successfully fought the Adilshahi; but for
expanding the Swaraj, conflict with the
Mughals was inevitable. The Mughals
posed a great threat to the Swaraj even as
it began to expand. Maharaj triumphed
over this threat too. He regained his forts
and territories from the Mughals. He got
himself crowned. He took up a campaign
of the South. We shall learn about all these
events in this chapter.
Shaistakhan’s Invasion : In February
1660, Shaistakhan left from Ahmadnagar
and entered the Pune province. He raveged
the territory of the Swaraj by sending
small units of his army to the neighbouring
areas. He encamped at Chakan. Firangoji
Narsala, the Killedar of the fort of
Chakan offered a strong resistance to
Shaistakhan’s army. Finally, the Mughals
captured the fort of Chakan.
Shaistakhan set up his camp at Lal
Mahal in Pune where Shivaji Maharaj
had lived in his childhood. Khan sent his
forces in the regions around Pune. These
forces looted the people. Two years
passed, but he would not think of leaving
Pune. Naturally, this had an adverse
effect on the people’s morale. In these
circumstances, Maharaj drew up a bold
plan.
Shivaji Maharaj decided to raid Lal
Mahal secretly under his own leadership.
On 5 April 1663, Maharaj raided Lal
Mahal at night with a select band of
soldiers. In this raid, Shaistakhan lost his
fingers. He suffered great humiliation. He
left Pune and shifted his camp to
Aurangabad. Due to this episode, he
incurred the displeasure of Aurangzeb.
Aurangzeb transferred him to the province
of Bengal. The successful attack on
Shaistakhan had an impact on the people
and their faith in the capability of
Maharaj was strengthened even further.
The Surat Campaign : In three
years’ time, Shaistakhan had ravaged
large territories of the Swaraj. It was
necessary to make good this loss. For
this, Shivaji Maharaj devised a plan for
teaching the Mughals a lesson. Surat was
a big trade centre and port under Mughal
control. The British, Dutch and French
had their factories there. Maximum
revenue was being generated by this city
for the Emperor. It was a rich city.
Maharaj marched on Surat. Inayat Khan,
the Subhedar of Surat could not put up
any resistance. Maharaj obtained plenty
of wealth from Surat without bothering
the common people. His campaign of
Surat was completely successful. This
campaign was a stunning blow to Emperor
Aurangzeb’s prestige.
Jaisingh’s Invasion : With a view to
curbing the increasing activities of Shivaji
Maharaj, Aurangzeb sent Mirzaraja
Jaisingh, an experienced and powerful
Rajput Sardar. Jaisingh came to Pune. He
started rallying all the forces against
Shivaji Maharaj. To the Portuguese of
Goa and Vasai, the Dutch of Vengurla,
the British of Surat and the Siddis of Janjira, Jaisingh suggested that they
should start a naval campaign against
Maharaj.
Jaisingh drew up a plan of capturing
the forts in possession of Maharaj. Mughal
forces were sent to various parts of the
Swaraj. They ravaged the territories of the
Swaraj. Maharaj endeavoured to resist the
Mughals. Jaisingh and Dilerkhan laid
siege to the fort of Purandar. When the
Mughals put the fort of Purandar under
siege, Murarbaji Deshpande fought with
the greatest of courage. He died a hero’s
death. Considering the seriousness of the
situation, Maharaj began talks for a treaty
with Jaisingh. He met Jaisingh personally.
A treaty between Jaisingh and Maharaj
was signed in June 1665. It is known as
the ‘Treaty of Purandar’. In accordance
with the terms of the treaty, Maharaj gave
to the Mughals, twenty-three of his forts
and the adjoining territories yielding an
annual revenue of four lakh hons. He also
assured the Mughals of help against the
Adilshahi. The Treaty was ratified by
Aurangzeb.
few of his trusted people who were ready
to risk their lives for him.
Shivaji Maharaj reached Agra.
Aurangzeb did not treat him with due
honour at his court. Maharaj gave vent
to his rage. The Emperor then put him
under house arrest. Undeterred by this
action of the Emperor, Maharaj devised
a plan of escaping from this house arrest.
He adroitly escaped from Agra and
reached Maharashtra safely after a few
days. He reached Rajgad. While returning
from Agra, he had left Sambhaji Raje at
Mathura. Later, Prince Sambhaji was
brought safely to Rajgad. While Maharaj
was away from Swaraj, Veermata Jijabai
and the associates of Shivaji Maharaj
looked after the administration of Swaraj.
On the offensive against Mughals :
Immediately after returning from Agra,
Maharaj did not want any conflict with
the Mughals. However, he wanted to
recapture the forts and territories given to
the Mughals as per the Purandar treaty.
For this, he prepared a comprehensive
and bold plan. It was his strategy to
capture the forts by sending a wellequipped army on the one hand, and on
the other hand, to keep the Mughals
unstable by invading the territories of the
Deccan under their control. Maharaj
attacked the Mughal territories of
Ahmadnagar and Junnar. Then, he
recaptured several forts such as Sinhgad,
Purandar, Lohagad, Mahuli, Karnala, and
Rohida, one after the other. Then Maharaj
attacked Surat for a second time. While
returning from Surat, he fought a great
battle with the Mughals at Vani-Dindori
in Nashik district. Maharaj defeated the
Mughal Sardar Daudkhan in the great
battle. After that, Moropant Pingale
captured Triambakgad near Nashik.
