Battles of the maratha empire by aneesh gokhale

Battles of the Maratha Empire BATTLES OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE By Aneesh Gokhale BATTLES OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE by Aneesh Gokhale Published by Aneesh Gokhale Typesetting Snap Arts, Pune Cover Mukta Ghodke.

BATTLES

OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE

ByAneesh Gokhale

BATTLES OF THE MARATHA EMPIRE

by Aneesh Gokhale

Published by

Aneesh Gokhale

Typesetting

Snap Arts, Pune

Cover

the author.

5 Chhatrapati Shivaji & The Importance of Correct Policies

Maratha War)

6 Maratha War Of Independence (The 27 year Mughal-7 Santaji & Dhanaji - Battles fought during Maratha War of Independence

8 Battles Fought in Maharashtra During the Reign of Chhatrapati Sambhaji

9 Peshwa Bajirao v/s The Nizam, Palkhed, 1728

10 Peshwa Bajirao v/s Mohammed Khan Bangash, Bundelkhand, 1729

17 Mahadji Scindia

18 Marathas v/s East India company, Wadgaon, 1779

19 Ahilyabai Holkar - India’s Cultural Rejuvenation

20 Marathas V/s Nizam Of Hyderabad, Kharda, 1795

22 Marathas v/s East India Company - Laswari, 1803

23 Yashwantrao Holkar v/s East India Company, 1804

24 Marathas v/s British 1818 - Fall of the Sahyadri hill forts

25 Rani of Jhansi, 1857

26 Marathas & Bengal Chhatrapati Shivaji as a national hero

27 Marathas did not oust the Mughal - An opinion piece exploring the reasons to do so.

The book focuses on these battles or series of battles,throwing a spotlight on the chess-like moves and tactics thatled to victory (or defeat) on the battlefield After every chapter,

I have tried to analyse the effects of the victory or defeat, withthe great benefit of hindsight

The battles include Chhatrapati Shivaji and his slaying ofAfzal Khan at Pratapgad, continue on to the Maratha-MughalWar of 27 years, immerse into the exploits of the Peshwas,Bajirao and Madhavrao, and finally the reasons this empire fell

in the face of British opposition

Initially written as stand alone articles, either published on

my personal website or other online fora, the efforts of the pastseven to eight years have finally reached the logical conclusion

- a compilation A few of the articles on Peshwa Bajirao,Madhavrao and Mahadji Scindia are entirely new

Most books concentrate on a particular persona or timespan, thus, a book on Chhatrapati Shivaji seldom mentionsBajirao I and a book on Bajirao I rarely talks about Wellesleyand Elphinstone In this book, via the battles fought and thepolitics involved, I trace the reasons for the rise as well as thefall of the Maratha empire Various readers have asked me toprovide them within a single book, allowing them to easilygrasp two hundred years of history I am happy to provide onetoday.

Also, there is a general feeling that the British succeededthe Mughal empire Nothing could be farther than the truth For

it was the Marathas who were in control of large swathes ofIndia and as the Battles of Delhi, Laswari and others will show,

it was they whom the British battled for the control of India.This book explores the battles that led to their rise as well asfall

Having mentioned that it is a compilation, the articles havebeen re-edited, expanded where required and over thirty mapsand pictures added for a better comprehension and readingexperience The enormity of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s achievements

or the beauty of Peshwa Bajirao’s cavalry moves over theexpanse of hundreds of square kilometres is sometimes lost due

to the lack of visual cues Similar argument can be made for theactivities of Chhatrapati Sambhaji, Santaji and Dhanaji or eventhe temple-building of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar A plethora ofmaps strives to overcome this shortcoming

I have also included a few chapters on the cultural aspects,such as the rejuvenation of Jagannath Puri by the Marathas aswell as the activities of Ahilyabai Holkar - to show that thebattles and campaigns had a positive outcome and, in fact,were necessary to establish political supremacy.

The second volume is in the pipeline, which will coversome more significant battles, such as - Umber Khind, Assayeand Mahidpur It will also focus on the battles fought by theMaratha Navy

1 Chhatrapati Shivaji – The Science of hill forts

The double walled bastions of the hill fort of Rajgad arequite majestic Rajgad “the king of forts”, literally Two of thelong spurs on the famous fort are covered in this uniquedefense mechanism The defensive wall of the fort has a furtherlayer of stone, thus, requiring an invading army double the timeand effort The space between the walls is narrow, a passagethat is barely a single person wide Should anyone break thefirst layer, the guards on the top of the ramparts could easilyattack them A simple but ingenious defense!

