SHIVAJI - MEDIEVAL HISTORY
News: Shivaji’s
Great Escape: What happened in Agra during Aurangzeb’s rule?
What's in the news?
● On
November 30, Maharashtra Tourism Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha of the BJP
triggered a controversy by equating Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s legendary
Agra escape to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s defection from the Uddhav
Thackeray-led camp in Maharashtra.
● His
comments drew sharp criticism from political parties and other organizations
that venerate Shivaji as a Maratha icon, with no parallel in the past or
present.
Shivaji Maharaj:
● Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj (1630-1680) carved out an independent Maratha kingdom from
various Deccan states in the 17th century.
● Born
to a general who served different Deccan Sultans over the course of his life,
Shivaji Maharaj was keen on expanding his father’s fiefdom of modern-day Pune
into an independent Maratha state.
Mughals and Other feudatories:
● At
this point of time, several Sultanates (mainly Bijapur, Golkonda and
Ahmadnagar) and the Mughals were vying for the control of the Deccan.
● As
Mughal power grew, these Sultanates would become tributaries to the Mughal
Empire (while often continuing to bicker among themselves) with the rulers and
ruling clans being given positions in the Mughal court.
Shivaji and the Mughals:
● Shivaji’s
meteoric rise posed challenges to the suzerainty of the Mughals.
● His
first direct encounter with the Mughals was during Aurangzeb’s Deccan campaigns
of the 1650s.
● As
Aurangzeb went North to fight for the Mughal throne, Shivaji was able to seize
further territory.
● His
tactics against the Mughals were adapted to the specific nature of his force
and the flabby Mughal armies.
● Using
swift cavalry attacks, he would raid
and pillage Mughal strongholds.
● While
on the rare occasion he would engage in battle to actually capture and hold
Mughal positions, most often, he would simply cause much menace, raid the
treasury, and leave with the Mughals in terror and disarray.
● Famously,
in 1664, he attacked the port of Surat
(now in Gujarat) and plundered one of the richest and busiest commercial
towns of Mughal India while the local governor hid in a nearby fort.
Shivaji and Aurangazeb:
● As
the legend of Shivaji and the physical sphere of his influence grew, Aurangzeb
sent a 100,000-strong, well-equipped army under Raja Jai Singh I to sub-due him in 1665. After putting up a valiant
fight, Shivaji was besieged in the Purandar hill fort.
● The great escape:
○ He
was taken to Aurangzeb’s court in Agra in 1666.
○ He
escaped from the Mughals prison in 1667.
Shivaji’s coronation:
● By
1669, Shivaji had regrouped and
raised an effective army.
● Using
his old guerilla tactics, he would swiftly descend into static Mughal and
Bijapuri strongholds, looting and pillaging the shocked Mughals.
● During
this time, Aurangzeb was occupied with Pathan revolts in the North-West corner
of his Empire.
● Shivaji
deftly regained his lost positions in the Konkan coast. In 1674, he crowned himself Chhatrapati, officially creating an
independent Maratha kingdom.
Ashta Pradhan:
● The
next six years were spent expanding his rule and forging new political norms,
replacing the prevailing Indo-Persian court culture.
● He
promoted the use of Marathi and Sanskrit in his courts and created an elaborate
administrative system with a council of
ministers known as “Ashta Pradhan.”