Rise of the Maratha Power

1 42 fR i se o the Al a r d t h' P ower . a has been thus vindicated, not only by the success which he himself achieved, but by the success which has attended the efforts o f those who built their power upon the ruins of th e confederacy w hich he had tried to knit together, and which broke up chiefly because S hi v aji ’ successors de s parted from the lines of policy laid down by him for their guidance.



144 fR i se o the Al a r d t h' P ower . a religion generally, but the religion of Maha r ash t ra W hat was there so particular and . distinct in the religious belief of his con temporary countrymen which so strikingly attracted R é md é ' s notice, and was deemed s by him to be a sure remedy for securing the salvation of his people under the terri ble misgovernment of Sambhéji about the close of the seventeenth century The close connection between the religi ous and political upheaval in Maharashtra is a fact o f such importance, that to those who, with out the help of this clue, have tried to follow the winding course of the growth of Maratha power, t he purely political struggle becomes either a puzzle, or dwindles down into a story of adventures, without any abiding ! moral interest. Both European and Native writers have done but scant justice to this double character of the movement, and this dissociation of t he history of the spiritual emancipation of the national mind accounts for much of the prejudice whic h still surrounds the study of the M aratha struggle for national in d ep endence . We propose accordingly in this chapter to trace in rough outline the history of this religious upheaval in Western I ndia.

pThe S a i nts and P r o he ts of I lI /' d sht r a . 145 a zar O ur main sources o f information will be the vo luminous biographies o f the saints and prophets o f M aharashtra, wri tten by one o f our own poets, Mahipati, towards t he clo se of the last century, long before British influence was felt in these parts as a factor o f any imp ortance. Like t he political struggle for indepe dn ence, the re ligious upheaval was also not the work o f a single man, or even o f a single century. Its early commencement can be traced even anterior to the M ahomedan conquest o f t he Deccan. U dn er t he rule o f t he ki gsYadav n o f D évgi ri , D nyandév, t h e first saint and prophet o f Maharashtra, wrote his famous commentary o n t he Bhag avatgtth i n the spoken language o f t he country. M uk jundré , w ho lived under t he Ballé l Kings, also wrote his famous wo rk, t he first of the kind i n M arathi in the twelft h century. i sio sThe M aho medan nva n for a t ime seem to have paralyzed all acti vit y, but gradually t he national spirit re gained its healthy elasticity, and just about the time o f the rise of t he Maratha power we had a galaxy of saints and prophets, hw ose names have become household words wit h the people of t he country. The stream continued to flow i n full tide for two centuries and then it appears to have dried ,

146 R i se of the M ar atha P ower . up, and with its ebb, the political domi nation also ebecam a thing o f the past. Roughly speaking we may state that the history of this religious revival covers a period of nearly five hundred years, and during this period some fifty saints and prophets flourished in this land, who left their mark upon the country and its people so indelibly as t o j ustify M ahipati i n i n cluding them in his biographical sk etches. A few of these saints were w ome n a fe w , w ere Mahomedan converts to Hinduism, nearly half of them were Brahmans, while t here were representatives in the other half fr om among all the other castes, M arath as , h u b’ tailors, garde ne rs , potters, goldsmiths , n zs, repentant prostitutes, and slave girls, even the outcaste M ahé rs. M uch of the interest o f this religious upheaval is centred in the facts we have noticed above, as they i n dicate plainly that the influence o f higher spirituality was not confined to this or that class, but permeated deep through all strata o f society, male and female, high and low, literate and illiterate, Hindu and Maho medan alike. These are features which the religious history of few other coun tries can match or reproduce, unless where the elevating influence is the t e sult of a widespread popular kawa ening. I n



1 48 Ri se of the M ani thd P ower . furnished a much larger proportion of saints and prophets than was the case i n any o f the other part s o f India where the K shatr tya and Vatshva castes furnished a much larger contingent than the Bréh sman . mAs is' the case with all biographies of saints, the popular i agination attributes to these persons wonderful and miraculous powers, notably those of ira sing the dead t o life, healing the sick and feeding the hungry. The stories which are told o f the way i n which they were helped by sup e rnat ural agency in their mission o f love may or may not be accepted in these days of vigil tan criticism. As Mr Lecky has . remarked, it is the atmosphere of chi ld-like credulity which predisposes men to require and accept these wonders and miracles as events o f ordinary o ccurrence. The saints and prophets themselves did not claim miraculous powers. They were meek and suffering men who placed their trust in Providence, and their trust was justified beyond their expectations, ofte tn- imes to their own surprise. The moral interest of these biographies centres, however, not in t heir miraculous tsfea , but in their struggles, and i n the testimony their lives afforded

p f MThe ahar ashtr a . 1 40 S a ’ a na' P ro hets o znts i n vindication of t he eternal verities of the moral law and sman’ higher spiritual life. It is with this aspect of their life that we are more immediately concerned in t he sequel, and we hope t o show that in this respect the work they accomplished was priceless and blessed beyond all c o mp ari s o n . There is a curious parallel between the history of the Reformation movement in Western Europe and the struggle repre sented by the lives and teachings and writings of these saints and prophets who flouri shed about t he same time in M aha rasht ra The European reformers of the . sixt eenth century protested strongly against the authority claimed by the priests and the clergy with the Roman Bishop at their head. The clergy and the Pope represented a traditio n of authority which had come d own from the remote past, and had done signal service in its o wn time in human izing and civilizing t he hordes o f t he barbarian co nquerors who devastated the Roman provinces. In course of time, the priests, instead of being the servants, clai med t o be masters and rulers, with temporal and spirit lua powers, and interme diaries between God and man The exer .