In the distance, at the end of a long ridge stands anotherstrong fort - named Torna Further away, the grey silhouette ofSinhagad As one takes in the breathtaking view, thoughts goback to words written by Ramchandrapant Amatya in the 17thcentury - “Swarajyache saar te durg” Loosely translated as

”Forts are the bedrock of Swarajya” Chhatrapati Shivaji’s

‘Hindavi Swarajya’, which fought gallantly for a wholegeneration after his death against the mighty Mughals Thesame enemies who had brought an army five lakh strong tosubdue these forts

But the Marathas prevailed, primarily because of theimpregnable forts Even then, the mere presence of the strong

forts did not guarantee them victories throughout Had thatbeen the case, the strong fortress and the capital city of Deogiriwould have never fallen to Allaudin Khilji! Neither would havethese forts fallen like ninepins to the British.

Chhatrapati Shivaji wielded the forts into one giantweapon, which bravely faced a behemoth like the Mughalempire and enabled the Marathas to prevail Each of the forts inthe Sahyadris is unique Essays, nay books, can and have beenwritten on singular forts This chapter will provide an overview

of how the hilltop forts, as a whole, enabled the establishmentand growth of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s “Hindavi Swarajya”

Chhatrapati Shivaji knew that power in Maharashtra meantcontrol of the forts Ali Adil Shah, who ruled the Western Ghatsfrom his capital in Bijapur, too, was aware this Which is why,while he had given the jagir of Pune to Shahaji, he kept theforts to himself! Chhatrapati Shivaji, slowly but surely, got theforts under his command – some by sleight, some by wagingwar

Certain traits of the forts, some predating ChhatrapatiShivaji, many devised by him enabled a strong kingdom to rise.Both, structural as well as administrative changes were made

First and foremost, the most basic necessity - ‘water’ wasgiven due consideration The Marathas built huge water tanks

on the forts, enough to serve hundreds of soldiers Where watertanks already existed, they augmented or increased their

number Even today, in-spite of centuries of neglect, thesetanks remain the primary source of water on many a fort.Some, like on the fort of Alang, are so huge and extensive that

it is difficult to believe that human hands built them! In fact, agood way to determine whether a hill ever (probably)functioned as a fort is to look for water tanks For example, wecan safely assert that Kalsubai, the tallest mountain inMaharashtra never served as a fort because of the completeabsence of any kind of water storage facility on it

Next comes the corollary - grain One can find the remains

of huge granaries on various forts The most famous being theones of the fort of Panhala - named Ganga, Yamuna andSaraswati As we marvel at the huge granaries that fed largegarrisons and enabled a fort to be held for months and years,

we are reminded of the fateful days of 1296 AD, the year thelast Hindu kingdom in western Maharashtra suffered a bodyblow at the hands of Allaudin Khilji Deogiri also had a largegranary - but it was stocked almost entirely with salt Agarrison cannot fight on an empty stomach!

Another fatal flaw which contributed to Deogiri’s downfallwas the presence of a singular entry and exit point All thatKhilji did was sit in front of that door and the siege wascomplete! Chhatrapati Shivaji ensured every fort had multipleentry and exit points While one would be the main entrance,there were other smaller “chor darwajas” which served likesecret back-doors for making an effective escape Moreover,

even for the main entrance, the ”Gau Mukh” structure was usedwhen building the door and its bastions This meant that from adistance, the ramparts of the fort would seem to overlap andthus, conceal the entrance Such an arrangement is verydistinctive on the mighty fort of Raigad.

Chhatrapati Shivaji also adopted unique means of defense,such as scarping the hill sides to make the hill side nearlyvertical in order to make full use of the natural defenses of thefort This can be seen on various forts, including Rajgad Somestructures were unique to particular forts, like the double wall ofRajgad It acted as, both, a double defensive wall and a narrowpassage trap

Of the physical changes, the last but not the least, was thebuilding or maintaining of forts in pairs Example - Rajgad &Torna, Purandar & Vajragad, Lohagad & Visapur This served adual purpose - one, it provided a readily accessible safe area to

a besieged fort Secondly, one fort could provide the other withprovisions and supplies - as it happened in case of the fort ofTrimbak providing succour to Ramsej in northern Maharashtraduring the great war with the Mughals The small fort of Ramsejheld on strong and fully equipped with supplies for six years!

