p. 19

CHAPTER II. Boyhood and Youth. 1627-1656. §1. Shivaji's birth and infancy.

pp. 19-20

Shahji Bhonsla, a captain of mercenaries, belonged to a Maratha family that had migrated from Daulatabad and entered the service of the Nizam-Shahi Sultans of Ahmadnagar. Some of his kinsmen had joined the Mughals with their retainers and risen to high rank early in Shah Jahan's reign. Shivaji, the second son of Shahji, was born in the hill-fort of Shivner, which towers over the city of Junnar, in the extreme north of the Puna district. His mother Jija Bai (a daughter of the aristocratic Lukhji Jadav of Sindkhed) had prayed to the local goddess, Shiva-Bai, for the good of her expected child, and named him after that deity. Of the exact date of his birth and the incidents of his boyhood, there is no contemporary record. Even Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad, writing in 1694, is silent on these points. The earliest mention of them is found in works composed 150 years after his birth, when the Shivaji myth had been fully developed among the Marathas and baseless legends and deliberate fabrications had entirely overspread the few historic truths about him that were still preserved in unwritten memory. They place his birth on 6th April, 1627 or near about that date.*

p. 20

* T. S. 6a; Dig. 53; Chit. 22. The Zedhe Chronology (in Chaturtha Sam. Britta, 175) is clearly wrong about the year of his birth. The traditions about Shivaji's ancestors: Chit. 14-18, Dig. 31-43, T. S. 3a-4b, Sabh. 5 (meagre.) Khan Khan gives some legends about the origin and meaning of Bhonsla (i. 111-113.) I have narrated the correct history of Shahji's life up to 1636 in Modern Review, Sept. 1917.

p. 20

The stories told in the later Marathi bakhars about the history of his parents during the year preceding his birth and the events of his own life up to the age of twenty, are in many points contrary to authentic history, and in others improbable, or, at all events, unsupported by any evidence.

pp. 20-21

We know from the contemporary Persian histories that Shahji led a roving life, subject to frequent change of place and enemy attacks, during much of the period 1630 to 1636. Under these circumstances he would naturally have left his wife and infant son for safety in a stronghold like Shivner. But, in reality, he seems to have deserted both. A later traditional work asserts that at this time his eldest son Shambhuji was killed at Kanakgiri and he conceived a deep-rooted aversion to Lukhji Jadav and his family, and after saying that his surviving offspring from Jadav's daughter would come to no good, he deserted Jija Bai and Shivaji. (T. S. 9a.) This reasoning is unconvincing and falsified by dates. It is, however, beyond dispute that Jija Bai now lost her husband's love, probably with the loss of her youth, and Shahji abandoned her and her new-born son and took a younger and more beautiful wife, Tuka Bai Mohite, on whom and whose son Vyankoji he lavished all his affection and wealth. (Chit. 22; Dig. 53 and 64; T. S. 9a; Shed. 15.)

p. 21

It is expressly stated in the contemporary Padishahnamah (I. B. 150) that in March 1636 Shahji's family was living at Shivner. This shows that Shiva did not reside at Puna till after 1636. This view is supported by the Tarikh-i-Shivaji (8a), which states that after entering Bijapur service (October 1636) and securing from that Government a grant of the whole country from Chakan to Indapur and Shirwal, as his jagir, Shahji appointed Dadaji Kond-dev as administrator of the tract and told him, ‘My wife Jija Bai is living in the fort of Shivner and has brought forth a son named Shivaji. Bring her and her son and keep them in your charge [at Puna] and supply them with money for their necessary expenses.’ Shivaji was, therefore, practically a stranger to his father for several years after his birth.

pp. 21-22

Her husband's neglect drove the mind of Jija Bai inwards and deepened her natural religious spirit, which she imparted to her son. Shiva grew up in solitude, a matchless child, without brother, sister or father. The isolation of their life drew mother and son very close together and intensified his love for her till it became almost an adoration for a deity. From a very early age, he was naturally thrown on his own resources, and learnt to carry out his own ideas unaided, and to take the initiative without any sense of subordination or responsibility to some higher authority.

p. 22

In the condition of the homes of their boyhood, their early life and training, and the development of their character,—even as in the steps by which they mounted to thrones,—the forsaken son of Shahji Bhonsla was the exact parallel of the forsaken son of Hassan Sur. Shivaji and Sher Shah were not only alike in character and genius but also grew up amidst like circumstances. §2. Condition of the Puna jagir, 1637.

pp. 22-23

When, at the end of October 1636, Shahji made peace with the Mughals, he had to cede to them Shivner, Trimbak and four other forts. He retained in Balaghat or the tableland only his ancestral jagir of Puna and Supa, formerly held under Nizam Shah and henceforth under Adil Shah. The estate included the Puna district from Chakan to Indapur, Supa, Shirwal, Wai (? Walti) and Jadgir, (T. S. 8a), or a tract bounded on the west by the Ghats, on the north by the Ghod river, on the east by the Bhima and on the south by the Nira river. Shahji, when retiring to Bijapur in 1636, placed this jagir in charge of a Brahman named Dadaji Kond-dev, who had gained administrative skill and experience as the land-steward (kulkarni) of Malthan.*

pp. 22-23

* Chit. 19 and Dig. 47 call him kulkarni of Malthan in Patas subdivision. But T. S. 8a says that he was formerly kulkarni of Hingani Burdi and Dhuligaon. There is a Hingana Buzurg, 3 m. s.w. of Puna. (Ind. Atlas, 39 S.W.) A critic suggests the emendation Hingani Beradi and Devalgaon, which I accept.

p. 23

Jija Bai and Shiva were now removed from Shivner to Puna and Dadaji was appointed their guardian. The Puna district that Dadaji took over was in a sadly ruined condition. Six years of warfare had desolated the land, and the work of the invading soldiery had been completed after their departure by robber chiefs who tried to profit by the anarchy. Indeed, the province had so recently passed from the Nizam-Shahi ownership to that of Bijapur that the authority of the new Government had not yet been established there. It was only the rule of a strong jagirdar that could have given peace and prosperity to the district; but during 1630-1636 Shahji had been forced to lead a life of constant movement, danger and warfare. The Puna and Thana districts at the extreme north-western corner of the kingdom of Bijapur, therefore, formed a No man's Land, with none to administer and defend them.

