CHAPTER 18 THE LAST OF THE GREAT DAKKHANIS : INDIA, HINDUTVA AND HISTORY
CHAPTER 18: THE LAST OF THE GREAT DAKKHANIS
The Marathas who populated Ahmadnagar, had been employed as soldiers by the Deccan Sultans since the days of the Bahmanis. By 1624, Malik Ambar had 50,000 Maratha cavalrymen in Ahmadnagar. He had founded the town of Khirki near Daulatabad (formerly Devagiri of the Yadavas) which had four quarters named after Maratha chiefs of the Sultanate – Malpura, Khelpura, Paraspura and Vithapura.
The historian Richard Eaton says that under Malik
Ambar the Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a “joint Habshi-Maratha enterprise” (614).
Malik Ambar’s closest official was the Maratha commander, Maloji Bhonsle, the
grandfather of Shivaji. Maloji was given a jagir in Pune.
After Malik Ambar died, the Mughals, in alliance with
Bijapur, managed to oust the Ahmadnagar Sultan. By this time, Maloji’s son,
Shahaji Bhonsle had inherited his position in Ahmadnagar. Like other talented
soldier-officers of the time, Shahaji Bhonsle had served under many of the
Sultanates – the Nizam Shahi and the Adil Shahi. He had also served in the
Mughal forces (615).
Just as Malik Ambar had striven to keep the flag of Ahmadnagar
flying when Akbar had taken its reigning Sultan, Shahaji Bhonsle tried the same
by supporting an Ahmadnagari prince who was in contention to be declared
Sultan.
But the Bijapur-Mughal alliance prevailed, and Ahmadnagar
was divided between them. It was 1636. Aurangzeb, still a prince, was appointed
Mughal Governor in the Deccan. Shahaji Bhonsle was taken into service by
Bijapur who gave him the title of “raja”. Shahaji’s jagir in Pune had a fort,
and he was now a powerful player in the Deccan arena (616).
Aurangzeb was crowned in 1658, after infamously
imprisoning his dying father, the Emperor Shahjahan, and killing his popular
brother and heir-apparent to the Mughal throne, Dara Shukoh.
Owing to having spent so many years in various
provinces of the Mughal Empire away from the Mughal Court, such as the Deccan, Gujarat,
Multan and Sindh, Aurangzeb was not known in North India as well as his
brother. He also had a rather dour personality compared with his expansive
brother’s who, going by the legends of Dara Shukoh, was more in the mould of
his open-hearted and outgoing forebear, Akbar.
Never in history has a lack of charm counted for so
much, and for so long. It has been over three hundred years since Aurangzeb
died, but he is still actively disliked in Hindustan. Seculars like me regret
his cutting off of Dara Shukoh, believing that Dara would have spawned something
like a Second Age of Akbar. On the other side, the Hindutvavadis have made the resentment of Aurangzeb
into a rallying call for their agenda of spite and hatred against Muslims in
India.
While Aurangzeb was a more orthodox Muslim than most
of his predecessors among the Mughals, he was still very much a Mughal
Emperor, and a Hindustani maharaja, and as such, well-aware of the
diversity of his subjects, and faithful to the tradition of religious tolerance
in the land. But this was a tradition, that while it allowed and even patronised
religious institutions of all hues, would not spare them when they lay in
rebellious or disobedient terrain.
There are numerous examples of Aurangzeb protecting
Hindu priests and giving grants for temples, but there was no immunity to
temples that belonged to mutinous or other delinquent subjects or chiefs. Attacks
on religious sites associated with a rebellious king or populace was a form of
punishment in all places, not just Mughal lands.
Aurangzeb spent most of the last two decades of his
reign in the Deccan. His greatest mistake was his obsession with conquering it,
which led him to neglect the traditional domains of the Mughals in North India.
This unhappy situation was exacerbated by Aurangzeb’s demanding higher and
higher taxes owing to the depletion of his treasury from his unending fighting in
South India.
