Mastani, Rakma Bai Pg30 | All about MASTANI, Chimaji, Nana Saheb Pg31 - Page 12

Sindhudurg (durg means fort)

Sindhudurg was built in 1664-67 AD by Shivaji Maharaj.  The construction was done under the supervision of Hiroji Indulkar, who was also the architect for Raigad. 

3000 workers were employed round the clock for three years to build Sindhudurg. 

One of the best preserved forts of the Marathas, the 48 acre Sindhudurg fort has a four kms long zigzag line of 9 metres high and 3 metres wide rampart with 42 bastions.  Apart from the huge stones, the building material involved 2000 khandis (72,576kgs)of iron erecting the massive curtain wall and bastions. A notable feature is that the foundation stones were laid down firmly in molten lead.


Khanderi fort



On 17th Nov. 1679, Maratha captured British warship named "Dove". This was a big setback for so called "Royal navy" & as a result they called off the war.


Source http://durgavaibhav.blogspot.in/2000/01/khanderi-fort.html

Edited by MaddyO - 7 years ago

Originally posted by: MaddyO

Abhay, I will check out this link asap. 

Reading Shivaji Maharaj's letter to Aurangzeb was fascinating.  So I am eager to read your post on Aurangzeb.

Really liked Prince Akbar's line in his letter to Sambhaji Raje - "As the world does not stay in the same condition, it is better to hove a good name, which will endure as a memorial" - so apt.
Aurangzeb is remembered as a zealot who tortured Hindus.

It would be so interesting to read about his state of mind in the end. 

There are a lot of conflicting views coming up for Aurangzeb these days. I am reading all of them. This man was much deep than what he appears.

The empire built by Akbar and raised to splendour by Shah Jahan was in a utter ruin and hopeless decay at his death. His own daughters / daughter in laws / female relatives asked him allow them to go back to Agra, as they were fed up of camp life and living in such tents. They literally said these - "At least allow us the pleasure of dying in Agra*."

* - Referring to luxury. But by that time, the revenues had dried to such an extent that even the royal expenses were not fulfilled.


He died alone. A broken man. His most close relatives died before his eyes in the misery of Deccan. His most beloved daughter in law died in 1705. His son Akbar died in exile in Persia (fled 1687) earlier in 1704 but he got the news of his death in 1705.

His talented daughter Zeb-un-Nissa who was a GREAT lady died in prison in Delhi in 1702. You should read 3 blogs i have written about this unfortunate daughter of Aurangzeb. So much talent. So much regard for all faiths. She wrote about Sri Krishna, Maa Saraswati and Laxmi. But even she could not win over the bigotry of her father. She spent her best years of youth in prison!

I felt a strange pull after reading about her life. Reading history you get a bit stone hearted as after a time you start thinking that cruelty was a norm in those days. But still, she is one lady for whom i really feel ! If you ever get time, just read these 3 blogs about her. { But don't cry. Several members wrote in comments that this blog made them cry.}

I will not Lift My Veil - Zeb un Nissa Part 1

Neither Supplications not gold can win me - Zeb un Nissa Part 2

My Name is Zeb un Nissa and i am the glory of womankind - Part 3

All these above titles are actually the first lines of her poems.
I have quoted lot of poems she wrote in my blogs.



Gauhara Begum was the sole survivor among his countless brothers and sisters. Even she died in 1706. This was a final nail in the coffin. His biography records his words on hearing news of her death - "She and I alone were left among Shah Jahan's children."

Next, in May 1706, his another beloved daughter Mehrunissa died & also her husband Izid Bakash. Izid was son of his brother Murad.

One month after above 2 deaths, his beloved grandson Buland Akhtar died. Buland was son of his rebel son Akbar whom we read about in last 2 pages.

2 more grandsons died in 1707 before his own death but it is said (i am not sure) that the ministers withheld this unfortunate news from him.


Add to this, Marathas were severely harassing them. In 1706 a series of attacks was launched, most of them under leadership of Dhanaji Jadhav. Aurangzeb was bed ridden and directed all operations from his bed !! But Marathas won notable victories in 1706.