pp. 23-24

In 1630 Shahji had plundered and seized the Nizam-Shahi country round Puna. Soon afterwards a Bijapuri army had looted and burnt Puna, Indapur and other villages of Shahji and "totally desolated them." (B. S. 227.) Next he had recovered possession of them by force. Then had followed the famine of 1631-1632, the most terrible in the sad history of the Deccan (Pad. I. A. 362.)

p. 24

The Junnar or North Puna tract was the scene of frequent Mughal invasions in 1634-'36. During Khan-i-Zaman's campaign against Shahji (July—October 1636), he penetrated to Puna, but there was probably nothing left for him to plunder or burn there. During the dissolution of the Ahmadnagar sultanate, a revenue farmer (deshpande) named Moro Tandev, "a proud rebel, well acquainted with the country round the Bhima, had raised a tumult and seized the neighbourhood of Puna. These disorders had devastated the whole kingdom from Ahmadnagar to the boundary of Wai and Shirwal." (T. S. 8a.)

pp. 24-25

The desolation caused by man preying on his species favoured the growth of wild beasts. The Puna district, especially the Sahyadri hill-side forming its western border, was now infested by large numbers of wolves, which thinned the population and hindered cultivation. Dadaji Kond-dev offered rewards to the hillmen for killing the wolves and thus cleared the whole tract of these pests in a short time. He conciliated the hillmen and tempted them to settle in the valleys and extend cultivation by offering very liberal terms. Leases were granted to the effect that the new tenants should pay a rent of only Re. 1 in the first year, Rs. 3 in the second, Rs. 6 in the third, Rs. 9 in the fourth, Rs. 10 in the fifth, Rs. 20 in the sixth and the same rate as the older tenants from the 7th year onwards. Thus the whole country was brought under tillage. (T. S. 9a; Dig. 113; Chit. 26.)

p. 25

When Dadaji took charge of the Puna jagir, its paper revenue was only 40,000 hun (or Rs. 1,60,000, according to the current rate of exchange.) (Sabh. 102.) But only a fraction of this amount was actually collected. For the defence of the district he organised a body of local soldiers (barqandazes) and set up outposts at suitable places. (Chit. 26.) The memory of his able and beneficent administration was long preserved, and a later chronicle tells us, "He did such strict justice that the very name of robbers and usurpers disappeared from the district." (T. S. 9a.) An anecdote illustrates his punctilious sense of justice: "He planted a garden of fruit trees named after Shahji and gave strict orders that if any one plucked even a leaf from the trees, he would be punished. One day Dadaji with his own hand plucked a mango from a tree. For this offence he was about to cut off the hand when the other people prevented him. To show his respect for the rules, however, he wore an iron chain round his neck" (T. S. 9b),—or "kept the offending arm confined in a long glove!" (Chit. 29.) §3. Shivaji's education.

pp. 25-26

On the subject of Shivaji's education, Sabhasad is silent. The Tarikh-i-Shivaji tells us that "Dadaji trained Shivaji and appointed an excellent teacher for him. In a short time Shiva became skilled in fighting, riding* and other accomplishments." (9a.)

p. 26

* No mention is made of book-learning. Chitnis, 28, vaguely says that Shivaji at the age of ten became very learned (bahut vidvan.) Dig. 85 gives a long list of every known art and science as mastered by him in boyhood!

p. 26

The weight of evidence is in favour of the view that Shivaji was unlettered, like three other heroes of mediaeval India,—Akbar, Haidar Ali, and Ranjit Singh. The many Europeans who visited him never saw him write anything; when they presented any petition to him the Rajah always passed it on to his ministers to be read to him. No piece of writing in his own hand is known to exist.†

p. 26

† At the conclusion of a letter to Ramdas there are a few words which have been taken by the editor of Ramdasi Patravyavahar (Mr. Dev) as Shivaji's writing. But this letter has not yet been critically examined by any expert or independent historian. These very recent "discoveries" in Maharashtra require corroboration before they can be accepted.

pp. 26-27

But though he may not have pored over books, he certainly mastered the contents of the two great Hindu epics by listening to recitations and story-tellings. The noble examples of doing and suffering, of action and sacrifice, of military skill and statecraft, which the stories of Rama and the Pandavas afford, the political lessons and moral maxims with which these epics are filled, deeply impressed his young mind. He loved to distraction religious readings and songs (kirtan) and sought the society of Hindu and Muslim saints wherever he went. The want of book-learning, therefore, did not leave his mind a dull and sterile soil, nor impair his efficiency as a man of action in a world that was mediaeval. §4. The Mavals occupied.

p. 27

The western belt of the Puna district, running along the Western Ghats for a length of 90 miles and a breadth of 12 to 24 miles, is known as Maval or the Sunset Land. "It is extremely rugged, a series of table-lands cut on every side by deep winding valleys...From the valleys, hills of various heights and forms rise, terrace above terrace, with steep sides often strewn with black basalt boulders...Where the trees have been spared, they clothe the hill-sides with a dense growth mixed with almost impassable brushwood. Here and there are patches of ancient evergreen forests...The people in the northern valleys are Kolis and in the southern valleys Marathas. They have a strong strain of hill-blood and are dark, wiry and sallow...The climate is dry and invigorating, the air is lighter, and the heat less oppressive than in most parts of Western or Southern India." (Bom. Gaz. xviii. pt. 1, pp. 2, 13, 15.)

pp. 27-28

In popular speech, the valleys into which this western belt is divided are collectively known as the twelve Mavals, though their names end with the words net and khore as well as maval, and their number exceeds twelve. A Marathi ballad speaks of 12 Mavals under Junnar and twelve others under Puna.

