Reader's discretion: extreme violence.
Excerpt for The New History of the Marathas, Vol. I by G S Sardesai.(1957, Pheonix Publications, Bombay) pp. 325-26.
The Emperor received the news of Sambhaji's capture at Akluj, where it caused a wild outburst of rejoicing. A great terror had been lifted from the hearts of the imperialists. The Emperor felt that this success had put the crown on his recent victories over Bijapur and Golkonda, and now afforded him the cherished satisfaction of returning to Mhi in the triumph of a completed task. He at once left Akluj and proceeded to Bahadurgad, where the captives were brought under the guard of Hamid-uddin Khan. By the Emperor’s orders the captive Maratha King was made a mark of public ridicule. Four miles outside the encampment Sambhaji and Kavi Kalash were dressed as buffoons in long fools’ caps with bells fixed on them, mounted on camels and brought to Bahadurgad with drums beating and trumpets pealing, 'thousands of spectators lined the public roads gazing at these unhappy captives, as if they were a kind of wild beasts or demons. Thus degraded they were slowly paraded through the entire camp, extending over miles in length and finally brought to the Emperor, who then sat in full Darbar for the occasion. At the sight of the prisoners Aurangzeb descended from the throne and kneeling down on the carpet bowed his head to the ground in double thankfulness to the Giver of this crowning victory. After he had a quiet look at the prisoners, they were removed to their cell.
Next day, the Emperor sent his trusted personal officer Ruhulla Khan to talk to Sambhaji and make him an offer of his life on condition, that (1) he surrendered all his forts, (2)disclosed all his hidden treasures, and (3) declared the names of those Mughal officers who were in league with him. Fretting with bitterness of soul at having been publicly insulted and driven to desperation, Sambhaji spumed the offer of life with all the vehemence he could gather, loosened his tongue in abuse of the Emperor and his Prophet, giving free vent to his long pent up sentiments against the Muslim faith, and scurrilously asked for one of Aurangzeb’s daughters as the price of his friendship. The envoy dared not report to the Emperor the foul language he had heard, but conveyed only a hint of its purport. For once Sambhaji behaved with a stoic firmness worthy of the great Shivaji, and fully atoned by the manner of his death for all the sins he had committed in life.
He (Aurangzeb ) had not the heart to tolerate the open insult he had received from his worst enemy, who in his eyes had sinned beyond hope of pardon. That very night Sambhaji’s eyes were blinded and the next day the tongue of Kavi Kalash was cut out. Sambhaji stoically bore the tortures heaped upon him in order to extract his secrets. After a fortnight’s torture and insult, the captives were removed with the imperial camp from Bahadurgad to Koregaon on the river Bhima and there put to a cruel and painful death on 11th March 1689, the Amavasya day of the month of Falgun, their limbs being hacked off one by one and their flesh thrown to the dogs. Their sever- ed heads were stuffed with straw and exhibited in the chief cities of the Deccan to the accompaniment of drum and trumpet. These heads were later discovered in a thorny bush at the village of Vadu and secretly cremated by some kindly souls at Tulapur on a spot where the two rivers the Bhima and the Indrayani meet.
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