1 50 wR i se of the M ar atha er . cise of this intercession was hedged round by numberless rites and ceremonies, and in course of time many abuses crept in and alienated general sympathy. These abuses assumed their worst forms about the time that Luther rebelled against the authority which issued indulgences and levied Peter s’ Pence, not as charity, but as a t ax t o subserve the temporal power of intriguing Popes and their vicious cardi snal . The Reformation in Western India had it s counterpart in this respect. A cin ent autho rity and tradition had been petrified here, not in an ambitious Bishop and his clergy, but in the monopoly of the Brahman caste, and it was ga ainst the exclusive spirit of this caste domination that the saints and prophets struggled most manfully t o protest. They asserted the dignity of the human soul as residing in it quite independently of the accidents of its birth and social r kan The circumstances o f . their own birth and education naturally predisposed some of these preachers to kta e up such a p o s i t i o n As observed above, . nearly half of them were of castes other than Brahmans, and some of them of very low castes indeed. M any of the Brahman reformers also had some stain in their inherit ed purity which led or forced them to rebel



152 ]R i se o t he At a r ' t h' P ower . a a however, such an effect that ”at last, after much p erse c ut i on even the high priest , S hankaracharya of th e day raised no objec iot n Ek nét h it is w ell k now n mad e no . , , secret of the little importance be attached to caste distinct ions. He fed an hungry Mahé r at his h ouse , and, when out -casted, allowed himself t o be taken t o t he river fo r purposes of p uri ficat i o n when a miracle , t ook place by which t he merit of feeding an hungry Mahztr was proved t o be far greater than that of feeding many hundred Brahmans, for the former merit cured a leper of his foul disease, when the latter failed to make any impression on him A . very common miracle is reported t o h va e been performed by many o f the saints not bly bya D nyandév, Ek nz’i th and N é gné th , , w h e n on the refusal of the Brahmans to , o fficiate on S hr hdd ha ceremonies in their places for breach o f caste regulat i ons, t he d eceased fathers o f the obsti tna e Brahmans were made to descend to earth, and shamed their incredulous sons into t he belief that t heir caste exclusiveness was wholly out of place . In N é m d év ’ biography, his Go d o f s d rp rPan ha who had allow ed N é mdév to u , invite Brahmans t o a feast and himself partook o f that feast with the sai tn was , himself excommunicated, and then t he story

The S ai nts a nd P r ophets of I ll a har ' shtr a . 153 a relates how D nyandév, who was present in s p i ri t remonstrated with the Brahman , persecutors. He said —“ There was on ne high or low w ith God. All were alike t o him Never . e ntertain the thought that I am high b o rn , and my neighbour is low of birth . The Ganges is not polluted, nor is the wind tainted, nor the earth rendered untouchable, because t he low born and high born bathe in the one , or breathe the other, or move o n the back o f the third. The most touching incident, however, is that which occurred in the persecution o f ste hist he out -ca M ahé r Chok hé méla for having dared t o enter the temple o f Pand harpur . W hen remonstrated with for his temerity, Chok haméla replied that his God took him inside by force, and he did not go of his own accord. He remonstrated with the Brahman worshippers of the temple in this st rain W hat availeth birth in high stc a e , what av aile th rites or l e arni gn if , there is no d e vot i on or faith P Though a , man be of low caste, yet if he is faithful i n heart, and loves God, and regards all creatures as though they were like h i ms elf , and makes no distinction between his own

154 fR i se c the M ar atha P ower . and other peoples’ c h i l dre n and speaks t he , truth, his caste is pure, and God is pleased with hi m N ever ask sa man’ caste when . he has i n his heart faith i n God, and love of me n God wants in his children love . and d e vo t i o n and he does not care fo r his , caste. The Brahmans, as might be expect ed, w ere not converted by this preaching of high wisdom, and they complained to the M usalman offi cer of the place, and he, like another Pilate of the Bible story, ordered Chok haméla to be punished by being tied t o and driven by a team of bullocks, and tort ured to death in this cruel fas h i o n . God, however, miraculously delivered his worshipper, and batfled the oppressors, for t he bullocks would not move from their pl ca e . The story of Bahiram Bhat is also interesting in this c o nne c t i on ei g heB n a S h ds t r ' did . z, n0t find rest in Brahminism, and therefore became a Mahomedan under the impression that its monotheism would satisfy the crav ings of his heart, but failing to find the satisfaction he desired, he returned back to Brahminism. Both Brahmans and Mahome dans found fault with him for these changes of faith , but he disclaimed being either i du or h tH n M ohomedan Bahiram B a c h alle ng . cd the Brahmans t o make him a true Brahman as long as his circumcision mark