But Aurangzeb’s faults were of policy and personality.
Neither was he a religious bigot, and nor was he ever interested in establishing
a theocratic state in India.
Had Aurangzeb been a warmer person, had he engaged
more with his subjects, rather than being encamped on the battlefield for most
of his life, the memory of him might well have been different. This should be a
lesson to us Indians in the importance of demeanour when ruling a multi-cultural
state. Dress, deportment and language are as important as anything else in
expressing your embrace of all your peoples. When dealing with the
sensibilities of a diverse people, the saga of Aurangzeb shows that personality can
make or break history.
Shivaji
Coming back to the Deccan, by 1630 Bijapur had become
a tributary of the Mughals. Shahaji Bhonsle had married Jijabai, an aristocrat
of the Jhadava clan that claimed connections with the Yadavas of Maharashtra.
It was from this union that Shivaji was born.
Shahaji Bhonsle took another wife, Tukabai Mohite, with
whom he had another son, Venkoji, who went to be known as Ekoji, the first
Maratha Raja of Tanjore, whom we read about in the previous chapter.
Shahaji Bhonsle appears to have favoured Tukabai and Venkoji
over his other wife and son. He was not
present when Shivaji was born. He seems to have ignored Jijabai and Shivaji after
installing them in care of his retainer Dadoji Kond Dev in the Fort of Pune.
This seems to have led to a lifelong estrangement
between Shahaji and Shivaji.
The young Shivaji was raised by his mother and Dadoji
Kond Dev (617). Dadoji Kond Dev organised the jagir of Pune into a thriving
citadel. He made the area suitable for habitation and farming. He encouraged
people to settle there. In time it produced a good revenue.
It should be noted that settling people in new places,
and making land fit for cultivation were also one of the important aspects of
kingship in ancient and medieval times. Before the Industrial Age, making land
productive was a primary means of generating wealth.
Also, Indians may not realise that unlike our present
crowded times, the ancient and medieval age was one in which vast tracts of
land on the sub-continent lay uninhabited by man, and the settlement of new
lands was one of the enterprises of the time. This is how large parts of the
delta that today comprises Bangladesh came to be settled and made habitable and
cultivable by the Mughals.
In 1646, Dadoji died, and the 16-year-old Shivaji was
in full control of the administration of his Pune jagir with its fort and
soldiers.
This was a time when the Sultanates of the Deccan theatre offered opportunities to ambitious warriors of all backgrounds, whether Muslim slaves or aristocratic scions of well-known Hindu generals, to rise to high office. They could even become peshwas or “prime ministers”.
But the young Shivaji, with his thriving estate, noble
lineage and several generations of service in the different Deccan Sultanates
behind him, had greater ambitions, and the talent to achieve them.
He would be a raja in his own right. The Vijayanagar kingdom
was in decline from decades of internecine fighting, and the Sultanates were
under siege from the Mughals. The opportunity was there, and it was for Shivaji
to seize it.
Shivaji saw that many of the Bijapur Sultan’s forts
were poorly guarded, and that the reigning Sultan was himself ill. He devised a
strategy of taking Bijapur’s forts where he could, and using the wealth and
other resources they would give him to bring him into contention in the Deccan theatre.
Before Dadoji had died, Shivaji had already captured
Torna, a Bijapur fort in Pune. With the wealth from that fort, he built or
improved another one in Rajgad, in the Sahyadari mountains southwest of Pune.
Shivaji developed the capacity, exceeding that of all
his rivals, to make his forts impregnable and able to withstand prolonged
sieges. He also surpassed all others in his mastery of the tortuous terrain of
the Maharashtrian ravines and forests where he operated. This allowed him to
strategically retreat into his fortresses when fighting a bigger army, holding
out till the adversary was compelled to make terms.
This was, of course, an age-old military strategy with
forts, but Shivaji’s use of it was exceptionally outstanding. So much so, that
he was able to found a kingdom on the strength of this tactic under the very nose
of the Mughal Empire, possibly the mightiest in the world at the time.
