औरंगजेबाचा स्वभाव आणि शिवाजीद्वेष

Aurangzeb, son of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, was born in 1618 — some ten or twelve years senior to Shivaji — and survived him by thirty-seven years; it was as if providence had entrusted to him alone the task of shaping the entire subsequent history of Maharashtra. He was a man of profound guile, and a rigid, unbending champion of the Muslim faith. During the years when Shah Jahan's armies campaigned in the Deccan, Aurangzeb himself was stationed there, and when in 1636 Shah Jahan annexed the kingdom of Ahmednagar, the emperor entrusted the administration of this newly conquered Maharashtrian territory to his capable son. Aurangzeb governed this Deccan charge twice over — first for eight years, and again for four years beginning in 1652 — and through this long tenure he came to know Maharashtra and the temper of the Marathas intimately, watching Shivaji's growing enterprise with unrelenting attention. In 1657, no sooner had he heard that Shah Jahan lay stricken with paralysis than Aurangzeb hurried north to claim the throne; but before departing he took care to warn Bijapur's Adil Shah in the sharpest terms — 'This Shivaji seems a great schemer. Keep the closest watch upon him. He will betray you.' In the two years of civil war that followed, Aurangzeb fought and overcame both his father and his brothers, seized the throne at Delhi, threw Shah Jahan into confinement, and destroyed his brothers one after another — an episode of usurpation with which readers are already familiar. The instant supreme power was in his hands, he placed the Deccan command in the charge of his able maternal uncle, Shaista Khan, with Jaswant Singh Rathod serving under him; both marched against Shivaji breathing vengeance, carrying with them Aurangzeb's own blood-curdling written orders. 'Show the Marathas no mercy whatsoever,' the emperor wrote. 'Cut them down wherever you find them. Plunder and lay waste the whole of their country. Grind Pune, Chakan, and every other place belonging to Shivaji into dust. Behead anyone who dares assist him.' Through his network of spies Shivaji came to know the full ferocity of this imperial resolve. He had already sent his envoy Sonopant Dabir to Aurangzeb to open talks, pleading in effect that his enterprise be understood and that his side of the matter be heard — but Aurangzeb spurned every such approach and instead unleashed a fresh campaign of persecution against him. It was only when news of the Afzal Khan episode reached Aurangzeb that he grasped, for the first time, the true measure of Shivaji's capacity; and from that day until the very end he pursued Shivaji with unremitting hostility. This one sharp weapon — the knowledge that even the mightiest could be humbled by cunning and daring — remained ever ready in Shivaji's hand.

शायिस्ताखानाचा वेढा आणि उंबरखिंड

Shaista Khan's stranglehold on Shivaji, once fastened, would not loosen; such was the man's overweening pride that he behaved as though he himself were emperor. In January 1660 he marched out of Aurangabad and arrived at Pune, where — with calculated insolence — he pitched his camp inside Shivaji's own ancestral residence, the Lal Mahal, and settled down to stay. Shivaji sent Sonopant to open negotiations for a settlement, but the Khan would not entertain the idea. Backed by a fully equipped artillery train, an abundant army, ample treasure, and valorous lieutenants, Shaista Khan seemed poised for the utter annihilation of Shivaji, and this state of siege dragged on, virtually unbroken, for three full years. Mughal forces occupied the country roundabout and pushed their columns into the Maval highlands; Rajgad itself came under raid, and Mughal troops thrust toward Kalyan — though this particular incursion Shivaji destroyed through sheer cunning. The road to Kalyan in those days passed through the Umberkhind defile of the Sahyadri range, an extremely narrow pass some four or five miles in length. The valiant Mughal commander Kartalab Khan led the force assigned to this route, and Shivaji trapped him masterfully: once Kartalab Khan's entire column had descended fully into the gorge, Shivaji sealed off the entrances at both ends, so that the whole army lay pinned within the narrow defile, floundering without food or water. It was Raibagan, a courageous Brahmin lady who had been rendering aid to the Mughals, who interceded with Shivaji on the Khan's behalf and secured his release. This crushing humiliation of Kartalab Khan has been vividly painted by the author of the Shivbharat, and readers would do well to consult that account directly. Yet this small feat of arms did nothing to loosen the Mughal grip on Pune itself. Night and day the enemy dogged Shivaji's every step, and the ever-present dread of being seized and put to death gnawed at him without cease; this single, unremitting anxiety weighed on Shivaji for the better part of three years, and a direct assault on the Khan's heavily fortified camp seemed altogether out of the question.

रात्रीच्या छाप्याची गुप्त सिद्धता

In this predicament, after prolonged deliberation among his counsellors, the decision was taken to fall upon the Khan in a sudden, stealthy night raid. The layout of the mansion presented no difficulty, for it was Shivaji's own former residence, intimately known to him down to its smallest passage. The plan was to breach the rear walls, force an entry, raise havoc inside, and cut down whomever could be found. Every detail of this enterprise — the men to be used, the equipment required, the timing, and the disguises to be adopted — was worked out with the utmost care. Shivaji's men first studied exactly when and how the Mughal sentries changed watch, their numbers, and even their uniforms. The design finally settled upon was this: on the first night one party would take on the task of easing past — in effect relieving — the sentries, while a second party would force its way in through the breached rear wall around midnight. The month was Chaitra of the year 1663, a time when Muslims kept their Ramzan fast; the chosen night was that of Friday, Shukla Ashtami, corresponding to 5 April. Earlier in the same night, some of Shivaji's men, disguised in Mughal dress, gained entry into the compound under the pretext that they had come to relieve the regular guards, and the unsuspecting Mughals had not the slightest inkling of what was afoot. The household, having just broken its Ramzan fast, had settled into its first sleep. The moment the moon set and the lamps were extinguished, the operation began.

पुण्यातील रात्रीचा छापा आणि परिणाम

Swords fell without warning upon the sleeping household, and the panic that followed defies description. In the midst of this confusion fresh parties of Shivaji's men pressed further inside, and when these intruders burst in upon the secluded women of the zenana, a single great cry of terror went up through the mansion. Amid the shouting and commotion, a great many people were cut down before the Khan's own guards could even reach the scene; several more lay disabled and wounded. At this point Shivaji's men beat a swift retreat, regrouped as they fled, and by the time day broke had made their way back to the safety of Sinhagad. Word later came that one of the Khan's sons, six of his wives, and a number of maidservants had been killed; the Khan himself lost several fingers to a sword-stroke; two more of his sons and eight maidservants were wounded; but the Khan himself survived with his life. The very next day Jaswant Singh marched against Sinhagad, but against that fortress he could accomplish nothing whatsoever. This blow left the entire Mughal camp profoundly demoralized. Shaista Khan abandoned Pune and withdrew his headquarters to Aurangabad. He burned to take full revenge upon Shivaji, but the emperor, judging him to have failed, declared him unfit for the post and transferred him to the province of Bengal, so that the Khan had no choice but to depart for the east. His wife, who was Aurangzeb's own aunt, nursed so bitter a hatred of Shivaji from this episode that three years later, when Shivaji travelled to Agra to meet the emperor in person, she went to the greatest lengths to have him put to death.