156 fR ise o t he M ardthri R owen e nce shown in ‘ such matters in the Deccan portion of M ah ar as h t ra This feeling o f in . d ifference is most accentuated at the times of t he annual pilgrim gathe rings, and the mixed greetings with which the Lord s’ Feast is cele the l sbrat ed on at d ya Just as in Europe , . men ceased to believe that the priest was a necessary medium between God and man fo r purposes of sal vat i o n i n this part of , diIn a, the domination of t he Brahman caste as the Gods of c r eati on whom t he other castes , sh ould serve and worship, lost much of its potency, and men and w o em n high and , low, came to feel that they were free t o attain salvation by faith and love in spite o f their lo w o ri gi n . The European reformers protested further against the institution of the monastic orders, and the celibacy of t he clergy, and the unnatural retirement o f w omen who exiled themselves from the world and became u sn n There was a counterpart of this same . p rotest in the way in which our saints and prophets raised their voice against s le f-morti ficati on and fasts, and meaningless penances and endless pilgri gema s. The same spirit prompted them to condemn austerities pract ised by those who followed the Yog a system with a view o f acquiring the

a nd P ro he ts hl hdr pThe S ai nts of a h’ t r a . 157 as power of working wonders which, it was supposed, the Yog ’ enjoyed in conse quence zs This contest between Yog a and Bh a ht ’ is z well illustrated by the encounter of the proud ith heChéngdév w D nyandév , w n t he fo r me r , in reliance on his Yog a powers rode , on tigers, and used serpent whips, and was put t o shame by D nyandév riding on a ‘ l lw a There was a similar encounter between . D nyandév and N amdév ewh n t he former, by t he exercise o f Yog a powers, became small sizin e , and drank t he waters o f a deep w ell , while N émdév, by his de vo ti on brought , rs ell ti et he wat e t o o verflo w t he w for all m , so that all w ho p asse d by, and felt thirsty , might drink t o their hearts’ content These . stories most beautifully typify t his feature of t he teaching of the saints and prophets of M ah ar as h t ra . The story o f Kanoba Pathak, w ho was upbraided by a Brahman o f Benares for his inordinat e love of ch i l d re n and astonish , ed his critic by throwing yawa his child into a well with seeming indifference, ill ustrat es t he vanity of t he vows of celibacy, which cannot by themselves produce equa io f indifference t o pains ble ne ss m nd and , and pleasures. Ek néth all his life live d with his wi fe and ch i l dre n and so did ,

158 s e o] the M arci thd P ower Turk aram and N amdév though they were , not blessed with sympathetic female relations . Bo dhlé Bé wa Chok hé méla D amajipant , Bha , , nudas, the two potter saints, and many o thers lived in the midst of their fam i l i e s . ther beco eD m nyé nd é v ’ fa , who had S a nyhs ’ s z without obtaining the free consent of his i ew f was directed by dRamanan to return , t o his home, and live with his wife. All these incidents prove that a very high con cept i on o f the sanctity o f family-life was realised by these saints and prophets, and t hey did their best to correct the national weakness which shrinks from trouble and anxiety by retiring from the world s’ con flict . The lives of the female saints have a sp ecial interest in this c o nne c t i o n The . biographies relate that owing to their d evotion and i mplicit faith, God helped them out o f their diffi cult ies by assisting them in their daily household work, and by assuming strange disguises, permitted them the freedom they wanted to serve him without being missed by their jealous relations. There is a danger in all such stories of making Providential inter venti on t oo cheap, but this fault is om re ht an balanced by the high moral which underlies these accounts. The sanctity of married and family life was nobly V indi



1 60 s e or the M am’thd P ower . dEk nét h and Ram as, N amdév and Tuka V it rir am aman Pand and M uk t éshwar, Sh , dh ra and Moropant . These last four gifted men are more celebrated as authors and poets than as religious teachers, but they derived their inspiration from the same sources . It is true the V edds and the erS hhstni s w e not translated as the Bible was, but there was a sufficient reason for this difference . These early M arat hi writers knew t hat modern India, after the Budd h i sti c re v o l u ti on w as less i nflue nce d , by the th byV d’ hs and S hhstr hs an t he e theR hmhyan and M Bhég awat a hhbhd r a t , P ur hn and the 6 1t h, and these latt er works were translated and made accessible t o all. The pioneers in this field, E k nat h and Tuk arém were each dma e to bear t he brunt of Brahman o p p o s i ti o n Their works . were not burned as in Europe, but t hey were ordered to be t hrown int o water. The river gods, however, so t he story r sun , would not let them be destroyed, and the works remained dry and w ould not sink, and thus became more famous than v re e . Vaman Pandit, the great Sanskrit s cholar, who would not deign to speak or write in t he popular language, as unfit to be used by a Pandit, was, when brought i n contact with R am d sa made to see the error of his ,

The S a i nts a nd P r ophets of M a har ashtr a . 1 6 1 ways ; and a Brahman translator of the ed s lR é méyan nam a Sfilya Ra , who w as over-proud of his superior l e arni gn w as , similarly put to shame by a message from his goddess that he should get the work corrected by submitting it to the revision o f the tailor N émdév. lsoD nyandév a was made t he instrument of performing a miracle, by ,which a buffalo was said to have recited the byV ’ d he tar . This as e story is obviously an allegorical parody of the mental condition of those who prided themselves upon their ability t o recite the V e’das without u dn erstanding their contents. The struggle between the claims o f the classical Sansk rit and the vernaculars, of which we hear so much in these days, is thus an old conflict , the issues in which ' decided i n favour of the vernacular vve r e or living languages long ago, and whatever scholars and antiquarians may urge to the contrary, there can only be one answer to — the que sti o n t h e san wer which w as , given by the saints and prophets when t hey laid Sanskrit aside as useless for th eir work, and spent all their energies i n the c i ioult vat n and growth fo\\ their mother tongue. It may safely be said that the 11

