\\History Department\\ 'O' Round 2 pg. 68 - Page 3

Asoka the Great

One of the greatest emperors of all times, Emperor Asoka was a Mauryan ruler whose empire spread across the Indian sub continent and the present day Pakistan and Afghanistan thus covering a vast area. He is known as Asoka the Great since he was one of the most able rulers who ruled India. Under his rule, the whole of India was united as one single entity with smooth administration. His life is an inspiration to many as he excelled in everything that he did. The name Ashoka means "without any sorrow" in Sanskrit. Read on this biography about the life history of famous Buddhist emperor Ashoka.

Born in 265 B.C, the great king Ashoka was the grandson of the famous ruler Chandragupta Maurya. As a young lad, Ashoka excelled in whatever he was taught. Be it the art of warfare or reading the Holy Scriptures, Asoka excelled in whatever he did. Ashoka had many half brothers and he was loved by one and all. Thus, after his father died, he was crowned as the king of Magadha around 268 B.C. After being crowned as the king, he proved himself by smoothly administrating his territory and performing all his duties as an able and courageous king.

After a period of eight years of being a king, Ashoka planned to seize the territory of Kalinga, the present day Orissa. He led a huge army and fought a gruesome battle with the army of Kalinga. The battle of Kalinga made him pledge to never wage a war again. The battle took place on the Dhauli hills that are located on the banks of River Daya. Though Ashoka emerged victorious at the end, the sight of the battlefield made his heart break with shame, guilt and disgust. It is said that the battle was so furious that the waters of River Daya turned red with the blood of the slain soldiers and civilians.

The sight of numerous corpses lying strewn across the battlefield made his heart wrench. He felt sick inside. The battle ground looked like a graveyard with bodies of not just soldiers but men, women and children. He saw young children crying over the bodies of their dead parents, women crying over the bodies of their dead husbands, mothers crying over the loss of a child. This made him heartbroken and he made a pledge to never ever fight a battle again. To seek solace, he converted to Buddhism. He was so inspired by the teachings of the Buddhist monks and Buddhist philosophies that he used his status to impart this knowledge all over the world. He is credited to be the first Emperor to make a serious attempt at developing Buddhist policies.

The Kalinga War- A Change

Originally posted by: megha01

d article strongly supports d notion dat there was'nt any such invasion.

still its a controversial issue.

i m luking fr more on this issue........will share somethng as soon as possible

Originally posted by: BhartiKhushi909

wowwwwwwwww megha thnx for sharing it dear

map se lagta hai almost all India uske under me tha he was really gr8

yes di..........ashoka was d on a digvijay sort of.......as prc.

but those deaths n disaster changed him........else usko koi nahi rok paata.....

Originally posted by: megha01

yes di..........ashoka was d on a digvijay sort of.......as prc.

but those deaths n disaster changed him........else usko koi nahi rok paata.....

Shivaji

Confrontation with the Regional Sultanates

In 1645, at the age of 16, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj carried out his first military action by attacking and capturing Torna Fort of the Bijapur kingdom. By 1647 he had captured Kondana and Rajgad forts and had control of much of the southern Pune region. By 1654 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had captured forts in the Western Ghats and along the Konkan coast. In a bid to contain Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Adilshah imprisoned Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's father in 1648–49 and sent an army led by Farradkhan against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's elder brother Sambhaji at Bangalore and another army led by Fattekhan against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj atPurandhar. Both Bhosle brothers defeated the invading armies. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj petitioned Emperor Shahjahan's son, Dara Shikoh, who was Governor of Deccan, pledging his loyalty to the Mughals to seek his support in securing the release of his father. The Mughals recognised Shivaji as a Mughal Sardar and pressured Adilshah to release Shahaji. In return Shivaji had to cede a fort and Sambhaji had to cede Bangalore city and a fort to Adilshah.

Battles

Pratapgad

Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhosle (statue at Raigad)

Adilshah sent general Afzal Khan to destroy Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in an effort to put down what he saw as a regional revolt. Afzal Khan desecrated Hindu temples at Tuljapur andPandharpur hoping to draw Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to the plains to retaliate with his limited military resources and thus lead him and his budding military power to easy destruction by the numerically bigger, better-armed and more professional Bijapur army. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, upon carefully weighing his options, strategically decided to confront and surprise Afzal Khan on his home turf under the guise of diplomatic negotiations. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj sent a letter to Afzal Khan stating that he was not eager for confrontation and sought some type of understanding. A meeting was arranged between Afzal Khan and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at the foothills of Fort Pratapgad.^[8]

Expecting certain skulduggery from Afzal Khan, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj armed himself with the concealable weapons bichhwa (dagger) and wagh nakh (tiger claws) and wore achilkhat (chain-mail armour) under his clothing for the meeting. What transpired during the meeting was not recorded by scribes, but folklore has it that Afzal Khan pretended to graciously embrace Shivaji as per custom and attempted to stab Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the back with a katara (a short waist-holstered dagger). Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's agility, strength and his armour in addition to being prepared helped him survive this attack.

