to Shahji and Jija Bai.
Death of Maloji Bhosle.
Shah Jahan reaches Burhanpur to punish M. Ambar,
Shah Jahan returns north after receiv- ing Malik Ambar’s submission.
Battle of Bhatavdi, Ambar inflicts de- feat upon the Mughals.
Shahji quits Ambar : joins Bijapur.
Malik Ambar dies : Path Khan becomes minister.
Shahzada Parwiz dies.
3
42
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
1627 April 6 1627 Sept. 12
1627 Oct. 29
1628 1628
1628 Feb. 4
1629 July 25
1629 Dec. 3 1630—1631
1630 Nov. — March 1632
1630
1631 Jan. 18 1631 March 1631 June 7
1631 June ID
1632 March
1633 June 7 1633 Sept.
1633 Sept. 23
1634 Oct. 26
1635 Sept. 29
1636 Jan.
1636 May 6
1636 Aug. 17 1636 Oct.
Birth of Shivaji.
Ibrahim Adil Shah diss : Muhammad Shah succeeds.
Death of Emperor Jahangir.
Path Khan imprisoned by Nizam Shah.
Shahji returns to Nizamshahi service.
Shah Jahan becomes Emperor.
Lukji Jadhavrao with sons and grand- son murdered by Nizam Shah.
Shah Jahan leaves Agra for the south.
Dreadful famine in the Deccan.
Shahji accepts Mughal service.
Adilshahi general Murar Jagdeo burns Poona.
Path Khan released and reinstated by Nizam Shah.
Path Khan murders Nizam Shah and submits to the Mughals.
Death of Mumtaz Mahal, coi. of Shah Jahan, at Burhanpur.
Khan Jahan Lodi dies fighting.
Shah Jahan leaves for Agra.
Mahabat Khan captures Daulatabad.
Shahji installs a new Nizamshahi prince at Pemgiri.
Shahji and Murar Jagdeo unite against the Mughals.
Mahabat Khan dies.
Shah Jahan leaves Agra for Deccan.
Shah Jahan reaches Daulatabad and proclaims extinction of the Nizam- shahi Sultanate.
Shah Jahan concludes treaty with Bija- jxir and sets out for Agra.
Shahji besieged in fort Mahuli.
Shahji capitulates to the Mughals and departs for Bijapur.
CHAPTER II
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
(From Roshahgaon to Mahuli — 1614-1636)
1. Survey of the situation.
3. Battle of Roshangaon.
5. Battle of Bhatavadi.
7. Shall Jahan's march against Nizam Shah.
8. Shahji’s bold stand.
2. The family of the Bhosles. 4. Shahji’s marriage, Shivaji born.
6. Rebellion of Khan Jahaii Lodi.
9. Moral of the two figures.
1. Survey of the situation, 1605. — ^The political situa- tion of Maharashtra towards the end of the sixteenth century must be borne in mind if we are to understand the rise of the Bhosles to royal power. The great Emperor Akbar after con- solidating his Empire in North India decided to subjugate the reg’ ^ south of the Narmada, but found that task not quite so easy as his earlier conquests. Three Emperors in succes- sion had to expend their might before they could make a small headway in the Deccan.
The death of Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar in 1594 gave rise to murders and intrigues in rapid succession and the confusion that ensued in the fortunes of that state was taken advantage of by Akbar, who at once sent an army for its conquest. At this critical hour the famous Chand Bibi stood forth boldly, organised a strong opposition, and heroically defended Ahmadnagar for some years. Eventually about the middle of 1599 Akbar himself marched southwards at the invi- tation of his trusted general Abul Fazl and occupied Burhan- pur without opposition. His son Daniyal and the Khan Khanan were charged with the duty of taking Ahmadnagar at a tinie when internal dissensions precluded the effective defence of the place, emd Chand Bibi the only capable leader was either murdered or constrained to take poison by her own servants. The town was stormed without much difficulty in August 1600 and formally surrendered on the 19th of that month. The yoimg King Bahadur Shah and his family paid
44 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
the penalty for their crime of independence by life-long im- prisonment in the fortress of Gwalior. At this moment of suc- cess Akbar received the news of his son Salim being in open rebellion and was compelled to return hastily to the north.^ Thereafter his fortunes rapidly declined and he died in 1605 without leaving a worthy successor.
The history of the Marathas would possibly have taken a different turn if Akbar had been succeeded by a more com- petent ruler than the slothful, easy-going, pleasure-seeking Jahangir. This trait of his character paved the way for the Maratha ambitions, which came to be fostered, although for his own ends, by the astute Malik Ambar, an Abyssinian Muslim in origin, who when yoxmg had been made a slave and brought to India by a merchant of Baghdad and sold to Chengiz Khan a minister of the Sultans of Ahmadnagar. The latter detected Ambar’s capacity and trained him for the service of the Nizamshahi State. In a short time he became a power in the Deccan and set at defiance all Emperor Jahan- gir’s efforts for over fifteen years. He practically re-madc the history of the Deccan for that period with the help of many Maratha captains. The Abyssinian emigrants here gained opportunities unequalled elsewhere for displaying their rare capacity for sea-faring, land warfare, management of men and civil administration. They were no longer household slaves and palace eunuchs as in the north, but regents of kingdoms, gene- ralissimos of armies, admirals of fleets, viceroys of provinces.
Undaunted by the loss of Ahmadnagar, Malik Ambar selected Parenda, Junnar and Daulatabad in suc(^ssion as tepiporary seats of safety for the new Sultan Murtaza Nizam Shah (1599-1631) and himself conducted the administration with consummate skill both in war and diplomacy, attending at the. same time to the welfare of the subjects. He at last kept the Shah secure in the difficult fort of Daulatabad and esta- blished a separate city for administrative purposes at Khadki in the vicinity of that fort. This city was afterwards named Aurangabad when Aurangzeb became his father’s viceroy in the Deccan in 1636.
1. Akbar by Vincent Smith, p. 277.
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
45
The various Maratha clans of the Deccan were dragging on their obscure existence in the service' of one or other of the three Muslim potentates of the Deccan with hardly any idea at the time of asserting their indepyendence. Among them the Jadhavs with their seat at Sindkhed in the vicinity of Daulata- bad were then powerful in the service of the Nizam Shah. The Bhosles were at first comparatively insignificant. Maloji Bhosle the grandfather of Shivaji had to content himself by serving as a j)etty horseman in the employ of the Jadhavs. The cousins of the Bhosles, viz. the Ghorpades, served the Adil Shah of Bijapur, enjoying a small jagir at Mudhol. The clan of the Mor& enjoyaJ almost royal power and influence in the hilly regions west of Satara, while rendering nominal service to Bijapur.
Jahangir resiuned his father’s policy of subjugating the Deccan in 1608 and the war thus started continued practically till 1636 when Shah Jahan ultimately succeeded in putting an end to the existence of the Nizamshahi Kingdom. It was during the course of this long war that Maloji and Shahji Bhosle rose to prominence as helpmates of Malik Ambar. The period bristles with the names of captains on the two sides and with stirring incidents of a varying character. Fortunately two independent sources, Fuzuni Astarabadi’s Persian account of Malik Ambar and the Sanskrit narrative of Pamianand named the Shivu Bharat, help us to determine the main story of this struggle with tolerable accuracy.
How Malik Ambar with his scanty resources resisted for fifteen years the power of the Mughal Emperor backed by his wealth and enormous resources and directed by the best gene- rals and copipetent Shahazadas like Parwiz and Khurram, has become a problem in the history of the art of war. Ambar boldly opposed the Mughals by adapting his tactics to the geographical conditions of the southern regions and by deve- loping a particular method of fighting the enemy, which is known as guerilla warfare and which Shivaji later used with such effect against his opponents.
2. The family of the Bhosles. — ^The family of Shivaji claimed descent from the Sisodia Ranas of Udepur, but its
46 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
najme Bhosle has not been satisfactorily accounted for. There is no doubt that the ancestors of several present day Maratha families, as has been shown in the first chapter, migrated from the north and settled in Maharashtra, representing to this day the Rajput or Kshatriya blood. One tradition says that after the capture of the fort of Chitod by Ala-ud-din Khilji early in the fourteenth century (1303), a member of the riling family of the Ranas, named Sajjan Sinh or Sujan Sinh escaped from the miseries of foreign conquest and wandered into the southern regions in search of employment during the troubled reign of Muhapamad Tughlalc. Sajjan Sinh died about 1350 and his fifth descendant Ugrasen had two sons Kama Sinh and Shubha Krishna. Kama Sinh’s son Bhimsinh received from the Bahpiani Sultan the title of “ Raja Ghorpade Baha- dur,” with a jagir of 84 villages at Mudhol where the family still rules. Bhim Sinh’s descendants thus came to be known as Ghorpades who have now extensive branches at different places in Mahanastra. Shubha Krishna’s descendants are known as Bhosles and form a younger branch of the original family.^
A grandson of this Shubha Krishna was one Babaji Bhosle who died in 1597. Babaji had two sons, Maloji (bom in 1552) and Vithoji. Maloji, his son Shahji and Shahji’s son Shivaji are the three persons most intimately concerned with the events which form the subject of our present study. These Bhosles purchased the headship or patilki of Verul near Dau- latabad and some other villages in the region of the rivers Godavari and Bhima and maintained themselves by managing their landed property and by pailitary service under the Nizam-
2. The descent of the Bhosle family from the Ranas of Udepur has not been authentically proved. It is supported by copies (not origin- als) of some Persian firmans in the possession of the Raja of Mudhol. But some scholars consider them spurious. The question of the origin of the BhosleJs came for investigation at the time of Shiva ji*s coronation when the rites due to a Kshatriya were denied to him. In this connection the student can study with advantage Shivaji’s circular letter dated 28th Januiary 1677„ printed by Kulkami in No. 3 of his “ Old Historical Documents^*, p. 41. Some consider the name Bhosle as a corruption of the word Hoysal, a family which ruled at Dwara Samudra. But these Hoysals are known to have been a branch of the Yadavas. As Jija Bai came from the Yadava family, she could not have contracted marital connection with another Yadava family.
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
47
cthahi rulers. On the whole the members of the Bhosle family appear enterprizing, resourceful and self-reliant, men of strong will and pride, never submitting to an insult. Their family was numerous and always mutually helpful.®
Maloji and Vithoji possessed huge and strong bodies, too heavy, it is said, for the Deccani pony to carry. They were the fmtils of Verul (Ellora) a village near Daulatabad, and enlisted as guards in the service of Lukhji Jadhavrao the baron of Sindkhed, in the vicinity of Daulatabad which became the capital of the Nizamshahi State after Ahmadnagar had been lost. Lukhji, a descendant of the dethroned royal family of Deogiri, was at this time a noble of the first rank in the service of the Nizam Shah, wielding influence in the politics of the Deccan. The Bhosle brothers found employment as troopers under Lukhji Jadhav and at the same time managed their old landed property at Verul and other villages.
The river Narmada has formed the main boundary bet- ween the northern and southern halves of this Indian continent. The first important post which the conquering arjnies from the north after crossing this river must secure in order to con- firm their footing in the south, is Burhanpur on the river Tapti and its covering fort Ashirgad. The next advance is to the region of Daulatabad, Ellora and Aurangabad, about a hundred miles south of Burhanpur. Some 75 miles further south stands Ahmadnagar the main key for any northern conqueror to possess for holding the south. Burhanpur, Aurangabad and Ahmadnagar thus form the principal chain of posts and the region of bitter contest round which converges the present story of the Mughal advance and the Maratha resistance.
3. Battle of Roshangaon. — Malik Ambar possessed a keen perception and a rare capacity for organization. He made friends with the ruler of Bijapur, the wise Ibrahijn Adil
3. In oontemporary writing their names are mentioned not singly but with the honourable word '^Raje” added after them, as Maloji Raje, Kheloji Raje, Vithoji Raje, etc. But this word Raje does not necessarily signify kingship. It was a comnmon! practice with most Maratha clans to add the world Raje after their individual names. The practice is still kept up.
48 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
Shah, who celebrated in his capital, under his own personal direction and at his own expense, the marriage ceremony of Malik Ambar’s son Path Rhan in 1609, that is, just about the time that Jahangir’s forces marched from Agra against Ahmadnagar. Malik Ambar improved the Nizam-Shahi state in various ways. His genius perhaps appears pre-eminent in so administering the Nizajnshahi territories as to make the peasantry his best support. Ambar’s land revenue assessment scheme earned for him a unique reputation and became a model for succeeding rulers to copy. Agriculture and industry were so fostered by him in the state that the country became pros- perous and brought in a regular income. Although he was a Muslim, his rule came to be much appreciated and respected by the Hindus ; it was so entirely free from any religious persecution, that the Hindus became his best friends.
It is not necessary here to discuss in detail the various expeditions sent by Jahangir to the Deccan and the measures adopted by Malik Ambar to thwart them. In 1608 Jahangir appointed to the government of the Deccan Abdur Rahim Khan-Khanan, a great and valiant noble of his Court, son of the famous Bairam Khan of Akbar’s days. When this general who had long served in the Deccan before, arrived on the spot with large forces, Malik Ambar asstimed a most submissive attitude and by agreeing to the terms imposed, avoided open war and gained time for preparation. The Emp>eror, however, became impatient and sent large reinforcements under his son Parwiz along with several veteran generals. He later recalled Khan-Khanan, and appointed in his place his son Shah-Nawaz Khan. These two — Parwiz and Shah-Nawaz — ^brought the vigour of their youth into action and started all-round opera- tions which continued for three or four years before a decision was reached.
