pp. 260-261

CHAPTER X. South Konkan and Kanara. § 1. Kanara, its rulers and trade. In the seventeenth century, Kanara, the extensive country along our west coast, was held by various Hindu chieftains. North Kanara (now included in the Bombay Presidency) owned the overlordship of Bijapur, which ruled directly over the coast-strip from Karwar (south of Goa) to Mirjan (14°30' N. Lat.), leaving the inland districts in the hands of feudatory chiefs, among whom the Nayaks of Sunda were the most important. The portion of Kanara that lay south of Mirjan formed a large and independent principality under the Keladi dynasty, whose capital was then at Bednur. A Muslim officer with the hereditary title of Rustam-i-Zaman (originally Randaula Khan) was the viceroy of the south-western corner of the Bijapur kingdom. His charge extended on the west coast from Ratnagiri town, going southwards round the Portuguese territory of Goa to Karwar and Mirjan, while landwards it included the southern part of the Ratnagiri district, Kolhapur, Belgaum, a bit of Dharwar and the western corner of the North Kanara district. His seat was at Miraj. The fort of Panhala lay within his province, but it was governed by a commandant directly under the orders of the Sultan.

p. 261

The viceroy administered by means of his agents the flourishing ports of Rajapur in the north and Karwar in the south, through which the trade of the rich inland places flowed to Europe. In both towns the English had factories. "The best pepper in the world is of the growth of Sunda, known in England by [the name of] Karwar pepper, though five days' journey distant from thence." (Fryer, ii. 42.) Indeed, after the loss of Chaul, Karwar became the greatest port of Bijapur on the west coast. "The finest muslins of western India were exported from here. The weaving country was inland, to the east of the Sahyadris, at Hubli (in the Dharwar district), and at other centres, where the English East India Company had agents and employed as many as 50,000 weavers." (Bom. Gaz., xv., Pt. ii, pp. 123-125.) At Mirjan, a port twenty miles south-east of Karwar, pepper, saltpetre and betel-nut were shipped for Surat. Gersappa, a district annexed by Bednur, was so famous for its pepper that the Portuguese used to call its Rani "the Pepper Queen." (Ibid, 333 and 124.) In 1649 the pepper and cardamom trade of Rajapur was the chief attraction that induced the English Company to open a factory there. Vingurla was spoken of in 1660 as a great place of call for ships from Batavia, Japan and Ceylon on the one side, and the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea on the other.

p. 262

All the ports of the Ratnagiri district did much trade also in calicoes, silks, grain and coarse lac, though pepper was their chief export, "which coming out of Kanara is sent by sea to Persia, Surat and Europe. This country is the storehouse for all its neighbours." (Bom. Gaz., x. 175.) §2. Shivaji's conflict with the English at Rajapur. After the disastrous failure of Afzal Khan, Rustam-i-Zaman had marched against Shivaji (October, 1659) with 3,000 horse, but this show of hostility was made simply to save his credit with his king. The queen-regent, Bari Sahiba, being his enemy, he had made a secret alliance with Shivaji for self-protection. This fact was well-known to the country around, and even the English factors had heard of it. But even if Rustam had been in earnest, he could have done little with his small army.

pp. 262-263

Shivaji had followed up his victory over Afzal's army by pushing on to Panhala and capturing that fort. Then he entered the Ratnagiri district and began to "take possession of all the port and inland towns." The Bijapuri governors of these places fled to Rajapur, which was at first spared, "because it belonged to Rustam-i-Zaman, who is a friend of Shivaji." (Rajapur to Surat, 10th October 1659, F. R. Rajapur.) On the fall of Dabhol, its defeated governor made his escape to Rajapur with three junks of Afzal Khan, of 450, 350 and 300 tons burden respectively.

p. 263

The magistrate of Rajapur, by order of his master Rustam-i-Zaman, received the junks and landed their cargoes. In the meantime Shivaji had encountered and routed near Panhala, the combined armies of Rustam and Fazl Khan (the son of Afzal.) The latter, who bore the brunt of the battle, lost many of his followers, while Rustam, who had made a mere show of fighting, retreated to Hukri with slight loss, (end of January 1660), and there sat still, while the Marathas continued to make their incursions in Adil-Shahi territory. (Rajapur to Bassein, 4 February 1660, F. R. Rajapur.)

pp. 263-264

The news of this battle greatly alarmed Rustam's agent at Rajapur, who tried to escape to the open sea in one of the junks arrived from Dabhol. From this incident sprang the first collision between the English and the Marathas, but its real cause was not any hindrance offered by Shivaji to the legitimate trade of the East India Company or its servants. It was solely due to the greed and crooked dealing of one of the Company's officers, Mr. Henry Revington, the chief of the Rajapur factory. An Indian broker employed by him had lent some money to Rustam-i-Zaman and taken a bill for it, falsely in the Company's name as creditor. When the governor was trying to run away from the town, the broker influenced Mr. Revington to assist him in getting his money back. Mr. Revington sent an English ship, the Diamond, to stop the junk occupied by the governor and make him pay what he was pleased to represent as "monies due to the Company." A part of the amount was immediately paid in goods. But just then Shivaji's horsemen appeared on the bank to seize the junks of Afzal Khan and called upon the English to give up the one in which the governor was. The English declined, and the governor gladly seized this device for escaping capture by the Marathas and urged the English "to take possession of two of these junks and own them." Mr. Revington took one of the vessels over, renamed it the Rajapur Merchant, and placed it under an English captain.