p. 28

Dadaji established complete mastery over the Mavals. The local chiefs (deshpandes) were mostly won over. Those who defied his authority were defeated* and crushed. Thus peace and prosperity were established in that region and it became a source of wealth and strength to the owner of Puna, instead of being an unprofitable and even dangerous possession. (Sabh. 7; Chit. 26.) From this region Shivaji drew his best soldiers, his earliest comrades, and his most devoted followers. Yesaji Kank and Baji Pasalkar were Mavle chieftains of his own age; they gathered round him very early and were enrolled as his first captains. So, also, was Tanaji Malusare, a young deshmukh of Konkan. (Chit. 32.) §5. Shivaji's choice of a career.

p. 28

* Raj. xv. 316 and 393 records the story of one of his reverses: "Dadaji Kond-dev came to Shivapur. Among the 12 Mavals, Krishnaji Nayak Bandal, the deshmukh of Hirdas Maval, had seized another man's lands and refused to give them up. Dadaji marched against him, but was defeated and forced to retreat to Shivapur. He then sent Kanhoji Nayak Zedhe to persuade Krishnaji and other Maval deshmukhs to come for an interview." Chitnis, 33, says that Bandal refused to come and wait on Shivaji, who marched against him, captured and put him to death. This is incorrect, as the subjugation of the Mavals was completed by Dadaji.

pp. 28-29

In their company young Shivaji wandered over the hills and forests of the Sahyadri range, and along the mazes of the river valleys, thus hardening himself to a life of privation and strenuous exertion, as well as getting a first-hand knowledge of the country and its people.

p. 29

During his residence at Puna his plastic mind was profoundly influenced by the readings from the Hindu epics and sacred books given by his guardian and other Brahmans, and still more by the teaching of his mother. The deeply religious, almost ascetic, life that Jija Bai led amidst neglect and solitude imparted by its example, even more than by her precepts, a stoical earnestness mingled with religious fervour to the character of Shiva. He began to love independence and loathe a life of servile luxury in the pay of some Muslim king. It is, however, extremely doubtful if at this time he conceived any general design of freeing his brother Hindus from the insults and outrages to which they were often subjected by the dominant Muslim population.* An independent sovereignty for himself he certainly coveted; but he never posed as the liberator of the Hindus in general, at all events not till long afterwards. (Chit. 29; Dig. 100-103, 112.)

p. 29

* Basatin-i-Salatin, 332 and 334, frankly describes in detail how the Hindus were depressed as a deliberate policy of the State of Bijapur in the palmy days of Muhammad Adil Shah.

pp. 29-30

The inconstancy, intrigue and bloodshed which stained the Court of Bijapur in those days foreboded for it a downfall like that of Ahmadnagar. Mughal service was no better alternative to Shivaji. The imperialists had killed Kheloji Bhonsla, his grand-uncle, and their superior resources and organisation made it unlikely for the Hindus of the Deccan to enjoy greater toleration or power under them than under the weaker and smaller sultanates close by. Moreover, to the Deccanis, both Hindu and Muhammadan, Delhi was a far-off city, with an alien speech and an alien ruling race, who would pitilessly discard their southern instruments after service had been taken from them. A career of independence was no doubt risky to Shivaji, but it had undreamt-of advantages to compensate for the risks, if only he could succeed.

pp. 30-31

On the question of his future career he came into conflict with his guardian. Dadaji Kond-dev was, no doubt, an able and honest land-steward, a man of methodical habits, leading a sober blameless and humdrum life, but quite incapable of lofty ideals, daring ambition or far-off vision. Shivaji's love of adventure and independence appeared to his guardian as the sign of an untutored and wayward spirit, which would ruin his life's chances. He argued long with Shivaji, advised him to follow the footsteps of his ancestors and rise to wealth and position as an obedient vassal and captain of mercenaries under Adil Shah. The young lad's association with the hill brigands and his projects about robbery and surprise of forts filled Dadaji with apprehensions about his future. He complained to Shahji, but without succeeding in effecting a reform. Worn out by anxiety and age, Dadaji Kond-dev died, early in 1647,* and Shivaji became his own master at the age of twenty. §6. Shivaji's early conquest of forts, 1646-1647.

p. 31

The death of Dadaji Kond-dev found Shiva ready for his task. He had already been trained in martial exercises and civil administration; he had familiarised himself with the troops of his father's western jagir and the people he would have to govern. Initiative and power of command had been freely developed in him without check or interference from his guardian. Administrative orders had for some time before this been issued in his name, as his father's representative, while Dadaji Kond-dev had stood by watching his pupil. Shivaji had also taken part, with his mother or his tutor, in some judicial investigations and public decisions of legal disputes (mahzar.)†

pp. 31-32

The band of officers already gathered round him were men of tried ability and devotion to him. Shyamraj Nilkanth Ranjhekar (the correct form of the name is Rozekar, according to some modern Maratha scholars) was the Chancellor (peshwa); Balkrishna Dikshit was Accountant-General (majmuadar); Sonaji Pant was secretary (dabir) and Raghunath Ballal Korde was paymaster (sahnis.) These four officers had been sent by Shahji about 1639. To them Shivaji now added Tukoji Chor Maratha as commander-in-chief (sar-i-naubat) and Narayan Pant as divisional paymaster. (Sabh. 7 and 8; Chit. 21; T. S. 10b.)

p. 31

* Letters and Sanads, 111, gives 1647 as the year of Dadaji's death. A mahzar issued by him on 31 May 1646 is extant (Raj. iv. 80; cf. xvi. 36.) T. S. 10b says that in utter disgust at Shivaji's waywardness, Dadaji took poison, when Shiva was 17 years old. Dig. 119 asserts that he died in 1640 (wrong.) Dig. 113-117. Chit. 29-31.

p. 31

† I have missed the reference, and cannot make the above statement with confidence. (Try Raj., xv-xviii.)

