Quote:27 Year War That Changed Course Of Indian History





Schoolchildren in India learn a very specific blend of Indian history. This school version of history is stripped of all the vigor and pride. The story of Indian civilization spans thousands of years. However for the most part the schoolbook version dwells on the freedom struggle against British and important role played in there by the Indian National Congress. We learn each and every movement of Gandhi and Nehru, but not even a passing reference is made to hundreds of other important people and events.



My objection is not to the persons Gandhi or Nehru. However the attention they get and the exposure their political views and ideology gets is rather disproportionate.



And thus it comes no surprise to me that rarely we talk about an epic war that significantly altered the face of Indian subcontinent. The war that can be described the mother of all wars in India. Considering the average life expectancy that time was around 30 years, this war of 27 years lasted almost the lifespan of an entire generation. The total number of battles fought was in hundreds. It occurred over vast geographical expanse spanning four biggest states of modern India- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. For time, expanse and human and material cost, this war has no match in Indian history.



It started in 1681 with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s invasion of Maratha empire. It ended in 1707 with Aurangzeb’s death. Aurangzeb threw everything he had in this war. He lost it all.



It’s tempting to jump into the stories of heroics, but what makes the study of war more interesting is the understanding of politics behind it. Every war is driven by politics. Rather war is just one of the means to do politics. This war was not an exception.



Shivaji’s tireless work for most of his life had shown fruits by the last quarter of seventeenth century. He had firmly established Marathas as power in Deccan. He built hundreds of forts in Konkan and Sahyadris and thus created a defense backbone. He also established strong naval presence and controlled most of the Western ports barring few on end of Indian peninsula. Thus tightening the grip on trade routes of Deccan sultanates, he strangled their weapons import from Europe and horses import from Arabian traders. These Sultanates launched several campaigns against Shivaji, but failed to stop him.



On the Northern front, several Rajput kings had accepted to be the vassals of Mughals. Aurangzeb had succeeded to the throne after brutal killing of his brothers and imprisonment of his father. With Rajput resistance mostly subsided and the southern sultanates weakened, it was only matter of time before Marathas were in his cross-hair.



At the time of Shivaji’s death in 1680, Maratha empire spanned an area far more than the current state of Maharashtra and had taken firm roots. But it was surrounded by enemies from all sides. Portuguese on northern Coast and Goa, British in Mumbai, Siddies in Konkan and remaining Deccan sultenates in Karnataka posed limited challenge each, but none of them was capable of taking down the Marathas alone. Mughal empire with Aurangzeb at its helm was the most formidable foe.



For the most part, Aurangzeb was a religious fanatic. He had distanced Sikhs and Rajputs because of his intolerant policies against Hindus. After his succession to the throne, he had made life living hell for Hindus in his kingdom. Taxes like Jizya tax were imposed on Hindus. No Hindu could ride in Palanquin. Hindu temples were destroyed and abundant forcible conversions took place. Auragzeb unsuccessfully tried to impose Sharia, the Islamic law. This disillusioned Rajputs and Sikhs resulting in their giving cold shoulder to Aurangzeb in his Deccan campaign.



Thus in September of 1681, after settling his dispute with the royal house of Mewar, Aurangzeb began his journey to Deccan to kill the Maratha confederacy that was not even 50 years old. On his side, the Mughal king had enormous army numbering half a million soldiers, a number more than three times that of the Maratha army. He had plentiful support of artillery, horses, elephants. He also brought huge wealth in royal treasuries. Teaming up with Portughese, British ,Siddis, Golkonda and Bijapur Sultanates he planned to encapsulate Marathas from all sides and to form a deadly death trap. To an outsider, it would seem no-brainer to predict the outcome of such vastly one sided war. It seemed like the perfect storm headed towards Maratha confederacy.



Enormous death and destruction followed in Deccan for what seemed like eternity. But what happened at the end would defy all imaginations and prove every logic wrong. Despite lagging in resources on all fronts, it would be the Marathas who triumphed. And at the expense of all his treasure, army, power and life, it would be the invading emperor who learned a very costly lesson, that the will of people to fight for their freedom should never be underestimated





Timeline – Marathas under King Sambhaji (1680 to 1689):



After the death of Shivaji in 1680, a brief power struggle ensued in the royal family. Finally Sambhaji became the king. By this time Aurangzeb had finished his North missions and was pondering a final push in Deccan to conquer all of the India.



In 1681 sambhaji attacked Janjira, but his first attempt failed. In the same time one of the Aurangzeb’s generals, Hussein Ali Khan , attacked Northern Konkan. Sambhaji left janjira and attacked Hussein Ali Khan and pushed him back to Ahmednagar. By this time mansoon of 1682 had started. Both sides halted their major military operations. But Aurangzeb was not sitting idle. He tried to sign a deal with Portughese to allow mughal ships to harbor in Goa. This would have allowed him to open another supply route to Deccan via sea. The news reached sambhaji. He attacked Portughese territories and pushed deep inside Goa. But Voiceroy Alvor was able to defend Portughese headquarters.



By this time massive Mughal army had started gathering on the borders of Deccan. It was clear that southern India was headed for one big conflict.



Sambhaji had to leave Portughese expedition and turn around. In late 1683, Aurangzeb moved to Ahmednagar. He divided his forces in two and put his two princes, Shah Alam and Azam Shah, in charge of each division. Shah alam was to attack South Konkan via Karnataka border while Azam Shah would attack Khandesh and northern Maratha territory. Using pincer strategy, these two divisions planned to circle Marathas from South and North and isolate them.



The beginning went quite well. Shah Alam crossed Krishna river and enterd Belgaum. From there he entered Goa and started marching north via Konkan. As he pushed further,he was continuously harassed by Marathas. They ransacked his supply chains and reduced his forces to starvation. Finally Aurangzeb sent Ruhulla Khan for his rescue and brought him back to Ahmednagar. The first pincer attempt failed.



After 1684 monsoon, Aurangzeb’s another general Sahabuddin Khan directly attacked the Maratha capital, fort Raygad. Maratha commanders successfully defended Raygad. Aurangzeb sent Khan Jehan for help, but Hambeerrao Mohite, Commander-in- Chief of Maratha army, defeated him in a fierce battle at Patadi. Second division of Maratha army attacked Sahabuddin Khan at Pachad, inflicting heavy losses on Mughal army.



In early 1685, Shah Alam attacked South again via Gokak- Dharwar route. But Sambhaji’s forces harassed him continuously on the way and finally he had to give up and thus failed to close the loop second time.



In april 1685 Aurangzeb rehashed his strategy. He planned to consolidate his power in the South by taking expediations to Goalkonda and Bijapur. Both were Shia muslim rulers and Aurangzeb was no fond of them. He broke his treaties with both empires and attacked them. Taking this opportunity Marathas launched offensive on North coast and attacked Bharuch. They were able to evade the mughal army sent their way and came back with minimum damage.



On Aurangzeb’s new Southern front, things were proceeding rather smoothly. Bijapur fell in September 1686. King Sikandar Shah was captured and imprisoned. Goalkonda agreed to pay huge ransom. But after receiving the money, Aurangzeb attacked them in blatant treachery. Soon Goalkonda fell as well. King Abu Hussein of Goalkonda was captured and met the same fate as Sikandar Shah.



Marathas had tried to win mysore through diplomacy. Kesopant Pingle, (Moropant Pingle’s brother) was running negotiations, but the fall of Bijapur to mughals turned the tides and Mysore was reluctant to join Marathas. Still Sambhaji successfully courted several Bijapur sardars to join Maratha army.



After fall of Bijapur and Goalkonda, Aurangzeb turned his attention again to his main target – Marathas. First few attempts proved unsuccessful to make a major dent. But in Dec 1688 he had his biggest jackpot. Sambhaji was captured at Sangmeshwar. It was in part his own carelessness and in part because of treachery. Aurangzeb gave him option of converting to Islam, which he refused. Upon refusal, Aurangzeb, blinded by his victories, gave Sambhaji the worst treatment he could ever give to anyone. Sambhaji was pareded on donkey. His tounge was cut, eyes were gorged out. His body was cut into pieces and fed to dogs.



There were many people who did not like Sambhaji and thus were sympathetic to Mughals. But this barbaric treatment made everyone angry. Maratha generals gathered on Raygad. The decision was unanimous. All peace offers were to be withdrawn. Mughals would be repelled at all costs. Rajaram succeeded as the next king. He began his reign by a valiant speech on Raygad. All Maratha generals and councilmen united under the flag of new king, and thus began the second phase of the epic war.