p. 264

In a parley with Doroji, the Maratha general, the English refused to give up the goods in the junk unless he gave them an order on the revenue of the town for the money claimed by them. The largest junk, which had not been taken over by the English, weighed anchor and fell down the creek to beyond the range of the Maratha guns, after firing on Shiva's men on both banks. At this disappointment, the Marathas seized the English brokers, Baghji and Balji, at Jaitapur (at the mouth of the creek, 11 miles west of Rajapur), on the ground that "the English would not take the junk for them, but let her go." (Ibid; also Surat Council to Company, 6 April 1660, F. R. Surat, Vol. 85.)

pp. 264-265

Mr. Philip Gyffard was sent to the Maratha camp to demand the release of the brokers, but they seized him too, and carried away the three prisoners to Kharepatan fort that night, threatening to detain them unless the English captured the junks for the Marathas and delivered to them the goods they had taken on the governor's junk (18th January 1660.)

p. 265

On 13th February, Revington wrote a letter to Shivaji promising him the friendly help of the English in an attack on Danda-Rajpuri, and soliciting an order for the release of the two captives as they had been seized only because the English "would not take the junks lying in Rajapur river and be enemies to those who are our friends." But before this the broker had already appealed to Shivaji and Rustam-i-Zaman, and orders had come from them for the release of the two. Balji was immediately set free, "but Mr. Gyffard was kept by a rogue Brahman in Kharepatan castle, out of lucre and expectation of a bribe." Mr. Revington protested against it to Shiva and Rustam. (Rajapur to Surat, 15 February 1660.) Shivaji condemned the attack on his ally's town of Rajapur, dismissed Doroji, the general responsible for it, "commanded all things that his soldiers took from the townsmen [at Rajapur] to be restored," and put Rustam-i-Zaman's agents again in possession of the town and port. (Ibid, 20 February.)

pp. 265-266

Before any reply could come from Shivaji, Mr. Revington, learning that the Maratha governor of Kharepatan was sending Mr. Gyffard away to Satavli (9 miles north-west of Rajapur) or to Khelna fort, despatched a party of 30 soldiers, who waylaid the Maratha escort in a town 10 miles from Rajapur and rescued Mr. Gyffard by force. (Ibid, 23 February.)

p. 266

The Dutch report states that about this time Shiva with his troops arrived within four days' march of Vingurla, but was driven off by the desai of Kudal (i.e., Savant-vadi), while another Maratha army which had penetrated to near Bijapur was forced to withdraw after being defeated in a bloody battle by the combined Bijapur and Golkonda troops (late March or early April 1660.) (Dutch Records, Trans., Vol. 24, No. 664 and Vol. 23, No. 651.)

pp. 266-267

The second Maratha attack on the English took place at the end of the same year, and here the Englishmen were clearly in the wrong, though the Company's official attitude was correct and neutral. In June 1660, while Siddi Jauhar, acting on behalf of the Bijapur Government, was investing Shivaji in Panhala fort, the former purchased from the English at Rajapur some grenades "which undoubtedly will be the chiefest disturbers of the besieged." Some Englishmen of Rajapur were also bribed to go to the Bijapuri camp outside Panhala and help in the bombardment of the fort, by "tossing balls with a flag that was known to be the English's." Shivaji punished this breach of neutrality in December next, when he surprised Rajapur, plundered the English factory, and carried off four of the factors,—Henry Revington, Richard Taylor, Randolph Taylor, and Philip Gyffard,—as prisoners, first to Waisati, then to Songarh (a fort 3 miles n. w. of Mahad in the Kolaba district), and finally to Raigarh. They were released after more than three years of captivity, about 5th February, 1663, (Orme MSS., Vol. 155, pp. 1-21.)

p. 267

In March 1663, Rustam-i-Zaman did another friendly turn to Shivaji. Netaji Palkar, Shiva's "lieutenant-general," had raided the imperial territory, but a large Mughal division of 7,000 cavalry pursued him so close as to force him to march 45 or 50 miles a day. Rustam met this army near Bijapur and persuaded the Mughal commander to give up the chase as "that country was dangerous for any strange army to march in, likewise promising them to go himself and follow him, by which deceit Netaji got escaped, though not without the loss of 300 horse and himself wounded." (Gyffard to Surat, 30th March and 8th April 1663, F. R. Surat 103.) This reverse defeated Shivaji's plan of raiding North Kanara and penetrating to the rich port of Karwar. (F. R. Surat, Vol. 2, 9th October.)

pp. 267-268

On 1st March 1663, Ali Adil Shah II., with all his Court, left his capital for Bankapur. There they were at first denied entrance by the mother of Abdur Rahim Bahlol Khan, in whose fief it lay. But the gates were soon opened to the king. Adil Shah summoned Bahlol Khan, Shahji and other officers from the Karnatak, who came by forced marches and waited on the king on the bank of the Warda (an affluent of the Tungabhadra.) Bahlol and Shahji were at once arrested and placed in chains (end of June 1663), but Shahji was released in two days, though he continued to be deprived of his command for some time. The Bijapuri invasion of Kanara had already begun. (F. R. Surat 103, Gyffard to Surat, 8th April and 20th July 1663.) [Footnote, on his going to Bankapur:] F. R. Surat, Vol. 103, Gyffard to Surat, 20th July 1663. A letter from him to Surat, 30th March, says that the Adil-Shahi Court went there in fear of the Mughals who had come within five leagues of Bijapur in pursuit of Netaji. But Tarikh-i-Ali II., 160-164 (also B.S. 366) says that Ali went to Bankapur to direct the operations against the Rajah of Bednur in person.