On behalf of the Nizam Shah, Malik Ambar organized his armies to oppose the Mughals in the vicinity of Jalna. Along with his Muslim commanders he had under him “ Jadu Rao, Babaji Kante, Bhosle, Udaram Brahman of Mahur and other nobles of the Maratha race”. Profuse seduction was practised on both sides. Prince Parwiz and Shah-Nawaz Khan offered inducements to some of Nizamshahi commanders
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
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SO that “ Adam Khan Habshi, Yaqut Khan, Jadu Rao, Babaji Kante and Udaram Brahman deserted their master and accept- ed the Mughal service.” At last the battle was joined on 4th February 1616 at Roshangaon in a bend of the river Dudhna about 10 miles west of Jalna, when a crushing defeat was inflicted upon the troops led by Ambar.‘ Malik Ambar fled for life and saved himself by taking shelter in the impregnable fort of Daulatabad. Shah-Nawaz razed to the ground Malik Ambar’s new capital Khadki and carried away enormous plunder to Burhanpur.
Shahzada Parwiz had already been recalled and even the success achieved by Shah-Nawaz Khan did not avail the Mughals much. For, as soon as the Mughal troops retired, Malik Ajmbar resumed his former game and soon recaptured all the territory that had been recently wrested from him. When the intelligence of this fresh advance on the part of Malik Ambar reached Jahangir, he reappointed Khan-Khanan as Governor of the Deccan and himself marched at once from Agra to Ajmere and thence despatched his third son Khurram with a large force against Malik Ambar. Khurram left Ajmere on 16 October 1616, and was joined at the ford of the Nar- mada by Khan-Khanan, Mahabat Khan, Khan Jahan and other renowned Mughal generals who were already working in the Deccan. In order to support this grand effort, the Emperor himself left Ajmere on 10th November 1616 and took up his residence at Mandu to be nearer the field of activities.
PChurram at once started vigorous action. He sent his envoys to Bijapur demanding help and oo-operation from the Adil Shah. Malik Ambar and the Adil Shah had not noiw the heart to offer any opposition to this formidable ad- vance of the Mughals. They lx)th sent costly presents to the Prince and agreed without the least demur to deliver over Burhanpur, Aurangabad and Ahmadnagar. Malik Ambar per-
4. See Sir Jadunath's Malik Ambar, Ind. Hist. Quar.,, 1933-4. It is dear that Lukhji Jadhavrao desqrted to the Mughals for the first time before the battle of Roshangaon ; although he came back to his allegiance now ai)(d again, he continued his vacillating conduct to the last and thus came to be murdered in 1629, The Bhosle who fought for Malik Anbar at Roshangaon must have been Maloji.
50
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sonally waited upon the Shahzada and delivered the keys of the various forts and the territory of Balaghat, i.e, the region of Berar. Khurram felt highly gratified with this easy victory for which he had not been required to fire a single shot or unsheath a single sword. Convinced that his task had been fully accomplished, he consigned the protection of the newly conquered territories to his two trusted generals Khan-Khanan and his son Shah-Nawaz Khan and returned in triiunph to his father’s presence at Mandu, (12 October 1617) . Jahangir was so highly pleased with Khurram’s quick performance and with the numerous costly presents he had brought with him, that he bestowed on him special honours and the grand title Shah Jahan, by which he came to be known thereafter. Khan Jahan Lodi, Udaram, and possibly Lukhji Jadhav and other officials from the Deccan came and paid their homage to the Emperor at Mandu. Convinced that the Deccan had been finally subjugated, the Emperor proceeded to Ahmedabad.®
But all this apparent victory was a hollow show adroitly got up by Malik Ambar. He immediately started his former aggression, this time with greater vigour than ever before. He first enlisted the support of both the Adil Shah and the Kutb Shah, explaining to them how it was essential in their own interest to form a confederacy against the common danger. They made vast preparations for a concerted plan to drive the Mughal forces back beyond the Narmada. In a short time they harassed the Mughal Governor Khan-Khanan at Burhan- pur so severely that he sent piteous appeals to the Emperor for further provisions and help. Malik Ambar’s advanced parties even crossed the Narmada and entered Malwa. An interval of nearly three years since Shah Jahan’s achievement had wrought important changes in Jahangir’s fortunes. Excess- es had shattered his health. Serious plots were started at his court for seizing the imperial power. There was open jealousy on this account between Nur Jahan and Shah Jahan. The
5. The British Ambassador Sir Thomas Roe arrived at Agra in January 1616 and travelled with the Emperor to y\jmere, Mandu and Ahmedabad, He left for England in August 1618. He has recorded some graphic details of the Mughal Court pertaining to this period and the Emperor's efforts to conquer the Deccan.
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
51
Emperor lost all his former vigour and nerve and became unfit to control his affairs. His only answer to Khan-Khanan’s piteous appeals was to once more reqxiest Shah Jahan to go to the Deccan and put down Malik Ambar’s rebellion.®
Shah Jahan reached Burhanpur on 4th April 1621, at once piu'sued Malik Ambar with vigour and expedition and drove him back beyond the Godavari. The campaign was fought throughout the year. Malik Ambar finding himself unable to cope with the situation, once paore made submission to the Prince and agreed to give up the territory that he had seized. This time Shah Jahan’s attention was riveted more upon the political developments at his father’s court than upon the conquest of the Deccan. He gave easy terms to Malik Ambar, retraced his steps in haste to Burhanpur, encompassed the end of his rival and brother Khusru, and left that place for the north on 24th March 1622. The next five years of Jahan- gir’s life were full of convulsion, intrigue, and plots for power in which Nur Jahan and Shah Jahan were mainly involved. It is necessary for a student fully to grasp the intricacies of the situation of the Mughal Empire dtiring these five years, at the end of which Jahangir died and Shah Jahan succeeded him. It is these intricacies that gave the Marathas their coveted chance.
4. Shahji’s marriage, Shivaji born — This period of five years (1622-27) is full of stirring incidents and extreme un- rest throughout India in which two great figures, Shah Jahan in the north and Shahji in the south, gradually emerge on the stage of history. Shah Jahan was born in 1592 and Shahji two years later on 15th March 1594. Their deaths similarly* took place within a short interval of each other, in 1666 and 1664 respectively ; the former lived for 74 years and the latter 70. They opposed each other in the Deccan for some eight years (162S— 1636), when Shah Jahan came down in pursuit of Khan Jahan Lodi and with the intention of finishing the Kingdom of Ahmadnagar, which Shahji did his best to save with all his skill. Shah Jahan’s career is well-known to history,
6. The student should notei the intrigues at the Imperial court at this time and Shah Jahan's fears about his brother Khusru.
52 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
but as Shahji’s is obscure, it is necessary to give first a few facts of his ancestry and domestic history, which are also connected with the life of Shivaji.
It has already been mentioned that Lukhji Jadhavrao, a descendant of the Yadav kings of Deogiri, was a powerful noble, holding lands and high military commands under the Nizamshahi rulers. The Bhosles were also a large family, comparatively poorer, possessing only a few villages in Patil- ship between Daulatabad and Poona. Tradition says that Maloji Bhosle took service imder Lukliji Jadhav and used to stand guard at the gate of his palace. Once during the spring festival (holi) Jadhavrao invited Maloji and other sulxirdi- nates for the usual cerepnony of playing with red powder and dye. Maloji took with him his little son Shahji to the assembl- age. Lukhji Jadhav had a daughter named Jija Bai, of nearly the same age as Shahji and seated her by his side. When during the ceremony the guests began to work the dye-syringes, the two children also amused themselves in the pastime. The comic sight impelled Jadhavrao to utter a casual remark, “ How now, would not these two form a handsome pair ? ” Maloji heard the words, and at once in a loud voice called upon the assembly to bear witness that Jadhavrao had publicly betroth- ed his daughter to Shahji. Jadhavrao vehemently repudiated the construction put upon the words uttered in jest, and con- sidered Maloji’s position too far below his own to warrant a family connection between master and servant. Thus a quarrel began between these two families, and Maloji quitted Jadhavrao’s service to seek his fortune elsewhere, so as to rise to a position in which he could demand Jadhavrao’s daughter in marriage for his son. He soon managed to amass some wealth and enhance his reputation, so as to figure prominently in higher circles. He repaired the old dilapidated temple of Ghrishneshwar at Verul and built a large tank at the shrine of Shambhu Mahadev near Satara and thus removed the scar- city of water at the place from which the large crowds of pilgrims had so severely suffered. Maloji was doubtless a man of resourceful and independent spirit.’ He succeeded in
7. Highly eulogistic accounts appear to have been recorded in Sans- krit about the) exploits of Maloji and Shahji, after Shivaji’s reputation
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
53
winning over the Nizam Shah probably through Malik Ambar, to sanction the match which Jadhavrao had spumed at. The Sultan of Ahmadnagar recognized the worth of Maloji’s ser- vices in the stmggle against the Mughal Emperor and bestowed on him a small jagir consisting of the districts of Poona and Supa, so that he became more of a peer to Jadhavrao. He then openly demanded the latter’s daughter in marriage for his son and the ceremony took place at Sindkhed on 5th Nov- ember 1605 (Margashirsha 5 of the bright half). Of this marriage was bom Shivaji many years later.
The time of Shahji’s marriage with Jija Bai coincided with the death of Akbar and the accession of Jahangir to the Mughal throne. The subsequent events connected with Jahangir’s efforts to subjugate the Deccan have already been narrated. When Lukhji Jadhavrao deserted his master Nizam Shah and joined the Emperor’s side, the loss was more than made up by Maloji’s loyalty and attachment to Malik Ambar, whose methods of war and diplomacy proved for the Bhosles a veri- table school of which the rising Shahji did not fail to take full advantage. Maloji died in 1620 and his mantle fell upon his son now 26 years old and worthy in every way. He soon became the right hand man of Malik Ambar.
Shahji’s marriage with Jija Bai, however, did not prove a source of conjugal felicity. The desertion of Jija Bai’s father to the Mughals only served to widen the gulf between the two families. Shahji later took a second wife from the Mohite family of Supa and Jija Bai came to be practically neglected by her husband. Parmananda, the author of Shiva- Bharat, says that Jija Bai bore six sons to Shahji of which only two Sambhaji and Shivaji grew up to manhood, the others dying in infancy.® Sambhaji is said to have been born in 1619 when Shahji was 25 years old.
had been fully established. VMe Sanads and Letters, pp. 211 — 215, and the unique Sanskrit composition known as Sambhaji’s danrpatra. Parama- nanda follows in the same strain in his Shiva-Bharat.
8. ^ 5T??fW3rR5TT 53|T: I
Sl%qFqq?r^ II
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
54/
When Maloji Bhosle died, his son Shaliji inherited both his father’s position and jagir. He had a younger brother, Sharifji, who was deeply attached to Ins person and cause. Together the two brothers pulled through weal and woe for many a long year.”. Maloji’s brother Vithoji had eight sons, all strong and capable, who mostly followed Shahji’s fortunes. Thus the large Bhosle family of young and energetic enthusiasts, possessing a spirit of valour and adventure and bent upon improving their fortune, proved a great national asset in the endeavours of Shahji to defend the Nizamshahi cause against Mughal aggression, particularly after the death of Malik Ambar.
5. Battle of Bhatavadi.— Shah Jahan, as has been al- ready mentioned, left Burhanpur for the north in March 1622 and soon came to be involved in the war of succession which raged throughout India during the next five years and which threw into utter confusion the affairs of the Empire, thus sup- plying the welcome opportunity for Malik Ambar and Shahji to strengthen their position in the south. Shah Jahan turned a rebel and was vigorously pursued by Parwiz and Mahabat Khan. Lest Shah Jahan should join Malik Ambar and offer a formidable opposition, Jahangir directed Shahzada Parwiz to put down the combination. Malik Ambar accepted the challenge and resorting to his tactics of guerilla warfare managed to inflict a crushing defeat upon the combined force of the imperialists and the Adil Shah at the famous field of Bhatavdi, about ten miles east of Ahmadnagar. Graphic descriptions of this battle (date Nove^nber 1624) are given by Paramanand and the Persian writers. The success was mainly due to Malik Ambar’s sup>erior tactics of long and patient manoeuvering for contriv- ing an inescapable trap in which the Mughal and Bijapuri forces were caught. Thus this battle of Bhatavadi forms a land- mark in the history of the Maratha rise, as Shahji’s genius shone brilliantly on the occasion in support of Malik Ambar. He received the best lesson of his life in the art of overcoming a superior enemy through tactical methods. The full and
9. Their enmity towards the Jadhavs grew bitterer every day and resulted in many untoward scuffles of the type which Shakespeare has rQjrisented as occurring between the Montagues and the Capulets.
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
55
detailed description of this battle of Bhatavadi given by the author of the Shiva-Bharat deserves a careful study. Shahji was therein heartily supported by his brother Sharif ji and by Vithoji’s sons.^®
This phenomenal success of Malik Ambar gave Shahji an importance and worth of which Malik Ambar soon became jealous. Relations between them became intolerable and Shahji to save his reputation quitted the service of the Nizam Shah and sought his fortune under the Adil Shah. This transfer appears to have taken place soon after the battle of Bhatavadi, some time in 1625. Shahji, however, retained his hold on his jagir of Poona, which was situated on the border-lands of the two kingdoms and proved a fruitful source of contention between them. Soon after Shahji’s going into the service of Bijapur his second wife, Tukabai in 1630 gave birth to a son, named Ekoji, or Vyankoji in the popular language, who later founded the Maratha kingdom of Tanjore.