27 Years War TimeLine – Marathas under King Rajaram (1689 to 1700)



To Aurangzeb, the Marathas seemed all but dead by end of 1689. But this would prove to be almost a fatal blunder. In March 1990, the Maratha commanders, under the leadership of Santaji Ghorpade launched the single most daring attack on mughal army. They not only attacked the army, but sacked the tent where the Aurangzeb himself slept. Luckily Aurangzeb was elsewhere but his private force and many of his bodyguards were killed.



This positive development was followed by a negative one for Marathas. Raigad fell to treachery of Suryaji Pisal. Sambhaji’s queen, Yesubai and their son, Shahu, were captured.



Mughal forces, led by Zulfikar Khan, continued this offensive further South. They attacked fort Panhala. The Maratha killedar of Panhala gallantly defended the fort and inflicted heavy losses on Mughal army. Finally Aurangzeb himself had to come. Panhala surrendered.



Maratha ministers had foreseen the next Mughal move on Vishalgad. They made Rajaram leave Vishalgad for Jinji, which would be his home for next seven years. Rajaram travelled South under escort of Khando Ballal and his men. The queen of Bidnur, gave them supplies and free passage. Harji Mahadik’s division met them near Jinji and guarded them to the fort. Rajaram’s queen was escorted out of Maharashtra by Tungare brothers. She was taken to Jinji by different route. Ballal and Mahadik tirelessly worked to gather the scattered diplomats and soldiers. Jinji became new capital of Marathas. This breathed new life in Maratha army.



Aurangzeb was frustrated with Rajaram’s successful escape. His next move was to keep most of his force in Maharashtra and dispatch a small force to keep Rajaram in check. But the two Maratha generals, Santaji ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav would prove more than match to him.



They first attacked and destroyed the force sent by Aurangzeb to keep check on Rajaram, thus relieving the immediate danger. Then they joined Ramchandra Bavadekar in Deccan. Bavdekar, Vithoji Bhosale and Raghuji Chavan had reorganized most of the Maratha army after defeats at Panhala and Vishalgad.



In late 1691, Bavdekar, Pralhad Niraji , Santaji ,Dhanaji and several Maratha sardars met in Maval region and reformed the strategy. Aurangzeb had taken four major forts in Sahyadrais and was sending Zulfikar khan to subdue the fort Jinji. So according to new Maratha plan, Santaji and Dhanaji would launch offensives in the East to keep rest of the Mughal forces scattered. Others would focus in Maharashtra and would attack a series of forts around Southern Maharashtra and Northern Karnataka to divide Mughal won territories in two, thereby posing significant challenge to enemy supply chains. Thanks to Shivaji’s vision of building a navy, Marathas could now extend this divide into the sea, checking any supply routes from Surat to South.



The execution began. In early 1692 Shankar Narayan and Parshuram Trimbak recaptured Rajgad and Panhala. In early 1693 Shankar Narayan and Bhosale captured Rohida. Sidhoji Gujar took Vijaydurg. Soon Parshuram Trimbak took Vishalgad. Kanhoji Angre, a young Maratha Naval officer that time, took fort Kolaba.



While this was in work, Santaji and Dhanaji were launching swift raids on Mughal armies on East front. This came as a bit of surprise to Aurangzeb. In spite of losing one King and having second king driven away, Marathas were undaunted and actually were on offensive. From Khandesh, Ahmednagar to Bijapur to Konkan and Southern Karnataka, Santaji and Dhanaji wrecked havoc. Encouraged by the success, Santaji and Dhanaji hatched new action plan to attack Mughal forces near Jinji. Dhanaji Jadhav attacked Ismail Khan and defeated him near Kokar. Santaji Ghorpade attacked Ali Mardan Khan at the base of Jinji and captured him. With flanks cleared, both joined hands and laid a second siege around the Mughal siege at Jinji



Julfikar khan, who was orchestrating Jinji siege, left the siege on Aurangzeb’s orders and marched back. Santaji followed him to North, but was defeated by Julfikar Khan. Santaji then diverted his forces to Bijapur. Aurangzeb sent another general Kasim Khan to tackle Santaji. But Santaji attacked him with a brilliant military maneuver near Chitaldurg and forced him take refuge in Dunderi fort. The fort was quickly sieged by Santaji and the siege only ended when most of the Mughal soldiers starved and Kasim Khan committed suicide. Aurangzeb sent Himmat Khan to reinforce Kasim Khan. Himmat khan carried heavy artillery. So Santaji lured him in a trap in the forest near Dunderi. A sudden, ambush style attack on Mughals was followed by a fierce battle. The battle ended when when Himmat Khan was shot in head and died. All his forces routed and Santaji confiscated a big cache of weapons and ammunition.



By now, Aurangzeb had the grim realization that the war he began was much more serious than he thought. He consolidated his forces and rethought his strategy. He sent an ultimatum to Zulfikar khan to finish Jinji business or be stripped of the titles. Julfikar khan tightened the Siege. But Rajaram fled and was safely escorted to Deccan by Dhanaji Jadhav and Shirke brothers. Haraji Mahadik’s son took the charge of Jinji and bravely defended Jinji against Julfikar khan and Daud khan till January of 1698. This gave Rajaram ample of time to reach Vishalgad.



Jinji fell, but it did a big damage to the Mughal empire. The losses incurred in taking Jinji far outweighed the gains. The fort had done its work. For seven years the three hills of Jinji had kept a large contigent of mughal forces occupied. It had eaten a deep hole into Mughal resources. Not only at Jinji, but the royal treasury was bleeding everywhere and was already under strain.



Marathas would soon witness an unpleasant development, all of their own making. Dhanaji Jadhav and Santaji Ghorpade had a simmering rivalry, which was kept in check by the councilman Pralhad Niraji. But after Niraji’s death, Dhanaji grew bold and attacked Santaji. Nagoji Mane, one of Dhanaji’s men, killed Santaji. The news of Santaji’s death greatly encouraged Aurangzeb and Mughal army.



But by this time Mughals were no longer the army they were feared before. Aurangzeb, against advise of several of his experienced generals, kept the war on. It was much like Alexander on the borders of Taxila.



The Marathas again consolidated and the new Maratha counter offensive began. Rajaram made Dhanaji the next commander in chief. Maratha army was divided in three divisions. Dhanaji would himself lead the first division. Parshuram Timbak lead the second and Shankar Narayan lead the third. Dhanaji Jadhav defeated a large mughal force near Pandharpur. Shankar Narayan defeated Sarja Khan in Pune. Khanderao Dabhade, who lead a division under Dhanaji, took Baglan and Nashik. Nemaji Shinde, another commander with Shankar Narayan, scored a major victory at Nandurbar.



Enraged at this defeats, Aurangzeb himself took charge and launched another counter offensive. He laid siege to Panhala and attacked the fort of Satara. The seasoned commander, Prayagji Prabhu defended Satara for a good six months, but surrendered in April of 1700, just before onset of Monsoon. This foiled Aurangzeb’s strategy to clear as many forts before monsoon as possible.



In March of 1700, another bad news followed Marathas. Rajaram took his last breath. His queen Tarabai, who was also daughter of the gallant Maratha Commander-in- Chief Hambeerrao Mohite, took charge of Maratha army. Daughter of a braveheart, Tarabai proved her true mettle for the next seven years. She carried the struggle on with equal valor. Thus began the phase 3, the last phase of the prolonged war, with Marathas under the leadership of Tarabai.



The signs of strains were showing in Mughal camp in late 1701. Asad Khan, Julfikar Khan’s father, counselled Aurangzeb to end the war and turn around. This expedition had already taken a giant toll, much larger than originally planned, on Mughal empire. And serious signs were emerging that the 200 years old Mughal empire was crumbling and was in the middle of a war that was not winnable



Mughals were bleeding heavily from treasuries. But Aurangzeb kept pressing the war on. When Tarabai took charge, Aurangzeb had laid siege to the fort of Parli (Sajjangad). Parshuram Trimbak defended the fort until mansooon and retreated quietly at the break of monsoon.The mughal army was dealt heavy loss by flash floods in the rivers around. These same tactics were followed by Marathas at the next stop of Aurangzeb, Panhala. Similar tactic was followed even for Vishalgad.



By 1704, Aurangzeb had Torana and Rajgad. He had won only a handful forts in this offensive, but he had spent several precious years. It was slowly dawning to him that after 24 years of constant war, he was no closer to defeating Marathas than he was the day he began.