pp. 268-269

§3. Maratha conquest of South Konkan, 1663. Shivappa Nayak, who governed Bednur for forty-five years (1618-1663), first as regent and then as king, had extended his kingdom on all sides by his conquests and stretched his sway over the whole of South Kanara, the north-western corner of Mysore, and North Kanara up to the Gangavati river, including the fort of Mirjan. At the close of his life his ambition brought him into collision with Bijapur. [Footnote, on Shivappa Nayak:] In the Persian histories of Bijapur he is called Bhadrappa, from Bhadraiya, the original name of the founder of the dynasty. He is there styled the Rajah of Malnad, which is a Kanarese word meaning "hill country." (Mysore Gazetteer, ii. 286.) The Bombay Gazetteer xv, Part ii, p. 122, places his death in 1670. But the English factory records prove that he died at the close of 1663. (Surat, Vol. 104, Karwar to Surat, 18th April 1664.)

p. 269

He had conquered Sunda and some other forts belonging to vassals of Adil Shah and had thus come dangerously close to Bankapur, the fortress of asylum of the Bijapuri Sultans in the south-western corner of their kingdom. (Bom. Gaz., xv, Pt. ii, pp. 122-123.) Ali Adil Shah's campaign against the Bednur Rajah was short but vigorous and an unbroken success. Shivappa Nayak could make no stand against the combined resources of the entire Bijapur kingdom; he lost Sunda, Bednur and many other forts, and was forced to make peace by restoring Sunda to its former chief and promising an indemnity of 7 lakhs of hun to Adil Shah. On 21st November the victorious Ali II. returned to his capital. (B.S. 368-370; F. R. Surat 103, Karwar to Surat, 28th January and 27th February, also Gyffard to Surat, 20th July 1663.) We now turn to the activities of Shivaji in this region. While Ali was engaged in the struggle with Bednur, Shivaji had been active in South Konkan and in the north-western part of the Kanara district. By way of Kolhapur and Kudal, he marched to Vingurla (May 1663); "all the way, as he goes along, he gives his qaul (assurance), promising them that neither he nor his soldiers shall in the least do any wrong to anybody that takes his qaul, which promise he hitherto hath kept." (F. R. Surat, Vol. 103, Gyffard to Surat, 24th May, 1663.)

pp. 269-270

His going down the coast caused such alarm that "all the Muhammadan governors as far as Singclay and Dutchole were fled," and in consequence the petty robbers on the route became more active than usual. In June Shivaji returned from Vingurla after leaving a garrison of 2,000 soldiers there. Shortly before this Shaista Khan had defeated a Maratha army, killing more than 200 men. (Ibid, Gyffard to Surat, 24th May and 22nd June 1663.)

p. 270

In July the Bijapur Government ordered the governor of Ponda to join forces with the Savant of Vadi and other petty Rajahs and try to drive Shivaji's men out of Rajapur and Kharepatan. But nothing was done, as "there was juggling between them, and he remained possessed of all." (Ibid, 20th July 1663, Vol. 86, Surat to Co., 20th November 1663.) In punishment of Rustam-i-Zaman's secret friendship with Shiva, the Sultan dismissed him from his viceroyalty and gave the province to Muhammad Ikhlas Khan, the eldest son of the late Khan-i-Khanan Ikhlas Khan and a brother of Khawas Khan, while Dabhol and Chiplun were given to Fazl Khan. Shivaji got possession of Rajapur at this time and kept it permanently in his own hands. (Ibid.) Rustam's agent at Karwar fleeced the English factors there so severely that in July 1663 they were ordered by the Council at Surat to remove themselves and the Company's goods quietly to Hubli.

pp. 270-271

Adil Shah and Rustam-i-Zaman alike were sensible of the loss of revenue caused by such molestation of traders, and therefore the king sent them a farman promising that they would be left in peace at Karwar and would have to pay no other duties than they had formerly done. Then the factory was re-established at Karwar. (F. R. Surat, Vol. 2, Consult., 14th August 1663.)

p. 271

§4. Shivaji in Kanara, 1664. In 1664 the war with Bednur was renewed. Shivappa Nayak, evidently an old man, died soon after his defeat by the Bijapuris in 1663. His son and successor, Soma Shekhar, was murdered by his Brahmans, and an infant grandson named Basava was set up on the throne under the regency of his mother Chennammaji and her favourite Timmaya Nayak, a toddy-seller, who "by his cunning policy raised himself to be general and protector" of the realm. At this revolution Ali Adil Shah II. was so incensed that he sent his generals, Bahlol Khan and Sayyid Iliyas Sharza Khan, to invade Bednur from two sides (April 1664.) (F. R. Surat 104, Karwar to Surat, 18th April 1664. Fryer, i. 41-42.)

pp. 271-272

By this time Rustam-i-Zaman seems to have returned to favour at Court. Muhammad Ikhlas Khan was transferred from the Government of Karwar and his friends from that of Ankola, Shiveshwar (or Halekot), Kadra and other places in North Kanara and these tracts were given to three of Rustam's sons. In August Rustam himself was ordered to go to that region with two other Bijapuri generals and try to expel Shivaji. He reached Kudal at the end of August, but did nothing. (F. R. Surat, 104, Karwar 23rd July and Hubli 28th August, 1664.)