In the ensuing Battle of Pratapgarh fought in the dense forest of Javli on 10 November 1659, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's armies attacked Vijapur's (Afzal Khan's) forces and engaged them in swift flanking maneuvers.

Soon after the slaying of Afzal Khan, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj sped up the slope towards the Pratapgarh fort with his lieutenants and ordered cannons to be fired. This was a signal to his infantry, which had been strategically placed under the cover of the densely vegetated valley, to immediately attack Afzal Khan's forces.^[8] Maratha troops under Kanhoji Jedhe attacked 1,500 musketeers and routed them at the foothills of the fort. Then in a rapid march, a section of Adilshahi forces commanded by Musekhan was attacked. Musekhan was wounded and subsequently fled, abandoning his soldiers who were subsequently decimated by the Maratha troops.

Commander Moropant Pingale led the infantry to the left flank of the Adilshahi troops. Adilshah's artillery was rendered ineffective by the sudden attack at close quarters. At the same time commander Ragho Atre swiftly attacked Adilshahi cavalry before it was fully prepared for battle and almost completely wiped it out. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's cavalry headed by Netaji Palkar rushed towards Wai in hot pursuit of retreating Adilshahi forces who were attempting to join reserve forces stationed there. The retreating forces of Afzal Khan were engaged in battle and were routed.^[8]

This clear and unambiguous victory made Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj a hero of Maratha folklore and a legendary figure among his people. The large quantities of captured weapons, horses, armour and other materials helped to strengthen the nascent and emerging Maratha army. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, now identified Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as a major threat to the mighty Mughal Empire. Soon thereafter Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Shahaji and Netaji Palkar (the chief of the Maratha cavalry) decided to attack and defeat the Adilshahi kingdom at Bijapur. But things did not go as planned as Shahaji's health deteriorated and they were forced to postpone this attack. However, Netaji Palkar undertook this mission with smaller scale attacks and military harassment of the Adilshahi kingdom.

Subsequently, the Sultan of Bijapur sent an elite Pashtun army comprising mainly Afghani mercenaries to subdue and defeat Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj before he could substantially expand his army. In the ensuing battle, Bijapur's Pashtun army was soundly defeated by the Maratha troops. This intense and bloody battle ended in the unconditional surrender of the Bijapuri forces to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

[edit]Kolhapur

To counter the loss at Pratapgad and to defeat the newly emerging Maratha power, another army, this time numbering over 10,000, was sent against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, commanded by Bijapur's renowned Abyssinian general Rustamjaman.^[12] With a cavalry of 5,000 Marathas, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj attacked them near Kolhapur on 28 December 1659. In a swift movement, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj led a full frontal attack at the center of the enemy forces while other two portions of his cavalry attacked the flanks. This battle lasted for several hours and at the end Bijapuri forces were soundly defeated and Rustamjaman ignominiously fled the battlefield.^[8] Adilshahi forces lost about 2,000 horses and 12 elephants to the Marathas.^[12] This victory alarmed the mighty Mughal empire who now derisively referred to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as the "Mountain Rat". Aurangzeb the Mughal emperor was now actively preparing to bring the full might and resources of the Mughal Empire to bear down on the potential Maratha threat.

Upon the request of Badi Begum of Bijapur, Aurangzeb sent his maternal uncle (brother of late Queen Mumtaz Mahal) Shaista Khan, with an army numbering over 100,000 along with a powerful artillery division in January 1660 to defeat Shivaji. Khan was accompanied by eminent commanders like Turktaj, Hussain, Haider, Naamdar Khan, Kartalab Khan, Uzbek Khan, Fateh Jung and Rajputs namely Bhau Singh, Shyam Singh, Rai Singh Sisodiya, Pradyuman and many more.^[12] Khan was an experienced commander who had defeated Shahaji in the same region in 1636.^[8] He was ordered to attack the Maratha kingdom in conjunction with Bijapur's army led by Siddi Jauhar. Aurangzeb ordered Shaista Khan to capture the Maratha kingdom to add to the empire (he intended to deceive the Adilshah), after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's expected defeat by Jauhar. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj now prepared to face a combined attack of Mughals and Adilshahi forces.^[12]

Siege of Panhala

M.V. Dhurandhar's painting of Shivaji.