His problems did not end here. One of his sons Akbar died already in Persia, in exile as we saw. Other sons - Muhammad Azam, Muazam and Kam Baksh were not on good terms.

Azam was not the senior-most but had power. So, he decided to murder his brother Kam Baksh. And considered the elder Muazzam as weak. Aurangzeb understood all plans and appointed a senior officer Sultan Husain as a security guard for Kam Baksh who was required to be present always in attendance with his own army and was asked to surround Kam Baksh under his security 24X7 !!!  Because, every single passing day the plans of Azam to kill Kam Baksh were getting sinister. Even when Kam Baksh used to come to meet his father Aurangzeb, entire army contingent came along with him for his security !!

Muazzam had a able son - Azim us Shan who was a capable contender for throne. Hence, Azam had poisoned Aurangzeb's ears against his gradnson Azim, earlier.


It was all in front of Aurangzeb. He was a master of such conspiracies when he was young. I am sure he must have remembered how he plotted against his own brother Dara Shukoh with Murad and Shuja, and one by one eliminated all of them. He even brutally eliminated the son of Dara.

See this post about Suleiman Shukoh, son of Dara Shukoh. There are over 100 comments below this post. Lol.
https://mariam-uz-zamani.blogspot.in/2014/12/aurangzeb-sucession-to-throne-alternate-story.html#.WJoifBJ2m1s


We have another daughter of Aurangzeb - Zinat un Nissa (the 'guardian angel' of Shahu ji and Yesu Bai about whom we read on Page 3 and 6? in this thread earlier) . It was she who tried to stop her brother Azam from committing these sinister deeds. And tried to prevent clash between father (Aurangzeb) and son (Azam). As Aurangzeb had warned Azam to stay away from Kam Baksh.

{
Kam Baksh was close to him. In his death will he wrote : " I was helpless [in life] and I am departing helpless. Whichever of my sons has the good fortune of gaining the kingship, he should not trouble Kam Bakhsh if the latter is content with the two provinces of Bijapur and Hyderabad. "
}


Now Aurangzeb did what Shah Jahan tried to do during his end days. He sent his sons away from his in different directions of empire, to prevent any mutual fighting, early in 1707. Azam was sent to Malwa. Kam Baksh was sent near Marathas in Bijapur, to South. Other son was also away.

Then, separately he wrote letters before his death to Kam Baksh and Azam to develop brotherly bond and love and not fight with each other. I have the contents of those letters but not quoting here, unless you need that explicitly. After his death, a document was found under his pillow in which he had prescribed partition of empire among his sons assigning each some part to prevent fight. But fight happened, that is not part of our discussion. Just quoting some part.

Letter to Azam :

"
Old age has arrived and weakness has grown strong, strength has left my limbs. I came alone and am going away alone. I know not who I am and what I have been doing. The days that have been spent except in austerities have left only regret behind them. I have not at all done any (true) government of the realm or cherishing of the peasantry. Life, so valuable, has gone away for nothing. All the soldiers are feeling helpless, bewildered, and perturbed like me.

Convey to my grandson Bahadur (i.e. Bidar Bakht) my parting blessing. At the time of your going away I could not see him ; the desire of meeting him remains (unsatisfied)..
"



Even at his death, his bigotry did not leave his head. The astrologers suggested that in order to ward off evil spirits he should give an elephant worth 4000 rupees in alms ( tassadduq ) . He replied that giving such "donations" in charity (in Hindi we say "Daan" ) was a custom of Hindus. Instead of elephant worth 4000, give an amount of 4000 to the Qazi for needy.

At his death, no one was with him, except his own daughter Zinat un Nissa.