p. 32

The year 1646 marks a crisis in the history of Bijapur. The king fell seriously ill, and for some time his life was despaired of. Though he lingered on for ten years more, these years were by popular belief held to be a portion of the life of the saint Shah Hashim Uluvi, given away by that holy man to the king. (B. S. 312.) During this time no serious business was attended to by Muhammad Adil Shah. The expansion of territory in the Karnatak went on under some of the nobles, but at the capital the king was inert, and the administration fell into the hands of the queen Bari Sahiba. The official history of Bijapur is significantly silent about Muhammad Adil Shah's doings from 1646 to his death in 1656.

pp. 32-33

This was Shivaji's opportunity. Even before the death of Dadaji, he had begun his annexations. In 1646 he had sent his captains Baji Pasalkar, Yesaji Kank and Tanaji Malusare with a force of Mavle infantrymen and occupied Torna fort by tricking its Bijapuri commandant. Here he seized Government treasure amounting to 2 lakhs of hun. The captured fort was newly named Prachandgarh, a name which it soon lost. Five miles east of it, on the crest of the same spur of hills, he built a new fort named Rajgarh, with three walled redoubts (machi) on the successive terraces of the hill-side. (Chit. 30; Dig. 117; T. S. 12b.)*

p. 33

* Sabhasad is silent about the capture of Torna. A. N. 576, and following it K. K. (ii. 115), say that Chandan was the first fort taken by him. The date of the capture of Torna has been conjecturally put as 1646. Shiva loots Bijapuri treasure on the way, Chit. 31; Dig. 140.

p. 33

These acts of aggression were reported to Bijapur. But Shivaji secured friends at Court by bribing the ministers, and they sided with him against the local jagirdars whom he had dispossessed. (K. K. ii. 114.) Shahji also is said to have turned away the king's wrath by similar assertions of Shivaji's loyal intentions and the negligent administration of the former owner of Torna. At the same time he sent a secret letter of reprimand to his son and warned Dadaji to keep better control over him. (Chit. 31.)

pp. 33-34

Shivaji's first act after the death of Dadaji was to bring all parts of Shahji's western jagir under his own control, so as to form one compact State ruled by one authority. Shambhuji Mohite, the brother of Shahji's second wife, had been left by that chief as his agent in the Supa subdivision. On the death of Dadaji, he refused to obey his young nephew and wanted to take his orders direct from Shahji. But Shivaji imprisoned him during a holiday visit, attached all his property, and, on his persisting in his refusal to serve him, sent him back to Shahji with his personal effects. Thus Supa was annexed. (Sabh. 8, Chit. 32, Dig. 119, T. S. 12a & b.)

p. 34

The fort of Chakan, guarding the road to Puna in the north, had been entrusted by his father to Firangji Narsala. This officer offered obedience to Shivaji and was confirmed in his post. (Chit. 32; T. S. 12b; Dig 120.) The petty officers of the thanahs of Baramati and Indapur on the eastern margin of the jagir, peacefully submitted to Shiva's authority. The fort of Kondana, 11 miles south-west of Puna, was next secured by bribing its Adil-Shahi governor. (Sabh. 9.)

pp. 34-35

The strong fortress of Purandar, 18 miles s.s.e. of Puna, was held for Bijapur by an old Brahman named Nilo Nilkanth Nayak, whose family had been in hereditary charge of it and its adjacent lands ever since the days of the Ahmadnagar dynasty. Nilo was a stern grasping man who denied his younger brothers, Pilaji and Shankaraji, any share of his power or emolument. They resented this exclusion from their birth-right and appealed to Shivaji to arbitrate between them. He was admitted into the fort at the Feast of Lamps (November) as a guest. On the third day of his stay, the two younger brothers surprised and fettered Nilo and brought him before Shiva, who imprisoned all the three and took possession of the fort for himself! The Nayak's retainers, "all faithless and disorderly men," were expelled and a Mavle garrison was placed there by Shivaji. According to the Chitnis Bakhar and Shivadigvijay, he gave the two younger brothers estates elsewhere as compensation. (Sabh. 9; Chit. 40; Dig. 121-122; T. S. 11b-12a.)

p. 35

Supa, Baramati and Indapur, in the south-eastern corner of the Puna district, had belonged to him from before. And now the occupation of Purandar, Rajgarh, Kondana and Torna secured his territory by a strong chain of hill-forts on the south. Another fort in the same direction was Rohira, gained some time afterwards. North-west of Puna he acquired the forts of Tikona, Lohgarh, and Rajmachi,—the last being on the Sahyadri crest, 6 miles north of the Bhor pass and overlooking the Konkan plain on the west. (Chit. 33-36; Dig. 148, a mere list.) §7. Shivaji enters North Konkan.

pp. 35-36

Next Shivaji crossed the Western Ghats and ventured into Konkan. The northern part of this coast-strip formed the Kalian (modern, Thana) district and was then held by an Arab foreigner named Mulla Ahmad of the Nawaiyat clan, one of the leading nobles of Bijapur. The protracted illness of Muhammad Adil Shah had detained this governor at Bijapur for a long time, and during his absence the defence of his jagir had grown slack and inefficient. (A. N. 576; K. K. ii. 114.) A considerable amount of disaffection and disorder seems to have prevailed among the petty chieftains of the district, which was a recent acquisition from the Nizam-Shahi State and where the authority of the new Government sat loose.

p. 36

A body of Maratha horsemen under Abaji Sondev raided the rich towns of Kalian* and Bhiundy, which were then without walls, and thence they carried off much wealth and costly merchandise. The fort of Mahuli, which had once belonged to Shahji, was next seized. The city of Kalian, with some other parts of the Thana district, thus passed into Shiva's possession, and he got a firm footing in Northern Konkan, which he rapidly improved in the course of the year. His progress southwards into the Kolaba district seems to have been assisted by the petty local chiefs who were eager to throw off Muslim yoke and wrote inviting him to come. (Chit. 34, 35 and 41; Dig. 175; T. S. 13a.)