pp. 272-274

Any serious attack by Adil Shah on Shivaji was now rendered impossible as the Sultan's attention was diverted to Bednur, whither he wanted to march in person with 12,000 horse after the Dewali festival (October) and co-operate with Sharza Khan in crushing the Kanara Rajah. Throughout the second half of 1664 the coast region was in an unhappy condition. As the English merchants write, "Deccan and all the south coasts are all embroiled in civil wars, king against king and country against country, and Shivaji reigns victoriously and uncontrolled, that he is a terror to all the kings and princes round about, daily increasing in strength. He hath now fitted up four more vessels and sent them down to Bhatkal and thereabouts, whilst he intends to meet them overland with a flying army of horse. The news of him at present are that he is intercepted in his journey down to his fleet by a party of this king's army and fought, where between them six thousand men were slain, himself worsted and forced to fly to a castle [not named] where this army following in pursuit hath very strictly girt him in that he cannot stir." (F. R. Surat, Vol. 86, Surat to Co., 26th November 1664.) And again (on 12th March 1665), "The subjects [of Adil Shah] unanimously cry out against him for suffering Shivaji to forage to and fro, burning and robbing his country without any opposition, wherefore it is certainly concluded by all that he shares with the said rebel in all his rapines, so that the whole country is in a confused condition, merchants flying from one place to another to preserve themselves, so that all trade is lost...The rebel Shivaji hath committed many notorious and great robberies since that of Surat, and hath possessed himself of the most considerable ports belonging to Deccan [i.e., Bijapur] to the number of eight or nine, from whence he sets out two or three or more trading vessels yearly from every port to Persia, Basra, Mocha, etc." [Footnote, attached at "worsted":] It is evidently this battle that is referred to in the Basatin-i-Salatin, 373-375: "Aurangzib sent an envoy to Adil Shah to beg his co-operation with Jai Singh in the war with Shiva. Before Jai Singh arrived, Adil Shah sent an army under Khawas Khan. Shiva hearing of it began to close the mountain passes (ghats), but Khawas, by making rapid marches, crossed the ghat in safety and descended [into Konkan?]. While the negligent Khawas Khan did not even know of Shiva's position, the latter with his full force surprised him and completely hemmed him round in an intricate hilly place, where the Bijapuri army had not space enough to move about or even to marshal the ranks. Khawas called his officers together and heartened them in the midst of their despair. The Marathas opened fire; the Bijapuris advanced to close quarters and fought a severe battle, losing Siddi Sarwar (the Abyssinian general), Shah Hazrat, Shaikh Miran and some other officers. The defeat of the Muslims seemed imminent, when Khawas Khan charged sword in hand; his troops followed him fearlessly in one body, and Shivaji was defeated and put to flight."

p. 274

Early in December 1664 Shivaji looted Hubli and many other rich towns of that region, holding several eminent merchants prisoners for ransom. He had sent only three hundred horsemen to Hubli, but these did their work so thoroughly that the town "was little better than spoiled." The merchants who had fled at the attack were too frightened to return there soon, even after the departure of the Marathas. The raiders were said to have been assisted by some of Rustam's soldiers; that noble, as the English remarked, had "begun to taste the sweetness of plunder [so] that in a short time he would get a habit of it." Soon afterwards, Shivaji plundered Vingurla, an important sea-port and trade centre, from which he carried away vast riches. "Shiva and his scouts range all over the country, making havoc wherever he comes, with fire and sword." (F. R. Surat 104, Karwar to Surat, 6th January 1665, Taylor to Surat, 14th December 1664; Vol. 86, Surat to Karwar, 23rd March, Surat to Co., 2nd January 1665.)

pp. 274-275

§5. Loot of Basrur and blackmail from Karwar, 1665. At the beginning of February 1665 Shivaji left Malvan with a fleet of 85 frigates and three large ships, sailed past Goa to Basrur, which he plundered, and landed at the holy city of Gokarna, on the coast, 22 miles south of Karwar, to take part in the holy bath festival before the great temple of Mahabaleshwar on Shivaratri day (5th February.) [Footnote, on Basrur:] Basrur is four miles east of Coondapur in the South Kanara District, also known as Barcelore. "The principal port of the Bednore Rajahs," S. Canara Gazetteer, ii. 242. The Marathi bakhars spell the name as Basnur or Hasnur.

pp. 275-276

He next marched to Ankola (nine miles northwards) with 4,000 infantry, sending all his fleet back, with the exception of twelve frigates, which he detained for transporting his army over the rivers on his way back to North Konkan. On the 22nd he came to Karwar. The English factors, having got early news of his coming from the spies they had sent out, put all the Company's ready money and portable goods on board a small hundred-ton ship belonging to the Imam of Maskat, then lying in the river, its captain Emanuel Donnavado promising to defend it as long as he lived or his vessel kept floating. The factors themselves took refuge in the ship. Sher Khan, a son of the late Khan-i-Khanan Ikhlas Khan and a subordinate of Bahlol Khan, arrived in the town that very night, without knowing anything about Shivaji's approach. With the help of his escort of 500 men he quickly fortified himself as well as he could to protect the goods he had brought down, and sent a messenger to Shiva in the night, warning him not to enter the town as he would resist him to the utmost. Sher Khan was famous throughout the country for his valour and ruling capacity, and his chief, Bahlol Khan, was "one of the potentest men in the kingdom of Bijapur." Shivaji, therefore, shrank from provoking him, and after much discussion "condescended to go a little out of the way, and so came and encamped with his army at the mouth of the river" Kalanadi, sparing the town. [Footnote, on Sher Khan:] The cause of his coming to Karwar was to charter a ship of Rustam-i-Zaman's to convey Bahlol Khan's mother to Mecca.