Per the terms of the Mughal-Adilshahi plan, Adil Shah in 1660 sent Siddi Jauhar, an accomplished general to attack Shivaji on his southern borders, preceding the expected major Mughal attack from the north. He ordered his army of 40,000 north to Kolhapur to confront and defeat Shivaji as a part of their grand alliance with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. He secured the support of local chieftains such as Jasvantrao Dalvi of Palavani and Suryarao Surve of Sringarpur to defeat Shivaji.^[8] At that time, Shivaji was camped at thePanhala fort near present day Kolhapur with 8,000 Marathas.

Siddi Jauhar's army besieged Panhala on 2 March 1660, cutting off supply routes to the fort.^[12] Helping with siege were Baji Ghorpade and Siddi Masud from the west, Sadat khan and Bhai khan from the north, Rustam Zaman and Bade khan from the east, Siddi Jauhar and Fazal Khan from the south. Netaji Palkar, the Commander of the Maratha forces was on a mission away from Panhala harassing and attacking Adilshahi territory and was not able to come to the aid of Shivaji. At this point of time, Shaista Khan had moved from Baramati toShirwal.^[12]

Panhala was a formidable fort and Adilshahi army was repulsed repeatedly by effective cannon fire and heavy rock-pelting.^[12] Siddi Jauhar approached Henry Revington, the British chief at the Rajapur port to seek long-range and more powerful cannons. Henry decided to help him in return for future favours, and began pounding Panhala fort. In spite of this Marathas continued defending Panhala and persevered in keeping Siddi Jauhar at bay.^[12]

Marathas even raided the Adilshahi camp a few times but without much success. However, in one such raid, Tryambak Bhaskar and Kondaji Farzand presented themselves as allies of the British and Adlishahi forces. They came down to the Adilshahi camp and met Henry Revington and his associates. They managed to kill one British officer and injured Henry. Thereafter, they sabotaged the cannons and made them ineffective. Jauhar, livid at this, tightened the siege further.^[12]

Jauhar did not leave any stone unturned to ensure that the siege around Panhala was unyielding, he personally took utmost care that no one in his army was complacent. He even braved the tumultuous monsoon season and continued the siege even during heaviest downpours.^[12] On hearing about the ever tightening siege of Panhala, Netaji Palkar returned from Bijapur and attacked the Adilshahi forces surrounding Panhala. He tried to break the siege but his smaller forces were pushed back by a much larger Adilshahi army.^[12]

Thereafter, Shivaji decided to escape to a nearby fort Vishalgad, where he could regroup his soldiers. He then sent misleading messages to Siddi Jauhar indicating that he was willing to negotiate and was looking for accommodation and mutual understanding. With this news, Adilshahi soldiers relaxed somewhat and Shivaji escaped under the cover of a stormy night on 12 July 1660.^[12]

Meanwhile Jauhar's soldiers captured a small group of Marathas apparently including Shivaji only to realize he was a look-alike named Shiva Kashid dressed like Shivaji and sent out to create a diversion and facilitate the real Shivaji's escape. Siddi Johar's soldiers realized that the imposter was Shivaji's barber and that Shivaji and his army were headed to Vishalgad, immediately thereafter a massive chase was undertaken to intercept Shivaji and deal with him and his army, once and for all.^[8]

[edit]Pavan Khind

Observing that enemy cavalry was fast closing in on them, Shivaji sought to avoid defeat and capture. Baji Prabhu Deshpande, a Maratha sardar along with 300 soldiers, volunteered to fight to the death to hold back the enemy at Ghod Khind (a mountain pass in Gajapur which is 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Vishalgad) to give Shivaji and the rest of the army a chance to reach the safety of the Vishalgad fort.^[8][12]

In the ensuing Battle of Pavan Khind, Baji Prabhu Deshpande fought relentlessly. He was almost fatally wounded but he held on and continued the fight until he heard the sound ofcannon fire from Vishalgad, signalling Shivaji had safely reached the fort. The result of this intense and heroic battle was the death of 300 Marathas and 1,286 of Adilshah's troops who were engaged in an fierce, up close, face to face, hand to hand, steel on steel combat,^[8]allowing Shivaji to reach the fort safely on 13 July 1660. .^[12] Thereafter a truce was made between Shivaji and Adilshah through Shahaji, acknowledging and formally recognizing the independence of Shivaji's Kingdom.