Now, you must have got to know the crumbling state of Aurangzeb in his last days. I told you in my comment that in his death will he has mentioned Shivaji. So, quoting what he wrote :

"
12. The main pillar of government is to be well informed in the news of the kingdom. Negligence for a single moment becomes the cause of disgrace for long years. The escape of that wretch Shiva took place through [my] carelessness, and i have to labour hard [against the Marathas] to the end of my life, [as the result of that escape] .
"

Actually he had given 12 instructions to his sons in his death will. This was the 12th and last instruction. You can very well understand that even in his death he could not forget Shivaji. He was of the opinion that the escape of Shivaji from Agra Fort was a turning point in his life. He believed - Had he some how prevented escape of Shivaji from the Agra Fort, then he would not to toil so hard for 25* years ( 1682 - 1707) in Deccan against the Marathas !!

* - Similar 30 years war was fought against the Rathores of Jodhpur from 1680/81 - 1707/11.

He knew he has destroyed everything. In one of his letters, he tells his son that - "Due to my campaigns in the Deccan in tough terrains, my own officers pray for my death."  There is a record by his own historian in his biography that a noble bribed him 1 lakh rupees. The reason - that noble was home sick and wanted to go back to Delhi from Deccan.

Now think. If a noble feels like this, then what about the soldiers whose conditions were not good like nobles.

I shared this snippet on my page yesterday. The Mughal court document (1720s) " Tarikh-i-Shadat-Farukh Siyar-wa-Julus-i-Muhammad-Shah " , says this : " Alamgir waged war against Marathas for 25 years. He won only pyrrhic victories which brought more misfortunes than benefits. Whatever was achieved in last 200 years was undone by him and set at naught. All the rules and regulations established during that period were thrown to winds by him. "

He made too many enemies. And despite being a good fighter opened fights on too many fronts just like Hitler in WWII . In South Marathas. In the West, Rajputs. Then, we can not forget the Sikhs in Punjab who lost 2 of their gurus due to Aurangzeb! He even disturbed the Jats of Agra. As a retaliation they destroyed Akbar's mausoleum in 1691.

I can go on and on and still i would not be able to conclude. The list is endless. But you must have got an idea of what he inherited and what he left! He died alone, and a broken man.



BTW, Zinnat un Nissa is soon going to enter the show as i read. We have already discussed her role in release of Shahu ji in 1707 and later Yesu Bai in 1719. Link 1     Link2

Today, in the episode, we heard name of Kam Baksh. He was son of Aurangzeb whom, at the end of his life, he had dispatched towards Marathas in South (Bijapur). I mentioned him in brief in this comment too.

Letters exchanged between Sambhaji, Akbar and ruler of Amer. Link

Document from Jaipur State Archives about the visit of Shivaji to Mughal Court. Link

Link to index on Page 1. Here

Originally posted by: The.Lannister

Yesterday we had Q mentioning about the Chauth. Here is some information about it which I would like to share. 

In the times of Shivaji chauth was:

The military contribution paid by defenseless subjects of enemy kingdoms & territories for protection of their lives & properties from invading Maratha armies.

In Aurangzeb's time it was:

Collected in defiance of imperial authority. Later, Shahu sought imperial sanction to levy chauth.

In Shahu's time:

It was the price for the Mughals to purchase peace & security.

The collection of chauth was first started by Shivaji. 

Divisions of the chauth:

25% = to the King (called babti)

3% = again to the King. He used it to make various grants

6% = to the Panch Sachiv (called sahotra grant)

2/3rd part remained with the Maratha soldiers who collected the chauth. They used it to maintain the armies for the King. (called Mokasa)

The sardeshmukhi was an additional 10% levy on top of the chauth.

Great information Shruti. This is not easy to obtain.
Just adding what i know.

Shivaji just continued collecting Chauth as it was was done before him too. It was already in vogue even in 16th century. Portuguese settlers paid Chauth to the Rajputs of Dharampur. When Shivaji conquered these territories then he merely continued the practice by asking the same Chauth. :)

@Maddy.
I will respond to you, at leisure. Too many questions. Tsunami revisited. Lol

@Rashmi
I will check for letters exchanged between Raja Jai Singh of Amer and Shivaji. You are right. The relation between them was cordial.