While Shahji was away at Bijapur, Malik Ambar died on 14th May 1626, with the result that the fortunes of Alunad- nagar began thereafter rapidly to decline. Its end was hasten- ed by two other events of political importance, the death of the Emperor Jahangir on 29th October 1627 and the accession to power of his ablest son Shah Jahan on 4th February 1628. Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur who had patronized Shahji at his court also died on 12th September 1627. Another event of equal importance to Maratha history was the birth of a son to Jija Bai and Shahji on 6th April 1627,“ who w^as named Shivaji and who later founded the Maratha independence. The year 1627 is thus a turning point in the history of the Deccan. During that year Prince Shah Jahan, then a rebel against his father, lay in concealment in the vicinity of Junnar while his family was kept in hiding in the fort of Asheri near the port of Mahim on the west coast. It was only when he heard
10. About 20 names of Muslim generals and of more than a dozen Maratha captains are given by Parmanand in Sh. Bh. chap. 4 and most of the former are also mentioned by Fazuni Astarabadi. These two in- dependent Persian and Sanskrit authorities confirming each other, enhance the value of the Shiva-Bharat as a work based on authentic sources.
11. Jedhe gives Shivaji’s birth-date as 19th February 1630.
56 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
of his father’s death in the Punjab that Shah Jahan left Junnar for the north, and secured the Mughal throne for himself, blind- ing his rival Shahryar. y
6. The rebellion of Khan Jahan Lodi. — This Mughal grandee of first-rate eminence and power, becapie the imme- diate cause of a sudden turn in the politics of the Deccan. Khan Jahan was an able Afghan general and diplomat to whom Jahangir had entrusted the government of the Deccan. Dur- ing Shah Jahan’s rebellion, Lodi’s position became delicate between the two powerful factions at the court. As governor of the Deccan he received conflicting orders and executed what he considered best. He was commanded to hunt out Shah Jahan from the Deccan ; but he was not sure of getting from the Emperor the timely support he needed for that purpose. He thus came to incur the bitterest displeasure of Shah Jahan and prepared for the evil day by appeasing the authorities of the Nizamsliahi government. Hence much of Shah Jahan’s achievement in the conquest of the Deccan now came to be nullified by Khan Jahan. Shah Jahan did not forgive Khan Jahan for having failed to support his cause, and made it his first concern after securing the throne to punish him severely for his sins of commission and omission.
At the beginning of his reign Shah Jahan was full of vigour and activity, and not the luxury-loving pacific monarch he developed into in his later years. During his father’s regime he had repeatedly distinguished himself in his expedi- tions to the Deccan, the circumstances and situation of which he had thoroughly grasped. He well knew the policy of Malik Ambar and the power and influence of Shahji and the other Bhosles. He was personally acquainted with the geographical forpiation of the districts of Nasik, .lunnar and north Konkan and the declining condition of the Kingdom of Ahmadnagar. The first subject that attracted his attention after his corona- nation, was the subjugation of the Deccan, particularly the Nizam^ahi state which had so long dragged on a precarious existence and which had successfully defied the might of both Akbar and Jahangir for a quarter of a century. Shah Jahan rightly judged that the troubles of the Deccan were the crea-
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
57
tion of IChan Jahan Lodi’s mischievous policy and set himsdf to right them. It is this Mughal expansion in the south which first Shahji and later his son Shivaji undertook to resist. Shah Jahan, however, took nine years to accomplish the conquest of Ahmadnagar, contrary to his expectation of a short cam- paign.
When Shahzada Parviz who held the viceroyalty of Mughal Deccan, died in October 1626, Khan Jahan Lodi was appointed to that office, and he had under him an intrepid Afghan comrade, named Darya Khan. Khan Jahan had for some time felt it difficult to hold his position in the Deccan, as he was not supported from the headquarters during the last days of Jahangir, and found it expedient to appease the Nizam- shahi authorities by ceding some of the conquered territories in order to avoid an open conflict for which he was not pre- pared. He restored the portion of Berar known as Balaghat to the Nizam Shah, receiving a cash pyayment of three lacs in return. This was the territory which Shah Jahan had him- self conquered some years before from Malik Ambar.
When Shah Jahan came to the throne he confirmed Khan Jahan Lodi in his post and commanded him to take back the territory of Balaghat. This the Khan did not do his best to effect, and Shah Jahan called him to his presence to explain his conduct. During the visit the Khan conducted hijnself rather insolently, and fearing some severe punishment fled away to save his life. He was hotly pursued and having lost two sons and a son-in-law in an action on the river Chambal, he broke out in open revolt and sought protection with Murtaza Nizam Shah in the Deccan. The latter welcomed this power- ful Mughal noble as a providential contrivance to save himself from the Mughal conqueror, gave him all the help he could afford and assigned him the district of Bid for his expenses. About this time the Nizam Shah kept his minister Fathkhan in confin^ent, called back Shahji from Bijapur to his service, and prepared for a stiff contest with the Emperor. He did not realize that the time of confusion and vacillation in the imperial council had ended with the last days of Jahangir, and that a new, strong and inflexible opponent was now on the throne of Delhi.
4
58 y NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
7. Shah Jahan’s march against Nizam Shah. — Shah Jahan immediately realized the danger and personally under- took a strong offensive against the ruler of Ahmadnagar. He left Agra on 3rd December 1629 and after crossing the Nar- mada on the 12th February following, arranged his forces in separate divisions under able commanders and started a vigor- ous offensive with the double purpose of putting down Khan Jahan Lodi and subjugating the Kingdom of Ahmadnagar. He sipailarly threatened Adil Shah and obtained powerful armed aid from his state to co-operate with him. These Bija- puri contingents were commanded by Ranadulla Khan and Kanhoji Jedhe, Maratha Deshmukh of Kari. Against these formidable opponents on all sides, Khan Jahan Lodi and Shahji Bhosle could not hold out long. We are not here con- cerned with the fate of Khan Jahan. In the closing months of 1630 defeats were inflicted upon him. His stronghold of Bid was captured and the rebel with his helpmate Darya Khan became fugitive. They turned again to the north. An action took place near Sironj on 11th January 1631 in which Darya Khan was killed. Five months later, on 10th June, Khan Jahan too was killed near Kalinjar after fighting valiantly to save himself.
The history of the Jadhavs and the Bhosles is interrelated with the measures which Shah Jahan took in this southern invasion, which for various reasons did not promise him easy or early success. During the two years 1630-31 a terrible famine ravaged the southern lands. The monsoon failed for two successive years and no crop could be reared. The des- criptions of this famine form a heart-rending story.’ ^ No road was safe and masses of hvmgry beggars fell upon the stocks of food-provisions meant for the Mughal army. So Shah Jahan .found his task most difficult to accomplish. He, how- ever, did his best to prosecute the war. He particularly started underhand intrigues in the councils of the Nizam Shah. Lukhji Jadhav had long ago deserted to the Mughals with all his family and troops. He was a powerful and trained
12. Elliot & Dowson, Vot 7, p. 24 ; Shiva Bharat 8.53-55 ; Moreland.
“ From Akbar to Aurangzeb ”, p. 212 ; Thompson and Garratt, Rise and Fulfilment, p. 18.
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
59
captain, and now backed by the support of the Eprperor, he proved to the Nizam Shah a perpetual thorn in his side acting from his seat at Sindkhed. Under the pretext of negotiating some important political move, the Nizam Shah called the whole brood of the Jadhav Captains for an interview in the fort of Daulatabad on 25th July 1629, and murdered most of them in cold blood. Shahji’s father-in-law Lukhji, his sons Achloji and Raghuji and grandson Yashwantrao lost their lives in this unexpected treachery. Lukhji’s brother Jagdevrao and son Bahadurji alone escaped to Sindhkhed. These wanton murders created a feeling of revulsion and disgust against the Nizam Shah, particularly among his Maratha followers ; and even Shahji found his life unsafe. He had already received tempting calls from the Emperor to desert the Nizam Shah and go over to the Mughals. He thought it prudent, therefore, under the pressure of circumstances, to give up the rapidly declining fortimes of the Nizam Shah, and accepted a Mansab under Shah Jahan. For about a year and a half, from Novem- ber 1630 to March 1632, Shahji served the Mughal cause. For this desertion the Bijapuri general Murar Jagdev burnt his residence at Poona. ,
In the meantime the murder of the Jadhavs proved disastrous to the Nizam Shah’s cause. He restored to power his former minister Fath Khan ; but the latter finding no escape out of the hopeless situation and hard-pressed by the imperialists, determined to seek his own selfish ends by sacri- ficing his master. He first put Murtaza Shah under confine- ment, placed his infant son Husain Shah on the throne, and conducted negotiations for his own submission to the Emperor. Soon after in March 1631, Murtaza Nizam Shah, who had so long suffered the agonies of varying fortune, came to be murdered. Fath Kihan unable to hold out against the Emperor any longer, made his submission to him. J
At this time Shah Jahan from his headquarters at Bur- hanpur while directing the various operations for prosecuting the war, had to suffer a domestic bereavement. His favourite queen Miuntaz Mahal who was with him, died at Burhanpur during child-birth on 7 June 1631 and her dead body was taken to Agra a few months later to be finally deposited in the famous
60
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Taj Mahal. This personal loss and the prevailing famine caused to the Emperor a severe depression of spirits, and leav- ing the conduct of the campaign to his able general Mahabat Khan he returned to Agra in November 1632. ^
8. Shahji’s bold stand. — ^As soon as Shah Jahan left for the north, Shahji found his position with the Mughals unten- able. He deserted the Mughal cause and returned to the side of the Nizam Shah, determined to make one more heroic effort to resuscitate the falling fortune of that state under which he and his family had so long thrived. Mahabat Khan, however, won over Path KKan and captured the fort of Daulatabad on 7 June 1633. Path Khan and his master Husain Nizam Shah were secured and despatched to a Mughal prison.
'' But the fall of Daulatabad did not prove the end of the Nizamshahi State. At this critical moment Shahji stepped in boldly to maintain its existence. Por him indeed it was a dangerous enterprise, to reconstruct an all but extinguished state and carry on a war unaided against the Emperor’s might. Within only three months of the fall of Daulatabad Shahji selected Pemgiri or Bhimgad, a strong inaccessible fort of Ahmadnagar as the capital of the Nizamshahi State, placed there a young Nizamshahi prince on the throne (September 1633) and in his name carried on the administration as before. In this adventure Shahji managed to enlist the sympathies of the Adil Shah and his minister Murar Jagdev, who personally came to his help with fresh and well equipped armies. That a small Jagirdar like Shahji should dare to throw down an open challenge to Shah Jahan and invite his wrath upon his head, shows how self-confident and resourceful Shahji must have been. He quickly collected men and money and made preparations for a stubborn fight. Murar Jagdev joined him from Bijapur as is evidenced by the incident of Shahji contriv- ing to weigh an elephant for a propitiatory rite which Murar Jagdev performed at the junction of the Bhima and the Indra- yani on the occasion of a solar eclip>se on 23 September 1633, when this Brahmin Vazir of Bijapur distributed in charity articles equal in weight to that of the elephant. In memory of this occurrence the village Nagargaon was renamed Tulapur (the town of weighing) , a name which it still bears.
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
61
In the hazardous step which Shahji had now taken, the training he had received under Malik Ambar in guerilla war- fare, proved of immense advantage. ■"
Mahabat Khan was extremely disturbed by this fresh move of Shahji. He had fondly believed that his task was over and that the credit of subjugating the Deccan was finally his. Shahji’s bold stand embarrassed him so severely that he sent repeated requests to the Emperor for fresh troops and funds, and at the same time sent agents to Bijapur calling upon the Adil Shah to withdraw his help from Shahji. But Mahabat Khan did not succeed and was so cruelly rebuked by the Emperor that the veteran general, unable to bear the situation put an end to his life on 26 October 1634. Says Ranade : — ''
“ The conditions of Ala-u-Din’s invasion of 1316 were repeating themselves after three hundred years with a momen- tum which made resistance hopeless. The Hindus had then yielded to the avalanche which swept over the land. They had, however, learned wisdom under the hard discipline of subjec- tion to foreign masters. They had been able to turn the edge of foreign conquest and even succeeded in taming the violence of the foreigners.”^® •
But the task of Shahji was by no means easy. He soon found himself very hard-pressed in all directions. Some time before this, the Mughals, according to one tradition, succeeded in capturing Shahji’s wife Jija Bai, but she cleverly managed to save the young Shivaji from capture by concealing him in an out of the way place when she received a secret warning that Mahaldar IChan the Mughal guardian of fort Trimbak, was on her track. This Khan was formerly an intimate friend of Shahji and his family, but now a servant of the Mughals. Jija Bai is said to have fallen into Mahaldar Khan’s hands and remained confined for a time at the fort of Kondhana (Sinhgad) and was later released on payment of a ransom by her uncle. The details of this incident are nowhere fully recorded, but have been referred to by Grant Duff on the authority of an authentic paper which he had secured but which is now missing. This must have taken place before 1636.
13. Rise tyf the MmcUha Rawer ^ pp. 43-44.
62 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
It has also been recorded that Shahji, when hard-pressed applied to the Portuguese Governor of Chaul (Revdanda) seeking shelter for his womenfolk and children there, in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Mughals. The Portuguese, however, had been recently so severely handled by Shah Jahan that they pleaded their inability to comply with Shahji’s request, but suggested they could obtain for his family a safe retreat under the jurisdiction of the Siddis of Janjira. Any way these stray notices disclose how Shahji was situated in his life and death struggle.
Shah Jahan was fully roused to this new danger, and once more exhibited phenomenal activity by himself marching rapidly to the Deccan in 1635. He left Agra on 29th Septem- ber, crossed the Narmada on 4th January 1636 and quickly reached Daulatabad. At this time he had with him his son Aurangzeb, now seventeen years old, Mirza Raja Jayasinh, Shaista Khan and other young and active generals, who later on figured so prominently diu'ing Shivaji’s days. Immediately on his arrival Shah Jahan devised a consummate plan of ope- ration for closing upon Shahji simultaneously from all direc- tions, for which he assigned definite tasks to his various com- jnanders. Aurangzeb at the centre was personally entrusted with the general execution of the measures determined upon. The Sultans of Bijapur and Golkonda were forced into co- operation with the Mughals under a threat of complete ex- tinction.