In addition, as the terms of this accord, Panhala fort was awarded to Siddi Johar.^[8] Ghod Khind (khind = " a narrow mountain pass") was renamed Pavan Khind (Sacred Pass) in honor of Bajiprabhu Deshpande, Shibosingh Jadhav, Fuloji, people from Bandal community and all other soldiers who fought in Ghod Khind (People from Bandal community were specially selected by Shivaji while escaping from Panhala for their knowledge of the region, rock climbing skills, martial qualities).^[12] A small memorial stands even today in the pass in recognition of the heroism of Bajiprabhu and his men.

This treaty remained in force until the death of Shahaji. Thereafter the Marathas became a formal and recognized power in the Deccan. Suspecting treachery, the loyal, steadfast, dedicated and horourable Siddi Jauhar was reportedly poisoned to death by the Adilshah for alleged disloyalty in allowing Shivaji to emerge victorious against the sultanate.^[12]

di...............thnx fr dis info

i m reading it

btw der is a show on chhtrapati shivaji on star pravah......its a marathi show but very lavish one

Clash with the Mughals

[edit]Battle of Umberkhind

An Uzbek general, Kartalab Khan, was sent by Shaista Khan on a mission to attack and reduce the number of forts under Shivaji's control in the Konkan region on 3 February 1661. He left his camp near Pune with 30,000 troops. This time the Mughals did not march openly and took circuitous back country routes, as they sought to surprise Shivaji.^[12] But instead Shivaji surprised them at a pass known as 'Umber Khind'(in a dense forest, near present-day Pen), and attacked them from all sides. Marathas hidden in the dense forest executed a well co-ordinated ambush attack on the Mughal army.^[12] Shivaji himself took the forward position with an elite cavalry unit. The other three sides were flanked by Shivaji's light infantry.

In a well co-ordinated movement of light infantry and cavalry, Shivaji prevailed over the attackers. A Maratha lady commander, Raibagan, who co-led the Mughal forces, analyzed the situation and realised that defeat was imminent and advised Kartalab Khan to accept defeat and initiate a compromise with Shivaji.^[8][12] Within four hours into the attack the enemy accepted defeat and surrendered all the supplies, arms and assets. The Mughal army suffered high casualties. The defeated army was allowed a safe passage. Kartalab Khan and Raibagan were released with honour in accordance with Shivaji's terms and his long standing policy towards women and unarmed civilians.^[8]

[edit]Shaista Khan

Shaista Khan was ordered by Aurangzeb to attack Shivaji per the Mughal-Adilshahi accord. Shaista Khan, with his better equipped and provisioned army of 100,000 that was many times the size of the Maratha forces, seized Pune and the nearby fort of Chakan. At the time, Firangoji Narsala was the killedar (Commander) of fort Chakan, which was defended by 300–350 Maratha soldiers. They were able to withstand the Mughal attack on the fort for one and a half month. Then, a burj (outer wall) was blown up with explosives. This created an opening to the fort allowing hordes of Mughals to breach the exterior portion of the fort. Firangoji, himself led the Maratha counter attack against a larger Mughal army.^[8][12] Eventually, the fort was lost with the capture of Firangoji, who then was brought before Shaista Khan, who, appreciating his bravery, offered him a jahagir (military commission) on the condition that he join the Mughal forces, which Firangoji declined. Admiring his loyalty, Shaista Khan pardoned Firangoji and set him free. Firangoji returned home and Shivaji awarded him a fort named Bhupalgad.^[12]

Shaista Khan pressed his advantage of larger, better provisioned and heavily armed Mughal army and made inroads into some of the Maratha territory. Although he held Pune for almost a year, he had little further success. He had set up his residence at Lal Mahal, Shivaji's palace, in the city of Pune.^[8]

Shaista Khan kept a tight security in Pune. However, Shivaji planned an attack on Shaista Khan amidst tight security. In April 1663, a wedding party had obtained special permission for a procession; Shivaji planned an attack using the wedding party as cover. The Marathas disguised themselves as the bridegroom's procession and entered Pune. Shivaji, having spent much of his youth in Pune, knew his way around the city and his own palace of Lal Mahal.^[8] Chimanaji Deshpande- one of the childhood friends of Shivaji aided him in this attack offering his services as a personal bodyguard. According to Babasaheb Purandare, since Mughal army also consisted of Maratha soldiers, it was difficult for someone to distinguish between Shivaji's Maratha soldiers and the Maratha soldiers of the Mughal army. Thus, taking advantage of this situation, Shivaji, along with a few of his trusted men, infiltrated the Mughal camp.