The final Maratha counter offensive gathered momentum in North. Tarabai proved to be a valiant leader once again. One after another Mughal provinces fell in north. They were not in position to defend as the royal treasuries had been sucked dry and no armies were left in town. In 1705, two Maratha army factions crossed Narmada. One under leadership of Nemaji Shinde hit as deep North as Bhopal. Second under the leadership of Dabhade struck Bharoch and West. Dabhade with his eight thousand men,attacked and defeated Mahomed khan’s forces numbering almost fourteen thousand. This left entire Gujarat coast wide open for Marathas. They immediately tightened their grip on Mughal supply chains.



In Maharashtra, Aurangzeb grew despondent. He started negotiations with Marathas, but cut abruptly and marched on a small kingdom called Wakinara. Naiks at Wakinara traced their lineage to royal family of Vijaynagar empire. They were never fond of Mughals and had sided with Marathas. Dhanaji marched into Sahyadris and won almost all the major forts back in short time. Satara and Parali forts were taken by Parshuram Timbak. Shankar Narayan took Sinhgad. Dhanaji then turned around and took his forces to Wakinara. He helped the Naiks at Wakinara sustain the fight. Naiks fought very bravely. Finally Wakinara fell, but the royal family of Naiks successfully escaped with least damage.



Aurangzeb had now given up all hopes and was now planning retreat to Burhanpur. Dhanaji Jadhav again fell on him and in swift and ferocious attack and dismantled the rear guard of his imperial army. Zulfikar Khan rescued the emperor and they successfully reached Burhanpur.



Aurangzeb witnessed bitter fights among his sons in his last days. Alone, lost, depressed, bankrupt, far away from home, he died sad death on 3rd March 1707. “I hope god will forgive me one day for my disastrous sins”, were his last words.



Thus ended a prolonged and grueling period in history of India. The Mughal kingdom fragmented and disintegrated soon after. And Deccan saw rise of a new sun, the Maratha empire.





Reflection: Strategical Analysis:



In this war, Aurangzeb’s army totaled more than 500,000 in number (compared to total Maratha army in the ballpark of 150,000). With him he carried huge artillery, cavalry, muskettes, ammunition and giant wealth from royal treasuries to support this quest. This war by no means a fair game when numbers are considered.



The main features of Aurangzeb’s strategy were :-



Use of overwhelming force to demoralize the enemy – This tactic had proved successful in Aurangzeb’s other missions. Thus he used this even in Maharashtra. On several occasions giant Mughal contigents were used to lay siege to a fort or capture a town.



Meticulously planned sieges to the forts – Aurangzeb knew that the forts in Sahyadri formed backbone of Maratha defense. His calculation was to simply lay tight siege to the fort, demoralizing and starving the people inside and finally making them surrender the fort.



Fork or pincer movements using large columns of infantry and cavalry – With large number of infantry and cavalry, pincer could have proved effective and almost fatal against Marathas



Marathas had one advantage on their side, geography. They milked this advantage to the last bit. Their military activities were planned considering the terrain and the weather.



The main features of Maratha strategy were :-



Combined offensive-defensive strategy – Throughout the war, Marathas never stopped their offensive. This served two purposes. The facts that Maratha army was carrying out offensive attacks in Mughal land suddenly made them psychologically equals to Mughals launching attack in Maratha land, even though Mughals were a much bigger force. This took negative toll on Mughal morale and boosted morale of their own men. Secondly, these offensive attacks in terms of quick raids often heavily damaged enemy supply chains taking toll on Mughal army.

The forts formed backbone of Maratha defense. Thanks to Shivaji, the every fort had provision of fresh water. The total forts numbered almost 300 and this large number proved major headache to Aurangzeb.



Defense of forts till onset of Monsoon – Forts are an asset in rest of the year, but are a liability in monsoon as it costs a lot to carry food and supplies up. Also the monsoon in coasts and ghats is severe in nature and no major military movement is possible. Thus Marathas often fought till Monsoon and surrendered the fort just before Monsoon. Before surrendering they burned all the food inside. Thus making it a proposition of loss in every way. Often times Marathas surrendered the fort empty, but later soon won it back filled with food and water. These events demoralized the enemy.



Offensive attacks in terms of evasive raids – Marathas mostly launched offensive attacks in the region when Mughal army was away. They rarely engaged Mughal army in open fields till later part of the war. If situation seemed dire, they would retreat and disperse and thus conserve most of their men and arms for another day.

The rivers Bhima, Krishna , Godavari and the mountains of Sahyadri, divide entire Maharashtra region is in several North- South corridors. When Mughal army traveled South through one corridor, Marathas would travel North through another and launch attacks there. This went on changing gradually and in the end, Maratha forces started engaging Mughals head on.



A noted historian Jadunath Sarkar makes an interesting observation. In his own words, “Aurangzeb won battle after battles, but in the end he lost the war. As the war prolonged, it transformed from war of weapons to war of spirits, and Aurangzeb was never able to break Maratha spirit.”



What Marathas did was an classic example of assymetric defensive warfare. The statement above by Mr. Sarkar hides one interesting fact about this assymetric defense. Is it really possible to lose most of the battles and still win the war?



The answer is yes, and explanation is a statistical phenomena called “Simpson’s paradox.”. According to Simpsons paradox, several micro-trends can lead to one conclusion, however a mega-trend combining all the micro-trends can lead to an exact opposite conclusion. Explanation is as follows.



Say two forces go on war, force A with 100 soldiers and force B with 40 soldiers. Now say in every battle between A and B, the following happens.



If A loses, they lose 80% of the soldiers fighting.

If B loses, they only lose 10% of the soldiers fighting.

If A wins, they lose 50% of the solders fighting.

If B wins, they lose only 10% of the soldiers fighting.



In the case above, the ratio of (resource drain of A / resource drain of B ) is higher than (initial number of A soldiers / initial number of B soldiers). So even if A wins battle more than 50% of the time, they will lose their resources faster and, in the end, will lose the war. All B has to do is keep the morale and keep the consistency.



One of the most famous warrior in ancient Indian history seems to agree with the conclusion above. In “Bhishma- perva” of Mahabharata, pitamah Bhishma begins the war-advice to king Yudhisthira with a famous quote -

“The strength of an army is not in its numbers”





It was not Shivaji’s personality but his vision and his values was what Deccan fought for. They imbibed that vision and made it their own. After that, they were not fighting for their hero, they were fighting for themselves. The secret of why people simply refused to surrender to Mughal power can be found not in Shivaji’s heroics, but somewhere else. The secret lies in the reforms he brought.



During the short span of his governance, Shivaji brought a manifold of reforms. For the purpose of discussion, I will divide them into four categories. Governance reforms, political reforms, defense reforms and social reforms.



Governance reforms deserve first attention. After the coronation, Shivaji put in place fully functioning governance consisting of Ashta-Pradhan (eight ministers). These eight men were noted statesmen in their era. They laid foundation of formal economic policy, foreign policy and other functions of government.



One key aspect differentiated Shivaji’s governance through ministers from the prevailing “watan and jahagir” type of governance – division of work based on function rather than geography. To put in management terms, this was “horizontal decentralization” where each minister was responsible for only one function, say judiciary branch, but was responsible for the entire empire. This was much better than vertical decentralization of “watan” system, where one person would be named in charge of all affairs of a small region. Horizontal decentralization helped keep uniformity across the whole empire and made it easy for people to migrate, do business, and remain one political entity. Also when divided this way, different branches of government keep check on each other and stop each other from running amok. These ministers kept military focused on the military objectives. They checked personal rivalries between individual commanders. In addition these ministers provided a crucial diplomatic support complementing the military ventures.



Second, Defense strategy reforms. The combined choice of Guerrilla warfare as tactics, the reliance on light infantry and and a solid line of more than 300 strengthened forts represents Shivaji’s coherent defense strategy. Unlike Rajputs, who stuck to their code of warriors even as Mughal and Persian invaders broke every possible rule of ethics, Marathas retaliated in tit-for-tat way. They preferred guerrilla warfare for defense and engaged in open field battles only when necessary. They never disrespected the women like Khilji and Ghori did, so they were certainly ethical minded. But they never shied from attacking their enemies at night if required. They were more committed to the political objective than the personal objective of bravery.



Additionally Shivaji launched Navy. Though the Maratha ships were smaller and the weapons inferior in technology, they gave Marathas capabilities to open a sea front. This sea front played a big role in the 27 year war by blocking Aurangzeb’s supply chains from Surat.