Shivaji is reported to have told him - "Had you been the ruler of Delhi (instead of helping Aurangzeb gain the throne during the war of succession), then i would have been your vassal without any hesitation. " 

In short, he was telling Raja Jai Singh that he was ready to serve him without any problem, but not Aurangzeb.

Originally posted by: history_geek

LAST DAYS OF AURANGZEB

Mention of Shivaji in his Death Will (His Regret)

And

Episode 11 - 12  /  6-7 February 2017

I am saving all the blogs links to read them later. Hoping to find time to read soon 😊

I remember two quotes by Shivaji Maharaj about Aurangzeb reading this. First, when he was captured at Agra, after the initial shock was over and after a lot of thought process, he reached to conclusion that destiny was in his favour. Else why would Aurangzeb, who was known for ruthlessly and mercilessly ending his enemies life without a second thought, hesitate doing the same with Shivaji! Why would he keep Shivaji alive for months.. Shivaji had said that this delay in taking the decision is going to cost Aurangzeb a lot and he is going to regret it for lifetime. And how true was that!!

Second time when Aurangzeb had started preparing for the ultimate was in Deccan, Shivaji is believed to have predicted that Aurangzeb will never be able to win this war. He had said that each fort of him will make Aurangzeb fight for years, and that Aurangzeb will never go back to Delhi defeating Maratha kingdom.
Edited by _goofyCat_ - 7 years ago

Thank you so much for the posts,abhay. The discussions are really interesting, learning a lot...I've few things to say.

Originally posted by: history_geek

LAST DAYS OF AURANGZEB

Mention of Shivaji in his Death Will (His Regret)

And

Episode 11 - 12  /  6-7 February 2017

There are a lot of conflicting views coming up for Aurangzeb these days. I am reading all of them. This man was much deep than what he appears.

The empire built by Akbar and raised to splendour by Shah Jahan was in a utter ruin and hopeless decay at his death. His own daughters / daughter in laws / female relatives asked him allow them to go back to Agra, as they were fed up of camp life and living in such tents. They literally said these - "At least allow us the pleasure of dying in Agra*."

* - Referring to luxury. But by that time, the revenues had dried to such an extent that even the royal expenses were not fulfilled.


He died alone. A broken man. His most close relatives died before his eyes in the misery of Deccan. His most beloved daughter in law died in 1705. His son Akbar died in exile in Persia (fled 1687) earlier in 1704 but he got the news of his death in 1705.

His talented daughter Zeb-un-Nissa who was a GREAT lady died in prison in Delhi in 1702. You should read 3 blogs i have written about this unfortunate daughter of Aurangzeb. So much talent. So much regard for all faiths. She wrote about Sri Krishna, Maa Saraswati and Laxmi. But even she could not win over the bigotry of her father. She spent her best years of youth in prison!

I felt a strange pull after reading about her life. Reading history you get a bit stone hearted as after a time you start thinking that cruelty was a norm in those days. But still, she is one lady for whom i really feel ! If you ever get time, just read these 3 blogs about her. { But don't cry. Several members wrote in comments that this blog made them cry.}

I will not Lift My Veil - Zeb un Nissa Part 1

Neither Supplications not gold can win me - Zeb un Nissa Part 2

My Name is Zeb un Nissa and i am the glory of womankind - Part 3

All these above titles are actually the first lines of her poems.
I have quoted lot of poems she wrote in my blogs.



Gauhara Begum was the sole survivor among his countless brothers and sisters. Even she died in 1706. This was a final nail in the coffin. His biography records his words on hearing news of her death - "She and I alone were left among Shah Jahan's children."

Next, in May 1706, his another beloved daughter Mehrunissa died & also her husband Izid Bakash. Izid was son of his brother Murad.

One month after above 2 deaths, his beloved grandson Buland Akhtar died. Buland was son of his rebel son Akbar whom we read about in last 2 pages.

2 more grandsons died in 1707 before his own death but it is said (i am not sure) that the ministers withheld this unfortunate news from him.