But the most important and far reaching changes broughtabout by Chhatrapati Shivaji were administrative in nature.Namely, the ways the forts were run His policies with regards

to governing of the forts coupled with the ideal of Hindavi

Swarajya enabled the Marathas to fight and defeat multiplepowers, each one several times bigger than ChhatrapatiShivaji’s kingdom.

The first major administrative step that Chhatrapati Shivajitook was to abolish the rights of various feudal lords orwatandars which prevented them from creating their ownfiefdoms They were justly accommodated into the army andgovernment, but could no longer have their own personalstrongholds The forts belonged to Swarajya as a whole Thishelped largely in keeping the rebellions in check ChhatrapatiShivaji’s genius followed this up with abolishing the hereditaryrights of persons who would be put in charge of a fort Thus, akilledar’s son could not claim rights to administer that fort Andlastly, there were frequent transfers from one fort to another.All these measures ensured that feudalism never crept intoChhatrapati Shivaji’s rule and fighting for an ideal remainedsupreme

All forts had three officers in charge - the havaldar, thesabnis and the karkhanis The first was a military post, and theperson was entrusted with locking the fort gates at sundownand opening them at daybreak The other two ranks wereassociated with finance and accounts But the work was divided

in such a manner, that all three were inter-dependent on eachother! Chhatrapati Shivaji even ensured that the three were amix of Maratha, Brahmin and Prabhu castes Furthermore, theravines and jungles just at the perimeter of a fort would be

guarded by Bhils and Ramoshis Thus, they played an importantpart in forming the front-line of the defence system The Tat-Sarnaubats and Naiks, too, were given a role in the fortadministration as and when required.

Chhatrapati Shivaji was not content with merely appointingpersons, but he, himself, took rounds at night to ensure that hisorders were followed strictly The tale of Sawlya Tandel is quitepopular in the Maharashtrian folklore

As the story goes, Chhatrapati Shivaji had issued strictorders that no one was to open the fort gates after sun down,not even for him He set out on an inspection round at nightand was aghast to find that the havaldars were happily openingthe fort gates for him, completely violating the laws When hearrived at the fort of Panhala near Kolhapur, he found a youngboy named Sawlya Tandel guarding the gates ChhatrapatiShivaji tried to threaten him and cajole him into opening thegates, but the boy remained firm and did not budge - he justdidn’t open the gates Chhatrapati Shivaji was extremelypleased with Tandel’s conduct and rewarded him handsomely!

Chhatrapati Shivaji was an astute strategist and avisionary He knew that the Mughals would one day, sooner orlater, attack kingdoms to the south of the Narmada He was notone of the kings who lived in blissful ignorance and believedthat problems of the north would never come down south He,thus, recognised that the forts would have to fend for

themselves on an individual basis when the Mughals wouldinvade During those times, the ruler could be isolated and not

be in a position to provide supplies, soldiers and provisions tovarious scattered forts owing to the clash To prevent such aneventuality, as early as 1671, Chhatrapati Shivaji had set asidereserve funds to be used when the inevitable clash with theMughals would happen This was 1,25,000 hon reserve for themen on forts and a further 1,75,000 hon for repairs andrenovation, which would have to be undertaken in war timewith little or no option to raise money from elsewhere Contrastthis visionary thinking with the grain and salt story of 1296!

Following were funds set aside (in hons) for the repair offorts One hon was approximately 4-5 rupees, the monthlysalary of a common soldier in those days

to the forts and widespread administrative reforms As a result,fired by the ideal of Swarajya, Marathas fought for twentyseven years after his death, where forts played a major role ;often being defended for years on end by nameless killedars!Under the able guidance of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the hill fortstruly formed the bedrock of Hindavi Swarajya

Published originally on Swarajya Mag in January 2017

a sound reasoning behind it And Chhatrapati Shivaji does notstop merely at evicting Afzal Khan, but he ensures that AdilShah has a net negative outcome The days of status quo weresuccessfully finished by Chhatrapati Shivaji!