Shahji had collected imder him about 12,000 troops, mostly men disbanded after the fall of Daulatabad, and he now started raiding the Mughal territory as far south as Bedar and concentrated his main activity in the difficult regions of the north Konkan, himself moving between Junnar and Sangam- ner, with fort Mahuli as the headquarters of the puppet Nizam Shah. Shaista Khan captured fort Trimbak from Shahji and himted him through Junnar and Sangamner as well. In his extremity Shahji placed the Nizam Shah in fort M^uli, a few miles north of Kalyan, and began his last effort,/ The Bija- puris finding further resistance hopeless, accept^ the terms that were offered to them by the Mughals and deserted Shahji. The Kutb Shahi court of Golkonda also was similarly coerced
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
63
into submission, so that within a few months Shahji alone had to bear the whole brunt of this relentless war. Shah Jahan had won the greatest triumph of his life. After forty years of strife, the affairs of the Deccan came at last to be settled. The position of the Emperor was asserted throughout, the land beyond challenge. On 6 May 1636 Shah Jahan sent to Adil Shah a solemn letter impressal with the vermillion impression of his palm, promising observance of the terms agreed upon, with an appeal to God and to the Prophet to be witnesses. An abstract of the treaty was engraved on a gold plate and deli- vered to Adil Shah. //
// This treaty sealed Shahji’s fate. He came to be severely excluded, cut off from the outer world and hemmed in at fort Mahuli. He could not now hold out against the full might of the Emperor. Muhammad Adil Shah well knew the worth of Shahji and tried his best to save him from utter ruin. He sent a gentle hint to the Emperor that the latter’s presence was no longer necessary in the Deccan, that the peaceful avocations of the people suffered from the constant movements of large armies ; that Shahji alone was no longer of sufficient conse- quence to detain the Emperor for the supervision of further operations and that Adil Shah undertook the responsibility of taking away from Shahji the five forts which he still held. Shah Jahan in his wisdom accepted this sound advice and after entrusting the remaining campaign to his general Khan Zaman, his son Aurangzeb and the Adil Shah, himself left Daulatabad on 11 July 1636 for Agra, after finishing the con- quest of the Ahmadnagar kingdom. There now remained the two vassal kingdoms of Bijapur and Golkonda which dragged on their precarious existence for some fifty years more.
Within three months of the. departure of Shah Jahan Shahji came to his last gasp. Ausa and Udgir which he had held were soon reduced. JChan Zaman joined by the Bijapuri troops under Ranadulla IChan and his lieutenant Kanhoji Jedhe, marched upon Juiuiar and a detachment arrived before Poona to seize Shahji’s home. Shahji fled to the moun- tains of Kondhana and Toma, which the Mughals found it impossible to approach owing to the heavy rains that had started. As soon as the rains ceased, he was hunted out and
64 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
finally resorted to fort Mahuli, which was difficult of access from outside. The Mughals soon arrived and sat down before the gates of that fort in August 1636, stopping all in- gress and egress. Says the Jedhe Karina, “ The fort of Pemgiri was too simall, so Shahji removed the Sultan to Mahuli which was quickly invested by Khan Zapian and Ranadulla Khan. At this time Kanhoji Jedhe Ranadulla Khan’s adviser kept secret communication with Shahji. When the provisions on the fort were exhausted, Shahji’s men began to starve and he was compelled to seek terms. In October he offered through Ranadulla Khan to hand over the fort and the puppet Nizam Shahi prince on a promise that Shahji should agree to serve Bijapur and that in the Nizam-Shahi territory south of the river Godavari, which had fallen to the sphere of Bijapur, a jagir should be given to Shahji in payment of his services. This was reported to Bijapur and a written promise to that effect was received. The terms having been agreed to on both sides, Shahji handed over the fort of Mahuli to the Mughals and was honourably received by Ranadulla Khan in a personal meet- ing. Thereupon Shahji had a long cordial talk with Kanhoji Jedhe and his principal agent Dadaji Krishna Lohkare. Shahji said to Kanhoji, “ You are a powerful Deshmukh of Maval ; and I have secured this territory as my jagir. So you must help me in establishing my control thereon.” Kanhoji replied, “ I will serve you with all my heart if you obtain Ranadulla Khan’s permission to this transfer of service.” This was agreed to and Shahji left for Bijapur and entered the service of that state. Kanhoji Jedhe thereafter remained Shahji’s helpmate. Shahji himself writes, “ When I quitted Mahuli and hurried to Bijapur within the space of 20 days along with Ranadulla Klian, the Shah of Bijapur conferred on me a jagir of four lacs and commissioned me for the conquest of the Karnatak.”^ ‘
It thus becomes clear how Shahji made the best of a bad bargain. By boldly standing forth to oppose the Mughal Emperor, he served the cause of the Deccan sultanates and earned their respect and goodwill as a champion of their liber- ties. Ranadulla Khan, the Adil Shah’s favourite general exert-
14. Shivaji Souvenir, pp. 115-6 ; Jecfflie Karina in Shiva Charitra- Pradtp, p. 39.
SHAHJI THE RISING SUN
65
ing great influence in his counsels, became Shahji’s supporter and intimate friend. Kanhoji Jedhe, the Deshmukh of ICari, who was indispensable to Bijapur in keeping order in the western lands, did his utmost through Ranadulla Khan to shield Shahji from the Mughal wrath. The Adil Shah under- took the responsibility of seeing that Shahji created no mis- chief again in the Maval regions, fropi wliich Shah Jahan had finally expelled him. This clearly proves in what high estima- tion toth Shah Jahan and the Adil Shah held Shahji. Thus the war that had devastated the land for nearly nine years came to a close in October 1636. Shah Jahan had no personal grudge against Shahji and wisely accepted the Adil Shah’s guarantee for his good conduct. Shahji, how'ever, cleverly managed to retain possession of his Jagir of Poona and left his wife Jija Bai and her guardian Dadaji Konddev to manage it on his behalf, himself being debarred from residing in it. The child Shivaji thus became a personal witness of these momentous events.
9. Moral of the two figures The courage and foresight
with which Shahji defied the Mughal power for at least three years, dodging and deluding renowned Mughal generals, be- came a living example to his son Shivaji, teaching him how the weak could wear out the strong. Day in and day out during that long period, we can imagine, how the stirring incidents must have beeen narrated frmn mouth to mouth, how anxiously and breathlessly Jija Bai and the whole household with their numerous devoted followers must have awaited momentary news of every passing occurrence and how deeply they must have thought of their fate. Shahji’s Court poet Jayarapi Pandit has rightly hit upon the inner meaning of this great war by comparing Shahji and Shah Jahan together in the fol- lowing Hindis® lines : —
15. I ^ I
gnrOff Sfft % cT?r 11
^ gjcw 3*1 ^ 1
m 3m ^ ^33 # frf tnig I 3^ Rrtsrsrii
Ho RI® ®
66
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
The God Vishnu asks the Creator, —
“ I am glad you have executed my commands and created the universe ; but I should like to know what provision you have made for its protection:”
The God Brahma replies:—
“ Yes, I have taken measures for this purpose also, by appointing the Sun and the Moon to look after the concerns of the East and the West. Don’t be anxious, pray, but go to sleep at ease in the milk-ocean.”
Vishnu — “ Yes, but what about the South and the North ? ”
Brahma — “ That too has been provided for. Raja Shahji is looking after the South and the Emperor Shah Jahan the North.”
Just as Shivaji and Aurangzeb complement each other’s history, so exactly do their fathers too, who were close contem- poraries and who in their own way served their respective national interests. If history is no accident and has a sound basis in cause and effect, the twenty years period from Roshan- gaon to Mahuli, 1616-1636, establishes an unforgettable con- tact of these two personages, the one an Emperor and the other a King-maker, a contact which the difference in their worldly fortunes cannot affect.
CHRONOLOGY
1635
1635—1642
1642—1673
1636 Oct.
1637 Dec. 3 1638—1640
1640
1640—1642
1643
1644 August 1
1645
1646 June 5 1648 July 25 1648 Nov. 9
1648 Dec. 28
1649
1649 May 16
1651
1654
1656 Nov. 4 1658 May 26 1662
1663 April
1664 Jan. 23<
CHAPTER III
Shahji obtains a military commission from Adil Shah.
Venkatapati II rules at Penukonda.
Shriranga Rai III, the last of the Vijayanagar Emperors.
Shahji joins Bijapur service.
Randaula Khan and Shahji destroy Ikkeri.
Shira and the Western Kamatak reduced. Shahji establishes himself at Bangalore.
Shivaji married to Sai Bai.
Shivaji's visit to his father at Bangalore.
Death of Randaula Khan. Shahji and Shivaji visit Bijapur.
Shahji in disgrace.
Mustafa Khan captures Vellore.
Mustafa Khan marches against Shrirang Rai. Shahji arrested at Jinji.
Mustafa Khan dies.
Jinji captured by Bijapur forces.
Shahji confined at Bijapur.
Shahji obtains release.
Shahji at Kanakgiri.
Shahji's son Sambhaji killed at Kanakgiri. Muhammad Adil Shah dies.
Shahji absolved from collusion with his son. Shahji visits Maharashtra, advises Shivaji to build Raigad.
Adil Shah marches to Bankapur.
Death of Shahji near Basavapattan.
CHAPTER III
SHAHJI’S LATER CAREER.
(1636-1664.)
1. Shahji’s work in Kamatak. 3. Shahji under di.sfavour.
2. Shahji possesses Bangalore. 4. Shahji’s two sons in action.
5. Shafaji’s death.
1. Shahji’s work in the Karnatak — About the entry of Shahji into the Bijapur service, the six-articled chronology remarks, “During Shak 1557 (1635), Shahji Raje obtained from the Adil Shah a command of twelve thousand horse with the provision of land for his expenses. This land included the Poona country, the managejment of which was entrusted by him to Dadaji Kondadev of Malthan. He made Poona the seat of his rule and started operations by drawing a good plough through the land, (in order to remove the evil effects of the plough drawn by asses a few years before under the orders of Murar Jagdev) . Dadaji brought in cultivators to settle on the land and made it rent-free for the first five years. Shahji Raje left for Bijapur.”^ Shahji’s later career is thus concerned with the affairs of the Kamatak.
The increasing Mughal pressure from the north awakened the rulers of Bijapur and Golkonda to the dangers into which they were likely to be thrown in the future and induced them to compensate themselves for their territorial losses by carry- ing out fresh expansions in the south. With this object the two States entered into a mutual compact for the conquest of the Kamatak in co-operation, the western portions going to Bijapur and the eastern ones to Golkonda. These southern regions formerly belonged to the great Empire (?f Vijaynagar ■which had been grievously humbled by the Muslim Powers
1. Shiv Ch. Pradip p. 70.
70
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
on the famous battle-field of Talikot or Rakshas Tagdi. After that decisive battle the victors plundered and burnt the great Hindu capital and within a couple of years thereafter it came to be practically deserted. The conquerors, however, made no headway beyond, nor did they actually bring under their control the vast peninsular lands from the west to the east coast. They returned to their capitals after plundering and devastating the Hindu capital. Hence those territories conti- nued to be ruled by the various provincial branches of the old Vijaynagar government, mostly relatives of the royal and ministerial families, who established their independent rule at different places and carried out unceasing warfare at the ex- pense of each other. It is not necessary for our purpose to detail the narrative of these political transactions.
The power and culture of the vast Vijaynagar dominions thus came to be preserved after Talikot by these various pro- vincial mepibers, who established their principalities at Penukonda, Vellore, Chandragiri, Shira, Ikkeri, Jinji, and other places. Their wealth and prosperity as well as their internal animosities excited the greed of the Muslim Courts of Bijapur and Golkonda. Muhammad Adil Shah, unlike his predecessor Ibrahim, was a fanatic in religious matters and being desirous of pulling down the Hindu temples and plundering their wealth for the glory of Islam, he despatched a strong expedition for the conquest of the Karnatak under his commander-in-chief Randaula Khan with Shahji under him. Muhammad Shah was guided in this policy by an equally fanatical minister Mustafa Khan, at whose instigation the famous Murar Jagdev had been murdered shortly before.
The survivors of the ruling family of Vijaynagar after the fall of their capital removed to Penukonda, where ruled in suc- cession
1 Tirumal, the First, 1565 — 1583 ;
2 Srirang Rai, the Second, 1585 — 1595 ;
3 Venkatapati, the First, 1595—1614 ;
4 Ram Rai, 1614—1635 ;
5 Venkatapati, the Second, 1635—1642;
6 Srirang Rai, the Third, 1642—1673.
SHAHJI'S LATER CAREER
71
This last Venkatapati and his son Srirang Rai (the Third) , happened to be the rulers when Shahji and Randaula Klian started on their expedition of conquest. Venkatapati and his son in vain tried to organize and unite the various provincial governors, now styled Nayaks, in order to make a bold stand against the Muslim forces. But none saw the wisdom of such a course. Some of them actually sought Muslim aid from Bija- pur to adjust their internal disputes. At the time of Shahji's invasion Virabhadra Nayak ruled at Ikkeri, a decayed town now known as Sagar (Mysore State, Shimoga District) ; Keng Nayak ruled over Kongu near Coimbatore, Jagdev Rai at Kaveripattan, Kanthi Rav Naras Wodiyar at Shrirangapattan, Vijay Raghav at Tanjore, Tirumal Nayak at Madura, and Venkata Nayak at Jinji. These were the main chiefs who came in for a share in the misfortunes to which this Muslim expedi- tion exposed the Kamatak. The time was quite opportune for a bold valiant Hindu leader apjjearing on the scene and orga- nizing a imited opposition ; but such a course was reserved for Maharashtra, not for the Kamatak, where the Muslims dealt separately with each chief and effected their purpose.