Add to this, Marathas were severely harassing them. In 1706 a series of attacks was launched, most of them under leadership of Dhanaji Jadhav. Aurangzeb was bed ridden and directed all operations from his bed !! But Marathas won notable victories in 1706.


His problems did not end here. One of his sons Akbar died already in Persia, in exile as we saw. Other sons - Muhammad Azam, Muazam and Kam Baksh were not on good terms.

Azam was not the senior-most but had power. So, he decided to murder his brother Kam Baksh. And considered the elder Muazzam as weak. Aurangzeb understood all plans and appointed a senior officer Sultan Husain as a security guard for Kam Baksh who was required to be present always in attendance with his own army and was asked to surround Kam Baksh under his security 24X7 !!!  Because, every single passing day the plans of Azam to kill Kam Baksh were getting sinister. Even when Kam Baksh used to come to meet his father Aurangzeb, entire army contingent came along with him for his security !!

Muazzam had a able son - Azim us Shan who was a capable contender for throne. Hence, Azam had poisoned Aurangzeb's ears against his gradnson Azim, earlier.


It was all in front of Aurangzeb. He was a master of such conspiracies when he was young. I am sure he must have remembered how he plotted against his own brother Dara Shukoh with Murad and Shuja, and one by one eliminated all of them. He even brutally eliminated the son of Dara.

See this post about Suleiman Shukoh, son of Dara Shukoh. There are over 100 comments below this post. Lol.
https://mariam-uz-zamani.blogspot.in/2014/12/aurangzeb-sucession-to-throne-alternate-story.html#.WJoifBJ2m1s


We have another daughter of Aurangzeb - Zinat un Nissa (the 'guardian angel' of Shahu ji and Yesu Bai about whom we read on Page 3 and 6? in this thread earlier) . It was she who tried to stop her brother Azam from committing these sinister deeds. And tried to prevent clash between father (Aurangzeb) and son (Azam). As Aurangzeb had warned Azam to stay away from Kam Baksh.

{
Kam Baksh was close to him. In his death will he wrote : " I was helpless [in life] and I am departing helpless. Whichever of my sons has the good fortune of gaining the kingship, he should not trouble Kam Bakhsh if the latter is content with the two provinces of Bijapur and Hyderabad. "
}


Now Aurangzeb did what Shah Jahan tried to do during his end days. He sent his sons away from his in different directions of empire, to prevent any mutual fighting, early in 1707. Azam was sent to Malwa. Kam Baksh was sent near Marathas in Bijapur, to South. Other son was also away.

Then, separately he wrote letters before his death to Kam Baksh and Azam to develop brotherly bond and love and not fight with each other. I have the contents of those letters but not quoting here, unless you need that explicitly. After his death, a document was found under his pillow in which he had prescribed partition of empire among his sons assigning each some part to prevent fight. But fight happened, that is not part of our discussion. Just quoting some part.

Letter to Azam :

"
Old age has arrived and weakness has grown strong, strength has left my limbs. I came alone and am going away alone. I know not who I am and what I have been doing. The days that have been spent except in austerities have left only regret behind them. I have not at all done any (true) government of the realm or cherishing of the peasantry. Life, so valuable, has gone away for nothing. All the soldiers are feeling helpless, bewildered, and perturbed like me.

Convey to my grandson Bahadur (i.e. Bidar Bakht) my parting blessing. At the time of your going away I could not see him ; the desire of meeting him remains (unsatisfied)..
"



Even at his death, his bigotry did not leave his head. The astrologers suggested that in order to ward off evil spirits he should give an elephant worth 4000 rupees in alms ( tassadduq ) . He replied that giving such "donations" in charity (in Hindi we say "Daan" ) was a custom of Hindus. Instead of elephant worth 4000, give an amount of 4000 to the Qazi for needy.

At his death, no one was with him, except his own daughter Zinat un Nissa.