Several social reforms were introduced as well. It is largely this statesmanship of Shivaji that laid the foundation of indefatigable Maratha resistance. Common people fought because ,for them, going back to the horrors of previous governance was simply not an option.



On the economic front, there was a taxation reform. The previous empires had followed a system of taxation that was predatory or at times outright cruel. They had appointed Jameen-dars that collected tax on their behalf. The amount that was to be deposited in the royal treasury was fixed, but the amount that was to be collected from the peasants was left to Jameen-dars. These jameen-dars exploited this opportunity to fill their treasures, driving the farmers to bankruptcy. Over the years these Jameen-dars had built big castles, had their own armies, their own courts and they enjoyed being mini-kings.

Shivaji scrapped this system of taxation and introduced taxes where the amount that was to be collected from the peasants was fixed. The appointed officers were given only limited mandate and authority to carry out their duty – to collect taxes. They were often transferred, preventing them from developing too strong local ties. If in any year it did not rain and the farmers lost their crops, the taxes were waived.



Shivaji’s fiscal policies were conservative. Thus no magnificent monuments like Taj Mahal or Royal Mughal gardens were built by Shivaji. But it was him for whom his nation was ready to die. This fiscal conservative bend shows a striking resemblance to another visionary leader. After the American revolutionary war, Thomas Jefferson refused to pay for the extravagant ballroom maintained by British Viceroy in Virginia colonies noting that ” such mansions represent colossal waste of taxpayer money”.

By contrast, Deccan Sultanates and Mughals had shown little interest in welfare of people. During the 22 years that took to build Taj Mahal, three times there was severe draught and hundreds of thousands of people died. But Shahjahan focused all the money and efforts on building a tomb for his wife.



It’s indeed an irony that that Taj Mahal has become symbol of India while the forts that cradled the first “swaraj”, first rule of people, languish in desolation.



Epilogue:



For centuries , the mountains and valleys, towns and villages of Deccan had gotten used to being a pawn in the game of power. They changed hands as kingdoms warred with each other. They paid taxes whoever was in a position to extract them. For the most part they remained in a sleepy slumber, just turning and twisting in their bed.

Once in a while they sent their sons to fight in battles without ever asking why exactly the war is being launched. Other times they fought amongst themselves. They were divided, confused and did not have high hopes about their future.

This was the condition of Deccan when Shivaji launched his first expedition of fort Torana in 1645. By the time of his death mere 35 years later, he had transformed Deccan from a sleepy terrain to a thundering volcano.



Finally, here was a man whose vision of future was shared by a large general audience. An unmistakable characteristic of a modern concept of “nation-state”. Perhaps the most important factor that distinguishes Shivaji’s vision is that it was “unifying”. His vision went beyond building an army of proud warriors from warrior castes. It included people from all rungs of society sharing a common political idea and ready to defend it at any cost. His vision went far beyond creating an empire for himself in Maharashtra. It included a building confederacy of states against what he thought were foreign invaders. He was trying to build an Alliance of Hindu kingdoms. He went out of his way to convince Mirza-Raje Jaisingh to leave Aurangzeb. He established relations with the dethroned royal family of Vijaynagar for whom he had tremendous respect. He attempted to unify the sparring Hindu power centers.



And they responded. Sikhs in Punjab, Rajputs in Rajasthan, Nayaks in Karnataka, rulers of Mysore, the royal family of Vijaynagar were of valuable help to Shivaji and later to Marathas. It was certainly a step towards a nation getting its soul back.



While he was creating a political voice for Hindus, Muslims never faced persecution in his rule. Several Muslims served at high posts in his court and army. His personal body guard on his Agra visit was Muslim. His Naval officer, Siddi Hilal was Muslim. Thus Shivaji’s rule was not meant to challenge Islam as a personal religion, but it was a response to Political Islam.



Last but not the least, we must give due respect to one more thing. The seeds of every political revolution can be traced back to a spiritual one and this was no exception. The “Bhakti” movement in Maharashtra that began with 12th Century saint Dnyaneshwar and spearheaded by saint Tukaram (who was contemporary of Shivaji), played a role of social catalyst of immense effect. It created a forum, a pool in society where everyone was welcome. The shackles of cast system were not broken, but were certainly loosened. Once people were on the same page spiritually, it was easier for Shivaji to get them on the same page politically.



It’s tempting for a Maharashtrian to claim the root of success of Marathas solely be in Maharashtra. But at the height of it’s peak, only 20% of Shivaji’s kingdom was part of Maharashtra. When Marathas launched northern campaigns in 18th century, it was even more less. Soldiers in Maratha army came from diverse social and geographical backgrounds including from areas as far away as Kandahar to West and Bengal to East. Shivaji received a lot of support from various rulers and common people from all over India.



Thus limiting Marathas to Maharashtra is mostly a conclusion of a politician. It must be noted that the roots of Maharashtra culture can be traced to both ancient Karnataka and Northern India. Shivaji himself traced his lineage to Shisodia family of Rajputs. Maharashtrians should not be ashamed to admit that their roots lie elsewhere. In fact they should feel proud that land of Maharashtra is truly a melting pot where Southern and Northern Indian cultures melted to give birth to a new vision of a nation. Shivaji was far more an Indian king than a Maratha king.



Dear readers, here ends the story of an epic war. I hope this saga gives you a sense of realistic hope and a sense of humble pride. All you might be doing today is sitting in a cubicle for the day ,typing on keyboard. But remember that the same blood runs in our fingers that long long time ago displayed unparalleled courage and bravery, the same spirit resides within us that can once soured sky high upon the call of freedom.



Jai Hind !!



—–



References:



“History of Mahrattas” by James Duff – http://www.archive. org/details/ahistorymahrat t05duffgoog



“Shivaji and His Times” by Jadunath Sarkar – http://www.archive. org/details/cu319240240567 50



“A History Of Maratha People” by Charles Kincaid – http://www.archive. org/details/historyofmarat ha02kincuoft



“Background of Maratha Renaissance” by N. K. Behere – http://www.archive. org/details/backgroundofma ra035242mbp



“Rise of The Maratha Power” by Mahadev Govind Ranade – http://www.archive. org/details/RiseOfTheMarat hapower



“Maratha History” by S R Sharma – http://www.archive. org/details/marathahistory 035360mbp

Quote:The scope of shivAjI’s plan of svarAjya

dADhi ke rakhaiyan kI DADhi sI rahati cHAti bADhI marjAda jasa hadda hinduvAne kI |

kaDhi gaI raiyati ke mana kI kasaka saba miTi gaI Thasaka tamAma turakAne kI |

bhUShaNa bhanata dilIpati dila dhakadhakA suni suni dhAka sivarAja mardAne kI |

moTI bhayI chaNDI binu-choTI ke chabAya sIsa khoTI bhaI sampati chakatA ke gharAne kI ||



The hearts of the beards burn like bonfires, such now are growing the bounds of the Hindu Nation!

Hopes of people are all answered, such is being demolished the vainglory of turuShka-s!

bhUShaNa says this hearing the heartbeat of the lord of Delhi in awe of king shivAjI the manly –

that chaNDI grows fat chewing the shikhA-less heads and wealth of the house of Chaghadai now lies in waste!!

(Verse and translation is provided by shrI Sarvesh Tiwari, whom I would like to thank for bringing my attention to this verse).



The above verse of the hindI kavI bhUShan captures the triumphal spirit of the Hindus that was awakened by the coming of the founder of the mahArATTa nation. As nAlanda and jagaddala were burning the bauddha-s felt that the dharma was supposed to end in jambudvIpa after 1500 years from the birth of the sAkyasiMha. They turned in their last days to the Hindu hope that end of the kAlI would be marked by the coming of kalkin to relieve the world of the sores caused by the dasyu-s, turuShka-s and mlechCha-s (cf. kAlachakra tantra). Now with the coming of shivAjI and with the turuShka-s being routed for the first time in ages, some Hindus even thought it was the epic end of the kali yuga. Even as shivAjI was bringing down the silsila-i-guergen, he was in a sense enacting a Hindu version of the epic played a few centuries ago by Chingiz Kha’khan. On his deathbed, just before the fall of the Tangut kingdom, Chingiz laid out the plans of vast conquest that his successors were to follow. He advised them to finish off the Tanguts and then send an army south-west to crush the remnants of the Moslem sultan and the Kalif of Baghdad. Another army was to be sent westwards to conquer the Russians and advance into Europe. A third force was to conquer the Kin empire and then complete the conquest of China by destroying the Sung. Unfortunately for the Hindus, shivAjI did not live as long as Chingiz Kha’khan. But the evidence suggests that he too had clearly made his grand plans. In a letter of 4th June 1691 CE the mahArATTa ruler rAjArAm lays out the ultimate goal of their struggles to one of his generals, hanamantrAv ghorpaDe: He states that their objective is to first reconquer Raigad, the old capital of shivAjI. Then he proposes the successive conquest of Bijapur, Golconda and Aurangabad to secure the whole of peninsular India. Then he proposes a thrust towards Delhi to put an end to Islamic rule in India. Now, it is a bit unusual for the ruler who was being hemmed in at Gingee by the Moslem marauders to make such a drastic claim. But as TS Shejwalkar pointed out that the evidence of the Aj~nA-patra suggests that this comes from the mind of shivAjI himself (we will return to that shortly). Even as the great Jihad of Awrangzeb was still in progress, in 1697 CE, Moslem astrologers made forecasts that the Mogol empire might come to an end and Hindus might take Delhi. Hindu writers were clearly mentioning the end of Mohammedanism and the end of Masjids. These are other hints that the plan of shivAjI was not an unknown one.