Shahji under Randaula Khan’s command took part in three successive expeditions into the western Kamatak between 1637 and 1640. They usually started from Bijapur after the rains and returned there before the next monsoon. Their avowed aim was to enhance the glory of Islam by putting down the Hindus, desecrating their temples, and bringing their hoard- ed wealth to Bijapur. In the first expedition they started in 1637 via Dharwar and Laksmeshvar and came straight upon Ikkeri, then a wealthy capital city mled by Virabhadra Nayak, son of Bhadrappa Nayak. Before the huge armed forces of Bijapur the stone ramparts of Ikkeri could not long hold out. After less than two months of siege Virabhadra was himibled and compelled to seek terms for submission. Ikkeri was cap- tured and razed to the grovmd on December 3rd, 1637. Vir- appa surrendered half his territory and paid a fine of 18 lacs of Hons and removed himself to Nagar, now' called Bednur. The poor peaceful citizens of a once prosperous kingdom either lost their lives or their homes. In order to preserve their honour Hindu women killed themselves by jumping into wells
72
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
with their children. The whole territory was similarly ravaged and subjugated. It was the first experience which the peaceful populace of the south had of the havoc fire-arms could inflict.
The second expedition, that of 1638, penetrated still fur- tlier east and south. This time Randaula Khan had under him another stern commander Afzul Khan, in addition to Shahji. The former was deputed against Shira whose master Kasturirang Nayak after a short resistance made his submis- sion upon receiving a solemn promise on sacred oaths that his life would be spared. When, however, the Nayak came for a personal conference, Afzul Khan put him to death in cold blood and took possession of the city and all its wealth, thus establishing a reputation for treachery and violation of solemn oaths, a sample which remained impressed upon Shivaji’s memory when he refused to believe the Khan’s plighted word and paid him back for his treachery at their celebrated inter- view below Prataj^ad in 1659.
While Afzul Khan was occupied with Shira, Shahji pro- ceeded against Bangalore and captured that fort from its keeper Kemp Gauda. He found this place convenient for hold- ing the southern territories, and was permanently posted there by Randaula Khan with the sanction of the Adil Shah. Here- after Shahji made Bangalore his principal station, with a governor’s court and insignia almost approaching that of in- dependent royalty. He soon reduced Kanthi Rav Naras Wodiyar of Shrirangapattan to obedience.
A similar success croAvned Randaula Khan’s third expedi- tion (1639-40) when Basawapattan was captured after putting down its ruler Keng Nayak. Tumkur, Balapur, Vellore, and several other places were quickly reduced and Randaula Khan returned in great glory to Bijapur. The Sultan was so highly gratified with the Khan’s success that he himself went out of the capital a long way to welcome him at the river Krishna and held grand celebrations at Bijapur to commemorate the unprecedented triumph of three years’ continuous effort in which all the Hindu potentates of the south had been overcome, large cities conquered, and enormous wealth amounting to more than 4 crores of Hons or 16 crores of rupees brought into Bijapur. With this pile of money several grand edifices were
SHAHJI'S LATER CAREER 7S
erected in Bijapur, such as the Dad-Mahal, the Gol-Gombaz and others.^^
2. Shahji’s possession of Bangalore. — In those days of difficult communication between the centre and the outlying provinces, it is no wonder tliat the local governors assumed almost royal splendour and independence of action. Shahji thus established his position at Bangalore with the airs of a great chief, for which he had already proved his worth. He spent most of Iris time henceforth at Bangalore and occasion- ally held his court at Kolar and Balapur also. For the military and administrative work which he had to execute in a foreign land, he transplanted many Brahman and Maratha families from Maharashtra and trained them as hereditary offi- cials loyal to his cause. He introduced Marathi as the Court language into the Karnatak regions, and along with it the Maharashtra system of revenue and accounts. He held an open Court, wherein he entertained musicians, poets, writers and saints. Thus in a short time a miniature Maharashtra arose in the midst of the Kannad and I'amil lands, the effects of which have survived to this day through three centuries of change. Although the actual conquest of Tanjore was left to be accomplished by Shahji’s worthy son Ekoji in 167.5, the neces- sary preparations were all completed during the twenty five years of the former’s regime. Shahji, how'ever, always remain- ed loyal to Bijapur. He remitted regular contributions of money to the Adil Shah and was so careful and guarded in his official dealings that he gave no cause for suspicion or complaint. The people of these southern lands looked upon Shahji’s rule as almost a providential continuation of the Old Vijayanagar tradi- tion carried on in its essential spirit by a Hindu leader. His loyalty, however, came to be suspected for a while owing to extraneousi causes as will be explained later.
In the meantime two of Shahji’s sons were gi'owing up with him and breathing the prevalent atmosphere. The elder Sambhaji now about tw^enty years of age was directly working
2. Vide Sarkar’s House of Shivaji, p. 27 ; Dr. Saletore’s paper on the fall of ilkkeri, H. R. C. 1939 ; Govind Vaidya’s Kanthi Rav Naras Charitra, half yearly Journal, Mysore Univ. 1930, etc.
5
74 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
under his father. His second wife’s son Ekoji was now about ten and fast coming into his own. The third son Shivaji lived with his mother in Maharashtra and was slowly building up his character in the independent surroundings of the western hills, untrammelled by any regulations of service or of any superior commands, although nominally he too was answerable both to his father and to the Sultan of Bijapur. He received the best training then available under the care of a loving mother and a wise guardian, and grew up manly and self- reliant. In 1640 his mother got him married to a girl from the Nimbalkar family of Phaltan, named Saibai. In the art of government, however, his direct contact with the neighbouring people of the turbulent Mawals on the one hand and his inti- mate pupilage under the consummate Dadaji Kondadev on the other, gave him some very unique experience of a revolutionary character. He thus started his own organization, military, civil and revenue, which could not long be concealed from the public gaze. His precocious and wild enterprizes reached Shahji’s ears through the latter’s agents at Bijapur. Shahji thought it neces- sary to restrain him and keep him on the traditional path of service and strict obedience to their Muslim sovereign. So Shahji, acting either on his own initiative or under gentle hints from Bijapur, called Shivaji to his presence along with Jija Bai, Dadaji and their personal staff. That he had to see his newly wedded daughter-in-law was given out as the plaus- ible excuse. Though the actual date of the visit is nowhere recorded, it may be presumed that for about two years between 1640 and 1643, the party was away from Poona, mostly at Bangalore and a short while at Bijapur on the way back. What happened during this long visit, how their mutual relations were adjusted, what particular points of policy were evolved, we can .surmise only by reading between the lines of stray and scrappy notices occurring in the bakhars and in the writings of poets like Jayaram and Parmanand, which have to be co- ordinated with the Persian accounts of the Muslim writers as well. As conjecture and imagination can alone become one’s guide in .solving these hazy but important questions, there is bound to be ample room for difference of opinion.®
3, A statement in a Pe.shwa’s bakhar deserves to be noted and runs
75
SHAHJI'S LATER CAREER
Jija B'ai during this visit to Bangalore possibly could not find ease and comfort in the surroundings of her husband’s residence and ointrived to spend most of her time in pilgrimages to the numerous famous Hindu shrines in the south. The Adil Shah was curious to know how matters were developing and invited Shahji with his whole family to Bijapur some time about 1643. In the summer of this year Shahji’s friend and patron Randaula Khan died with the result that Shahji was left without a supporter at the Court.
So, some time during 1643, Shahji with his whole family went to Bijapur, and during his absence from Bangalore a strong revulsion against Muslim rule started in the Karnatak. In 1642, Venkatapati the 2nd, died and his son Srirang Rai, the last unfortunate relic of the decadent Vijaynagar glory, came to the throne, organized his resources at Vellore and tried to recall the slipping power into his hands. Shivappa Nayak of Bednur and the other local Nayaks rose simultaneously to un- do the effects of the Muslim conquest. Muhammad Shah was thus faced with a difficult situation and to save the fruits of past labour organized a fresh expedition to go to the Kar- natak and to put dovm the rebel elements. He entrusted the command of this fresh expedition to the fanatic Mustafa Khan who had long suspected Shahji to be disloyal at heart, and who was bent upon teaching him a lesson. In order to support the expedition with all his might the Shah hipiself followed and took up his residence at Bankapur. In this way fresh troubles came about in the Kamatak and soon involved Shahji in them. The Pharman of 1st August 1644 says that Shahji had been disgraced.^
Shivappa Nayak offered a bold opposition to the Muslims at Ikkeri and Sagar, but in a bloody action which ensued he was completely overcome. Mustafa returned victorious to Bijapur after reducing western Karnatak to obedience. But the young Srirang Rai was fast making headway and unless he
thus ; — “ Shahji actively executed the wicked policy undertaken by the Muslims to uproot the Hindu religion and make the whole country full of Muslims. This move of Shahji was highly resented by the Gods and a new defender was created.” Raj. Vol. 4.
4. Shiv Ch. Sahitya, IV, p. 21.
76
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
was crushed the Muslim possession of the Karnatak was not free from danger. In order to put him down, therefore, another expedition was fitted out jointly by the Shalis of Bijapur and Golkonda under Mustafa Khan, who proceeded straight against Srirang Rai, captured his seat of Vellore, and returned in glory in 1646. Shahji, it seems, was not present in this expedition but remained at Bangalore watching the course of events.
3. Shahji under disfavour. — Srirang Rai organized his resources and soon recaptured Vellore. The news reached Bija- pur and made the Shah furious. Shahji’s enemies did not omit to add fuel to the fire. The negotiations that were being carried on between Srirang Rai and Shahji were an open secret. Insinuations reached the Shah’s ears accusing Shahji of disloyalty by supporting Srirang Rai. This was just the moment when Shivaji in the west had captured Sinhgad and practically asserted his indejpendence m the district of Poona. This could not be, so the Shah concluded, without his father’s complicity. But to bring a powerful chief like Shahji to obedience or even to express distrust towards him was not an easy task. The Shah, therefore, organized an expedition in 1646 against Srirang Rai, gave the com,mand to Mustafa Khan with secret instructions to arrest Shahji if he was found remiss in his duty or intriguing with the enemy. Mustafa was accom- panied by Afzul Klian, Rustum-i-Zaman, son of Randaula Khan, and other nobles. The expedition left Bijapur on 5th .June 1646 and travelling via Gadag and Lakshmeshvar reached Basawapattan in October, when Shahji and Asad Khan joined the plain army with their contingents along with some of the local Palegars. Like a deluge the swollen forces rolled upon Vellore, when Srirang Rai and the Nayaks of the south sent offers of submission pleading for life and safety. Mustafa Khan kept a close watch on Srirang Rai’s movements. The latter implored Shahji to mediate. Shahji broached the subject of peace to the Khan and proposed terms. But Mustafa Khan was not in a mood to show regard to Shahji’s mediation, and pretending an appearance of outward friendship, allowed Shahji a long rope. Matters, however, rapidly came to a head. Sri. ang Rai decided on an open fight. A sanguinary action ensued in which he was worsted and he fled away to save his
SHAHjr'S LATER CAREER 77
life. Vellore fell again into Mustafa Khan’s hands. Shahji too was for the time being saved from an open rupture with the Coimmander-in-Chief. Mustafa Khan returned to Bijapur once more in triumph. Srirang Rai dragged on a humbled ex- istence for a good long time thereafter.
A general report was made to the Adil Shah that Shahji was not loyal at heart but secretly supported the Hindu faction to the best of his ability. The Shah was convinced that the various Hindu Palegars looked up to Shahji for a lead and that if he was not checked in time, it would be impossible for the Muslims to hold their sway in those southern regions."
A similar position was already developing in Maharashtra also, so that both Sinhgad and Bangalore became danger sig- nals for the ruler of Bijapur.
After long and anxious deliberation, another expedition left Bijapur early in 1648 corpmanded by Mustafa Khan, and this time it came straight from Vellore upon Jinji, then the storm-centre of Hindu revolt. Mustafa Khan was joined by the famous Mir Jumla on behalf of the Kutb Shah. How this nobleman’s ambition created fresh complications is a point a careful student of contemporary history must take note of. Shahji tried to work his way through the factious maze towards increasing his own importance and in an unguarded moment offered to quit the Bijapur service and accept one under the Kutb-Shah. Mustafa Khan this time was bent upon sternly weeding out the treasonable elements that he knew to be infest- ing his own camp, and thereby made himself odious even to some of those who were working under him, such as Asad Khan, Shahji and Rustum-i-Zaman. Mustafa Khan concluded that Shahji was the sole origin of the trouble and with great wariness tried to create proof of his guilt. The Bijapur armies were then occupied in the siege of Jinji, for which the duties were severally assigned. In this connection Mustafa Khan had a fracas with Shahji upon some point of honour. Shahji there- upon threatened to withdraw altogether with his troops, unless he was at once paid in cash for the expenses. Mustafa Khan resented this insubordination, but pretending cordiality, formed
5. See Shiva Bharat 9.28-44.
78 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
a secret plot to have him arrested. Baji Ghorpade of Mudhol, a vassal of Bijapur and notoriously antagonistic to Shaliji, was instigated by Mustafa Khan to make a sudden dash upon Shahji’s residence in the dark hours of early morning when Shahji, after nightlong revelries, was sound asleep. The raid succeeded and Shahji was arrested in his bed at Jinji on 25th July 1648 along with his trusted helpimate Kanhoji Jedhe, Mustafa reported the affair to the Shah at Bijapur and asked for further orders.