1659 - Lead up to the campaign :

Chhatrapati Shivaji had been steadily gaining strength inthe Sahyadris, away from the gaze of Bijapur’s Adil Shah Sent

to Pune, his father Shahaji Raje’s jagir; he gained possession of

several strong hill forts in the vicinity - Rajgad and Tornaamong others Chhatrapati Shivaji was questioned by Adil Shahregarding his intentions, to which he replied that these fortswere been taken under his control only to make Adil Shah’s rulestronger in those regions! Away at Bijapur, Shahaji Rajedismissed his son’s activities as energetic escapades of a youngboy but discreetly sent his senior advisors and experiencedwarriors to help the young Shivaji!

The Bijapur court at the time was rife with internalproblems, with the Deccani Musalmans locked in quarrels withtheir Afghan - Turkic fellow court members Also, during thesame time there was a Mughal invasion to bother about - all ofwhich Chhatrapati Shivaji used to good effect to further his owninfluence

Finally, the war with the Mughals ended in 1657 and AliAdil Shah or rather his mother, the regent Begum Sahibadecided to crush Chhatrapati Shivaji once and for all For this,Afzal Khan was appointed - a battle hardened general who hadled armies all over the southern parts of India

Afzal Khan’s route from Bijapur :

1659 His troops deputed to Pune reached there earlier, and

Afzal Khan’s (clever?) plan was to entice ChhatrapatiShivaji out of the hills onto the plains where his artillery andcavalry could wreak havoc on the latter At the same time, AfzalKhan sent letters to various watandars threatening and bribingthem into joining his army

Shivaji doesn’t take the bait :

Chhatrapati Shivaji’s intelligence network was fully aware

of the situation, including the fact that Afzal Khan had startedoff from Bijapur with a motive to kill him The templedesecration at Pandharpur and other places must have affectedChhatrapati Shivaji, but he did not let anger get the better ofhim into making a rash decision Chhatrapati Shivaji calmlyretreated from the plains and stayed put in the hill fortress atRajgad

Netaji Palkar, leading a large contingent of ChhatrapatiShivaji’s cavalry requested his permission to evict the threethousand odd soldiers roving around Pune But ChhatrapatiShivaji wanted to create a false impression that he was weakand scared of the mighty general He, thus, forbade any actionagainst the soldiers occupying Pune and Supe areas He furtherstarted a disinformation campaign, praising Afzal Khan to theskies and explaining how Chhatrapati Shivaji was mortally

By using this strategy, Chhatrapati Shivaji had staved off

one headache - that of facing Afzal Khan in the open Anothermajor pressing problem remained - that of watandars andMaratha sardars in the region being lured by Afzal Khan’s carrotand stick policy.

Chhatrapati Shivaji had little to offer other than the loftydream of a Swarajya He had no jagirs to confer or gold todistribute His small kingdom had been built mainly out ofassuming control of some Adil Shahi fortresses under thepretext that he was doing this to look after them in a betterway He had faced a few tests militarily, but Afzal Khan was adifferent breed altogether If probability was to be weighedChhatrapati Shivaji was far from a safe bet It was a criticaltime At this crucial juncture, in stepped the visionary Marathasardar - Kanhoji Jedhe

Kanhoji Jedhe :

Kanhoji Jedhe of Hirdas Maval, near Pune, had beendeputed by Shahaji Raje himself to protect the young Shivaji.But now he had to make a critical choice - choosing to stay withthe Maratha Chhatrapati or joining hands with Afzal Khan Hewas a well respected person and his accepting of Afzal Khan’shand of friendship could well have tilted the balance againstChhatrapati Shivaji But Kanhoji Jedhe fully believed in the idealthat Chhatrapati Shivaji was fighting for It was a powerfulideal; one that none had spoken about in that land for threehundred long years A person convinced about the need toestablish Swarajya could not be swayed with bribes of land and

Kanhoji Jedhe went to Rajgad with the firmans receivedfrom Afzal Khan and publicly declared that he would relinquishhis lands and his earnings to Chhatrapati Shivaji, but never joinAfzal Khan This simple act of bravery and farsightedness had

an electrifying effect, that an experienced and senior member ofthe Marathas, Jedhe, was supporting Chhatrapati Shivaji Itmeant that Swarajya was an ideal for which they could andshould fight All defections to Afzal Khan immediately stopped

The Mughals wade in :