p. 36

Surgarh (8 miles east), Birwadi (5 miles west), Tala (10 miles south), Ghosalgarh (5 m. s.w.), Bhurap or Sudhagarh, 15 miles east of Roha town, Kangori 12 miles east of Mahad, and above all the impregnable fortress of Rairi (Raigarh) which was to be his future capital, all passed into his hands, and thus the Abyssinians of Janjira lost the eastern half of the Kolaba district to him. At Birwadi and Lingana (5 miles east of Raigarh) he built strong forts.

p. 36

* Shivaji's chivalry to a captive Muhammadan girl, Chit. 34 and 41; T. S. 14a; Dig. 189 (different story.) Chitnis calls the governor of Kalian, Mulla Hayat. Tavernier (ii. 205) tells us that Shiva discovered buried treasure at Kalian; Chit. (31) says at Torna, T. S. (14b) at Pradhangarh (evidently a mistake for Prachandgarh or Torna.)

p. 37

But he does not seem to have occupied Mahad or the country south of that town at this time. Abaji Sondev was created viceroy of the province thus won in North Konkan, which included the eastern parts of the Thana and Kolaba districts. The Maratha forces here met with a great repulse at the hands of the Siddis (about 1648), and Shivaji marked his displeasure with his defeated general Shyamraj Nilkanth Ranjhekar by removing him from the Peshwaship (Chit. 34) and conferring that post on Moro Trimbak Pingle, while a large army under Raghunath Ballal Korde was sent against the Siddis to retrieve the prestige of his arms. The history of Maratha activity in this region will be described in Chapter XI. §8. Adil Shah imprisons Shahji, 1648.

pp. 37-38

Shivaji's annexations had reached this point by the middle of 1648, when his career of conquest was suddenly checked by alarming news from the Karnatak. On 6th August his father was arrested and all his property and contingent attached by the Bijapuri commander-in-chief, Mustafa Khan, then investing Jinji in the South Arcot district. Later historians have misunderstood the cause of this act. The contemporary Persian historian of Bijapur asserts that Shahji was imprisoned for displaying a spirit of insubordination to the commander-in-chief. The earliest Marathi bakhar, that of Sabhasad, is entirely silent about the affair. But Chitnis writing 160 years after the event, ascribes it to the Bijapuri king's anger at Shivaji's usurpations and Shahji's supposed connivance at them.

pp. 38-39

Zahur, son of Zahuri, in his Muhammad-namah (pp. 371-372), written by order of Muhammad Adil Shah, gives the following earliest and most correct account of the incident:—"When the siege of Jinji was protracted and fighting continued long, the cunning Shahji sent an agent to Nawab Mustafa Khan begging leave to go to his own country and give repose to his troops. The Nawab replied that to retire then would be equivalent to disturbing [the work of the siege.] Then Shahji sent to say that grain was very dear in the camp, that the soldiers could not bear the privation and labour any longer, and that he would retire to his own country without waiting for permission [from the commander-in-chief.] The Nawab, being convinced that Shahji meant mischief and would show fight, had him arrested with such extreme cleverness and good arrangement that no part of his property was plundered, but the whole was confiscated to Government."

pp. 38-39

A later but very reliable Persian history of Bijapur, viz., Basatin-i-Salatin (309-311), supplies some additional information:—"Shahji, withdrawing his head from obedience to the Nawab Mustafa Khan, began to oppose him, till at last the Nawab decided to arrest him. One day he made Baji Rao Ghorpade and Jaswant Rao Asad-Khani get their forces ready and sent them very early in the morning to Shahji's camp. Shahji, having passed the preceding night in mirth and revelry, was still sleeping in bed. As soon as the two Raos arrived and he learnt of their purpose, he in utter bewilderment took horse and galloped away from his house alone. Baji Ghorpade gave chase, caught him, and brought him before the Nawab, who threw him into confinement. His contingent of 3,000 cavalry was dispersed, and his camp was thoroughly looted...Adil Shah on hearing of it sent from his Court Afzal Khan to bring Shahji away and an eunuch to attach his property, ...Nov. 1648."

p. 39

Shahji was brought in chains to Bijapur, and according to a late and very doubtful Maratha tradition the door of his cell was slowly walled up, in order to induce him to compel his son to give up his lawless career and come to Bijapur. (Chit. 37-38; Dig. 143-146.)

pp. 39-40

Shivaji was in a terrible dilemma: he could not submit to Bijapur and thereby sacrifice all his gains and hopes of future greatness; nor, on the other hand, could he leave his father in danger of torture and starvation. By diplomacy alone could he rescue his father, and diplomacy pointed to only one path as open to a man in his position. The Mughal Emperor was the hereditary enemy of Adil Shah, and every rebel against Bijapur was sure to gain the Emperor's patronage if he could hold forth the chance of strengthening the imperial cause in the Deccan by the adhesion of his followers. The Mughal Emperor alone was strong enough to intimidate Adil Shah.

pp. 40-41

Shivaji first wrote to Prince Murad Bakhsh,* the Mughal viceroy of the Deccan, entreating him to secure the Emperor's pardon for Shahji's past conduct and protection for him and his sons in future, and offering to come and join the Mughal service on receiving a written assurance of safety (qaul.) To this Murad replied on 14th March 1649, telling him to send first a trusty agent to report his demands. This was evidently done, and Murad after reporting the case to the Emperor and learning his wishes, wrote to Shiva on 14th August asking him to come to Court with his father and kinsmen, that he might be created a 5-hazari, while Shahji would get back the rank he had once held in the Mughal peerage. Still later, on 31st October, Murad wrote directly to Shahji to inform him that Shivaji's appeal for his release had been received, and that as the Prince was soon going back to the imperial Court, he would there report the prayers of Shahji to the Emperor and take his orders. He asked the Maratha chief to send his agent to Court to receive the Emperor's farman and assurance of safety, and on his own behalf presented him with a robe of honour. In this letter Shambhuji and other sons of Shahji are spoken of as sharing his captivity.