Muliammad Adil Shah was at this time bed-ridden, hav- ing been w'eakened by an attack of paralysis, and well realizing the consequences of alienating a powerful Maratha captain of Shahji’s status, ordered Mustafa Khan to send Shahji at once to the Court and despatched liis own sober and trusted minister Muhammad Khan to take charge of the situation before Jinji in preference to the irascible Mustafa. The Shah also deputed Afzul Khan to take charge of Shahji and bring him to Court. But before the Vazir arrived on the scene, Mustafa Khan had died on 9th November 1648. Muhammad Khan continued the siege and captured Jinji on 28th Decepiber following, from its defender Rupa Nayak. Jinji’s immense wealth hoarded through seven centuries of continuous rule by Rupa Nayak’s ancestors, was loaded on 89 strong elephants and the caravan wended its way slowly to Bijapur under Afzul Khan’s vigilant eye, along with the captive Shahji. The party arrived at their destination during the following summer months. Next year the Bijapur forces raided and plundered Tanjore, Madura and other important places ; and the Vazir Muhammad Khan returned to the capital after having com- pleted the conquest of the whole of the Karnatalv except Banga- lore. Srirang Rai, however, was not finally crushed. The general impression at the Shah’s Court was that this conquest would not have taken so long had Shahji not interfered by shielding the Hindu princes.
Two danger spots, however, remained for the Adil Shah to overcome, before he could feel his conquests safe. Batigalore in the south and Sinhgad in Mahiaifishtra were strongly held by the two sons of Shahji and Jija Bai. How tojreduce these two places became the paramount question of the moment for
SHAHJI'S LATER CAREER
79
the Adil Shah. This question involved the fate of Shahji now a captive, who had just reached Bijapur. How was he to be dealt with ?
As soon as Shahji’s person was secured, one army was despatched from Jinji to take possession of Bangalore, and another from Bijapur to retake Sinhgad and the sister fort of Purandar, both strongly held by Shivaji. At both these places long and sanguinary actions took place in which the two sons of Shahji gave such an account of their valour and capacity,” that the Sultan was no longer in doubt as to what he was to look for, if rigorous measures were to be adopted against Shahji. The father, a self-made and capable chief had proved his piettle against the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan ; and now he was further strengthened by his two sons of equal or greater worth. It was no easy task to reduce such a power ful chieftain.
4. Shahji’s two sons in action — When Shivaji at Poona learnt that his father was in trouble at Bijapur, he at once ap- plied to Shahzada Murad Bakhsh, then the Emperor’s repre- sentative in the Deccan. As exchange of envoys and disaissions on the question of Shahji’s release followed. Murad Bakhsh wrote to say that he wias returning to Delhi and would send the Emperor’s orders as soon as he reached that place. At Bijapur the question of Shahji's release was for two months under agi- tation. He was entrusted to the care of Khan Ahmad, the Sar- Lashkar, a man inclined to effect an amicable settlement and not to adopt extreme measures. On behalf of the Shah Klian Ahmad proposed to Shahji that he should surrender Sinhgad and Bangalore and continue to serve the State as before. Shahji agreed to the compromise adding that neither he nor his sons were hostile towards the Shah: they needed fields for honourable work in life and sufficient support from the Bija- pur Court. If they secured these, they would always render loyal service. This basis for a final reconciliation was agreed upon. Shahji gave his own autograph letters to his two sons calling upon them to give up Sinhgad and Bangalore respec-
6. An eloquent and detailed description of the two actions may be read in the pages of Parmanand’s Skiva-Bharat, Chapters 13 and 14.
80 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
tively to the Adil-Shahi officers, and thus save Ms life. These orders were forwarded to the two sons, and Shahji was honour- ably set at liberty on 16 May 1649 after a detention of nearly ten months. Along with Shahji, his comrade in arms Kanhoji Jedhe was also released. Shahji was reinstated in his former position and honours, and was employed at Bijapur for a few years. Thereafter he was again asked to proceed to the Karna- tak to complete the conque.st of Tanjore and other districts. As soon as he was set at liberty, he asked Kanhoji Jedhe to go and help Shivaji in his efforts to settle the Poona regions. The parting message of Shaliji to Kanhoji runs thus: —
“You have on my account suffered hardships of imprison- ment and dishonour. I have now agreed to undertake the completion of the Karnatak business, provided I am given the Bangalore province and its revenues of 5 lacs Hons. You own hereditary lands in the Mawals and wield influence in those parts. You should hereafter go to your home, serve Shivaji and reduce to obedience those Deshmukhs who are still hold- ing out. If either the Mughais or the Adilshahi authorities send armed forces to chastise Shivaji, you should fight them out and remain faithful to Shivaji’s interests.”’^
Shahji returned to the Karnatak again and spent several years in the Raichur Doab making Kanakgiri his headquarters, and promoting the endeavours of his two sons for bettering their fortunes. Ekoji remained at Bangalore and Sambhaji joined his father at Kanakgiri. Bijapur and Golkonda came to open war in 1651 over the division of the recent conquests of Jinji and this indirectly helped Shahji and his sons. Shahji on behalf of Bijapur fought against Mir Jumla of Golkonda. The latter was worsted and had to pay 9 lacs of Hons to Shahji as the cost of war. From 1653 onward Shahji alone became the principal support of the Adil-Shahi State in the southern regions.
Kanakgiri in the region of the dilapidated Vijayanagar was then a place of historical importance full of old traditions of the fallen Hindu Empire. Here resided Sambhaji with his
7. This explains Shivaji’s stand against Morays. Jedhe Shakavali. This precious chronology came from the family of Kanhoji Jedhe of Kari.
SHAHJi’S LATER CAREER
81
father and shared his labours. Here they realized the contrast of the former glory and the present misfortunes of the Hindus under Muslim rule. Sambhaji too like his younger brother Shivaji possessed an ample spirit of resistance. He had for his support several members of the learned and valiant Hanu- mante family, headed by Naropant the father of two capable sons Janardan and Raghunath. These are known to have played an important part in Shivaji’s history. Appa Khan the Pale- gar of Kanakgiri raised the .standard of revolt, with which Shahji and Sambhaji found themselves unable to cope. So in 1654 the Adil Shah sent Afzul Khan to their .support. During the encounter that ensued, Sambhaji Vv-as killed, as was sup- posed, through the deliberate neglect of Afzul Khan to reinforce Sambhaji at a critical moment. The mother Jija Bai at any rate felt severe grudge against this arrogant Bijapuri general and later urged Shivaji to pay him back fully in his own coin in the struggle of 1659.
Shahji, while fully .sympathising with the plans and move- ments of his son Shivaji in carving out an independent princi- pality, for himself, was shrewd enough not to involve himself in his son’s affairs and remained a loyal servant of Bijapur to the last. This attitude was facilitated by the death of Muham- mad Adil Shah on 4 November 1656 and the murder of his faithful minister Khan Muhammad a year later. The intrigues that ensued for power at Bijapur after the Shah’s death and the aggression started against that State by Shahzada Aurang- zeb, visibly weakened the Adil-Shahi power and considerably facilitated Shivaji’s moves. At this time Shahji seems to have felt extreme irritation against the Bijapuri authorities and conveyed to them a threat of resignation and retirement from their service.®
Matters, however, seem to have been amicably composed and Shahji continued to the last a loyal servant of Bijapur, notwithstanding frequent reports of the father and the son colluding against the State. On 26 May 1658 “ Maharaj Farzand Shahji Bhosle was informed by Ali Adil Shah that the offences of his son Shivaji would not be laid upon him ;
8. Shivaji Souvenir, p. 115 ; House of Shivaji, p. 87.
82
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
that he should keep his mind composed regarding all matters and that the grace and the favours which he had enjoyed till then would be continued in the same measure and even more. No change or deprivation in his ranks and fiefs would be made.”
After 1658 Shahji and his son Ekoji tried hard to conquer Tanjore from its ruling chief, but a powerful combination was formed by the local Nayaks which kept Shahji out. After the murder of Afzul Khan in 1659, Shivaji's power rapidly in- creased, and the Court of Bijapur in their danger employed Shahji in bringing about a reconciliation with Shivaji. In this connection Shahji once more returned to Maharashtra, sjjent some time in his son Shivaji’s company, personally inspected his territories and suggested measures for their con- solidation. Jija Bai too had then the happiness to be restored to the affections of her husband.
Thus Shahji about the year 1662 was purposely employed by Ali Adil Shah to mediate a peace with Shivaji. The father urged Shivaji not to molest Bijapur any more, as after all the Adil Shah had been all along their bread-giver, upon whose salt they had thrived. Shivaji agreed to commit no wanton aggression thereafter against Bijapur but to form a confeder- acy of the Deccan Powers against their common enemy the Mughal Emjieror. Shivaji agreed to the suggestion and pro- mised not to make any deliberate move against Bijapur, pro- vided no wanton provocation was given to him." Later for strategic reasons Shivaji had to capture the important fort of Panhala from Adilshahi possession in March 1673.
This visit of Shahji to his old jagir, the seat of his early career, is memorable in several ways. The father and the son had been separated for more than twelve years in which Shivaji had earned a great name for himself. Like a devout son and religious enthusiast he showed his father the utmost veneration in the old prescribed style, meeting him in advance in a temple outside and walking bare- footed alongside his father’s palanquin. They freely talked and deliberated upon the present situation and future prospects. Shahji certainly
9. Lett-esrs quoted in Shivadigvijay, p. 330.
83
SHAHJl'S LATER CAREER
had unique personal experience of Deccan warfare for forty years and was responsible for a vast amount of useful instruc- tion which Shivaji received from him in the arts of war, diplo- macy and goveriunent.
As regards the Mughals, Shahji could not advise Shivaji in a dogmatic manner, but as Poona and Kalyan were then (1663) in Mughal hands, the urgent question that faced both the father and the son was where to make a permanent seat of his kingdom, where safety could be fully assured and of which Shivaji could not be easily dispossessed, as had hap- pened in the case of Poona. They together executed a long tour of inspection practically between forts Trimbak and Rangna or roughly between Nasik and Belgaum and after a careful examination of the various possible sites, they togetlier selected the extensive plateau of Raid near Mahad, for the capital of the future Maratha Kingdom. The hill thus approv- ed, fortifications and the necessary buildings were soon com- pleted during the next few years, and Raigad figured as the Maratha capital. The choice has been more than justified by subsequent history.
5- vShahji’s death. -After a full and frank association
for several months together, the father and the son parted early in 1663, after which Shivaji executed his blow' against Shaesta Khan at Poona followed by the daring raid upon Surat, which supplied funds for the embellishment of Raigad. As Shivaji and Jija Bai took up their first residence on the Raid plateau after the former’s return from Surat, their joy was suddenly marred by Shahji’s death near Basavapattan from an accident in riding. During April 1663 Ali Adil Shah marched against Bankapur and urgently called to his presence his two com- manders Bahlolkhan and Shahji. They arrived and were both kept under arrest. Shahji was, however, released within tw'o days and sent against the Nayak of Bednur who had rebelled.’" After accomplishing his commission within a few' months, he started for Bangalore. While halting at Basavapattan on the way he heard of some game in the vicinity and rode out for a hunt of w'hich he was very fond. While following an antelope his
10. English Records on Shivaji No. 67 of 20 July, 1663
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NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
horse’s foot got entangled in a hole, bringing down both the horse and the rider, the latter dying instantly. This happened on Saturday 23 January 1664 and the news reached Shivaji at Raigad. The pious Jija Bai was stunned by the blow and wanted to become a sati. We have only to imagine Shivaji’s feelings at such a prospect. He made piteous appeals to her and the mother yielded, keeping him company for ten more years on earth.
Besides Sambhaji and Shivaji, the sons of Jija Bai, and Ekoji, the son of Tukabai, Shahji had four illegitimate sons, Bhivji, Pratapji, Santaji and Raibhanji. Sambhaji who was killed at Kanakgiri left two sons, Surat-Singh and Umaji, descendants of both of whom survived long afterwards.
Shahji is rightly considered as the creator of Maratha; cul- ture and influence in the south. He transplanted many Maha- rashtrian families, of the Brahman, Maratha, and artizan classes whose descendants are still found in those parts. It was Shaliji who fully demonstrated the possibility of w'eak peoples standing boldly against strong oppressors if they but unite and organize themselves. Clive and Dupleix are said to have dis- covered the secret of Indian conquest by a few organized regi- ments on the western model ; but a similar weapon of guerilla warfare was first developed a hundred years before them by Shahji himself. He became a king-maker in fact, and can in a full measure be called the real inspirer of Shivaji in creating the Maratha Swarajya. Shahji certainly imbibed the tradition and culture of Vijayanagar and transmitted them through his many-sided activities to the worthy representatives of his nation. After the extinction of Vijayanagar, Shahji was the first Hindu leader who could with rapid movesments and local knowledge prove a match for the forces of Delhi or Bijapur.
1627 April 6 1633
1636— 1647
1637— 1647 1640—1642
1643
1644
1644 Aug.
1645 March 30
1’646— 1656
1647 March 7
1648
1649
1653
CHRONOLOGY
CHAPTER IV
Birth of Shivaji (on 19 Feb. 1630).
Appointment of Dadaji Koiidadeo to administer the Poona region.
Shivaji’s residence at Poona ; 1647-1667 at Raj- gad ; thereafter at Raigad.
Dadaji as Bijapuri Governor of fort Kondana,
Shivaji's visit to Bangalore.
