Indignant at these repeated reverses which greatly affected Mughul prestige and influence in the Deccan, Aurangzeb sent, early in 1665, Jay Singh, Raja of Amber, and Dilir Khan to the Deccan with an expeditionary force to punish Shivaji. Jay singh, an tactful and brave general, who combined with varied military experience, gained during his campaigns in different parts of the Empire, much diplomatic AM and foresight, proceeded cautiously against the clever Maratha chief. Raising a ring of enemies round Shivaji, he besieged the fort of Purandhar. The beleaguered garrison in the fort maintained a heroic resistance for some time, during which its prabhu ” commander, Munar Baji Deshpande of Mahad, lost his life with 300 Mavlis.
Jay Singh’s object in sending Shiv,ii to the imperial court was to remove him from the troubled area of the Deccan, but it in very difficult to understand I what led Shivaji to agree to his proposal. Mr. Sardesai writes that the consideration which led Shivaji to go to the imperial court was his desire to see with his own eyes the Emperor, his court, and the sources of his strength, with & view to preparing his plans for future operations against him properly. We know, on the other hand, that Jay Singh had to persuade him to take such a risky step by holding out promises of reward and honour and taking solemn oaths to be responsible for his safety at Agra. To secure the consent of the Emperor to the occupation of the island of Janjira, then held by the Siddi, an imperial servant , might have also been an objective of the Maratha chief With the assurance of the astrologers and concurrence of the majority of his officers, he started for Agra with his son, Shambhuji, and reached there on the 9th May, 1666.
But Shivaji was coldly received by Aurangzeb and ranked as a noble commanding 5,000 men, which wounded his of honour so much that he created a scene and swooned. On being restored to his senses, he accused the Emperor of breach of faith, whereupon he was placed under guard. Thus his “high hopes we” dashed to pieces and he found himself a, prisoner so. An o man would have given way to despair under such trying circumstances, but, being, gifted with extraordinary resourcefulness, he resorted to a stratagem to effect his escape. Pretending to recover from his feigned illness, he began rending out of his house every evening baskets of fruits and sweetmeats for Brahmanas, mendicants and nobles, as thanksgiving offerings for his fictitious recovery. After a few days, when the guards had relaxed their vigilance and allowed the baskets to go out unchecked, Shivaji and his son , concealed themselves in two empty baskets and slipped out of Agra, eluding all the spies of the Mughul Emperor. He hastened with Shambhuji to Muttra and, leaving his fatigued son there in charge of a Maratha Brahmana, reached home, in the guise of a mendicant, on the 30th November, 1666, by following a roundabout way, via Allahabad, Benares, Gaya and Telingana.
For three years after this, Shivaji remained at peace with the Mughuls and utilized the period in organising his internal administration. Aurangzeb granted him the title of Raja and a jagir in Berar, and raised his son Shambhuji to the rank of a noble of 5,000. But war was renewed in 1670. The position of the imperialists being weaker than before, owing to a bitter quarrel between the viceroy, Shah ‘Alam, and his lieutenant, Dilir Khan, Shivaji recovered almost all the forts surrendered by him in 1665. In the month of October, 1670, he sacked Surat for the second time and captured immense booty in cash and kind. He then carried daring raids into Mughul provinces and repeatedly ‘defeated Mughul generals in open fight. In 1672 he demanded chauth from Surat. The tribal risings in the north-west then engaged Aurangzeb’s attention more than anything else, and a part of the Mughul army was transferred from the Deccan to that region.
Besides being relieved of pressure from the Mughuls, owing to their preoccupations in the north-west, Shivaji secured the friendship of the Sultan of Golkunda, and conquered in one year (1677) Jinji, Vellore, and the adjoining districts. These greatly enhanced his prestige and gave him the possession of a vast territory in the Madras Carnatic and the Mysore plateau, covering sixty leagues by forty, yielding him an annual revenue of 20 lacs of huns and containing 100 forts. His successful career came to a close with his premature death at the age of fifty-three (or fifty, according to some) on the 14th April, 1680. Shivaji’s kingdom extended roughly along the entire coast from Ramanagar (modem Dharampar State in .he SurAt Agency) in the north to Kirwar in the south, excluding the Portuguese, African and English settlements of Daman, Salsette, Bassein, Chaul, Goa, Janjira and Bombay. On the east, its boundary ran in an irregular line from Baglina in the north, through the Nasik and Poona districts and round the whole of Sitar&, to Kolhapur in the south. His last conquests brought within the limits of his dominions the Western Carnatic, extending from Belgaum to the banks of the Tungabhadra, opposite to the Be district of the modem Madras Presidency, and also a large part of the present kingdom of Mysore.
Shivaji’s Government
Shivaji was not merely a daring soldier and a successful military conqueror, but also an enlightened ruler of his people. As Mr. Rawlinson observes: “Like nearly all great warriors-Napoleon is a conspicuous example Shivaji was also a great administrator, for the qualities which go to make a capable general are those which are required by the successful organiser and statesman. His system, like that of the Muslim rulers of India, was an autualcracy, of which he himself was the supreme head. But in the actual discharge of State business he was helped by a council of eight ministers the ashtapradhan-whose functions were chiefly advisory. The eight ministers were: (i) The Peshwa or the Prime Minister, who had to look after the general welfare and interests of the kingdom, (ii) the Amatya or the Finance Minister, whose duty was to check and countersign all public accounts, (iii) the Mantri, who had to preserve a daily record of the king’s acts and the proceedings of his court, (iv) the Sachiva or the superintendent, who was in charge of the king’s correspondence and had also to check the accounts of the mahals and paragans, (v) the Sumant or the Foreign Secretary, (vi) the Senapati or the Commander-in-chief, (vii) the Pandit Rao and Danidhyaksha or the Royal Chaplain and Almoner, and (viii) the Nyayadhisa or the Chief Justice. All the ministers, excepting the Nyayadhisa and the Pandit Rao, held military commands besides their civil duties, and at least three of them were placed in charge of provincial administration aa well. The ministers were in charge of different departments of the S, which were no less than thirty in number. Shivaji divided his kingdom into a number of provinces, each being placed under a viceroy, who held office at the king’s pleasure and was like him by a staff of eight chief officers. The viceroy of the Kamitak had a position somewhat different from that of the other provincial governors, and he exercised more power and discretion.