The family of sono paNDit

sono (sondev) paNDit was a R^igvedin brAhmaNa, whose family according to some sources came from the village of Bahut (unlocated) and according to others from a village in the Thane district. He was appointed to the administrative staff by shAhjI. In the beginning of shivAjI’s career a number of young brAhmaNa-s where attracted towards his plan of svarAjya and contributed their intellectual and organizational abilities to his cause. These included the sons of sono paNDit, the sons of nArAyaN paNDit hanmante (raghunAth and janArdan) and the “pillar” (to use MG Ranade’s word) of shivAjI’s power paNDit moro tryaMbak pingLe. Of the sons of sono paNDit, the elder son AbAjI paNDit was the first one to be deployed as a part of shivAjI’s plan to roll back to the Islamic powers from India. After securing the lands originally granted to shAhjI, shivAjI sent AbAjI to sack Kalyan. This old seat of power of the Andhra-s, where the records of the somayAga-s performed by their emperors still survive, had been seized by the Moslems during the great Jihads of Khalji and Tughlaq. The Mogols had taken it during a Jihad initiated by Akbar and a masjid had been erected on a temple during that invasion. So it was of great significance when AbAjI sondev reconquered it from the Moslems against considerable odds due to intelligent strategy, captured the local treasury and even imprisoned its governor Mullah Ahmed. It marked shivAjI-s first successful outward strike, planned to secure an outpost in the Northern Konkan to make further inroads into Islamic territory. AbAjI was also involved the planning of new mahArATTa towns like Kalyan, construction of forts including rAigaD along with moro. He was a revenue auditor for the mahArATTa nation and was one of those entrusted with running the kingdom while shivAjI was detained in dilli. His brother nIlo (nIlkaNTh) paNDit planned and executed the storming of formidable purandhar fort (earlier ceded to the Mogols). He was also the accountant general of the kingdom and also served briefly as a leader of the marATha fleet. He along with shivAjI led the naval expedition to conquer Basrur in southern coastal Karnataka to prevent the mlechCha-s from getting a foothold. Then nIlo died relatively young leaving behind two sons. The first was dull-witted, while the second, named rAmachandra paNDit at the saint rAmadAs’ behest, inherited his family’s intelligence. The rAjan was quick to spot this and had made him the chief administrator of the naval head quarters at the sea fort of Sindhudurg. He was then made accountant general at the age of 20 as the shivAjI felt that he saw in him a man who would rise to even greater heights than his father [Footnote 1]. At the age of 24 he was promoted to the post of amAtya of svArAjya and was one the officiants at the rAjyAbhisheka of shivAjI. Thus, the family of sono paNDit was close to shivAjI and was a part of his plan from an early age. Their numerous memoirs were preserved among the papers of the Kolhapur raj, in which it is stated that they had the records of the ideas and plans of shivAjI. It was rAmachandra that composed the famous Aj~nApatra which lays out clearly the vision of shivAjI. Here some points are of note in this rather remarkable document: 1) He states that they must not stop after clearing the lands from the Narmada to Rameshvaram of the kaNThaka-s and the followers of the lord of the yavana-s. Instead he makes it clear that the war should be pursued until the lands of Delhi, Agra, Lahore, Dacca, Bengal, Tattha and the whole sea coast is conquered. Finally, after these conquests the li~Nga of vishveshvara should be re-established in vArANasI. 2) He stresses the importance of securing the coast against several types of inimical forces such as phirangi (Portuguese), ingrej (English), valAndej (Dutch) and shyAmala (Africans) by raising a naval force that can counter them.



At the shmashAna of rAjArAm

With the fierce shUdra, the feral brAhmaNa and the most intelligent of strI-s, Mis-creant, we stood atop the massif of kauNDinya beside the samAdhi of rAjArAm, the third ruler of the mAhArATTa nation. The afternoon was exceedingly still and not even a breeze blew. The blazing rays of savitar’s eye glancing of the ear studs of Mis-creant danced all around on the shrubbery – now falling on a hemp herb and then on a dattUra plant. This sent us into a reverie. In 1698 after having escaped from the siege of Gingee rAjArAm returned to mahArAShTra. On the vijaya dashamI of 1699 he decided to take to field himself against the Moslems and proceeded northwards with a strong force commanded by dhanAjI jAdav. They encountered several Mogol detachments on their way and were about to fall into an ambush by a large force under Zulfikar Khan. Here rAjArAm received a secret communication from within the Mogol camp from shambhAjI’s captive wife yesubAI. Seeing, that they were outnumbered by the Mogols, rAjArAm led his men towards Brahmapuri (renamed Islampur by the Padishaw). He hoped to attack the Mogol camp directly to try to liberate shAhu. In December of 1699 rAjArAm launched a furious attack on the Mogols, which he describes in a letter sent on 22 Dec 1699 to inactive marATha sardArs to participate in the fight for the svArAjya. Awrangzeeb getting wind of the attack from his spies quickly escaped. However, the marATha-s arrived before he could complete the retreat and several prominent Mogol families and the Awrangzeeb’s daughter were taken captive. In honorable Hindu tradition she was released unharmed. She remembered the favor and made good by helping bAlAjI vishvanAth later to obtain the release of yesubAI. The marATha-s attacked the Mogol baggage train and carried of the supplies borne by 10,000 pack animals. rAjArAm confidently declared that the Mogol army would be routed in the near future. On the way to Satara which was being besieged by Awrangzeeb in person, rAjArAm suddenly collapsed. He was conveyed by a palanquin to Simhagad, where he plied himself with cannabis and opium to easy his pain, perishing on 2 Mar 1700 at the age of 30, probably from an overdose.



Even as the Jihad was thus grinding down peninsular India the plan of shivAjI, outlined in the Aj~nApatra remained imprinted in the mind AmAtya rAmachandra. From his station at Vishalgad he conducted the war non stop, strategizing constantly, and deploying his troops with extraordinary fortitude. His key move was to keep the focus on taking northern India as per the plan even as the Mogol forces incessantly hammered the marATha-s. In 1699 he dispatched nemAjI shinde and a brAhmaNa warrior chimnAji dAmodar to attack Malwa. In the battle with the Mogols, Hussain Khan the governor of Thalner was captured by nemAjI and ransomed for a sum of Rs 200,000. This greatly shook up Awrangzeeb. Then the marATha-s incited the Gond tribals who had been converted to Islam to rise against the Mogols under their leader Buland Bakht of create internal friction in the Islamic ranks. In conclusion the momentum of marATha-s even as their kings perished could be compared to that of the Mongols under the sons and grandsons of Chingiz Kha’Khan. The adherence to the visionary plan helped them achieve much more than what would have been possible given their own personal limitations – especially in the case of shivAjI, given that his successors, rAjArAm and shAhu, lacked his vigor.



mAdaNNA, akkaNNA and Gingee

The sun was barely up but that morning but Bhaganagari was already turning into a cauldron. With the non-jAmadagnya vatsa, whose ancestor had been part of the great marATha thrust to the south and our coethnic, the organic chemist, we set out to the south of the city in a van. We had a raucous time debating on the models of ocular development of insects and at other times on the chemistry of amines. Ere long we were at the suburb of Maheshwaram – it was not swank as it is these days back then. The chemist led us through some interesting sights and finally took us to the ruins of a vast temple of rudra. It was probably the largest temples in south India built since the end of the choLa-s by akkaNNA, the brAhmaNa minister of the Qutbshah. As we took in the ruins we realized that the complex might have been an enormous one announcing the revival of the Hindus in the midst of the turuShka terror. In 1685, after akkaNNA and his brother mAdaNNA had been murdered by the Mohammedans, the Mogol shahzade Muazzam Shah Alam invaded Bhaganagari and ravaged it. The first target of his was this enormous temple of rudra – how, he asked could a temple of the Kaffirs, be constructed in an Islamic sultanate? Promptly he restored Islamic order by demolishing it [Footnote 2]. As we stood there we passed into a reverie for couple of minutes when our silence was broken by the voice of the non-jAmadagnya vatsa. On our return in an animated discourse we pieced together the narrative of the great Hindu “revolution” within the Qutbshahi sultanate. Its great significance to shivAjI’s southern conquest is normally ignored by most Hindu authors who might be caught in the never-ending argument of whether akkaNNA and mAdaNNA were mahArAShTrI or telugu smArta-s.