One of the reasons that Afzal Khan opened this campaign

in the sweltering heat of April, was to take advantage of theMughal war of succession that had kept Aurangzeb busy innorth India He was busy fighting his brothers for the throne ofDelhi Afzal Khan expected a quick skirmish to finishChhatrapati Shivaji before Aurangzeb could turn his attentiontowards the Deccan and complicate matters for him But by nottaking the bait at Pune, Chhatrapati Shivaji had foiled this plancompletely

By June, with the able support of Kanhoji Jedhe,Chhatrapati Shivaji had scored his second victory - that ofstemming defections But the end of that month saw thesettlement of the disputes in the north and the newly crownedAlamgir Aurangzeb turn his gaze towards the Deccan Hedispatched his own maternal uncle - Shaiste Khan, with a khillat

Both, Chhatrapati Shivaji and Afzal Khan, came to know ofthe robe of honour headed for Pune This totally piqued thesituation Aurangzeb was an astute and cunning politician Plus,

he had huge armies at his disposal What was the khillatsupposed to mean? An alliance with Aurangzeb against AdilShah? What happens next? What if Adil Shah joined Aurangzebinstead? Against the two armies together, Chhatrapati Shivajiwould be in a very difficult spot Both, Chhatrapati Shivaji andAfzal Khan, were individually weak against Aurangzeb TheMughal was the bull in the China shop that neither was willing

to entertain Only one thing was certain - the issue had to besettled before the third party i.e the Mughals were involved Inthe month of July, Chhatrapati Shivaji moved to Pratapgad -around thirty miles from Wai There were other forts to move to

in the vicinity, but Pratapgad was especially chosen for thispolitical meeting

Afzal Khan at Wai :

Afzal Khan had received two setbacks, but was still in astronger position vis a vis Chhatrapati Shivaji He hadaugmented his army by recruiting locally and forming alliances.Afzal Khan’s forces moved to throw a large net around Rajgadsuch that Chhatrapati Shivaji was hemmed in from all sides.Kate, Pandhare and Siddi Hilal commanded the 3000 odd troopswhich roamed around Pune area and kept many of ChhatrapatiShivaji’s troops tied down in his hill forts To the south,

Sarvarkhan guarded the routes south at Vasota To the west,the seaboard was in the hands of Afzal Khan’s ally, the Siddi ofJanjira This particular detail afforded Afzal Khan another luxury

- that of receiving troops and stores via the sea and up thesmall rivers which led from the ghats to the Konkan It isbelieved that Afzal Khan did actually use the sea route toreceive some of his soldiers and provisions In the event of thesupply line being cut from Bijapur, he had an alternative AtDabhol on the coastline, he held around five thousand troops

His remaining troops were at Wai, positioned in the hillsand ravines around Pratapgad

All in all, Afzal Khan had around 40,000 soldiers with him,plus the advantage of better artillery and cavalry for an openfield battle and of unbroken supply lines, in case the need toplay the waiting game arose

Shivaji moves to Pratapgad :

In the monsoon of 1659, Chhatrapati Shivaji left Rajgadand arrived in the Javli region of Satara Javli renowned for itsdense forests and deep and steep ravines Chhatrapati Shivaji,hence, left the safety of his well stocked and powerful forts -Sinhagad, Purandar, Rajgad and Torna - to camp on therelatively new fort of Pratapgad The forts near Pratapgad nowassumed importance Rohida, Makarandgad, Vasota and others.But selecting Pratapgad had its own advantages - theconstructions were new - built by Moropant Pingale in 1656, sothe chance of someone in Afzal Khan’s camp having knowledge

of its layout from some previous visit was relatively low Also,the fort was situated on the border of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s

domains, so if a battle happens, it would be at Pratapgad orinside Adil Shah’s territory Rajgad was geographically muchinside Chhatrapati Shivaji was willing to forego the comfort ofRajgad in order to gain a strategic advantage.