p. 40

* Shivaji neither wrote nor sent any envoy to the Emperor at Delhi. All his negotiations about his father were conducted with Murad, as the four original Persian letters of Murad in Parasnis's possession show. Rajwade, viii. 2-3, wrongly represents these letters as coming from Shah Jahan. The Emperor never interfered for the release of Shahji.

p. 41

Shivaji then sent Raghunath Pant [Korde?] as his envoy to the Prince to ask for the deshmukhi of the Junnar and Ahmadnagar parganahs. Murad, on 30th November, 1649, promised to try to secure these rights for him on reaching the Emperor's presence.

p. 41

Whether Shah Jahan really consented to put pressure on Adil Shah to release Shahji is very doubtful. No historian mentions it. Indeed, active Mughal intervention on behalf of Shahji seems to me very improbable. For one thing, Shah Jahan always treated Muhammad Adil Shah with marked courtesy and kindness, while Shahji was bitterly hated at the Mughal Court for the trouble he had given them in 1633-1636. Then, again, the Mughal Emperor had definitely promised in his treaties with Bijapur not to take into his service or extend his protection to any officer of Adil Shah. I, therefore, hold that Malhar Ram Rao, the hereditary secretary (chitnis) and record-keeper of Shivaji's descendants, is right when he ascribes the release of Shahji to the friendly mediation of Sharza Khan and the bail of Randaula Khan, the two leading nobles of Bijapur, and says not a word about any Mughal exertion for his liberation. (Chit. 39; Dig. 147.)

pp. 41-42

Shahji was probably kept in prison till the capture of Jinji (17th Dec. 1649) made the Adil-Shahi position in the Karnatak absolutely secure, so that in the event of his return there he could no longer work any mischief. On his release he seems to have lived for some time in the Tungabhadra region subduing the rebellious chieftains of his jagir in Northern Mysore. Here his eldest son Shambhuji fell in an attack on Kanakgiri, but he himself afterwards carried the fort by assault. (Chit. 23; Dig. 61-62; T. S. 8b.)

p. 42

While Shahji was in prison, or after his release, an attempt was made by the Bijapuri Court to capture Shiva. For this purpose a Maratha named Baji Shyamraje was sent into Konkan with 10,000 men. By way of Wai and Javli, in the northern side of the Satara district, he reached the town of Mahad, hoping to surprise Shivaji there. But Shiva was just then at Chaul, looting the port and setting up his own administration there, and so he returned to Rajgarh without being caught. A detachment from his army fell on Baji Shyamraje and sent him quickly back with heavy loss by the same way that he had come.*

p. 42

* Chitnis, 36. But Shed. Bakhar, 19, says that Randaula Khan of Rahamatpur and Baji Ghorpade of Datvad came against Shiva with 8,000 men and halted at Wai, where they were defeated and put to flight by a concerted attack by Shivaji and Netaji from two sides with 10,000 men. But this source of information is usually unreliable. Parasnis's Mahabaleshwar, 19 (legendary.)

pp. 42-43

As the release of Shahji had been conditional, Shiva kept quiet during the years 1649 to 1655. He seems to have contented himself with consolidating his conquests and organising their administration, instead of giving the Bijapur Government new provocation by fresh annexations. §9. Conquest of Javli, 1655.

p. 43

At the extreme north-western corner of the Satara district lies the village of Javli, which was then the centre of a fairly large principality including nearly the whole of that district. The subdivision of Javli is "throughout hilly and thickly wooded with evergreen trees...The narrow rugged and steep crest of the Sahyadris, rising 4,000 feet or more above sea-level, forms its western wall; and in the valleys the tree growth is luxuriant, forming high forests." (Bom. Gaz. xix, 3.) Within a length of 60 miles as many as 8 passes cross the range, two of them being fit for carts and now transporting a large traffic from the Deccan plateau to Mahad in Kolaba and Chiplun in Ratnagiri. There are, besides, countless gorges and foot-tracks leading from Javli to Konkan.

pp. 43-44

A Maratha family named More had received a grant of the State of Javli from the first Sultan of Bijapur early in the 16th century, and made the claim good by their sword. For eight generations they conquered the petty chieftains around and amassed a vast treasure by plunder. They kept 12,000 infantry, mostly sturdy hillmen of the same class as the Mavles, and succeeded in getting possession of the entire district of Satara and parts of Konkan. The head of the family bore the hereditary title of Chandra Rao, conferred by a Bijapur king in recognition of the founder's personal strength and courage. The younger sons enjoyed appanages in the neighbouring villages. Eighth in descent from the founder was Krishnaji Baji, who succeeded to the lordship of Javli about 1652.*

p. 44

* Parasnis Itih. Sangr. Sfuta lekh, i. 26.

pp. 44-45

The State of Javli, by its situation, barred the path of Shivaji's ambition in the south and south-west. As he frankly said to Raghunath Ballal Korde, "Unless Chandra Rao is killed, the kingdom cannot be secured. None but you can do this deed. I send you to him as envoy." The Brahman entered into the conspiracy, and went to Javli, attended by an escort of 125 picked men, on a pretended proposal of marriage between Shiva and Chandra Rao's daughter. (Sabh. 10, Chit. 41, Dig. 128, Shed. 20-21.) On the first day the envoy made a show of opening marriage negotiations. Finding out that Chandra Rao was fond of drink and usually lived in a careless unguarded manner, Raghunath wrote to his master to come to the neighbourhood in force and be in readiness to take advantage of the murder immediately after it was committed. The second interview with Chandra Rao was held in a private chamber. Raghunath talked for some time on the endless details of a Hindu marriage treaty, and then drew his dagger all of a sudden and stabbed Chandra Rao to death and wounded his brother Surya Rao, who was despatched by a Maratha soldier.