Agra visit and escape : After the
Treaty of Purandar, Jaisingh launched a
campaign against the Adilshahi. Maharaj
helped Jaisingh but this campaign of
Jaisingh was not successful. Jaisingh and
Aurangzeb felt that Shivaji Maharaj ought
to be kept away, at least for some time,
from the Deccan politics. Jaisingh proposed
to Shivaji Maharaj that he should visit
Agra and meet the Emperor. He guaranteed
the safety of Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji
Maharaj set out for Agra. He was
accompanied by Prince Sambhaji and a Thus Shivaji Maharaj was successful
in the offensive that he had launched
against the Mughals. Sardars such as
Tanaji Malusare, Moropant Pingale,
Prataprao Gujar etc. made a valuable
contribution in these offensives. Krishnaji
Anant Sabhasad, a contemporary
chronicler, thus describes this campaign :
‘(He) took as many as twenty-seven forts
in four months and earned a great
reputation for himself’.
Maharaj ascended the throne of
Swaraj. He now became the Chhatrapati
of the Swaraj. As a symbol of sovereignty,
the Rajyabhisheka shaka (the coronation
era) was started. Maharaj became the
founder of a new era. On the occasion
of the coronation, special coins were
minted – a gold coin called Hon and a
copper coin called Shivrai with the legend
‘Shri Raja Shivachhatrapati’ inscribed on
them. Thereafter, all royal correspondence
Coronation : The founding of the
Maratha Swaraj involved a relentless
struggle for over thirty years. Maharaj
realised that now it was necessary for the
Swaraj to win general recognition as a
sovereign independent State. For this, a
formal coronation was necessary. On
6 June 1674, he had himself coronated at
Raigad by Gagabhatt, a learned Pand.
Rajpatra) carried the words,
‘Kshatriyakulaavantansa Shri Raja
Shivachhatrapati’. A dictionary showing
Sanskrit alternatives for Persian words
was prepared. It is known as
Rajya-vyavahara-kosha. The coronation of Shivaji Maharaj
was a revolutionary event in the history
of Medieval India. While explaining the
importance of this event, Sabhasad (a
contemporary chronicler) writes, ‘It was
no mean achievement for a Maratha King
to become such a great Chhatrapati.’Shortly after this, on 24 September
1674 Shivaji Maharaj had his second
coronation performed under the guidance
of Nischalpuri Gosavi. There were two
traditions of religious ceremonies in India
- Vedic and Tantric. Maharaj honoured
both the traditions and had two coronation
ceremonies performed.
Some equivalent words in the
Rajya-vyavahara-kosha are worth
mentioning. For example,
उदा., किताब - पदवी, फर्मान - राजपत्र,
जामीन - प्रतिभूती, हाली - सांप्रत,
माजी - पूर्व, फिलहाल - तत्काळ,
वाहवा - उत्तम,
वकूब - प्रज्ञा, बेवकूफ - मूढ,
दस्तपोशी - हस्तस्पर्श,
मुलाखत - दर्शन, कदमपोशी - पादस्पर्श,
झूट - मिथ्या, कौलनामा - अभय,
फतेह - विजय, फिर्याद - अन्यायवार्ता,
शिलेदार - स्वतूरगी.
Which Indian King started a new
calendar ?
Do you remember ?
Prince Sambhaji Raje was 17 years
old at the time of the coronation of
Shivaji Maharaj. He has described the
coronation ceremony in the treatise
‘Budhabhushanam’. It is based on his
own experience.
Without measuring or counting,
plenty of money, clothes, elephants,
horses were donated to the great scholars
who had come to attend the coronation
ceremony from different regions.
Thus, Shivaji Maharaj spread his
fame in different directions.
Do you know?
An extremely valuable and grand
throne was made for the coronation of
Shivaji Maharaj. There were eight
bejewelled pillars on eight sides of the
throne. This throne made of thirty-two
‘mann’ of gold had been studded with
precious jewels.
Learn about the unit ‘mann’ from
your teacher.
Do you know?
The Campaign of the South : Three
years after the coronation, in October
1677, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
undertook a campaign of the South. He
went to Golconda. There he called on the
Qutubshah. He entered into a treaty of friendship with him. Later, Maharaj won
Bengaluru, Hoskote in Karnataka, Jinji
Vellore, etc. forts in today’s Tamil Nadu
and some other territories of Adilshah. He
appointed Raghunath Narayan Hanamante
the chief administrator to look after these
conquered territories.
Vyankoji, the half-brother of Shivaji
Maharaj, was then ruling at Tanjavur.
Shivaji Maharaj tried to get him to
participate in the activities of the Swaraj.
After Vyankoji Raje, the rulers of Tanjavur
encouraged art and learning. The Saraswati
Mahal library there is world famous.
In this campaign of the South,
Maharaj had annexed the fort of Jinji in
Tamil Nadu to his Swaraj. This proved
to be of great importance in later years.
When the Mughal Emperor stayed put in
Maharashtra to destroy Swaraj, the then
Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj had to
leave Maharashtra for reasons of safety.
At that time, he took shelter in this
southern fort of Jinji and ran the
administration of Swaraj from there.
Soon after the victorious campaign of
the south, Shivaji Maharaj passed away
on Raigad on 3 April 1680. His death at
the age of fifty was a great loss for
Swaraj. A great era came to an end.
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