Chhatrapati Shivaji had his troops well dispersed aroundPratapgad Netaji Palkar was at the Mahabaleshwar plateau withhis cavalry contingent, Kanhoji Jedhe and others in the vicinity

of Pratapgad and Moropant Pingale in the Konkan.Unfortunately, Chhatrapati Shivaji did not have any support onthe seaboard and also, the entire region of Pune - Supe hadbeen occupied by Afzal Khan The real danger was Afzal Khancutting off the supply lines resulting into isolation of ChhatrapatiShivaji’s forts Of course, they could last the entire monsoons,but the stock of food and stores was not infinite! The pressure

on Chhatrapati Shivaji was double that of Shaiste Khan movingsouth and, the knowledge that a stalemate, beyond a point,would only delay the inevitable On the other hand, Afzal Khanhad come well prepared for the long haul

Negotiations open :

Krishnaji Bhaskar and Pantaji Gopinath were the twoenvoys deputed from Afzal Khan and Chhatrapati Shivaji’s side,respectively, to carry out the negotiations Pantaji Gopinath was

an ace diplomat He fully convinced Afzal Khan that ChhatrapatiShivaji was mortally scared of him and was merely a servant ofthe Bijapur government Krishnaji Bhaskar, on the other hand,was shown the place of the meet; a day and time were fixed for

But this period of stalemate saw a tragedy on the personalfront for Chhatrapati Shivaji - his first wife Saibai passed away

at Rajgad The grieving Chhatrapati took this in his stride anddid not let the sad event shift his focus

The day of the meet :

Chhatrapati Shivaji had done meticulous planning of andfor the meet Both, he and his advisers had excellent knowledge

of the layout of the majestic fort of Pratapgad A shamiana wasstrategically erected near the base of the fort The structurewas not just erected on some random plain ground, but at alocation from where it could be observed from a nearby bastion

At the same time, the troops on the bastion would be hiddenfrom the sights of Afzal Khan from the shamiana! ChhatrapatiShivaji requested the bodyguards to be placed some distanceaway from the meeting place, and contingents of soldiers evenfurther away - further than an arrow shot to be precise Thisimmediately precluded the possibility of being hit by the sharpshooters of the day Further more, only one narrow tract hadbeen kept for reaching the shamiana and to further lull AfzalKhan into complacency, Chhatrapati Shivaji allowed him to sendmen to check the arrangements for themselves a good twodays before the meet!

The troop distribution around Pratapgad is anotherexample of Chhatrapati’s brilliant mind at work With the meet

only a day away, Kanhoji Jedhe roved the ravines aroundPratapgad with 3000 troops, directly opposing the 1800 Habshisoldiers of Afzal Khan who were most likely to gain custody ofChhatrapati Shivaji in the event of him being injured orcaptured alive The Habshi soldiers were mainly musketeers.Moropant Pingale arrived at Par ghat with 5000 troops Bandaland Shilimkar Deshmukhs built pickets of around 2000 troops

at Boche ghali in the vicinity The route south to Wai was viathe Jor valley - Babaji Bhosale and Raghunath Ballal guardedthis route with about 3000 troops between them TrimbakBhaskar was at a nearby village called Dudhoshi Plus,Vishwasrao Nanaji Dighe had made visits to Afzal Khan’s camp

as a wandering minstrel and gathered information about histroops for Chhatrapati Shivaji!

At some distance from Pratapgad, on the Mahabaleshwar(Panchgani) plateau, Netaji Palkar waited for ChhatrapatiShivaji’s signal to unleash his cavalry on Afzal Khan’s troops atWai

Why was Netaji Palkar placed at the far away plateau andMoropant Pingale closer to Par ghat? Why the BandalDeshmukhs at Boche ghali and Kanhoji Jedhe facing the Habshitroops at Pratapgad? Each of these small details had sound logic

to it; not one contingent was out of place or arbitrarily placed

Moropant Pingale was mainly leading infantry troops whichwere well suited for the deep ravines and forests at the base of

Pratapgad Plus, Moropant had taken an active lead in buildingPratapgad itself and, thus, had an intimate knowledge of thefort and its surroundings Netaji Palkar’s cavalry was well suited

to rapidly progress on Wai and attack Afzal Khan’s base andartillery placed there Moreover, as Capt Modak surmises in

“Shivaji Souvenir” - placing the cavalry in the bushes close toAfzal Khan’s soldiers at Pratapgad may not have been such agood idea The Marathas must have reckoned that the neighing

of the horses would give the game away! The BandalDeshmukhs were Deshmukhs of Rohida area and, thus, wellversed with guerilla warfare in narrow places like Boche ghaliand Par ghat The same Bandals would prove their mettle fewmonths later at Pavankhind Lastly, Kanhoji Jedhe was giventhe most critical task of facing the Habshi troops into whosecustody Chhatrapati Shivaji was to land His job required him toassess the events exactly as they happened in the shamianaand then take split second decisions based entirely on his ownexperience and judgement Whether to outright attack theHabshi troops or trod carefully to rescue Chhatrapati Shivajiwas the crucial decision that he was supposed to make He was

as good as the second-in-charge and Chhatrapati Shivaji hadchosen him wisely; he being the most experienced and capable

of all the warriors on the field that day

The killing of Afzal Khan :