Now, you must have got to know the crumbling state of Aurangzeb in his last days. I told you in my comment that in his death will he has mentioned Shivaji. So, quoting what he wrote :

"
12. The main pillar of government is to be well informed in the news of the kingdom. Negligence for a single moment becomes the cause of disgrace for long years. The escape of that wretch Shiva took place through [my] carelessness, and i have to labour hard [against the Marathas] to the end of my life, [as the result of that escape] .
"

Actually he had given 12 instructions to his sons in his death will. This was the 12th and last instruction. You can very well understand that even in his death he could not forget Shivaji. He was of the opinion that the escape of Shivaji from Agra Fort was a turning point in his life. He believed - Had he some how prevented escape of Shivaji from the Agra Fort, then he would not to toil so hard for 25* years ( 1682 - 1707) in Deccan against the Marathas !!

* - Similar 30 years war was fought against the Rathores of Jodhpur from 1680/81 - 1707/11.

He knew he has destroyed everything. In one of his letters, he tells his son that - "Due to my campaigns in the Deccan in tough terrains, my own officers pray for my death."  There is a record by his own historian in his biography that a noble bribed him 1 lakh rupees. The reason - that noble was home sick and wanted to go back to Delhi from Deccan.

Now think. If a noble feels like this, then what about the soldiers whose conditions were not good like nobles.

I shared this snippet on my page yesterday. The Mughal court document (1720s) " Tarikh-i-Shadat-Farukh Siyar-wa-Julus-i-Muhammad-Shah " , says this : " Alamgir waged war against Marathas for 25 years. He won only pyrrhic victories which brought more misfortunes than benefits. Whatever was achieved in last 200 years was undone by him and set at naught. All the rules and regulations established during that period were thrown to winds by him. "

He made too many enemies. And despite being a good fighter opened fights on too many fronts just like Hitler in WWII . In South Marathas. In the West, Rajputs. Then, we can not forget the Sikhs in Punjab who lost 2 of their gurus due to Aurangzeb! He even disturbed the Jats of Agra. As a retaliation they destroyed Akbar's mausoleum in 1691.

I can go on and on and still i would not be able to conclude. The list is endless. But you must have got an idea of what he inherited and what he left! He died alone, and a broken man.

*********

BTW, Zinnat un Nissa is soon going to enter the show as i read. We have already discussed her role in release of Shahu ji in 1707 and later Yesu Bai in 1719. Link 1     Link2

Today, in the episode, we heard name of Kam Baksh. He was son of Aurangzeb whom, at the end of his life, he had dispatched towards Marathas in South (Bijapur). I mentioned him in brief in this comment too.

Letters exchanged between Sambhaji, Akbar and ruler of Amer. Link

Document from Jaipur State Archives about the visit of Shivaji to Mughal Court. Link

Link to index on Page 1. Here

Very interesting reading about Aurangzeb's last days.  I had read he had vowed not to set foot back in Agra till he destroyed the Maratha empire.  This is why in 25 years he did not - could not go back to Agra.

Why else not?  He could have gone back for few months few years otherwise.  Also as you wrote he had so many war fronts open, but he stayed on Deccan mission.

This is as per Shriman Yogi

Shivaji Maharaj considered it Aurangzeb's greatest folly to keep him alive.  He knew there was some huge confusion in Aurangzeb's mind about what to do.

Mirza Raje Jaisingh had swore that Shivaji Maharaj should go to Agra to meet Aurangzeb, no harm will come to him.  Shivaji Maharaj had tried to avoid going but Mirza RJ was adamant on this.  So he agreed only after getting firm promise about his safety on Mirza RJ's honor.

Mirza RJ had written to Aurangzeb that Shivaji Maharaj safety was of paramount importance.  He was to be kept alive in north and till he was there, for Shivaji Maharaj's safety Marathas would behave.  Ram Singh was given the responsibility by both Mirza RJ and Aurangzeb.

Aurangzeb had plotted to get rid of Shivaji Maharaj in battle, he was asked to go on a war near Afganistan/Kabul those areas.  Shivaji Maharaj had replied back saying he would be able to go with HIS army and he wanted to invite few thousand of his best fighters to go with him!  Naturally Auragnzeb dropped the idea 😆

Shivaji Maharaj escaped from Agra only after Ram Singh had been relieved of the responsibility.