pp. 276-277

From this place he sent an envoy to Sher Khan, asking him either to deliver the English merchants up to him or, retiring himself, permit him to revenge himself on them, "whom he styled his inveterate enemies." Sher Khan sent this news to the English and desired to know their final answer, which was that they had nothing on board except powder and bullets which Shivaji might come and fetch if he thought they would serve him instead of gold. "This our answer being sent to Shivaji did so exasperate him that he said he would have us before he departed, which the governor of the town hearing, they persuaded all the merchants to agree to send him [Shivaji] a present lest he should recall his fleet, which lay on this side of Salsette." (F. R. Surat, Vol. 104, Karwar to Surat, 14th March, 1665.) To this blackmail the English contributed £112, so as not to endanger the Company's property in Karwar, worth 8,000 hun. "With this Shivaji departed on 23rd February, very unwillingly, saying that Sher Khan had spoiled his hunting at the Holt, which is a time he generally attempts some such design." [Footnote:] Shivaji's loot of Basrur and visit to Karwar: F. R. Surat, Vol. 104, Karwar to Surat, 28th January and 14th March 1665. Sabh. 70-71; Chit. 69-70.

p. 277

Thence the disappointed Maratha chief returned to Vingurla (early in March.) But soon afterwards Jai Singh's siege of Purandar and vigorous invasion of the neighbouring country called away Shivaji to the defence of his home, and Kanara enjoyed peace for some time. §6. Bijapuris recover and lose S. Konkan, 1665. By the treaty of Purandar (13th June 1665) the Mughals left Shivaji free to annex Adil-Shahi Konkan. The affairs of Bijapur also fell into confusion at this time. Bahlol Khan died (June or July.) He had come to Bijapur from the Karnatak war at the king's call, but died of illness only eight days after his arrival. The Sultan being jealous of his large force, 10,000 brave Afghans, tried to sow dissension between his two sons and nephew. Sher Khan, a brave, able and upright man, kept them at peace. But he was soon afterwards poisoned, it was suspected, by Adil Shah, and immediately bitter quarrels broke out between the two sons of Bahlol Khan, which the Sultan fanned and utilized to seize some of their jagirs. The affairs of the royal drunkard at Bijapur passed from bad to worse. (F. R. Ibid, Karwar to Surat, 29th August 1665.)

pp. 277-278

The Bijapuri governor of Hubli fell into disfavour at Court and the governor of Mirjan rebelled. Muhammad Khan attacked that fort (August 1665.) He had recovered Dabhol and many other places in South Konkan from the Marathas, while the latter were busy fighting Jai Singh. But by November next Shivaji, now an ally of the Mughals, had reconquered all that country after slaying 2,000 soldiers of Muhammad Ikhlas, including several men of note. The Khan fell back on Kudal and waited for Sharza Khan to reinforce him. But no such aid came, as Jai Singh began his invasion of Bijapur that very month and Ikhlas Khan had to hasten from Kudal to the defence of the capital. But Vingurla and Kudal continued in Bijapuri hands, while Shivaji held Rajapur and Kharepatan (or Gharapur?) The country about Karwar was at this time subjected to constant pillage by the soldiers of Shivaji's garrison there, who used to leave their forts and roam about in a band of 200 men up and down the country, plundering the small towns. Murtaza Beg, who had lost his fort, also took to plunder with his retainers. (Ibid, 29th August, 21st September and 29th November 1665 and 15th January 1666.)

pp. 278-280

§7. Shivaji and Rustam, 1666. In the course of Jai Singh's war with Bijapur, Shivaji had been detached against Panhala. His assault on that fort (16th January 1666) failed and then he went off to Khelna. From this place he sent 2,000 men under a Muhammadan officer to besiege Ponda. The garrison resisted for two months (February and March) killing 500 Marathas, and finally agreed to surrender in six hours. In the meantime, the Bijapuri Government had sent 5,000 horse and 1,000 foot under Siddi Masaud, Abdul Aziz (the son of Siddi Jauhar) and Rustam-i-Zaman to the Panhala region. They formed a plan for surprising Shivaji, who lay on the top of the hill overlooking Konkan. When their Van, under Rustam, approached, he beat his drums and sounded his trumpets and thus gave his friend Shivaji timely warning to escape. But Masaud chased the Marathas with 600 chosen cavalry and cut off 200 of the enemy. On the way back he intercepted Shivaji's friendly letters to Rustam, which he immediately sent to Bijapur. At this Adil Shah wrote to Rustam that though he reluctantly pardoned this act of disloyalty, he would dismiss him unless he raised the siege of Ponda. Rustam then wrote to his agent Muhammad Khan to save Ponda by all means. This was effected by a stratagem. Muhammad Khan could get together only a small force, with which he went and sat down in a town of his master's about three miles from Ponda, and sent word to the general of Shivaji that he had only come to look after his own country. The general suspected no stratagem, as his master and Rustam were friends. He went with his Muslim soldiery to a hill a mile off in order to say his prayers in public. Muhammad Khan seized this opportunity; he surprised and routed the soldiers left in the siege-camp, and after a long and well contested fight defeated the rest of the Maratha army who had hurried back from the hill. Thus the siege of Ponda was raised after the poor men in it had been driven to eat leaves for the last three days. "This business, it is generally thought, hath quite broken the long continued friendship between Rustam-i-Zaman and Shivaji. Rustam hath taken now Ponda, Kudal, Banda, Suncle and Duchole, five towns of note, from Shivaji." [Footnote, on the first siege of Ponda:] F. R. Surat 104, "Deccan News," following a letter from Karwar, dated 24th April 1666. Ponda, 10 m. s. e. of Goa city, was the westernmost frontier-fortress of Bijapur nearest to Goa, and a menace to the latter. The Portuguese, after some previous failures, annexed it in the 18th century. It is quite different from Phonda, in the Ratnagiri district, 33 m. n. of Savant-vadi,—though the two places are spelt alike in the vernacular. [Footnote, on the towns taken from Shivaji:] Kudal and Banda are well-known towns, 12 m. n. w. and 7 m. s. of Savant-vadi town. Suncle or Singclay is Sankulli, 8 m. e. of Goa, and Duchole is a mistake for Bicholim, 7 m. n. e. of Goa town. The last two are now in Portuguese territory, (Ind. At., 41 N. W. and S. W.)