The day of the famous meet - 10 Nov 1659, finallydawned Afzal Khan rode the newly made road, up the Radtondi

Ghat, to the tent set up for the meet, and Chhatrapati Shivajidescended the fort to meet him Sayyad Banda and Jiva Mahalawere the two renowned swordsmen accompanying Afzal Khanand Chhatrapati Shivaji respectively The two Brahmin envoys -Afzal Khan’s Krishnaji Bhaskar and Chhatrapati Shivaji’s PantajiGopinath were also in the tent Afzal Khan already had a trackrecord of calling people for a meet and killing them - forexample, Kasturi Ranga of Ikkeri Moreover, he was widelybelieved to have caused Chhatrapati Shivaji’s elder brother,Sambhaji’s, death by “accident” at the siege of Kanakgiri.

The history knows what happened next! Afzal Khan waskilled by Chhatrapati Shivaji and Sayyad Banda by Jiva Mahala.Both the envoys, being envoys, were spared After this, all hellbroke loose The ten bodyguards closest to the tent clashedfirst, just as the guns sounded on the fort of Pratapgadsignaling Chhatrapati Shivaji’s victory Sambhaji Kavji, one ofthe ten bodyguards, beheaded Afzal Khan and carried his head

as the trophy

Now ensued the Battle of Pratapgad!

“Annihilation in defeat and status quo in victory” is howProf Narhar Kurundkar described Hindu powers of yore whencontrasting them with Chhatrapati Shivaji Whether winningbattles or losing, it would be the Hindu power whose territorywas defiled

TROOP DISTRIBUTION AT PRATAPGAD

AFZAL KHAN RETREAT TO WAI CUT OFF

Chhatrapati Shivaji had staved off defeat in killing AfzalKhan His rudderless army would have aborted the mission andretreated back to Bijapur and Chhatrapati Shivaji’s dominionswould have remained fixed at Pratapgad In short, apart fromthe death of Afzal Khan, there would be no costs imposed onBijapur

But Chhatrapati Shivaji commenced a blistering attack onthe Bijapur army instead!

First, near the mandap, Kanhoji Jedhe fell upon the Habshitroops and slaughtered them or put them to flight Below at thePar Ghat, Moropant Pingale’s 5000 soldiers, guided by oneTanaji Malusare among others, made short work of Afzal Khan’sretreating army Troops retreating towards Wai foundthemselves cut off by Raghunath Ballal and Babaji Bhosale Inthe mayhem that ensued, over 3000 of Afzal Khan’s soldierswere killed and an equal number injured or captured ForChhatrapati Shivaji, the numbers were roughly half.Unfortunately, Shivaji lost Babaji Bhosale in this battle

Some of the troops managed to escape the debacle atPratapgad and reached Wai, carrying with them news of thedisaster Afzal Khan’s panic stricken soldiers promptlyevacuated the place, leaving the entire camp and all its waresand money in the hands of Chhatrapati Shivaji!

The three officers of Afzal Khan sent to Pune - Kate,

Pandhare and Siddi Hilal immediately changed sides and joinedChhatrapati Shivaji and, thus, the problem of evicting themfrom the Pune region solved itself Khandoji Khopde, who haddefected to Afzal Khan, was punished by Chhatrapati Shivaji bychopping off one arm and one leg Two sons of Afzal Khan werecaptured in the battle.