1 62 R i se of the tlla r dthd P ower . growth o f the modern vernaculars in India is solely the result of the labours of these isa nts, and that t he provinces, which show ed most decided tendencies i n the way o f reform, also showed the most healthy development of their vernacular literature. The Protestant reformers in Europe achieved another change of gr eat importance in the way in which they raised their voice against the excesses t o which image-worship and sai tn -worship were carried i n the Roman Catholic Church. O u o ur side, also, this . protest was raised, but it did not assume t he iconoclastic form which the Protestant reformers, especially the stricter sect among them, adopted. Polytheistic worship was condemned both in theory and i n practice by the saints and prophets o f M aharasht ra. Each o f them had his o wn favourite form o f t he divine incarnation , and this worship o f one favourite form left no room for allegi can e t o other gods. Ramdas, for instance, worshipped God under the name of Réma JEk anat h and ya arz’un S wami w orshipped Hi m under the name o f K ri sh na Tuk é ram, C hok h amé l’ and N amd é v zt under the name of V i t h o b ’ o rN arahari S na zt and N agnat h under t he name of Shiva Nand i r s tiJanardan Swam arasi nha Sa a wa



1 64 R i se of the M ar atha P ower . misunderstanding of their thoughts and ideas on t his subject when it is represented that these gifted people were idolaters in t he objectionable sense of the word. They did not worship stocks and stones. I n Vedic times there was admittedly . no idol or image worship. I t came into vogue with the acceptance of the incarnation theory, and was stimulated by the worship o f the Jains and Buddhists of their saints. Finally, it got mixed up with fetish worship of the aboriginal tribes, who were received into the Aryan fold, and their gods were turned into incarnations of the Aryan deities. The saints and prophets, however, rose high above these grovelli’ng conceptions prevalent amongst the people. Idol worship was denounced when the image did not represent t he supreme God. Both Tuk aram and R amd as h va e spared no words in de nouncing these aboriginal and vill ga e gods, and their frightful rites and sacrifices. I n t he life iso f Bhénudas, i t stated that he told the king of V idyanagar that the Goddess he worshipped served his God at Pandhar pur i n a menial capacity as a sweeper, and the king found it to be the truth when he v“ isited Pandharpur. I n the lives o f t wo other saints it is stated that the Goddess man and an ma sacri fices K i ho hu i laltowm ,

pThe hci S a i nts ana’ P r o hets of Al a r ' h t r a . 1 65 as were offered, was so fri ghtened by the pro test of the saints in the name of Bari against such cruelty, th ta t he . sacrifices were given up by' the command of the Goddess not only for the it me, but for all time . These illustrations will se rve to show, in w hat light image-worship, as an aid to d e vo t i on was utilized by these sai nts , and , unless this distinction is borne in mind, i t w ill be impossible t o understand the true position occupied by these teachers in this important matter. There is o ne p oi tn however, in which , the reforming saints and prophets in this country differed essentially from those who w ere working in the same cause elsewhere, t he contemporary Protestant reforme rs in E urope. From the Vedic times downwards, t h e A ryan gods have been gods of love and o f brightness, of sweetness and of light. There were, of course, terrible gods also, such as Varun and Rudra who inspired awe and filled the mind with t error. But the nati onal tendency was t o dwell with affec tion on and contemplate chiefly the bright side of divine Providence, unlike the Shem itic idea which dwelt upon the terrific manifestation of a distant god whose glory could no t be seen save through a c l o u d a ,

Ms ' hci I ’ower . 166 f' the a r t a eo severe chastiser ho f uman frailties, and a j udge who punished more frequently than H e rewarded, and even when He rewarde d kept the worshipper always in awe and trembling. This conception lies at the root of all Shemitic religions, and it is to t he credit of Christianity that it attempted and partly succeeded in bridging the gulf by securing the intervention o f God incarnate i n the flesh, as Jcsus Christ, who suffered for mank ind, and atoned for their i ss n . This intervention was never found necessary i n the e an religions of Greece or Rome or of India. God wi th us has always been regarded more as a father and a mother, a brother and a friend, than a judge and a chastiser and a ruler. Not that He od es no t judge, or rule, but He j udges, rules , and chastises with the love of a father or mother, ever ready t o receive the repe tn ant prodigal son back into his arms. The orthodox Brahminical conception does not bring out this feature o f a kindly Providence so prominently as it is found to be realised in the teachings and life s’ experiences of our isa nts and prophets. They are emphatic in their assertions that they were able to see their God, and hear His words, and walked and talked with ; Him and held , intercourse with Him In their higher .