Shivaji’s visit to Bijapur.
Organization of the 12 Mawal valleys.
Kondana (Sinhagad) captured.
Sacred vow to found Hindivi Swarajya
Official seal introduced by Shivaji ; offices created for his new government.
Muhammad Adil Shah lies ill.
Dadaji Kondadeo dies ; Torna captured.
Chakan and Fort Purandhar captured
Sambhaji Mohite surprised ; battles of Shirval and Purandhar ; Musa Khan killed ; Fateh Khan routed.
Swarajya completed ; started construction of the coastal fort of Vijayadurg.
CHAPTER IV
THE FIRST PHASE OF THE MOON
[1644— 1653J
1. Shivaji’s birth and training. 4. Dream put into action.
2. His guardian Dadaji. 3. Independence achieved.
3. Tile first coup.
1. Shivaji’s birth and training. — Shivaji was born on 6th April 1627 in ttie fort of Shivner near Junnar, or as some recent sources assert, about 341 months later on 19th February 1630,' Unfortunately sufficient evidence is not available to establish either of thesei two dates as absolutely correct. Jija Bai, Shivaji’s mother, was in great distress during the early years of his life. The: Emperor Shah Jahan invaded tlie Deccan and after a strenuous effort of eight years subjugated the whole of the old Nizamshahi Kingdom of Ahmadnagar which Shivaji’s father Shahji had tried his best to save. For the first few years of his life Shivaji was a wanderer with no settled home. From Shivner where he was born he moved with his mother and occasionally with his father too from place to place as safety and convenience required. Where and how long he had to remain in such separation in his childhood can- not be ascertained. This only explains how he became inured to a life of danger and hardship ever since his birth. Shivner, Baizapur, Shivapur, and Shivapattan are some of the places, where, we can conjecture, Shivaji spent the first nine years of his life, before he came to have his own home at Poona. Naro Trimal Hanmante and Gomaji Naik Planasambal are known to have been his care-takers at this period.
The marital life of Jija Bai can by no means be called happy. We have seen how her wedding itself was a subject
1. In the following narrative I am using the first or the old date. It is not necessary here to discuss the merits and the evidence of these two dates. The greatness of Shivaji is in no way affected, whichever date is accepted.
88
NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
of compulsion. The Bhosales and the Jadhavs are not known to have then been on very friendly terms. Indeed their pent up feuds used suddenly to burst into flame on trivial grounds as illustrated in the Khandagle elephant episode.- In the battle of Bhiatavdi, Shahji won the day, and Jija Bai’s father in the opposite camp had to save himself by flight. The Jadhavs certainly claimed a higher descent from die royal house of Deogiri ; while the Bhosles were not admitted to possess any such royal blood. Both Jija Bai and the child Shivaji proved to Shahji rather an encumbrance than a help, while the elder Sambhaji to some extent certainly was his father’s useful lieutenant.
October 1636 saw Jija Bai restored to a settled peaceful life at Poona under the guardianship of D&daji Konddev, who built for them a palace at Kasba, which was known as the Lai Mahal. Here Shivaji lived with his mother from 1636 onward until they removed to Rajgad some time after Dadaji’s death in 1647 (7th March) . From Rajgad after his safe return from Agra Shivaji moved about 1667 to his new Capital Raigad where building work had been started in 1664.
It is these very hard knocks of his early days which proved highly beneficial to Shivaji in his later career. Adversity is the mother of resourcefulness and ingenuity, qualities, of which both Jija Bai and Shahji were living examples. Jija Bai, a truly Kshatriya lady full of varied memories of her royal ancestors of Deogiri and possessing a dauntless spirit of adven- ture and defiance chastened by years of suffering ever since her marriage, was to young Shivaji a veritable guardian angel. On her part all her future solace centred in his w'ell-being and good fortune. Practically deserted by her husband, what hope could she have in life, unless this son grew up to be her sole prop ? Her high spirit could never let her accept any com- promise on right principles. The father had defied with his small pow'er the might of the Mughals for seven years. Why may not the son do at least as much, if not more ?• Man can do what man has done.
The independent charge of his father’s jagir at Poona
2. Sh. Bh. 3. 15-45.
THE FIRST PHASE OF THE MOON 89
proved of great advantage to Shivaji. In this small jagir all kinds of experiments could be quickly tried in the art of government, and valuable experience gained which could be later utilised on a wider scale when the time came. In Shivaji’s helpless situation his mother naturally was his sole guide and mentor. She was a versatile woman, well-trained, according to the notions of those days, in traditional religion and mythology. The traditions of Ramdeo Yadav, of Hemadri, of Jnaneshvar possessed for her a peculiar charm on account of the high moral tone and the free atmosphere of independ- ence they breathed ; and her capacious mind invested them with a glow of the splendour of the indigenous Aryan culture as contrasted with Muslim vandalism and iconoclastic methods. The wanton cruelties of Ala-uddin Khilji and Aluhammad Taghlak, the barbarities of Tamerlane, the johars perpetrated by the Rajput women of Chitod, ever rankled in Jija Bar’s heart. Such a lady, we may be sure, taught her dear young son the need of a supreme effort for avenging wrong and achieving national regeneration.
Their secluded life in the hilly Maval country afforded plenty of out-door occupation and opportunities of adventure. Robberies, commotions, disorders were of common occurrence. The climate itself imposed constant exposure to rain, sun and cold, and other privations of various kinds. Riding, wrestling, spear-throwing, swordsmanship, swimming through torrential floods, in these and similar sports Shivaji developed a kind of wild comradeship both with man and nature ; soon his aimless wanderings were transformed into studied excursions for orga- nizing defence and protection either against the neighbouring chiefs or petty local evil-doers.
Time and surroundings usuedly suggest to all creatures the means of defence against wanton aggression or of escape from dangerous situations. One very common method of defence of Shivaji’s days was the art of disguise. It had then been carried to perfection. Most people, men and women, of those days studied the art as a necessity for the safety of life and valuables. A smattering knowledge of several languages, a handy provision of clothes and necessary tools, and above all,
6
90 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
a ready wit, these were the normal essentials for a successful disguise. Shivaji in addition could dexterously imitate the voices of birds and beasts and knew a few words and sentences of several Indian languages picked up on purpose. His sense of hearing was particularly well developed. He could cover long distances on foot, without fatigue, quickly jumping over obstacles, was a consummate wrestler, and an accurate shot with a catapult or a match-lock. It would appear that he had traversed and thus knew intimately the hills and valleys, the passes and strongholds on both sides of the Sahyadri range between Nasik and Kolhapur and possibly much beyond. His walks and rajnbles were both intensive and deliberate, with his eyes and ears alw'ays alert, thus making him gain first- hand acquaintance with the sentiments of the people, their habits, occupations and resources, and impart to them in return his spirit of valour and defiance.
This training in activity between the years of ten and fifteen was supplemented by the teachings of his mother, his guardian Dadaji and his immediate personal staff in the spheres of moral development and administrative duties. The country atmosphere in which he grew up developed a healthy mind in a healthy body, and made him wary and buoyant in contrast with the indolent, corrupt and pleasure-seeking nobles and princelings at Muslim Courts. Shivaji was doubtless taught reading and writing, and he heard portions of the Mahabharat and the Rjamayan as expounded by the family preachers. In those days paper was scarce and only important transactions used to be cojmmitted to writing. Many letters have been discovered issued imder Shivaji’s name, but unmis- takable and clear evidence is w'anting to prove how much of them was penned by him. That does not mean that he was illiterate as some writers would have us believe. To attribute illiteracy to hijn on this account is entirely unreasonable and unwarranted. State papers in those days were drafted by secre- taries and clerks and concluded by ministers. The signing of letters and papers by the master himself as is done now, was not the prevailing practice then. But adding a few words or lines in autograph was prevalent.
Harikirtan or what may be called devotional songs and
THE FIRST PHASE OF THE MOON
91
sermons by household preachers and celebrated saints lilce Tukaram, was then a very common means of general education and the training of the young and the old ; and Shivaji lost no opportunity of profiting himself by such occasions. Hindu shrines and places of worship he punctiliously visited and took an intelligent concern in their working as a nation-building factor. A large number of his letters deal with the manage- ment and proper upkeep of shrines and religious establish- ments.® Of all concerns of life religion occupied his best thoughts and energies. He received his most useful education not through books on the present day model but in the wide school of experience, supplemented by such portions of old texts as relate to the common maxims of politics, morals and philosophy, e.g. parts of the Rdnmyan, Mahabhamt, some of the Smritis, probably portions of Shukraniti and Chandkyaniti and the lives of the saints. Vidurniti was possibly a favourite chapter selected from the Mahdbhdrat. It is said that the Yuddha-Kand or the War-chapter of the Rdmdyan was regu- larly read and expounded at night to all the garrisons of Shiva- ji’s forts as part of their discipline.
2. His guardian Dadaji. — Another powerful factor in Shivaji’s training was his guardian DjadSji Kondadev. The training he imparted in the practical business of government and the meticulous care he bestowed upon Shivaji’s general wdl-being, are in a great measure responsible for what Shivaji afterwards grew to be. EXadSji was not a mere clerk or accountant but a noble character, a man of business, a keen observer of events and situations, a circumspect politidan imbued with the prevalent spirit of love for his cotmtry, hatred towards foreign domination and religious persecution. He was much older than Shahji and had served the Bhosle family through thick and thin as their trusted friend and adviser. Dadaji rendered conspicuous service in relieving the distress of the ryots during the terrible famine of 1631-32 and resettling
3. On 25th May 1642 he thus wrote to the Deslipande of Rohida : “ You have violated the arrangement effected for the worship and manage- nient of Raireshvar. You must at once come and answer for your unwarranted interference/' (Raj. 15.266).
92 NEW HISTORY OF THE MARATHAS
the Poona region after that devastation.* Dadaji was himself a Kulkarni of Malthan and looked after the adjoining villages of Hingni, Berdi, Deulgon and others, which belonged to the Bhosles. When Shivaji acquired the Jagir of Poona and Supa, E^daji was entrusted with its management so as to make it 3neld a handsome income. This he did with great assiduity and attention. Papers of the decade 1637 — 1647 mention him as the accredited governor of fort Kondhana and the districts attached to it.®
This new post of Dadaji as manager of the Poona jagir was by no means a bed of roses. Murar Jagdev during the late war had devastated Poona and the surrounding country constituting Shahji's jagir. These Dadaji had to restore. Poona was then a Kasba town, i.e. a large village with a standing market of its own. In this market-place Dadaji built a com- modious house for Shivaji, known as the Rangmahai or the Lal-Mahal and procured for him costly clothes, jewelry and equipment, so that people might look upon him as their legiti- mate master and pay him due respect. The jagir extended from Junnar in the north to Wai in the south and included Chakan, Supa, Baramati and Indapur as the principal Talukas, the names of which are current to the present day. It was to be ruled from Sinhagad, a secure place centrally situated, the northern-most boundary of the jagir touching the forts of Shivner and Trimbak, which Shahji had been compelled to yield according to the terms of Shah Jahan’s agreement. Shiva- pur at the foot of Kondhana was named after the young master where new extensive gardens and mango groves were laid out by Dadfiji. The Shivapur mangoes are to this day considered a rarity in the Poona market. Jija Bai later founded a new town at the foot of fort Rajgad, and named it Shivpattan.
Jija Bai and Dadaji had Shivaji married to Sai Bai from the Nimbalkar family about the year 1640 : Shahji’s mother Dipa Bai also had come from the same Nimbalkar family. By
4. One paper of December 1633 says, " Dadaji then came to be appointed the revenue officer of the district. He restored the lands to prosperity and compelled the Deshmukhs and the Kulkamis to help cultivation by peopling the lands.” (S. C. Sahitya 2,95-96.)
5. Raj. 17.7 and 18.7, 9, 19.
THE FIRST PHASE OF THE MOON 93
this time the affairs of the jagir had been put on a sound basis ; the restoration of peace and order brought prosperity to the Bhosle estates which they had not known before. The finances ipxproved along with the growth of protection and government. A well-organized force of undoubted loyalty was raised from among the local elements known as the Mavlas, who though ignorant and rugged, proved to be his most trusted and loyal followers, capable of any sacrifice that they were called upon to make. Indeed these hardy mountaineers of the Maval hills formed in his later organization the main stay of Shivaji’s fighting machine. This native militia protected the jagir from robbery, molestation and disorder. The wild animals that infested the jungles of the jagir, damaged crops and created terrible havoc. Dadaji took special measures to put an end to this evil. Another beneficial measure adopted by Dadaji was to improve the yield of the land by encouraging agriculture and gardening in all possible ways. Says an old paper, “ New crops were reared in every village ; mango, tamarind, pomegranate, lemon came to be planted afresh. Of every ten new trees planted, one was given to the owner for his use, and only the remaining nine were taxed ; one-third of the crop being taken by Government, and two-thirds left to the owner.” This was the practice of Malik Ambar’s days and was now universally adopted. Lands were measured and their ownership fixed, new lands reclaimed and irrigation by wells and canals attended to. In a short time the jagir attained a degree of prosperity unknown before. Increase in income became quickly apparent and could be utilized for further improvements.
Another measure of public benefit was the settlement of long-standing disputes through village Panchayats and other indigenous judicial bodies. Dadaji moved from place to place with his young master hearing causes and dealing out justice without favour or prejudice. In all these measures he parti- cularly held up young Shivaji as the sole master and ruler of the people and every transaction was made in his name. This detailed work supplied Shivaji with an excellent oppor- tunity for learning practical method of government and gain- ing useful experience of public matters. Dadaji was a strict
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disciplinarian himself and never lax or remiss in exacting ipo- plicit obedience to his orders. He executed speedy and impartial justice. His name as a vigilant and unflinching administrator long survived his death, and fifty years later attracted the notice even of the Emperor Aurangzeb during his long stay in the Deccan. Thus the five or seven years of Shivaji’s grow- ing boyhood were most usefully spent.
