सिंहाच्या जबड्यांत

As agreed under the treaty, Shivaji surrendered twenty-three forts. Chief among them was Sinhagad, which Shivaji went to in person and handed over directly to Jaisingh. Jaisingh, in turn, sent on to the Emperor the keys to the entrance gates of all these forts. Thereafter Jaisingh pressed Shivaji hard and insisted that he should go and meet the Emperor in person, so as to set the Emperor's mind at ease regarding him. In truth, Shivaji understood the Emperor's real character far better than Jaisingh himself did. Shivaji was thoroughly convinced that Aurangzeb was supremely cunning, that he acted however the occasion demanded, that he would break his word without the slightest hesitation whenever it suited him, and that he was utterly hard-hearted and merciless. Even knowing full well that in meeting him his very life would be placed in danger, Shivaji, for several reasons of his own, deliberately chose to accept this gamble with his life.

शिवाजीचा निर्धार

Over four to eight months, Shivaji had held many long meetings with Jaisingh and had come to know him thoroughly and candidly. He was confident that, should danger arise, he could extricate himself from it through his own quick wit. Within his heart burned a great, restless longing for Hindu-pad-padshahi: for hundreds of years the Muslims had invaded this Hindu land and oppressed its people, and never once had anyone risen to resist them — why, then, should he not be the one to undertake it now? He knew the Deccan intimately, but he had no acquaintance whatever with the north. He had only heard Aurangzeb's name; he did not know what the Emperor's real strength was, how his administration actually functioned, which way the currents of public opinion there flowed, who among the northern nobility might be his friend and who his enemy, how much support he could expect from the north were he to rise in revolt from the Deccan, or how deeply attached the Emperor's nobles and his subjects truly were to him. All of this, Shivaji recognised, he needed to see with his own eyes, for it was essential to his future undertakings. Understanding this, he deliberately resolved to walk, of his own will, straight into the lion's den. There was no absolute necessity that compelled him to go and meet the Emperor — but his own inner conviction told him that, since he had been born to establish his own dharma, that endeavour had to be carried through to its completion even at the price of his own life.

औरंगजेबाची भीती

Shivaji himself genuinely believed that God had personally laid upon him the charge of delivering the people who groaned under Aurangzeb's tyranny; this conviction shaped his considered view that he must undertake this meeting with the Emperor for that very cause. He had discussed the whole situation thoroughly with Jaisingh as well. The Emperor himself had by now become convinced that Jaisingh had, in a sense, gone over to Shivaji's side; the fear constantly gnawed at Aurangzeb's mind that, should the occasion arise, these two Hindus might join together and overthrow him. There was nothing amiss, then, the historian observes, in Shivaji's undertaking such a venture — history itself will say that he remained true to his own pledge. This meeting between Aurangzeb — the most magnificent and wealthiest Emperor then living upon the earth — and Shivaji, a rustic reared amid the forests of Maval, is regarded, for many reasons, as an event without parallel. The eyes of Maharashtra, and of the peoples of the north as well, remained fixed for a brief while upon this encounter. On one side men thought: only let this creature once come within our grasp, and we shall crush him in an instant. On the other side the thought ran: whatever occasion may arise, what then is to be done! Neither side felt the least certainty in his own mind; each was poised, watchful, to get the better of the other. The Emperor, with words of the utmost sweetness and with every display of honour, extended his invitation to Shivaji, made ample arrangements for meeting his expenses, and issued express orders that all his officials should accord him due and proper reception.

आग्र्याकडे प्रयाण

Shah Jahan, held prisoner by his own son within the fort of Agra — where the Peacock Throne itself still stood — died there in February 1666, and the three months that followed were spent in mourning. The twelfth of May, 1666, was the anniversary of Aurangzeb's own accession to the throne, and it was arranged that Shivaji should present himself at Agra before that day arrived. Taking with him his son Sambhaji, a number of attendants and helpers, and a retinue of three hundred troops, Shivaji set out from Raigad at the beginning of March and arrived at Agra in good time. Jaisingh's son, Ramsingh, who was then present at the Emperor's court, undertook to arrange for Shivaji's reception in the imperial capital.