1 68 R i se of the M ar atha P owe r . As a consequence of this conception o f God s’ relations with man, the supre me e fficacy o f devoti lona love (Bhahtz) over all other methods o f attaining to Hi s knowledge became t he cardinal creed of these V a ’ h na v zs sects. There is not a life i n all these sketches drawn by Mahipat i in which Bhak t' z and Faith (Bhdwa) are not emphasized as being far superior in virtue t o all other forms o f worship, such as the performance o f rites and ceremonies of external worship, pilgrimages and ablutions, self-mort ifications and fasts, learni ng and c o nt e m p l at i o n These . have relation only to the body or the mi dn while the spirit is what Go d desires , to see engaged in His service. The rites and ceremonies may be ' performed as in different matters, just as food may be taken and thirst quenched, and the rest of sleep enjoyed, as they come naturally without effort or eunn cessary anxiety about them. The best ablution is when the senses are drowned in the ocean of God s’ presence about us, and the same presence is made to fill us inside and out ! The best sacrifice . and the highest Bhua or gi ft is when we surrender ourselves to His sweet will and for His service, and claim nothing as our o wn The best mort ificat ion is that which . makes the spirit humble before Him ; the

fpThe S a i nts and P r o hets o M a har ashtr a . 1 6 9 best contemplation is when His glory is sung with all our powers. N either know ledge nor Yog a powers, health nor wealth, nor children nor possessions, not even M u ht ’ (freedom from birth and d e ath ) , is z desirable in i t s e l f W hat is desirable is . t o be always full of love for Hi m and His w orks, including all creati on men and , animals. N émdév cried while removing the bark of a tree, because he thought he saw blood coming out from the stroke o f his axe, and he struck himself with the axe t o see how he felt, and realise what the tree might feel. Shaik Mahomed, being sent by his father t o practise the butcher s’ trade, first cut his own finger with his knife to see how the animal would feel, and the pain he felt drove him t o forswear his trade, and retire from the world in which such pain had t o be i nflict ed for earning one s’ livelihood Tuk érém felt that there . must be something wr ong about him w h en , , on seeing hi m the sparrows left the fi e ld , he was sent to watch, though he did not intend to disturb them. This intense Spiri t uali ty and absolute surrender of self may sound somewhat unreal t o men not brought up in the atmosphere these saints breathed . But there can be no doubt ab out the fact , . and there can also be no doubt that t he

1 70 Me o the fs a r ' tha P ower . a national ideal o f spiritual excellence has been shaped by these models. It may be that a stronger backbone and more resist ing power are needed i n the times i n which we live, but i n an account of t he saints and prophets as they flourished more than t wo hundred years ago , we cannot afford to interpolate our o wn swant and w ishes. I t may be interesting to note ho w these saints thought and spoke, and ho w, hw en they came in contact with a militant re li gio n like M aho me danism they fac e d their , troubles and conquered them The lives . oth rso f N émdév, Rémdas, E k nat h and e , are full o f such incidents. The most note worthy fact in this connection is that several b c eMaho medans e am converts to the Hindu Faith, and obtained such a public recognition that their help was invoked by t he Hindu authors w ho wrote i n those times along with the Hindu saints. Shaik M ahomed and Kabir may be cite d as ex amples of this catholic spirit of r e c o g ni t i o n . the oth r hO n e and , T k m’ ’ and E k nz’i t h u zi r zt ewer so i nfluenced by their contact with M ahomedanism that they composed verses in Urdu o f so catholic a character as to be unobj ectionable to the strictest Maho edm an. Ramdas did t he same hew n one



1 72 s e 0] the M a r atha P ower . strictness of the old spirit o f caste exclu s i v eness It raised the S hud r a classes to a . position of spiritual power and social im o cep r tan , almost equal t o that of t he Brahmans It gave sanctity t o the family . r elations, and ira sed the status oo f w man . It made the nation more humane, at t he same time more prone to hold together by m ut lua t o l e r at i o n It suggested and partly . c arried out a plan of reconciliation with the M ahomedans. I t subordi tna ed t he import ance o f rites and ceremonies, and o f pilgrimages and fasts, and of learning and c o nte m p l at i on to the higher excellence of , It worship by means of love and fai t h . c hecked the excesses of polytheism. It tended in all these ways t o raise the nation generally to a higher level o f capacity both o f thought and acti on , and prepared it i n a way no other nati on , i n India was prepared, t o take the lead in r e-establishing a united native power i n t he place of foreign d om i nat i o n These . appear to us to be the principal features o f the religion of Maharashtra, which S aint Rémdés had in view when he advised S h i v jai ’ so n to follow in his s father s’ footsteps, and propagate this faith, at once tolerant and catholic, deeply spiri t ual and yet not iconoclastic.

CHA PTER IX . GIN GI . EW people, even in his own days real , iz ed the gravity of the second great crisis in Marathé History, which the untimely death of Shivéji precipitated in the Deccan. The first crisis occurred hw en Shivéji agreed to surrender unconditionally to jRaa Jayasi ng, and went to Delhi where , he was made prisoner by the Emperor . His genius and his good fortune enabled him not only to effect his escape, but to secure from Aurangzeb himself a recognition that he was a power in the land to be conciliated at any cost, till he could be crushed Shi vaji was well aware o f Aurang . z é b ’ designs on the Deccan, l sand t he a t s twelve years of his life were devoted t o t he sole purpose of preparing the country to receive and repel the final blow. Forget ting internecine quarrels with the M ahomedan kingdoms in the South, Shivéji persuaded t he kings of Bijapur and Golconda to enter into offensive and defensive alliances with him s e l f and ' kingdoms bypro fited , bot h t hese