In the Sultanate of Nizamshah the learned brAhmaNa paNDita dalapati (author of nR^isiMha prasAda) began a project of subverting Islamism from within. He worked his way by his eloquent ways to the Sultan’s inner circle and convinced the Sultan to relax the Sharia on the Hindus and instead allow them to be governed separately by the dharmashAstra. He also got the Sultan to construct facilities for Hindu astronomers to carry out their studies. As a result of such efforts the Hindus got some space for themselves in the Nizamshahi Sultanate and endeavored to defend it when it was targeted by the Mogol invasion from the North (we have already talked about the efforts of shAhji on these pages). The Mogols, hence, clearly saw the Nizamshahi as bad Moslems because they were not following the path of the Rasool and they were a target of Jihad. We have Mohammed Yusuf Alawi who had come from Syria to wage Jihad on the Hindus on behalf of the Mogols but died from his wounds sustained while fighting a mArATha warrior. An inscription from Northern Maharashtra on his grave states that “Alawi fought with the Kaffirs who had blocked the way of the Musalamans had attained daraja-yi shahadat (i.e. martyrdom in a Jihad) along with his son, relatives and servants”. This movement of Hindus working within continued even after the fall of the Nizamshahi, which shAhji tried to save from the Mogols and turn pro-Hindu (there was an opposing faction of fanatic black Mohammedans led by the brave Ethiopian Maliq Ambar). Here it would worth pointing out the case of Khawas Khan and paNDita-s murAri and narahari. Around the 1620s an interesting individual of the name Khawas Khan came to power in the Adilshahi sultanate at Bjiapur. As a youth Khawas Khan belonged to a jAti of indigenous mAhArAShTrI metallurgists known as the tAmbekar-s. He was captured by the Moslems and converted to Islam. Despite his dark skin and lower position as a convert he arose as result of his intelligence and strategy. Even after his conversion for some reason he appears to have retained his affinities for the Hindus. He spotted a poor but highly intelligent brAhmaNa murAri and patronized him even as he rose through the court ranks. Both Moslem and Dutch sources explicitly mention the intellect and military skills of murAri – coming from hostile parties it must have been clearly notable. This brAhmaNa and his capable nephew narahari worked hard to improve the Hindu condition through administrative and revenue reforms (something which Mohammedans understood very little about). For example, he diplomatically negotiated with the Qutb Shah of Golconda to compensate the Hindu farmers who had been mauled by the Moslem force sent by that Sultan. Then when the Qutb Shah wanted to wage a Jihad, promising the Ghazis one golden Hon for every nose or pair of ears of Hindus they collected, narahari successfully negotiated with him to desist from such a plan (even beating back the ulema’s protestations to the contrary).



When the Mogol invasion of Shah Jahan came upon mahArAShTra, murAri and narahari induced Khawas Khan to organize the defense against the Padishah. Another powerful minister, the Turk Mustafa Khan from Iran wanted to pay a tribute with the Mogols and join hands with them to wage Jihad on the Kaffirs. But murAri somehow managed to convince the Adil Shahi Sultan to imprison Mustafa Khan and continue the resistance against the Mogols who could have inflicted devastation on the land. He also made efforts to prepare for the great famine which was spreading through land, for which the Mohammedans were totally unprepared. As a result of Khawas Khan and murAri’s efforts the Mogols were frustrated. Eventually, the Ulema and the core Moslem headed by the Qutbshahi princess who was a wife of the Adil Shah called on the Sultan to destroy Khawas Khan and murAri as their influence was converting the Sultanate into a Kaffir state. The princess declared that murAri had looked at her by lifting her pardhA and had greatly disrespected the Moslems of the land – so the Kaffir must be killed. First an African assassin was sent by the Sultan to kill Khawas Khan. But murAri dispatched his own African assassin to kill the Sultan himself – he cut down several men before being killed himself. Then murAri and narahari with the mArATha-s loyal to him tried to stage a Hindu rebellion to seize power. The sultan acted quickly he posted the head of Khawas Khan atop a minar of his palace and announced that anyone supporting the Kaffir murAri would be put to death. At the same time murAri also realized that the Hindu population with the Sultanate was under threat and opened negotiation with the Sultan to try to reach a settlement wherein he would separately administer the Hindus, but retain allegiance to the Sultan. But the Sultan struck swiftly – a large ghazi force surprised murAri at night and captured him. He was subject to typical Islamic treatment – dragged by a horse through the streets with Mohammedans jeering at him. His nose, ears and hands were lopped off. He still hurled abuse on the Sultan, when his tongue was cut off and he was paraded on a donkey and finally beheaded. This sent a grim message to Hindus regarding their position under the Sultanate – the message which shivAjI answered fittingly.



Nevertheless, the attempts at internal revolution by Hindus within the sultanates did not stop – this is where we come to mAdaNNA and akkaNNA and their brilliant coordination with shivAjI. mlechCha subversionists or authors influenced by them, such as Jadunath Sarkar (prior to his U-turn), Basham, Laine and Gordon, have characterized shivAjI as a bandit whose main objective was to plunder South India to make up for the expenses stemming from his lavishness towards brAhmaNa-s during his rAjyAbhisheka. This line comes straight from the near contemporary thinking of the Dutch and English agents who saw shivAjI’s southward movements with fear. The Dutch in particular were close to the Moslem elite and feared the arrival of shivAjI. However, the French agent and spy Francois Martin correctly records the objectives of shivAjI and mAdaNNA – it became clear to him that their objective was to restore the whole of the south to Hindu regime. At his indrAbhisheka shivAjI had clearly declared that he would put an end to slavery, and make sure that the Europeans comply with that. Thus, when shivAjI conquered south India he sent a strong message to all the European companies that he was abolishing slavery. He made it explicit that, though under Moslem rulers Europeans could buy and transport slaves across South India, it would no longer be possible in his reign. He also said that Europeans could not make slaves not try to sell any and that the marATha-s would strongly prevent any such activities. Thus, informed by the tradition of dharma, in 1677 shivAjI acted to restore human dignity, even as the mlechCha-s made money from sale of humans while claiming to be the bringers of civilization. It is not very surprising that the mlechCha sources engage in negative propaganda regarding the Hindu rAjA, especially his southern campaign.