pp. 45-46

The assassins promptly rushed out of the gate, cut their way through the alarmed and confused guards, beat back the small and hurriedly organised band of pursuers and gained a chosen place of hiding in the forest. Shivaji had kept himself ready to follow up his agent's crime; according to later accounts he had arrived at Mahabaleshwar with an army on the plea of a pilgrimage. Immediately on hearing of the murder of the Mores, he arrived and assaulted Javli. The leaderless garrison defended themselves for six hours and were then overcome. Chandra Rao's two sons and entire family were made prisoners. But his kinsman and manager, Hanumant Rao More, rallied the partisans of the house and held a neighbouring village in force, menacing Shivaji's new conquest. Shiva found that "unless he murdered Hanumant, the thorn would not be removed from Javli." (Sabh. 10.) So, he sent a Maratha officer of his household named Shambhuji Kavji with a pretended message to Hanumant Rao, who was then stabbed to death at a private interview, (about Oct. 1655.) The whole kingdom of Javli now passed into Shivaji's possession and he was free to invade South Konkan with ease or extend his dominions southwards into the Kolhapur district.

p. 46

The acquisition of Javli was the result of deliberate murder and organised treachery on the part of Shivaji. His power was then in its infancy, and he could not afford to be scrupulous in the choice of the means of strengthening himself. In exactly similar circumstances, Sher Shah, his historic parallel, used similar treachery in gaining forts in South Bihar as the first step to a throne.

p. 46

The only redeeming feature of this dark episode in his life is that the crime was not aggravated by hypocrisy. All his old Hindu biographers are agreed that it was an act of pre-meditated murder for personal gain and not a pardonable homicide done in self-defence or during the confusion of an unexpected brawl. Even Shivaji never pretended that the murder of the three Mores was prompted by a desire to found a "Hindu swaraj," or to remove from his path a treacherous enemy beyond the chance of reform.

pp. 46-47

This last touch of infamy it has been left to the present generation to add. Some Maratha writers have recently "discovered" what they vaguely call "an old chronicle,"—written nobody knows when or by whom, based nobody knows on what authorities, and transmitted nobody knows how,—which asserts that Chandra Rao had tried to seize Shiva by treachery and hand him over to the vengeance of Bijapur, and that he had at first been pardoned by the latter and had then ungratefully conspired with Baji Ghorpade to imprison Shivaji.*

p. 47

* Parasnis Itih. Sangrah, Sfuta lekh, i. 26-29 and ii. 11. Mahabaleshwar (Eng.), 17-21.

p. 47

Unfortunately for the credibility of such convenient "discoveries," none of the genuine old historians of Shiva could anticipate that this line of defence would be adopted by the twentieth century admirers of the national hero; they have called the murder a murder.

p. 47

The two sons of the murdered Chandra Rao were taken to Puna and there put to death.† But some of the Mores remained at large and sought to be avenged on Shivaji, though in vain. In 1665, when Jai Singh opened a campaign against that Maratha chief, he invited these Mores to join him and carry on their blood-feud with the Bhonslas with greater hope of success.

p. 47

† T. S. 14a; Dig. 132; Chit. 42. Sabh. silent.

pp. 47-48

The annexation of Javli not only opened to Shivaji a door for the conquest of the south and the west, but brought a very important accession to his strength, in the form of many thousands of Mavle infantrymen from among the subjects and former retainers of Chandra Rao. In short, his recruiting ground for these excellent fighters along the Sahyadri range, was now doubled. The Mores had accumulated a vast treasure in eight generations of undisturbed and expanding rule, and the whole of it fell into Shivaji's hands.

pp. 47-48

Two miles west of Javli he built a new fort named Pratapgarh, and here he set up an image of his patron goddess Bhavani, as the more ancient Bhavani of Tuljapur was beyond his reach. On her he lavished his wealth in costly ornaments and trappings and to this shrine he made repeated pilgrimages. (Sabh. 26; Chit. 42; Itih. Sang. Sfuta lekh, ii. 11; Dig. 132.)

p. 48

West of Javli, in the Konkan plain, near the centre of the Ratnagiri district, lay the principality of Shringarpur,* owned by a chieftain named Surve, but virtually ruled by his minister, a Shirke. As Shiva entered the country, the chief fled away and the minister surrendered it and was taken into Shivaji's pay. (Sabh. 11.) Other petty chiefs of the neighbourhood were reduced to submission and their lands annexed. Thus, the eastern half of Ratnagiri became Shiva's, while Rajapur and the ports continued under Bijapur till 1660, and in some cases even later.

p. 48

* A letter written by the English prisoners at Songarh in June 1661 says, "Shivaji hath lately enlarged his country by overcoming the two Rajahs of Dulvice (? Dalve) and the Rajah of Singapur (sic), by which means he commands all the coast from Danda Rajpuri castle to Kharepatan." (Orme MSS. Vol. 155, pp. 1-21.) "Singapur, 7 gav to the northward of Rajapur." (F. R. Surat, 104.)

pp. 48-49

The greatly expanded Maratha kingdom was now organised on a stronger and more elaborate plan: Moro Trimbak Pingle was appointed as Chancellor (Peshwa) vice the incompetent Shyamraj Nilkanth Ranjhekar, Nilo Sondev Accountant-General (majmuadar) vice Balkrishna Pant, and Netaji Palkar as Master of the Horse (sar-i-naubat.) Two new posts, those of Surnis (Superintendent of Correspondence) and Waqnis (News-writer) were created and given to Abaji Sondev and Gangaji Mangaji respectively.* The cavalry now mustered 10,000, out of whom 7,000 were mounted on Government horses and the rest on their own; the Mavle infantry numbered 10,000 and their commander was Yesaji Kank. (Sabh. 11.) The forts, new and old, held by Shivaji at this time were forty. (A. N. 576.)

p. 49

* The reading of the Mahad MS. of Sabh. (11 n) has been accepted here. Chit. 34 (Annaji Datto and not Abaji Sondev as Surnis); Shed. 20. Dig. 186-188 gives a long list in which official appointments of different periods seem to be mixed up.