74 R i se o] the At ar dtha' P ower . his help i n repelling t he attacks of the M oghul generals and consented to pay him tribute in recognition of his services As if . he had prescience o f coming events Shivéji , , by his conquests and alliances, formed a new line of defe cn e i n Southern India i n the Kaveri valley, to which he could retire i n case o f necessity. The hill forts along the Sahyadri Ghats and mountain ranges were kept i n a state o f repair, and the naval armaments under his commanders were his second line o f defence. Above all, t he men whom he had trained by a long course of discipline to follow him wherever he led them, and even to anticipate his wishes with unerring loyalty and success, the spirit o f independence he had roused in all classes, and the faith he had inspired in them — these were the chief supports o f the power which w as, by the confession of , friends and foes alike, supreme in Southern India His death was sudden as well as . premature, for he had no time to kma e proper arrangements for regulating the suc cession to his kingdom. His eldest son had grossly {misbeh va ed and disobeyed his orders and gone over t o the protection o f the Moghul generals. O u his return from t h M oghul camp, Sambhaji was kept a close prisoner at Panhélé . The ministers at



7 6 s ]e o t he hf ara' thd P ower . unnerved him and made him a slave to , the most superstitious beliefs in witchcraft and demon-worship, under the advice of his favourite K alush fi It is useless t o enter . into a detailed account of Sambhéji 's reign ; for Sambhéji never can be said t o h va e ruled the country. The A shta P r a d hci ns, being virtually set aside, ceased t o bear the responsibility of rule in S amb h jéi ’ s time . The civil and military arrangements of his father were neglected, the soldi ers were not paid regularly, the hill-forts were not properly garrisoned or provisioned, and district-revenues were farmed to the highest bidder. Anarchy prevailed everywhere, and i t was just at this time that Aurangzeb descended into the Deccan with an army e stimated at three lakhs of r sall a m deter , mined to crown the work of his life by the final subj ugation o f t he Hindu and Maho medan kingdoms in Southern India. The whole resources of Hindustan in men and money , from Kabul and Kandahar no one side, to Bengal on the other, were requisitioned for this enterprise, and they were directed by his best Hindu and M ahomedan generals. Sambhéji threw yawa a splendid opportuni t y, presented by one of the Emperor s’ sons, w ho sought refuge with him to resist this , d ernew He also resented all t he ang .

G g’ 1 77 zn z. efforts made by the old ministers to kawa e him to a sense of the danger that now threatened him r yA . urangz éb ’ am con s quere d Golconda and Bijapur within three years from his coming t o the Deccan, and Sambhéji was easily capt ru ed in a state o f utter helplessness and subsequently behead ed with cruel indignity. All the plain country was over-run and the hillforts were ket a n one after another without struggle, chiefly be c sau e their de cfen es had be en neglected. A t last Raigad itself was capt u re d , i eS erand son w e and am b h jai’ wf s ke to c pt a n A urangz éb ’ ma . A urangz é b ’ s s dream, which he cherished throughout his l i ef had thus been accomplished before he , had been five years in t he Deccan The . whole country from Narmada to Tunga bhadra lay at his etfe . I t seemed as i f Shiv aji , and the men whom he had led to victory, h ad lived and died i n iva n The . great deluge, against which Shahaj i and Shivéji had struggled to protect t he count ry for over sixty years, now swept over t he l dan , carrying e v ery t hi ng before it and , there seemed no sign o f any possible resis t can e . The old Bij apur and ' Golco nd {s rulers were captives in distant l dsan , and q itjSambhé i 's son was u e a boy o f tender years and a prisoner i n t he camp .

1 78 ys e ! the Illf ar d t hd P ower . But just when their country s’ fort une was at its lowest ebb, and everything seemed to be lost beyond h0pe, these very mis fortunes served t o rouse a band o f tpa ri ots, w ho had been trained in S h i jvai ’ school, as they s to resolve—resourceless and penniless — w e r e ~ t o secure their nati onal i dn epende cn e, driveand A urangz é b ’ grand army back to s H i nd u s t an A t the head o f t his band was . R aj ra am the younger so n o f S hi v éji, who , had been kept a prisoner at R ai gad by de tSambhéji, and who , o n S ambhéji ' s ah , e ffe cted his s pe ca e before Rai gad was cap t ured. Réjé r am was about twenty years o ld at this time, but he inherited most o f th e great qualities of his father— his daring a nd his skill, his freedom from vice, and the mildness and liberality of his di sp o si ti o n , and above all, his pow er of inspiring con fi de nce among his c o u nt r ym e n He professed . all his life to act as Regent for Shahu, w ho was a prisoner with A ur ang z éb v rand ne e , sat on the throne out of respect for Sh abu s’ r ights . The chief adviser of R aj aram on th is occasion was Pralhé d N iraji , t he son the ojio f N yhyhd h ’ h N iraji Ra i n S hiv éji 's zs t i me During reigSambhaji ’s n Pr alhad . , re i edjN iré i w as out o f o ffi ce, and ma n a passive spectator irso f affa b ut he was , reputed to be the wise st man o f the time



180 R i se (y the M ani lha P ower. guerilla warfare, the most prominent man was Ramchandrapant A métya, the ancestor of the present Pant A métya family of Bévada i n Kolhé pur. R amchandrapant was ith oroja son o f A bé i So ndév , who, w M pant ti ei n Shi v aji ' s his chief P i nglé , was, m , adviser and military commander. tSo gr ea th ewas co nfidence placed in him that full authority was conferred upon him to act as circumstances required, and in his charge Rajarém left his wife, and most of the M aréthft commanders, who retreated t o the South, placed their families under his protection at Vishalgad. He was thus the chief ostensible autho rity representing t he M ar at h é power, left , . in t he Deccan, who did not submit to the Moghul Emperor. Another Brahman leader , who deserves to be named, was Shank aréji ppoi te d byMalhér, who was a n S h' ac zva Sambhaji . He accompanied the l dea ers who went to Gingi , and after staying there for some time he retired to Benares. He rendered a special service t o Shahu o n his return t o power by arranging the treaty between the Sayyads and the Marat has . Among the Brahman leaders, who rose to pow er for the first time in this crisis, was Parashuram Trimbak, the K alk ar m‘ of