Aurangzeb's family whoever remained did not want to be with him, his coffers had run dry, his sons were baying for each others blood, his army was wishing for his death, he had set out on a mission which he could not complete after 25 years --- I guess he reaped what he sowed. 

He thought of Shivaji Maharaj in his end days and he considered Agra escape turning point of his life - come to think of it - it was for both of them.
Shivaji Maharaj again built back his Maratha Empire after coming back from Agra - stronger larger more stable.  While Aurangzeb started losing everything from that point on.

Edited by MaddyO - 7 years ago

Originally posted by: _goofyCat_

I am saving all the blogs links to read them later. Hoping to find time to read soon 😊

I remember two quotes by Shivaji Maharaj about Aurangzeb reading this. First, when he was captured at Agra, after the initial shock was over and after a lot of thought process, he reached to conclusion that destiny was in his favour. Else why would Aurangzeb, who was known for ruthlessly and mercilessly ending his enemies life without a second thought, hesitate doing the same with Shivaji! Why would he keep Shivaji alive for months.. Shivaji had said that this delay in taking the decision is going to cost Aurangzeb a lot and he is going to regret it for lifetime. And how true was that!!

Second time when Aurangzeb had started preparing for the ultimate was in Deccan, Shivaji is believed to have predicted that Aurangzeb will never be able to win this war. He had said that each fort of him will make Aurangzeb fight for years, and that Aurangzeb will never go back to Delhi defeating Maratha kingdom.

People who have lived in plains will never fully get living on forts or trying to capture them in war - till they actually try.  Siddi Johar tried for months to get Panhala

Raigad would never have fallen if not for treachery 🤢😡

Originally posted by: luvuyuvi

Thank you so much for the posts,abhay. The discussions are really interesting, learning a lot...I've few things to say.

I'm not comparing ,but if you see, whenever you think of shivaji maharaj, there are various names,which will come to your mind. Like tanaji malusare, bajiprabhu deshpande, Shiva kashid, prataprao gujar etc... When you talk about rao(bajirao), again malharrao holkar, chimaji appa etc...but when you talk of sambhaji raje ,it's only kavi kalash and hambir rao mohite. Also the latter died after Some time. Kavi kalash was scholar, but not a political prodigy. After the coronation fiasco, he tried to bring ministers to his side, but had to punish them after their attempt to kill him. There was confusion and terror amongst people. N ot that people were not loyal to him but he had no one to trust, apart from kavi kalash.

In fact , when jijabai was alive,he was the heir apparent. After her death , soyarabai dominated the house hold ,wanted her son to be the king. He had impressed Aurangzeb, when shivaji maharaj along with him was in Agra. He was known to be the very scholar person. Also after shivaji maharaj's death, Aurangzeb came to Deccan. Sambhaji raje handled his enemies on different fronts.

He made some mistakes, but he wasn't as bad as he is portrayed to be. His death is a testimony to the fact what kind of a person he was. A very deserving son to shivaji maharaj.

Wonderful post and I agree with you.  I think whatever his earlier mistakes, after he got the throne, Sambhaji Maharaj redeemed himself.  He had to fight a strong enemy and manage in difficult times while lacking strong support.

He did have some victories, I think taking Janjira was one of high points, as Shivaji Mahraj had really wanted this sea fort.

Marathas and forts- it seems almost a love-affair to me. Marathas were so well versed with the ways of forts. It was said that forts are liability in the rainy season. Marathas would leave the forts in rainy season, after destroying everything. And after few months, would attack and win the fort ,which would be full of many things,grains water and all other things.

Even I have read about this 😃  Mughals used to think they got a win after taking the forts.  Marathas would just come back after monsoon and take the forts back 😆😃

Originally posted by: MaddyO

People who have lived in plains will never fully get living on forts or trying to capture them in war - till they actually try.  Siddi Johar tried for months to get Panhala

Raigad would never have fallen if not for treachery 🤢😡

Originally posted by: MaddyO