pp. 280-281

§8. Plot to seize Goa, 1668. Soon afterwards, at the end of March 1666, Shivaji went to the Mughal Court. For the next four years he gave no trouble to Bijapuri Konkan or Kanara, his opponents during this interval being the Portuguese and the Siddis. The English merchants of Karwar repeatedly speak of Shiva in 1668 and 1669 as being "very quiet" and "keeping still at Rajgarh," and of his credit as decreasing during these years of inactivity, while the "country all about was in great tranquillity." (F. R. Surat, 105.)

pp. 281-282

Late in October 1668 Shivaji made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the territory of Goa by stratagem. He smuggled into the towns of this State 400 to 500 of his soldiers in small parties at different times and under various disguises, hoping that when their number was doubled they would suddenly rise one night, seize one of the passes, and admit him before the Portuguese could raise a sufficiently large army for their defence. But either the plot leaked out, or the Portuguese Viceroy's suspicion was roused. He made a narrow search in all his towns, arrested the 400 or 500 men of Shivaji at various places, and evidently extorted the truth from them. Then he sent for Shivaji's ambassador, with his own hand gave him two or three cuffs in the ear, and turned him and the Maratha prisoners out of his territory. On hearing of it Shivaji assembled an army of 10,000 foot and 1,000 horse, threatening to lead them against Goa in person. From the north of Rajapur he marched to Vingurla, inspected all his forts in that quarter, "changing their men and putting in (fresh) provisions and ammunition," and then in December returned to Rajgarh as he found "the Portuguese well prepared to give him a hot reception." (Gyffard to Surat, 12th November and 16th December, 1668. F. R. Surat 105.)

pp. 282-283

At the beginning of 1670 came his rupture with the Mughals, which kept him busy in other quarters and prolonged the peace in Kanara till the close of 1672, when, taking advantage of the death of Ali II., he renewed his depredations in Bijapur territory. Meantime, in September 1671, Rustam-i-Zaman had broken out in rebellion against his master. He had at last been deprived of his viceroyalty and jagir for his treacherous intimacy with Shiva, the crowning act of which was the surrender of one of the king's forts to the Marathas. And now he took up arms in the hope of intimidating the Government to reinstate him. With the underhand help of Shivaji, he occupied Bijapuri territory, yielding three lakhs of hun a year, and plundered and burnt Raibagh, completing the ruin of that port, previously sacked by the Marathas. But within a month the royal troops crushed the rebellion,—the forts of Mirjan and Ankola alone holding out for several months more. By the middle of 1672 Muzaffar Khan, the new Adil-Shahi viceroy of the Kanara coast, had made peace with the rebel chiefs (Nayakwaris) of Shiveshwar and Kadra. [Footnote:] F. R. Surat 106, Karwar to Surat. 20th September, 31st October 1671, 26th June 1672.

pp. 282-283

§9. Shivaji's failure in Bijapuri Kanara, 1673. The death of Ali Adil Shah II. (on 24th November 1672) was followed by the rebellion of the Rajahs of Sunda and Bednur, who invaded the Bijapur territory across their frontiers. An army under Muzaffar Khan chastised them (February, 1673) and wrested Sunda from its Rajah. (F. R. Surat, 106, Karwar to Co., 17th February 1673.)

pp. 283-284

This rebellion had been hardly suppressed when the Marathas made their second incursion into the upland of Bijapuri Kanara, sacking many forts and rich cities in that region. Their general Pratap Rao raided Hubli, the most important inland mart of the province, causing a loss of 7,894 hun to the English Company alone, besides the private property of the factors (May 1673.) The Company's house was the first they entered and dug up, carrying away all the broad-cloth in it to their general who sat in the bazar. Muzaffar Khan, however, promptly came to the scene with 5,000 cavalry and saved the town from total destruction. The Marathas fled precipitately with what booty they had already packed up, "leaving several goods out in the streets which they had not time to carry away." When the English at Surat complained to Shiva about the outrage, he denied that it was done by his soldiers. [Footnote, on the commercial importance of Hubli:] The commercial importance of Hubli can be judged from the following remarks of the English merchants:—"Hubli, the mart of our Karwar factory, where we sell and buy most of the goods that port affords us." (F. R. Surat 87, 1st November 1673.) "Hubli, a great inroad [=inland] town and a mart of very considerable trade." (O. C. 3779.) Maratha invasion of Kanara in 1673: F. R. Surat 3, Consult. 24th May, 10th and 19th July, Vol. 87, Surat to Persia, 1st November. O. C. 3779 and 3800. Sabhasad, 70, has only eight lines for the events of 1673-75; Chit., 70 (nine lines only; vague, may refer to 1673 or 1675.)