Gi ng i . 18l Kinhai , dan ' the ancestor o f the Pant il lsoPrati nidhi fam y o f O undh in S ét éré, as a jS hank aré i N é r ’ yan, the ancestor of the zt ily tfam Bhor. They o f Pan Sachiv a o f w ere c ieR m ’ assistants and é c h andr ap ant hf s nobly just ified the pl cedconfidence a in them by their c o u nt r y m e n Among the . Maratha leaders, the chief responsibility rested upon Sant éji Ghorpadé and D hanfiji J édhav They had first come to notice as . generals dun er Hambirréo Mohite, when they succeeded i n turning a defeat into victory near P anh ’ lé in 1 6 74 . For thirty zi years they maintained the reputation of the Maratha arms, and braved t he whole power of the M oghul r yma . Though they ae com th erspani e d R éjé r am Pralh ad N i réji and o , to Gingi, the plan of defence settled upon was that they should return and oppose the Moghuls in the Deccan and prevent them from successfully invading the Karnétik and t hreatening Ging i. O f course, they were fight ing without funds and without resources, and they had to improvise their own men, their h orses, their supplies, ammunitions o f t owar fi nd their treasure, and , and naturally many excesses were committed by them. They were fighting against the whole power of the M oghuls, and they established such a terror in t he Moghul ,

1 82 fR i se o t he M aratha P ower . army t hat before the ce tn ury came to an end, the Marathés were able to return to their country and to make incursions in sojGu arét , M élwé Kh é ndé sh and Bérar, , as t o reduce the Emperor s’ army to great straits. Santéji was killed by treachery by one of his private enemies, before t he war of independence was closed, but his three brothers carried on the struggle with the M oghuls on their own accounts and b e cam e , the founders of small principalities at Gooty and So ondu. Dhamaj i live d t o see the final return of Shéhu to his o wn kingdom . Among the other l d rsMarét hé ea e , Khandérao D ébhéd é occupies a prominent place. His father had been P atel of Talégé on and employe d in S h i v aji ’ service . s He was one of those who accompanied Raj aram t o i gG n i , and w as the first M aratha leader to carry the war into the settled provinces of the empire, outside the Deccan, i to G j r tvia , n u a a and Kh andésh . O ne o f his coadjutors, the founder of the Pawér family o f D hér and Devas, entered M alw a . thos livedKao of hand ’ w as o ne e who er long enough t o accomp yan Balaj i Vishwa ! nath hw en he went to Delhi to obtain the sanaa’s o f chozvth and sar déshmuhhi fo r Shéhu from t he Delhi Emperor. Among



184 Ri se of the M at ti thd P ower . Ou S amb h jai’ death, he was one of th ose s who accompanied Raj aram t o Gingi, and when at Bélléry the Mahomedan gover nor was about t o sei ze these fugitives in disguise, Khando Ballé l at great self sacrifice remained behind and sent yawa his other c o mp ani o n He was seized by . the M oghul governor and subjected to cruel torture, which, however, failed to shake him in his loyal devotion to the cause . Later on be arranged for the safe escape ro f Raja am from Gingi by coming t o a fri endly understanding with some M ar at h é . generals in the Moghul army, which under standing was secured by the surrender of his vatan in the Konkan t o these Marathi: commanders. He lived to see the time when Shéhu returned to Sétaré and ascended his ancestral throne. Another Prabhu leader who covered himself with glory in these wars was Prayagji, who defended Sétéré against the besieging army led by A urangz éb himself for months together . These were the chief Brahman, Maratha and Prabhu patriot leaders, who, undaunted by the tide of adversit y, determined to l sfight to t he a t for their national i ndepen e c i gd n e, and, be n u enabl t o fi nd breathing ti tuc for maturing their defensive gearran

Gi ng i . 1 85 ments in the Deccan, retired to the South and established themselves a t Gingi. Rzijéré m appointed his own A shta P r ad hd ns, held his court there, and as if he was still master of his own country, gave z'ndms jand h g t’ ’ o those who had rendered a a zr s e minent services and directed his commanders to carry on the war against the M oghuls with redoubled energy. Partisan leaders were also sent duly commissioned to raise thei r o wn forces and demand the chowth o ly sixand m s a r d ’ h u hh ' no t n in t he es z Deccan subhhs, but also in the older provinces o f the M oghul empire. Aurangzeb soon found that his conquest i n the Deccan availed him nothing unless he crushed this new centre of power w here the Maratha leaders had retired. theZulfik ark han, conqueror of the D e cc an w as accordingly , sent to lay siege to Gingi, and he invested the place in 1 6 9 1 . Be ut the place had been so well fort ifi ed, and Sant aji Ghorpadé ch rgand D hanaji Jédhav , w ho had t he ae of harassing the Moghul besiegers, did their work so well that it was not till 1 6 98 that Zulfik ar was able to take the fortress, lyo n to find that R ajéram and his men had made their escape. This seven years’ period afforded the Marathas the breathing time they stood in such sore need o f and ,