After overpowering and slaying of the palace guards, the Marathas broke into the mansion by breaching an outer wall. Chimnaji andNetaji Palkar entered first along with Babaji Deshpande, another of Shivaji's long time loyal associates, they approached Shaista Khan's quarters. Shivaji then personally confronted Shaista Khan in a 'face to face' attack. Meanwhile, perceiving danger, one of Shaista's wives turned off the lights. Shivaji pursued Shaista Khan and severed three of his fingers with his sword (in the darkness) as he fled through an open window^{[citation needed]}. Shaista Khan narrowly escaped death and lost his son and many of his guards and soldiers in the raid.^[8]

Within twenty-four hours of this attack, Shaista Khan left Pune and headed North towards Agra. An angered Aurangzeb transferred him to distant Bengal as a punishment for bringing embarrassment to the Mughals with his ignoble defeat in Pune^{[citation needed]}.

In 1664 Shivaji invaded Surat, an important and wealthy Mughal trading city, and looted it to replenish his now depleted treasury and also as a revenge for the capture and looting of Maratha territory by Shaista Khan. (Surat was again sacked by Shivaji in 1670.)^[8]

Aurangzeb was enraged and sent Mirza Raja Jai Singh I with an army numbering well over 100,000 to defeat Shivaji. Mirza planned and executed his battle stratergies so well with his vast army that the Mughal forces under him made significant gains and captured many Maratha forts. Shivaji thus, decided to surrender for the time-being and come to terms with Aurangzeb rather than lose more forts and men.

In the ensuing treaty of Purander, signed between Shivaji and Jai Singh on 11 June 1665, Shivaji agreed to give up 23 of his forts and pay compensation of 400,000 rupees to the Mughals. He also agreed to let his son Sambhaji become a Mughal Sardar, serve the Mughal court of Aurangzeb and fight with Mughals against Bijapur. He actually fought along side Raja Jai Singh's Mughal forces against Bijapur's forces for a few months. His commander, Netaji Palkar, joined Mughals, was rewarded very well for his bravery, converted to Islam, changed his name to Quli Mohammed Khan in 1666 and was sent to the Afghan frontier to fight the restive tribes. He returned to Shivaji's service after ten years in 1676 and was accepted back as a Hindu on Shivaji's order.

[edit]Trip To Agra and Escape

In 1666, Aurangzeb summoned Shivaji to Agra, along with his nine-year-old son Sambhaji, on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday. Aurangzeb's plan was to send Shivaji to Kandahar, modern day Afghanistan to consolidate the Mughal Empire's north-western frontier. However in the court, on 12 May 1666, Aurangzeb made Shivaji stand behind mansabdars (military commanders) of his court.^[8] Shivaji took offense at this seeming insult and stormed out of court and was promptly placed under house arrest, under the watch of Faulad Khan, Kotwal of Agra. From his spies, Shivaji learned that Aurangzeb planned to move his residence to Raja Vitthaldas's Haveli and then to possibly kill him or send him to fight in the Afghan frontier. As a result Shivaji planned his escape.

He feigned almost fatal sickness and requested to send most of his contingent back to the Deccan, thereby ensuring the safety of his army and deceiving Aurangzeb. Thereafter, on his request, he was allowed to send daily shipments of sweets and gifts to saints, fakirs, and temples in Agra as offerings for getting well.^[8] After several days and weeks of sending out boxes containing sweets, Shivaji and his nine year old son Sambhaji hid themselves in two of the boxes and managed to escape. Shivaji and his son fled to the Deccan disguised as sadhus (holy men). After the escape, rumours of Sambhaji's death were intentionally spread by Shivaji himself in order to deceive the Mughals and to protect Sambhaji.^[8]

Dr. Ajit Joshi in a book Agryahun Sutka, concluded that Shivaji most likely disguised himself as a Brahmin priest after performance of religious rites at the haveli grounds and escaped by mingling in within the departing priestly entourage.^[13] However, according to Mr. Ranjit Desai, author of the Marathi book Shriman Yogi (later translated to English as Shivaji the Great), Shivaji disguised himself as one of the servants who used to carry boxes of sweets which were being sent out as gifts.

The method Shivaji used to escape is still not clear, to this day.