p. 284

At Hubli, Muzaffar missed the Maratha raiders by just one day. He was probably suspected of having entered into a secret understanding with them, like Rustam-i-Zaman, for immediately afterwards all the nobles under his command and most of his own soldiers, forsook him and the Bijapur Government removed him from his viceroyalty. This drove him into rebellion and he tried force to retain possession of his fiefs. The great fort of Belgaum remained in his hands and also many strong places between Goa and Kanara (June, 1673.) Adil Shah sent a large army to reduce Belgaum in case Muzaffar declined the compromise offered to him. In June Bahlol Khan with a large Bijapuri army held Kolhapur and defeated the Marathas in several encounters, forcing all their roving bands to leave the Karwar country. He also talked of invading South Konkan and recovering Rajapur and other towns next autumn. In August he is still spoken of as "pressing hard upon Shivaji, who supplicates for peace, being fearful of his own condition." But soon afterwards Bahlol Khan, his irreconcilable enemy, fell ill at Miraj and Shivaji's help was solicited by the Bijapur and Golkonda Governments to defend them from a threatened Mughal invasion under Bahadur Khan (September.)

pp. 284-285

Shivaji's gains during this year included the strong forts of Panhala (5th March) and Satara (early September.) [Footnote:] O. C. 3800 and 3832; F. R. Surat 106, Bombay to Surat, 16th and 29th September 1673; B. S. 399.

p. 285

At the end of September we find Shivaji at the head of a great army raised for "some notable attempt against the Mughal." He also sewed 20,000 sacks of cotton for conveying the plunder he expected to seize! But on the dasahara day (early October), an auspicious time with the Hindus for setting out on campaigns, he sallied forth on a long expedition into Bijapuri territory, with 25,000 men, robbed many rich towns, and then penetrated into Kanara, "to get more plunder in those rich towns to bear the expenses of his army." Early in December he reached Kadra (20 miles north-east of Karwar) with a division of 4,000 foot and 2,000 horse, and stayed there for four days. The bulk of his forces occupied a hill near Hubli. But two severe defeats at the hands of Bahlol and Sharza Khan at Bankapur and Chandgarh (a fort midway between the Belgaum and Savant-vadi towns) respectively forced him to evacuate Kanara quickly. (F. R. Surat 106, Bombay to Surat, 29th September and 10th October, Vol. 88, Karwar to Surat, 17th December 1673. O. C. 3910; Fryer, ii.; Dutch Rec, Vol. 31, No. 805.)

pp. 285-286

§10. Internal troubles in Kanara, 1674. Though Kanara had been freed from the Marathas, that province enjoyed no peace. Mian Sahib, the faujdar of Karwar, (instigated, it was said, by Shiva), rebelled and Adil Shah had to conduct a long war before he could be suppressed.

p. 286

The two sides continued to have skirmishes with varying success. In February 1674 the royal troops captured Sunda, with the rebel's wife in it, but he held out obstinately in his other forts. By 22nd April this "long and tedious rebellion" was at last ended by the arrival of Abu Khan, Rustam-i-Zaman II., as the new viceroy. Mian Sahib's followers deserted him for lack of pay; his forts (Kadra, Karwar, Ankola and Shiveshwar) all surrendered without a blow, and he himself made peace on condition of his wife being released. Shivaji was then only a day's march from Karwar, "going to build a castle upon a very high hill, from which he may very much annoy these parts." (F. R. Surat 88, Karwar to Surat, 14th February and 22nd April 1674. Orme, Frag., 35.) Unlike his father, the new Rustam-i-Zaman did not cultivate friendship with the Marathas. In August 1674 he seized a rich merchant, subject of Shiva, living at Narsa (16 miles from Ponda) and the Maratha king prepared for retaliation. In October Rustam was summoned by Khawas Khan, the new wazir, to Bijapur; and, as he feared that his post would be given to another, he extorted forced loans from all the rich men of Karwar and its neighbourhood that he could lay hands on, before he went away. (F. R. Surat 88, Karwar to Surat, 2nd September and 27th October, 1674.)

pp. 286-287

In the beginning of September, "in Kudal about four hours [journey] from here [=Vingurla], one of Shivaji's generals called Annaji came with 3,000 soldiers to surprise the fortress Ponda, but Mamet Khan who was there armed himself, so that the aforesaid pandit accomplished nothing." (Dutch Rec, Vol. 34, No. 841.)

p. 287

At Bijapur everything was in confusion, "the great Khans were at difference." The worthless wazir Khawas Khan was driven to hard straits by the Afghan faction in the State. Rustam-i-Zaman II. after his visit to the capital evidently lost his viceroyalty.

pp. 287-288

This was Shivaji's opportunity and he now conquered Kanara for good. First, he befooled the Mughal viceroy Bahadur Khan by sending him a pretended offer of peace, asking for the pardon of the Mughal Government through the Khan's mediation and promising to cede the imperial forts he had recently conquered as well as the twenty-three forts of his own that he had once before yielded in Jai Singh's time. By these insincere negotiations Shivaji for the time being averted the risk of a Mughal attack on his territory and began his invasion of Bijapuri Kanara with composure of mind. [Footnote:] Invasion of Kanara and capture of Ponda (1675), F. R. Surat 88, Karwar to Surat, 14th and 22nd April, 8th and 25th May; Rajapur to Surat, 1st and 20th April; 3rd, 21st and 31st May; 3rd and 14th June; B.S. 401; Orme Frag., 38, 40. Sabh. 70 (scanty.) Delusive peace offer to Mughals, B.S. 401; O. C. 4077.