In the meanwhile, Netaji Palkar reached Wai and gallopedwith his cavalry deep into Adil Shah’s territory (Ghod Daud inMarathi chronicles) Adil Shah’s troops were evicted from theentire region, all the way to Panhala and Vishalgad He thenproceeded to Hubali, Dharwad and Gadag before nearlyreaching Bijapur itself

Moropant Pingale returned from Par ghat to the Konkanand drove out the troops swarming Dabhol and other areas Thedemoralised soldiers of Afzal Khan beat a hasty retreat via thesea

On his part, Chhatrapati Shivaji, too, moved south fromPratapgad, once again displaying his trait of being in the thick

of battle irrespective of the risks involved Kanhoji Jedhe wassent to besiege Vasota, then held by Sarvarkhan, as mentionedearlier

Chhatrapati Shivaji himself proceeded towards Kolhapurand obtained possession of the forts of Khelna, Vasantgad andfew other places before reaching Panhala

By the middle of December 1659, Chhatrapati Shivaji’s

dominions touched the Krishna river! Just a month prior, it hadbeen the Neera and the Bhima, now the borders were marked

by the Bhima and the Krishna Not only had Shivaji defeatedAfzal Khan, but its aftermath had doubled his own territory!

It was just as well that Chhatrapati Shivaji settled the AfzalKhan issue in time and on his terms, for in early 1660, ShaisteKhan arrived in the Deccan and soon proceeded to occupyPune The Shaiste Khan episode is a separate topic in itself, butthe killing of Afzal Khan and the ensuing campaign preventedthe prickly situation of dealing with both, the Mughals and AfzalKhan!

Effects of the battle :

This victory raised Chhatrapati Shivaji’s stature at bothBijapur and Delhi He became a serious player in the politics ofthe Deccan Up to the killing of Afzal Khan, he was regarded atworst a nuisance At best, traditional rivals Adil Shah andAurangzeb considered him a useful tool against each other Butnow, his victories meant that Chhatrapati Shivaji’s Swarajyacontrolled everything from Kalyan to Kolhapur, including overthirty forts Hundreds flocked to his standard Adil Shah ofBijapur did not attempt an Afzal Khan style adventure again.Aurangzeb deputed Shaiste Khan and Jaswant Singh to tackleChhatrapati Shivaji, and then a few years later, Diler Khan andMirza Raje Jai Singh - arguably two of his most experienced andskilled warriors The deputation of these four againstChhatrapati Shivaji itself showed his rising stature

First published on IndiaFacts.org in February 2020

3 The Battle of Salher – 1672

The years between 1670 and 1672 were perhaps a turningpoint in India’s history Chhatrapati Shivaji began a grandcounter-offensive against the Mughals that saw more than adozen forts retaken through tact and daring, followed bylightning raids into Baglan, Khandesh, Surat and topped it with

a total rout of the Mughal army totaling upwards of 40,000 onthe open fields near Salher! A naval attack on Janjira was alsocarried out and another threatened Bharuch All within twenty-four months!

But just five years prior to these happenings, things lookedextremely bleak Chhatrapati Shivaji had been forced to signaway twenty three of his forts after Diler Khan and Mirza RajeJai Singh had attacked the Sahyadris He had gone to Agra,where he came within a hair’s breadth of courting certain death.Chhatrapati Shivaji returned incognito to Rajgad from Agra, butthe overbearing Mughal presence in the land was as before

The theatre of war :

Events of these two years, which culminated with theBattle at Salher, occured roughly in the area between Nashikand Satara, with the coast forming the third side As can beseen in the map, it is a hilly area, with many a hill fort Theregions near Nashik are also known as Baglan and Khandesh

As per the Treaty of Purandar (1665), Chhatrapati Shivaji had

to cede twenty three forts to the Mughals, of which the forts ofSinhagad, Purandar, Lohagad, Karnala and Mahuli were fortifiedwith strong powerful garrisons At the time of the treaty, theNashik region was already firmly in Mughal hands, having got itfrom the erstwhile Nizamshahi in 1636 itself In this region werethe high lofty forts such as Salher and Mulher Salher was thehighest hill fort As shown in the following map, the forts ofSinhagad and Purandar were at a stone’s throw from Rajgadand Torna, presenting a constant threat to Shivaji Maharaj atRajgad Important forts such as Mahuli and Lohagad, whichoverlooked crucial passes and trade routes, were also withAurangzeb With everything in the north of Kalyan with theMughals, Shivaji Maharaj had been well and truly hemmed in bythe Treaty of Purandar It was a treaty he had signed to savewhatever he could He had taken a step backwards to be able topounce ahead when the opportunity would arise The Treaty ofPurandar was followed by his famous visit to Agra, whereChhatrapati Shivaji found himself confined by a thousandMughal soldiers! Who would think that less than than four yearslater, the Mughals would lose all they had in the Sahyadris!