p. 49

In June 1657 the newly-founded kingdom was blessed with the birth of an heir to the throne, the ill-fated Shambhuji.

pp. 49-50

We may conveniently pause here and take note of the exact size of the infant Maratha kingdom. At the cautious outset of his independent career (1647-48), Shivaji's territory consisted of his father's jagirs and his own early annexations from Bijapur. These together covered the southern half of the Puna district, and their northern boundary was the old Mughal frontier,—a line running diagonally from the north-western to near the south-eastern corner of that district and avoiding the Mughal forts Junnar, Visapur, and Parnir; i.e., for some distance the Ghod river divided the two dominions in the north; Junnar and Chamargunda belonged to the Mughals and Chakan to Shivaji. His southern boundary was marked by the outposts of Indapur, Baramati, and Supa and the forts of Purandar, Rajgarh, Kondana, and Torna. In Konkan or the country west of the Ghats, he had gained Kalian, Mahuli, and some other places in the south-eastern corner of the Thana district and the eastern half of the Kolaba district down to but not including the town of Mahad.

p. 50

The above was his position in 1648. But in 1655 the conquest of Javli extended his dominions in the uplands or Desh to the southern limit of the Satara district, and in Konkan from Mahad to near Rajapur, i.e., over the south-eastern Kolaba and nearly the whole of eastern Ratnagiri districts. Thus he now became master of the whole of Konkan except the ports and adjacent lands on the west coast (which belonged to Bijapur, the Siddis, and the Portuguese) and the extreme north of the Thana and the extreme south of the Ratnagiri districts. APPENDIX I. The Murder of the Mores.

pp. 50-51

The earliest Maratha historian of Shivaji, viz., Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad (1694), writes that Shivaji sent Raghunath Ballal as envoy to Chandra Rao, frankly telling him, "Unless Chandra Rao is killed, the kingdom cannot be secured. None but you can do this deed," (p. 10), and that Raghunath committed the murder on getting a suitable opportunity. This book was written by a courtier of Shivaji, by order of Shivaji's favourite son. He had the best means of knowing the truth and no motive for suppressing it. It is inconceivable that such a writer invented a false charge of murder against Shivaji, unless the latter had been notoriously guilty of the crime.

p. 51

A century later, Malhar Ram Rao, the hereditary secretary of Shivaji's descendants and keeper of their family records, also tells the same story, (p. 41.) What motive could he have had for calumniating the great founder of his master's family as a murderer? The Marathi life of Shivaji preserved in Raigarh castle when it was in Maratha possession, and composed much earlier than Chitnis's history, tells us, "Raghunath treacherously assassinated Hanumant Rao. Shivaji was pleased with Raghunath's conduct," (p. 11.) But as the original of this work has been lost, I attach no importance to it.

pp. 51-52

Against the unanimous testimony of such known and authentic witnesses, Rao Bahadur Parasnis puts the evidence of the so-called Mahabaleshwar Bakhar, which exists in a single anonymous undated MS.,—discovered some 20 years ago among the papers of the modern Rajahs of Satara, while of Sabhasad and Chitnis's bakhars many MSS. have been found and in different parts of the country. The unique MS. of the Mahabaleshwar Bakhar has not been shown to the public even in Maharashtra, nor examined by experts with a view to judging its date and authenticity. A critic, evidently in the confidence of the Rao Bahadur, now writes that the MS. contains a statement that it was written by order of Rajah Shahu. We do not know the authority for this entry, nor whether the colophon was contemporaneous with the body of the MS. or is a modern addition.

p. 52

Now, Shahu overcame his domestic rivals, curbed his Muslim enemies and became firmly seated on his throne after 1725, and he could have had time to think of rectifying his grandfather's reputation only towards the peaceful close of his reign (which ended in 1749.) This bakhar, if written by Shahu's order at all, was written about 1740 or even later,—i.e., more than 80 years after the murder of the Mores. What were its nameless author's means of knowing the truth better than Shivaji's own courtier? Could any written record about the Javli affair, contemporaneous with the event, have survived till 1740 and then disappeared, while the bakhar alleged to have been composed in that year and at the same place has survived? The Mahabaleshwar Bakhar, therefore, even if written in Shahu's time, had no other basis than unreliable oral tradition or deliberate invention. To accept such a work against Sabhasad and Chitnis is to defy the most elementary laws of historic evidence. And even then, the Mahabaleshwar Bakhar never really contradicts Sabhasad; it does not categorically deny that Shiva's envoy murdered Chandra Rao or that Shiva had authorised the deed. It merely accuses Chandra Rao of implacable hostility to Shivaji, but tells us nothing of what actually happened at the fatal interview.

pp. 52-53

And yet on its slender—or rather non-existent—basis, Mr. Kincaid's brilliant imagination builds up the following scene which he presses upon the public ignorant of Marathi as the true and attested story of the Javli affair: "From the recently discovered Mahabaleswar account, it is clear that Shivaji repeatedly strove to win More to his side, that More as often tried treacherously to take Shivaji prisoner, and that he eventually fell in a quarrel between him and Ragho Ballal Atre, while the latter was delivering him an ultimatum. Shivaji was thus clearly innocent of More's death." "What happened [at the interview with More] is obscure. It is probable that Shivaji's envoy charged Balaji [i.e., Chandra Rao More] with double dealing and that the latter complained of Shivaji's invasion [i.e., occupation of Mahabaleshwar in force.] High words were exchanged, swords were drawn and Ragho Ballal Atre and Sambhaji Kavji killed More and his brother... Shivaji had not authorised his envoy's acts." (Kincaid and Parasnis, History of the Maratha People, i. 272, 150-151.)

pp. 53-54

I trust that the astonishing method of appraising evidence and drawing legitimate inferences exhibited by the learned ex-Judge of Satara in the above passage, will not be taken by scholars abroad as typical of the way in which the amateur Judges of the Indian Civil Service deal criminal justice in India. The historian who cares for his reputation has, unfortunately, to place truth above popularity.