pp. 288-289

§11. Capture of Ponda and annexation of Kanara coast, 1675. In March 1675 he got together an army of 15,000 cavalry, 14,000 infantry and 10,000 pioneers with pickaxes, crow-bars and hatchets, etc. Arriving at Rajapur (22nd March), he spent three days there, ordering forty small ships to go to Vingurla with all speed and there wait for fresh commands. Next he marched to his town of Kudal, and early in April laid siege to Ponda, the most important Bijapuri fort near Goa. While he was prosecuting the siege, another division of his army plundered Atgiri in Adil-Shahi territory and two other large cities near Haidarabad, carrying away "a great deal of riches, besides many rich persons held to ransom." He began the siege of Ponda on 9th April 1675 with 2,000 horse and 7,000 foot, and made arrangements for sitting down before the fort even during the coming rainy season in order to starve the garrison into surrender. Muhammad Khan had only four months' provisions within the walls; there was no hope of relief from Bijapur or even from the Portuguese who now trembled for the safety of Goa and appeased Shivaji by promising neutrality. Rustam-i-Zaman had too little money or men to attempt the raising of the siege. But Muhammad Khan made a heroic defence, unaided and against overwhelming odds. Shivaji ran four mines under the walls, but they were all countermined, with a heavy loss of men to him.

p. 289

He then threw up an earthen wall only 12 feet from the fort and his soldiers lay sheltered behind it. The Portuguese, fearing that if Shiva took Ponda their own Goa would be as good as lost, secretly sent ten boat-loads of provisions and some men in aid of the besieged (middle of April); but they were intercepted by Shivaji, and the Viceroy of Goa disavowed the act. The siege was pressed with vigour. By the beginning of May Shivaji had taken possession of two outworks, filled the ditch, and made 500 ladders and 500 gold bracelets, each bracelet weighing half a seer, for presentation to the forlorn hope who would attempt the escalade. Bahlol Khan, who was at Miraj with 15,000 troops, wanted to come down and relieve Ponda, but Shiva had barred the passages with trees cut down and lined the stockades with his men, and Bahlol, being certain of heavy loss and even an utter repulse if he tried to force them, returned to his base. His inactivity during the siege was imputed to bribery by Shiva. At length the fort fell about the 6th of May. All who were found in it were put to the sword, with the exception of Muhammad Khan, who saved his own life and those of four or five others by promising to put into Shiva's hands all the adjoining parts belonging to Bijapur. In fear of death the Khan wrote to the qiladars of these forts to yield them to the Marathas, but they at first declined. So the Khan was kept in chains.

pp. 289-290

Inayet Khan, the faujdar of Ankola, seized the country and forts lately held by Muhammad Khan and placed his own men in them, but he could make no stand against Shivaji whose forces were now set free by the fall of Ponda. He therefore compounded and gave up the forts for money. In a few days Ankola, Shiveshwar (which had been besieged by 3,000 Maratha horse and some foot-soldiers since 24th April), Karwar, and Kadra (which alone had made a short stand), all capitulated to Shivaji, and by the 25th of May the country as far south as the Gangavati river had passed out of Bijapuri possession into his hands.

p. 290

§12. Marathas in Kanara uplands. On 26th April, 1675, one of Shiva's generals had visited Karwar and "burnt the town effectually, leaving not a house standing," in punishment of the fort of Karwar still holding out. The English factory was not molested. This general, however, went back in a few days. But next month, after the fall of Ponda, the fort of Karwar surrendered to the Marathas. The rainy season now put an end to the campaign. Bahlol Khan went back to Bijapur, leaving his army at Miraj. Shiva at first thought of cantoning for the rains in a fort on the frontier of Sunda, but soon changed his mind and returned to Raigarh, passing Rajapur on 11th June.

pp. 290-291

A Maratha force was detached into the Sunda Rajah's country at the end of May. "They finding no great opposition seized upon Supa and Whurwa (?) belonging to the Rajah." But Khizr Khan Pani and the desais in concert attacked the Maratha garrisons there, killed 300 of the men and recovered both the places. A party of Marathas that was posted at Burbulle [Varhulli, 7 miles south of Ankola] to take custom duty on all goods passing that way, was now forced to withdraw (August 1675.) (F. R. Surat 88, Rajapur to Surat, 27th August 1675.)

p. 291

The dowager Rani of Bednur had quarrelled with her colleague Timmaya, but had been compelled to make peace with him (August), she being a mere cypher, while he held the real power of the State. The Rani then appealed to Shivaji for protection, agreed to pay him an annual tribute, and admitted a Maratha resident at her Court. (Ibid, and Chit. 70.)

pp. 291-292

The dalvi, or lieutenant of the desai who had been the local Bijapuri governor of North Kanara, had aided Shivaji in the conquest of that district. But now (1675), disgusted with him, the dalvi was moving about the country with a force, saying that he would restore his former master. He attacked Shivaji's guards in Karwar town and forced them to retire to the castle. The people were in extreme misery in Shivaji's new conquests: he squeezed the desais, who in their turn squeezed the ryots. (Bom. Gaz. xv. Pt. i, 128.) But Bijapur was now in the grip of a civil war, the Adil-Shahi State was hastening to a dissolution, and Shivaji's possession of South Konkan and North Kanara remained unchallenged till after his death. But Bednur did not really become a Maratha protectorate. We learn from an English letter of 29th July, 1679, that the Rajah of Sunda and the Rani of Bednur had sharp wars, "but the former by the assistance of Jamshid Khan has had the advantage of compelling the Rani, on conclusion of the peace, to deliver up to him his castles of Sirsy and Sera, formerly possessed by them, as likewise the port and castle of Mirgy [=Mirjan], a little to the southward of Karwar." (Orme MSS. 116.)