The family of mAdaNNA came from the town of Hanamkonda, Northeast of Bhaganagari, where under rudradeva kAkatIya a large temple of viShNu and sUrya had been constructed. The father of the brothers, bhANu-jI paNDita was a revenue administrator of the town and was named after one of the deities of the town. The son mAdhava paNDita (mAdaNNA) and arkaraja paNDita (akkaNNa) were also named after the two deities of the temple. They had other siblings, one of whose sons was rAmadasa, the legendary South Indian classical musician whose tale is told in every traditional South Indian brAhmaNa household. The town of Hanamkonda was ravaged by Awrangzeb, the main temple defaced and the large idols of sUrya and viShNu were broken. Based on various lines of evidence it is clear that the brothers were polyglots who were fluent in Sanskrit, Hindi/Urdu, Marathi, Telugu and Persian [the fact they used the Modi script by default has been taken as the strongest support for their origins in mAhArAShTra]. There is an account of the Dutch agents regarding how mAdaNNA used to translate documents extempore between different languages in the court. They two brothers were initially appointed to aid the Persian official Sayyid Muzaffar in administration. It was then that they initiated the Hindu subversion of the Sultanate. In 1674 they intrigued with the new Sultan who had come to throne after the death of his father Abdullah Qutbshah to get Muzaffar dismissed from office and divested of his weapons and troops. The Mohammedan faction, especially backed by Turks and Persians, tried to restore Muzaffar but mAdaNNA maneuvered to keep him out and had himself appointed as Vazir. He quickly dismissed many of the powerful mullahs in the court and appointed Hindus to key positions. He then induced the Sultan to place his cousin yengaNNA paNDita as a military general so that he could get a handle over the army, which was still dominated by the Mohammedans. By the treaty of Gulbarga he moved to place his brother akkaNNA to keep a tab on the Adilshahi sultanate too. An year later (1675) he formulated the plan to restore peninsular India under Hindu control so that it could be a bulwark against the Mogol incursion to the South. He realized that he needed a Hindu military arm and saw that shivAjI was the man in this regard – an ideal brahma-kShatra alliance of yore could be forged. He right away contacted shivAjI and his brAhmaNa minister aNNAjI paNDit to devise a plan whereby shivAjI would be the mighty protector of the whole south against the Afghans and Mogols. shivAjI, raghunAth hanmante and aNNAjI reasoned that as soon as the Mogols were engaged in the North by other conflicts he could conquer the South completely. shivAjI also quickly realized that for his plans of ousting the Mohammedan power in India he needed the entire South as strategic depth when the Mogols would come to bear on the mahArATTa-s with the full force of the Jihad machine. Thus was born the great strategic coalition of mAdaNNA and shivAjI. As shivAjI worked out the military plan with hambIrav mohite, santAjI bhosle, his half-brother through shAhjI’s south Indian concubine, and his son-in-law harjI mAhAdik, mAdaNNA and akkaNNA put various organizational and diplomatic measures in place.



The brothers firstly worked on improving the situation of revenue administration – prior to them the Islamic agents had local tax collectors whose job was to extract taxes. The Islamic agents had their goons who would bash the tax collectors if they did not rake in the money, and in turn the local tax collectors would terrorize the local population to extract the money. In the reform by the brothers, firstly the Moslem agents were dismissed and replaced by Hindu agents under honest brAhmaNa-s. The tax administrators were then given attractive and regular salaries and a fixed schedule to remit their taxes directly to the revenue office under mAdaNNA. The taxes were assessed based on productivity to the locality and the collectors were kept under multiple layers of surveillance to cut out embezzlement. The Sultan was kept as a pensioner by the brothers and the treasury was to a good measure controlled by them. The revenue reforms by mAdaNNA found a remarkable resonance in a parallel move by shivAjI. He destroyed the old Adilshahi and Mogol system of administration under jAgir-s. Instead, he appointed a regular revenue office that would assess tax and have it remitted directly to the royal treasury. The military was then paid directly from the royal treasury. By military and diplomatic means they also checked the influence of the Dutch, English and the French. To the great dismay of the Dutch they found that they had to pay large fines for their profiteering on the coast. A Dutch diplomat complains how the brothers have displaced the Moslems who were favorable towards the mlechCha-s. The same Dutch diplomat however records akkaNNA as making it clear that as a Hindu the brothers had the interest of the true people of the land in mind, whereas the Mohammedans loyalties lay elsewhere. A subtle, but often ignore point, is that akkaNNA realized by studying the Europeans closely that their power derived from controlling sea trade. He decided that best policy was to create his own merchant navy that could operate directly in the open seas for trade – a Hindu answer of the East India companies. He initiated this by launching three large merchant ships under the Hindu entrepreneur li~NgaNNA that would directly operate off Pulicat. It was this point which greatly alarmed the mlechCha-s, especially the Dutch and the English. In particular akkaNNA took up the cause of the merchants from the tamiL country who were being harassed by the English and sent li~NgaNNA to provide them protection. A similar idea was also taken up by shivAjI who launched merchant ships, albeit of a much smaller size on the west coast. shivAjI used his navy to protect them from attacks from various sea-going mlechCha-s and shyAmala-s.



Within two years mAdaNNA and akkaNNA through their shrewd enterprise had amassed considerable surplus revenues under their control, which they decided to use to help shivAjI in his venture to conquer the south. Accordingly in 1676 shivAjI sent the diplomat nirAjI rAv to negotiate a border truce with the Mogol commander Bahadur Khan. Then he sent his other ambassador prahlAd nIrAjI to be in residence in Golconda and set up the plans with the brAhmaNa brothers. Then in the beginning of 1677 he set out to Golconda and made a grand entry into the Qutbshahi sultanate with 50,000 armed men, leaving the brAhmaNa moro tryaMbak as the viceroy in Raigad. The Sultan was in reality alarmed because of shivAjI’s reputation and agreed to come forward to meet him – fearing he might occupy Golconda. But shivAjI charmed the Sultan by stating that in Hindu tradition the junior always go to meet the elder and he would come as a younger brother. He Sultan was impressed by the discipline of the mArATha army and agreed to meet him in a palatial outpost in Golconda. Flanked by hambIrav mohite and his half-brother Anandrav bhosle, shivAjI first met with the brAhmaNa brothers and then disbursed gifts to the citizens of Bhaganagari. The Sultan upon meeting shivAjI offered him tAMbUla and perfumes and in return shivAjI presented him with a green robe. The Sultan flippantly asked shivAjI how many elephants he had. He pointed to his mAvle infantry men from the ghats and said: “These are my elephants”. The Sultan looked at their burly commander, yesAjI kank and asked him he could fight an elephant. The mAvle said it was not a big deal. The Sultan, fond of blood sport, immediately sent a giant elephant in musth against yesAjI, to the consternation of the marATha-s, But yesAjI took it on with his sword and killed it by cutting of its trunk. Now it was the Sultan and his Mohammedan generals who were alarmed at this display of strength and agreed to whatever demands shivAjI might have.



Thus, using the Qutbshah’s resources shivAjI conquered the fort of Gingee and extended his domain into the south ending the careers of several Jihadis and putting a check on the mlechCha-s who were surrounding the coast. As the drAviDa historian of the kOvaLan clan, nArAyaNan kOn put it he restored the rule of law in those regions. A key development of this campaign was the ability of shivAjI to use the entire in length of peninsular India as strategic depth against the Mogols. He rightly realized that in the head on conflict with the Mogols that was to unfold he would need to effectively use the length of the country against them – it was exactly in this regard that the last kings of vijayanagara had failed in their post-Talikota struggle. But shivAjI’s untimely demise on April 3 1680 resulted in a set back for all these plans. In 1683 after the release of the Mogol ambassador to the Qutubshah from imprisonment, he set about instituting an internal counter-revolution with fellow Mohammedans to destroy the brAhmaNa-s. He unleashed a reign of terror on brAhmaNa-s and as Muazzam invaded Bhaganagari he conspired with the internal Moslems to kill mAdaNNA and akkaNNA. The Qutbshahi Begums themselves arranged for African assassins to kill the brothers when they were returning home from court. The severed heads of the two paNDita-s was send to Muazzam, while their mutilated corpses were put on display in Bhaganagari. Immediately after their murder, a major pogrom was launched against the brAhmaNa-s with every one of their houses looted and for a radius of 50 miles around Golconda and numerous brahmANa-s were slain. Nevertheless, the plans of shivAjI ultimately gave rise to the marATha ascendancy, which in turn gave birth to the modern Indian nation and attenuated if not removed the evils of the religion of peace in peninsular India.