3. The first coup. — While the father was certainly happy in the Karnatak over the glowing reports he received of the improvement of his jagir, a kind of restless anxiety touched his mind possibly through reports from Bijapur that his young son imder the guidance of his spirited mother and the stem Dadaji Konddev, was developing an unpleasant attitude of defiance towards the ruling authorities. Shivaji organized his men, repaired and garrisoned the forts and supplied them with provisions, so that a compact growing centre of subversive activity had come into being. These growing pyortents could not be neglected by the Bijapur Court and a report of thejn must have been transmitted to Shahji at Bangalore with hints that the son and his establishment deserved to be carefully watched and kept under control, while it was not yet too late. At the same time reports of Shahji’s activities in the distant south did not fail to reach Shivaji and Jija Bai’s ears, parti- cularly that phase of the Karnatak expedition, in which the Hindu religion was ruthlessly put down, lands devastated, shrines desecrated, idols broken, women’s honour violated and all the accumulated wealth of centuries drained away. Was it not a shame that Shahji more than any one else, should be the instrument of destroying his own religion and enhancing the credit of the Muslim rulers and their faith ?*
Sopne time in 1640, Shivaji with his mother and guardian paid a visit to his father at Bangalore. Shahji was anxious to meet them after four years of separation and to see the
6. Though factual evidence to prove how the minds of responsible persons at Poona and Bangalore responded to and reacted on the reports of ocaurences in those two places, is lacking, we have to read between the lines of what stray noticed we get on paper.
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newly-wedded wife of his son. So he sent for them and the whole family spent the next two years together.
Shahji was the loyal servant and supporter of a Muslim State. Bangalore and the surrounding country were full of the old Vijaynagar relics and traditions, which now came to be crushed with a high hand. There were shrewd diplomats and wise and far-sighted (X)unsellors at Shahji’s Court, who freely asked themselves questions like these as occasions arose : Was it not Shahji’s duty to try and preserve this noble ancient cultiue and learning? Why should he not at least protest strongly against these destructive actions of the Bijapur Gov- ernment ? Why should he not at least refuse to execute them himself ? The boy Shivaji listened in childish surprise.
This anti-national trend of Shahji’s service under Bijapur could not be relished by Jija Bai and Shivaji, who had begun actively to dream of salvation from the Muslim yoke, of creating a new state wherein political and religious freedom and toleration for all would reign supreme. The incomp>ati- bility of the views and future aims of the father and the son, soon became marked, and it was decided that Shivaji should return to his native country from Bangalore. But a call had come for them all from Bijapur to visit the Court and make their personal obeisance to their liege lord, thereby affirming their loyalty unmistakably. Towards the end of 1642 or the beginning of 1643 the whole family journeyed from Bangalore to Bijapur with their full camp and retinue.
Shahji appears to have accepted the force of the arguments of the opposition and thereafter tried actively to support the Hindu cause by helping Srirang Rai, the last representative of the old Vijaynagar Empire, and often remonstrating with effect against the devastating character of Mustafa Khan’s policy.
A very late tradition tells us of young Shivaji’s spirit at this time when he was summoned to the Bijapur Court. Would he not make his bow according to the punctilious Muslim prescription ? In the open Darbar he simply executed the ordinary form of Maratha salutation, respectable enough but not reaching the extreme point of the Muslim i.e.
touching the floor with the fore-head. The father explained
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away the rudeness by urging the rustic boy’s ignorance ot court etiquette. Shahji, even if he had the wish, could not restrain the turbulent spirit of his son.
4. Dream put into execution. — Upon his return journey from Bangalore, the father supplied the son with a full equipage for an independent court. Parmanand says, “ in a few days Shahji Raja gave leave to Shivaji to depart from Bangalore at an auspicious mojnent, supplying him with infantry, cavalry and elephants, also prominent ministers, re- nowned instructors, costly flags and insignia of royalty and with plentiful treasure.”' ShyBmrao Nilkanth Peshwa, Bal- krinshnapiant Muzumdar, Balaji Hari Majalsi (or Sabhasad, i.e. member of Council), Raghunath Ballal Korde, Sonopant Dabir, Raghunath Ballal Atre Chitnis, — ^these and other officers trained under Shahji are said to have been told off for duty with Shivaji. When exactly these ministerial offices were created and appointments made to them, cannot be deter- mined. They must have been gradually brought into employ- ment, as Shivaji’s new raj came into being.
Shivaji’s and Dadaji’s experiment of improving the land and the government of the jagir, roused a spirit of emulation and gave a new life to the Maval country. Young friends and playmates of the locality and surrounding regions began to flock romid him to share his labours and render any sacrifice that might be demanded. In this way he began to gather around himself a band of young faithful comrades. His vision ex- panded ; he began to dream of a new swarajya outside the limits of the original jagir but based upon it. He used to hold secret consultations with these comrades in arms, planning to capture forts, secure funds by daring attacks on private and public treasures, selecting suitable persons for partiailar jobs, employing spies to gather information about the strength of the garrisons of forts, about buried wealth, and the measures concerted by the Bijapur and other authorities to stop these activities. On broad, plain issues these young enthusiasts sought the advice and guidance of Dadaji Kondadev. Gomaji
7. Shiv-Bkarat, 10.25-27,
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Naik Panasambal, Yes&ji Kank, Tanaji Malusre, Baji Pgsal- kar, and Bajirao Jedhe, son of KSnhoji Jedhe, became Shivaji’s early helpmates. They possessed influence in different locali- ties which they soon organized for the main objective.
Shivaji had a persuasive tongue. He addressed his com- rades and brought home to them how the foreign Muslim rule inflicted hardships and wrongs upon their homeland and their religion. He narrated to them graphic stories of what he had seen and heard. Was it not their duty to avenge this wrong ? Even an effort in that direction was laudable and necessary. “ Why remain content with the gifts conferred by foreigners or with our patem'al acquisitions only ? We are Hindus; this whole country is ours, and yet it is occupied and held by the Muslims. They desecrate our temples, break our idols, plunder our wealth, convert our countrymen forcibly to their religion, kill cows ojjenly ; we will suffer this treatment no more. We possess strength in our arms. Let us draw the sword in de- fence of our sacred religion, liberate our native country and ac- quire new lands and wealth by our own effort. We are as brave and capable as our ancestors of yore. If we undertake this sacred task, God will surely help us. All human efforts are so helped. There is no such thing as good luck or ill-luck. We are the captains of our soil and the makers of our freedom.”* These words appealed to every ardent mind and roused even those who were slothful and indolent.
An old paper contains the following statement; “Com- plete darkness prevails under Muslim rule. There is no inquiry, no justice. The officials do what they please. Violation of women’s honour, murders and conversions of the Hindus, de- molition of their shrines, cow-slaughter, and similar despicable atrocities prevail under that government.” The Nizam Shah openly paurdered Jija Bai’s father, his brothers and sons. Bajaji Nimbalkar of Phaltan was forcibly converted to Islam. Countless instances could be quoted. The Hindus could not lead an honourable life. This is what moved Shivaji to righte- ous indignation. An intense feeling of revolt took possession of his mind. He at once set to work. He thought to himself,
8. Sabhasad Chronide. See also Raj. 15.3.
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“ One who is strong in his weapon has no difficulty and no fear.”®
Soon a complete revolution in the people’s ideology Jtnd outlook was the result of this young leader’s activity. The former lethargy was rooted out. The dormant atmosphere of Maharashtra came to be galvanized. Everyone began to look about and think for himself. Some readily joined in this new rising, some perforce went into opposition, no one could remain indifferent or apathetic.
“Soon after returning from Bangalore to Poona, the twelve valleys of the Mavals were captured,” is a cryptic but significant statement of the bakhars, now corroborated by a Persian farmdn dated 1st August 1644. The farmdn is a letter addressed by the Shah of Bijapur to Kanhoji Jedhe of Kari. It runs thus:—
“ Shahji Bhosle has been disgraced and removed from the Court and it is now reported to us that his agent Dadaji Kondadev has commenced rebellious activities at fort Kon- dhana. In order to put him down and assert our rule over the territory, Khandoji and Baji Ghorpade have been compaission- ed to proceed against him. You are, therefore, hereby com- manded to join the Ghorpade with your full contingent and destroy that wicked rebel Dadaji and his supporters with all your might. Upon the successful execution of this task, you will be properly rewarded.”^®
The clearly dated explicit evidence contained in this paper removes all doubt about Shivaji’s early activities and supplies us a definite starting point in his career. Since Shahji also has been mentioned as being already disgraced, we can defi- nitely assert that the father Shahji was then looked upon by the Bijapur authorities as the author of the whole mischief. It is significant that the farmdn mentions Dadaji as the agent in this mischief and that Shivaji’s name nowhere occurs.
9. This is said by Ramchandrapant in his Maratha Polity.
RtrSl? f#
is a person wearing a weapon.
10. S. C. Sahitya 4, p, 21.
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Although he was suspected, he was then too young to be separately noticed. In fact Shivaji’s name begins to appear officially after Dadaji’s death, or a year or so before that, in that famous letter of Shivaji to Dadaii Naras Prabhu about the oaths they had exchanged before Raireshvar in the sum- mer of 1645. This position also leads one to conclude that Diadgji wholeheartedly supported the new movement of revolt against Muslim domination, and in every way encouraged Shivaji as the fittest instrument to lead the movement to suc- cess. It is also dear that the first fort captured by the rebels was Sinhagad and not Torna, which came into Shivaji’s hands a year or two later. Nor did Toma possess the strategic im- portance of Sinhagad. Shivaji discovered hidden treasures at Toma, on which account it received prominence, as a divine dis- pensation of the goddess Bhavani to help Shivaji’s cause. For security of person and property, Sinhagad was long a necessary adjunct of Poona, which city being on a plain was ever vul- nerable.
In 1644 Shahji fell into disgrace at the Bijapur Court probably for complicity in the revolt of Srirang Rai. So long as Randaula Khan was living, he could control Shahji’s activi- ties with tact and softness ; Randaula’s death in 1643 altered the situation and brought trouble for both Shahji in the south and D&daji at Poona. The affair of this first revolt of the Bhosles against the Bijapur authorities dragged on practically for five years from 1644 to 1649, occasionally assuming a formidable aspect as matters progressed. The Sultan Muham- mad Shah was not able to control the situation and his failing health aggravated it and favoured the rebels. After the capture of Sinhagad in 1644, Shivaji commenced open aggression against Bijapur, of which further proof is supplied by another valuable document dated 30 March 1645, also a letter address- ed by the Adil Shah to Kmihoji Jedhe, and his Deshpande Dadaji Naras Prabhu. It says : — “ Shivaji Raje has turned disloyal to the Shah inasmuch as he has organized troops of the MSvlas and having taken possession of fort Rohida, has established his own garrison in it. He has also built a new fort and named it Rajgad and thus strengthened his position. You have openly join^ him and pay him the revenue, instead
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of obeying our officer at Shirval. You give him insolent replies. This cannot be tolerated. Unless you at once resume your obedience to the Thanadar of Shirval, you will be put to death without mercy.”
This letter clearly unfolds the early moves of Shivaji. After Sinhagad he took Rohida, built Rajgad, and established his hold on that portion of the Maval, all within a few months, indeed an astounding performance. What was first started in secrecy, took now the form of an open challenge. Dadaji Naras Prabhu referred the letter to Shivaji and asked him what reply he was to make. Shivaji thereupon wrote to Dadaji Prabhu the following reply on 16 May 1645; — “The Shah is entirely misinformed. Neither you nor I have turned disloyal. Please see me with that letter immediately. You have no reason to feel distressed. Raireshvar, the divine master of your valley, inspires you and me alike and gives us success. He gives us power enough to establish Hindawi-Swarajya. We are mere instruments in divine hands. Come what may, we should stick to the secret oaths we have exchanged, as advised by D&daji- pant, in the presence of Raireshvar. He wills it all. Don’t lose courage.”” Letters like this tell us definitely how Shivaji set out on his mission. As usually happens, he outwardly pro- fessed perfect loyalty to the Sultan and urged that the activi- ties he undertook were entirely in self-defence and part of the Government’s work, intended to put down lawlessness and disorder, as peace was highly essential for the development of this hilly country, which for centuries past had known no rule, no authority, no order and which now had begun to yield a good return.
Thus Shivaji pushed on without caring for consequences. He possessed a quick eye for judging men. He picked up suit- able helpmates, promoted them a(xx>rding to their deserts and exacted great tasks from them. He roamed over the country minutely observing the capacities of the men and resources of the people. If a writer, he gave him a writer’s job ! if a brave
11. The temple Raire^war is near the Rairi hill and should not be confused with fort Rohida, which was later renamed Vichitragad and which has no Shankar temple. The two are five miles apart. The oaths took place on tile Rairi hill near Kari, the seat of the Jedhes.
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man, he was made a captain. He wrote letters, paid visits, contracted friendships often through marriage ties, persuaded, threatened, cxierced and thus strengthened his party. People talked of him as a heaven-sent leader, one whom they must implicitly obey.
The voluminous writings of Ramdas supply ample evi dence of .these early activities of Shivaji. They have prepared for us a stirring ncuration of how the people of Maharashtra began buzzing about, ready to sting in all directions. That narration is a piece of national history like what is enacted in all ages and climes by men of action or “ heroes as kings ” as Carlyle loved to call them. The storm was raised, Shivaji alone could ride it and reach the harbour safely. A new bright hope dawned on