1 86 R ise of the M ara' thd P ower . trained - them t o em asure their strength with the M oghuls on equal terms. The terror inspired by A urangz éb ' army was s soon dispelled, and while Gingi was being defended by one portion of the Maratha r ya m , D hanéji Jé dhav and Santaji Ghorpadé returned to the Deccan and soon succeeded in bringing to the standard the veteran troo ers jp B, S i le’d d r s andhg’ of S hi v é i ’ r zr s, s ti me. The exaction of g hhsd hnd dwas ma e on a system by which these unpaid and volunteer armies found their commissariat supplies. Ev en as early as 1 6 9 1 Marat hé bands plundered Nasik, Bede, and Bédar . In 1 692 Ramchandrapant moved from Vishalgad and fixed his residence at Sat éré , and governed the Ghétmat ha country, and sent off an army which cut o ff the M oghul garrisons at detached p l ace s . W ai , jg dRa a , Panhéla and M iraj were in this way captured and turned into Marathi out-posts. The P aw é r s, Chav ans, Thorat s and Athaw alés earned distinction from the Court at Gingi by their success in partisan warfare. I n 1 6 9 3, A ru angzeb “ found it necessary to move his camp to the Bhima and sent his own son and chief mini ster A sudk han to Gingi .



1 88 R i se of the Al ar atha P ower . after Réjéram had made his escape t he Fort was taken in January 1 69 8 Réjaram soon . oi edj n Ré mchandrapant at S ét ér a: and o ne by one the Maratha generals, Parsoo Bhon i b k r hi dslé, Hayabatré o N m al a , N émajl S n e, Athawalé, Samshér Bahé dur returned back t o t heir country. The principal seat of t he operation of the war was no w transferred from the Karnét ik and D ravid country t o the Deccan, though D hanéji Jadhav was still left in the S outh t o defend t he Maratha possessions. The forts along the sea coast continued to be faithful t o t he , M aré t hé cause, and under K é nh op ngre A t he Maréthés carried on their depredations all along the coast from Travancore to Bombay, capturing prizes at sea. The Sé n v ats also remained faithful. I n 1 69 9, Réjaram at the head o f all his army entered Khé ndésh, Gangt hadi and Berar and Béglan, and levied the ehowth those p rtsand sa r d és hm uh h ’ in a. O u his z return to Sétéré he kept four of his com m anders in those provinces permanently, B gl hi dD abhédé in K nd é sh ea an, S n in h ’ , zi gBho nslé in Bé ’ and N itnb alk ar i n Gan r zt r, t h adi . I n 1 700, A urangz éb determined t o reduce t he forts which proved so advantageous to

Gm ' 1 2-9 gt . the plM arét ha an of defence. He himself assumed the command of the army detach e d for this work and directed Zulfik ark hén t o carry o n the operations in the Open country against R ajar am ’ army. Fort taf er s fort was thus conquered, and finally he laid siege to S at ar a which fe ll into his h dan s , after a protracted and glorious d cefen e con ducted by Prayagji Prabhu. Just about this ti e j r dim Raa am e d at Sinhagad, and as S hé hu was still a prisoner in the M oghul camp, his elder so n a boy of ten years, , was nominated successor, and Ramachandra tpan conducted the administration ' before . as D hanéji w as re cal le d from the Kam at i k , and the M arétha leaders under his and id c co ti edR amac h andr ap ant ’ gu an e n nu t he w ar s with unabated vigour, levying sa r d ’ hmu lt h i , es ov r the cou tryr howth and g ha’tsd hnri all e n . The Emperor on his own side persisted i n his plan o f operation and stormed fort after fort during the next four years. tI was a strange reversion in t he plan of operations. Driven from their forts, t he spr dM aré t h ’ s ea zt o r pl i s i di gve t he K handésh, Bér ar a n nv a n , and Gujarat ; and a party even crossed Narmada into M alv a and established them , selves there A t last in 1 70 5, A ur angz é b ’ . s military and civil advisers suggested to him t hat a treaty should be made with the

1 90 R tse of the M am’thci P ower . M arét hés and Aurangzeb was so far per suaded as t o consent t o the recognition o f cl i the sixt he am for sa r d e’shm u hh ’ of z Deccan S ubhhs on condition that the Marathzi s were to be responsible fo r main taining order in the D e c can He also ar . ranged fo r Sh abu s’ marriage with t wo ladies o f the noble Marfithé families of Shinde and J édhav who were i n the M oghul service , and gave Shahu A k k alk ot , Indapur-N ivé sé mand Baramati in jahhg tr as arriage-gift. These negotiations fell through because the Maréthés increased their demands. The war was carried on in a languid way on t he part of the M oghuls, while the Maréthés t e t- ook Pimala and made it the residenc e o f their k ing Shivaji and his mother T arab ai . jP avangad , V asantgad, S inhagad, Raagad, and S atara were also retaken ; and , later on , D hanéji retook Poona and Chék an i n 1 707 . Aurangzeb was thus discomfited in all his plans, and with a view to create dissension among the M arath as he induced Shahu t o , write a letter in his own enam , as king th iro f t he M aréthas, t o e leaders, advising t hem to submit to t he Emperor. This was his last desperate resource and it proved ineffectual. Not hing was done in the way rele s d r g lio f Shahu’s ae u in A ur angz éb ’ fe s t ime ; but the overtures for peace and the