प्रस्तावना

When the decision was made to bring out a new edition of the Marathi Riyasat as a set of biographical volumes centered on its principal figures, the first two parts — covering Shahaji Raje and Shivaji Raje — had already appeared. This third part, covering the age of Sambhaji Raje, I now place in the reader's hands. Whatever needed saying by way of introduction I have already said in the earlier volumes, and since all these parts together form, in substance, a single continuous work, there is little fresh to add on that score here. The reader will find that questions of historical judgment — the capability of Shivaji Raje and Sambhaji Raje, and the events of their times — have been taken up at length wherever they arise in the body of the book itself. Even a casual glance over the present arrangement of Sambhaji Raje's life will show that scarcely anything remains here from the earlier edition. Twenty years of further research have settled many points that were once doubtful, and it is now possible to set out the general shape of his reign clearly, as a connected chain of cause and effect. Some gaps in detail no doubt remain to be filled in here and there, but I am satisfied that the overall framework will not need to be substantially revised. Research, of course, never stops growing, and it is a source of real satisfaction to see, through the labour of many hands, our national history moving steadily closer to completeness. Since the historical sources themselves were examined in the earlier volumes, there is likewise nothing new to add on that count. For the convenience of scholars I have given references to sources as fully as possible in the footnotes, and by including maps and the like I have tried to make this book useful, in its present form, to both the general reader and the specialist student. How far that effort succeeds is for the readers themselves to judge. With this I bring these introductory remarks to a close. Kamshet, District Pune G. S. Sardesai 12 November 1935