shambhAjI’s letter to rAMsingh

The final exhibit in this epistle is the evidence for the plan of larger Hindu unity throughout India in the marATha enterprise. The rAjpUt-s though diminished in their national sense since the days of the great struggle of mahArANa pratAp and his son amar singh, but they were still not devoid of their Hindu affinities. There were still pockets of brave rAjpUt resistance that was no less in fury than that of the mahArATTa-s. One of these was led by the last of the bundela chiefs, ChatrasAl. As youth he had journeyed to shivAjI to serve in his army. shivAjI asked Chatrasal to found his own enterprise against the Mogols modeled along the lines of the mArATha one and strike Awrangzeb in the North. Chatrasal did accordingly taking Panna and initiating a great war of liberation in the North. When shivAjI was arrested in Delhi rAm singh the son of jai singh helped him with his dramatic escape and prevented his assassination by the Qazi of Delhi. In 1679 when shivAjI was ambushed in his final campaign against the Mogols, kesari singh in the Mogol camp sent a secret message to shivAjI leaking Mogol plans and allowing him and his commander haMbIrrav mohite to escape. Thus, these rAjpUt-s though given to traitorous ways were prone to express their basic sympathies. Their position was not unlike that of most common Hindus of today – they may work faithfully for the enemy, despite having their sub-current Hindu sympathies still intact. The case of rAm singh of Amber, the son of Awrangzeb’s greatest general jai singh exemplifies this. He received a proper Hindu education in Kashi and was well-versed in various shAstra-s and was a practicing vaidika Hindu in the most fanatic Islamic court, just like his father. In addition to helping shivAjI escape from Delhi, rAm singh also helped at his own cost the sIkh guru tej bAhadUr. Awrangzeb wanted to execute the guru, but rAm singh interceded and enabled him to escape a month after tej bAhadUr was given to his custody. Awrangzeb clearly saw rAm singh as being partial to the Hindus and sent rAm singh as punishment with a mere 8000 men against the rAjA of Assam chakradhvaja singh-deva and his most valiant commander-in-chief lachit barphukan. Initially, the Mogol viceroy in Assam, Rashid Khan turned against rAm singh himself, who had to drive him out by deploying a specially trained force of large war dogs. Then rAm singh advanced valiantly with his small force taking fort after fort with the ahom-s in full flight. Just as he neared the ancient pA~ncharAtrika hayagrIva sthala (the root site of the hayashIrSha saMhitA) of Kamarupa, lachit crushed the Mogol forces and pushed them into a retreat. They next tried to take the Darang for but the ahom rANI jayamati routed them in a fierce encounter. Undaunted rAm singh tried to take Gauhati for the Mogols but lachit defeated them again in a fierce battle. There a shAkta tAntrika from kAmarUpa laid an abhichAra on Munawar Khan, a Mogol subhedar, and rAm singh and the former died as a consequence of it and the later retreated in terror. After he was called back from Assam to return home, the attempt by Awrangzeb to convert ajit singh, the infant rAthoD prince, to Islam took place. The brave durgAdAs rAthoD spirited the infant away from the Mohammedans and raised a rebellion against the Mogols by helping Akbar rise against his father Awrangzeb. Then durgAdAs and Akbar were given shelter by shaMbAjI who as they were pursued by the Mogols. Another brave rAjpUt warrior, durjan sAl hADA, also joined the war of liberation in Rajasthan initiated by durgAdAs and caused much havoc by attacking and taking several Mogol outposts and driving them out of much of Marwar which had been taken earlier by the Mogols. There were also great uprisings of the bundela-s Chatrasal, prahAr singh and devI singh and another rAjpUt bhagavant singh against the Moslems in this period. The vaishya gangArAm raised the banner of independence against the Mogols in Bihar and the rAjput gopAl singh chandrAvat joined with the marATha-s to launch a series of attacks on the ghazi-s.



shambhAjI was closely following these developments and he reasoned that a pan-Indian Hindu alliance could bring the Mogols down. Awrangzeb too feared that if the rAm singh who had returned from Assam joined hands with his coethnics who were up in arms against the Mohammedan oppression he could be cut off from Delhi. Hence, he sent of rAm singh under a Mohammedan general to fight the Afridis in Afghanistan who had risen in revolt against the Mogols. In the mean time Awrangzeb took away rAm singh’s son kR^iShNa singh to the Deccan where he was personally leading the great Jihad. But he felt that kR^iShNa singh was conspiring with the durgAdas and the marATha-s, so Awrangzeb assassinated him by means of a Pathan servant in his camp. rAm singh was completely broken by this and shaken even further when Awrangzeb next asked him to send his grandson viShNu singh to the Deccan – after all his own father the famous and faithful general jai singh had been assassinated by Awrangzeb by poisoning him. So around this time shaMbAjI sent two letters in Sanskrit to rAm singh asking him to join the Hindu cause and rise against Mogols. This plan followed exactly along the line shivAjI had laid out earlier, when he tried to induce rAjputs to rise against the Mogols in the North. Thus, it gives a glimpse of the pan-Indian Hindu unity against the Mohammedans that the marATha-s had envisaged.



“vayaM hindUkAH asmAn bhavanto yadAj~nApayanti tad vashyaM vidheyam iti tarhi prakR^ita viShaye shrImadbhir mukhyatAm avalaMbyai tasya yavAnadhamasya sAMprataM sakala hindUkAH sattva shUnyAH shrI-prAsAda-bhaMgAdi dharmopaplavepi svadharma rakShaNAkShamAH svadharmahInA iti manyamAnasthaMs karShaM tathA kShatriya shabdaabidheya viparyathaM tathA shruti-smR^itipsiddha-varNa-ashrama-dharma-prajApAla-rUpa-rAja-dharma-viplavaMchAsahiShNavaH svakosha-desha-durgAdiShu vidhR^itAnAdarA duShTa yavANadhipa pratidvaMdvitayaiva akabara-durgAdAsau svadeshe sthApitau yavanAdhipa-saMbaMdhinaH senAnAyakaH mA kechit kArAgR^ihe sthApitAH kechid dravaM gR^ihItvA mochitAH kechit dharmeNA kechid asmat sainikAnAm utkochaM datvApayAtAH evaM vidhA tat senAnAyakA aprayojakAH asmin samaye yavAnAdhamaH kArAgR^ihastho vidheyaH shrI sthApanAdayaH sarvepi dharmAH pravartitvA iti manasi dhR^itvA tadanukUlam AcharaMa iti vidAM kurvantu tatra bhavantI bhavantaH |”



“We Hindus are weaklings to be ordered around and devoid of an essence, so believe the Mohammedan ruffian (Awrangzeb). The destruction of temples, religious conversions and the idea that we lack the dharma we cannot be borne by us who are known to be kShatriya-s. The shruti and the smR^iti and the ordinance of varNAshrama dharma cannot be desecrated and we cannot neglect the royal duty of taking care of our citizens. We are prepared to sacrifice our wealth, land and forts etc in waging war against the evil lord of the Mohammedans. With this resolved we have offered for two years shelter for Akbar and durgAdAs. We have killed many generals of the Mohammedans, imprisoned others, some after extracting ransoms, others out of kindness and others escaped by bribery. Thus, the Mohammedan commanders have proved to be useless against us. Now the time has come to put the Mohammedan rogue (Awrangzeb) himself in prison and restore our holy sites and reestablish the practices of dharma. We have firmly decided in our mind to execute all this in the near future.”



These bold words of shambhAjI make clear the ultimate objective of svarAjya of shivAjI – the end of the religion of peace and return of dharma.



A point to note in this letter:

“anya~ncha hADA durjana-siMhaH kIdR^ik tasya koshAdi sarvaM bhavadbhir asmAbhiShcha j~nAyata eva paraMtu tena koshAdisthAne dhairyam eva matvA .asmal likhitaanusAreNa katham upaplavo vihitaH sa bhavadbhir adUravartibhiH shruta evAsti itosmAbhir vidhIyate yat tat vidhIyata evedAnIM akabara-durgAdAsau gurjara-deshaM prati preShyete…”



“There is another point. We both know how wealthy and endowed the hADA chief durjan singh was. But he sacrificed his wealth and valiantly raised the uprising at our instigation and you being so near must have seen all of it. Form our side we are planning to send Akbar and durgAdas to invade the Mogol domains in Gujarat.”



This shows that there was probably coordination between the marATha-s and the rAjpUt-s of Bundi in their uprising agains the Mogol yoke. Finally, in the letter shambhAjI mentions how they must prevent the Iranians under Shah Abbas from interfering in the affairs of prince Akbar because this would only lead to increased Moslem interference in India.



Footnote 1: MG Ranade states the rAmachandra paNDit was AbAjI’s son, but most marATha sources to my knowledge state that he was nIlo paNdit’s son.



Footnote 2: The chemist who was a master of the byways of Bhaganagari led us on another occasion to another temple of mAhAkAlI (called the mAhAnkAlI temple) in the heart of the city. It was buried in the property of a Nawab after the murder of the brAhmaNa brothers. After independence and the end of the Islamic tyrant of Bhaga, a moderate Moslem donated the land where the temple material was discovered and returned all temple artifacts that he was able to discover to the Hindus. After this the shrine was revived by purchasing more of the surrounding land from some moslems. However, this fact rankled the inner city Moslems, whose affinity to the Mogols remained undiminished. The non-jAmadagnya vatsa told us that the temple was being targeted by them. In 1998, in supposedly independent India a Moslem mob attacked the temple and destroyed the image of the deity.



http://manasataramgini.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/the-scope-of-shivajis-plan-of-svarajya/

Quote:In the words of T.S.Shejwalkar, the biggest failure of Marathas was their inability to convince rest of the people about their nationalistic outlook and philosophy.