In 1647, Shivaji attacked the fort at Gingi, one of
the most important strategic points for the conquest of Tamil country. It was
held at the time by Bijapur. The Sultan responded by placing Shivaji’s father,
Shahaji, in confinement. Shivaji released Gingi to secure his father’s release.
His father denounced him, and continued in the service of Bijapur.
Shivaji’s next objective was Jawali, a principality of
the Mores which would give him control of the routes to the Konkan coast from the
Deccan to various ports, including the much-prized Goa. Control of the routes
to these ports, which were used by merchants and Haj pilgrims, would give Shivaji
both revenues and influence.
The Mores were Maratha, and held their kingdom under
the overlordship of Bijapur. Shivaji sent an emissary who lured the reigning raja,
Chandrarao More, to a meeting, with the proposal of a marriage between Shivaji
and one of More’s daughters.
The emissary killed More on the spot, and Shivaji moved
in with his men, capturing Jawali and neighbouring Ratnagiri.
In 1657, the Bijapur army laid siege to the Pratapgarh
Fort in Jawali (Mahabaleshwar) but Shivaji held out until they opened
negotiations for peace. Shivaji lured the Bijapur general to a meeting, and
assassinated him. He went on to defeat the Bijapur armies, after which he went
northwards, conquering Konkan and Kolhapur (620).
Shivaji now reached out to the Mughals, offering Aurangzeb
the lands he had conquered in exchange for Bijapur. Aurangzeb was in the Deccan
as Mughal Governor. He rebuffed Shivaji’s offer and left soon thereafter for
Delhi, where his father Shahjahan was dying.
Aurangzeb was now preoccupied with staking his claim to
the Mughal throne, and Shivaji kept up his exploits. He raided Ahmadnagar, and
continued expanding his forces.
After Aurangzeb was crowned emperor in Delhi, while he
settled matters there, he sent his generals to fight Shivaji. But
Shivaji and his agile forces were able to get the better of the Mughals for the
most part.
In 1664, Shivaji decided to raid the rich coastal
principality of Surat in Gujarat, just north of Kolhapur. Surat was a Mughal
domain, and one of the richest cities in all of India. Shivaji and his men
stealthily took positions around Surat, and then stormed the city. For three
days, the Marathas looted Surat’s wealthy mansions before setting fire to the
entire city (620).
In 1665, we find Shivaji holed up in the Fort of
Purandar in Pune. Aurangzeb’s able Rajput general, Jai Singh, laid siege to the
Purandar Fort. Jai Singh had formed a coalition against Shivaji, which included
Europeans with an interest in the trade through Surat. Another party to the
coalition were the Mores, whom Shivaji had so brutally betrayed.
Shivaji offered to negotiate, and matters were
resolved with him entering into a treaty that accepted the overlordship of Emperor
Aurangzeb. Shivaji was required to surrender a number of forts that he had taken
from the Mughals, but he retained such of the Bijapur possessions as he had
captured.
Shivaji argued that he should be allowed to retain such
forts and territories as he had taken from Bijapur, as they had never belonged to
the Mughals. This was agreed, with one more term – that Shivaji’s son, Shambhaji,
would enter Mughal service as a guarantee for Shivaji’s compliance (620).
Shivaji then accompanied Jai Singh in an attack
against the Bijapur Sultan. Shivaji took 9000 of his men, as well as his
trusted lieutenant Netaji Palkar. However, the Bijapur Sultan routed Shivaji’s
armies and even managed to persuade Netaji Palkar to defect to his side. Please
note, again, the cross-religious alliances and interests at play here.
In 1666, persuaded by Jai Singh, Shivaji went to Agra
where Aurangzeb’s fiftieth birthday celebrations were being held. Jai Singh
wanted Shivaji to be given the governorship of the Deccan by the Mughals. But Aurangzeb
instead had Shivaji imprisoned at Agra Fort, along with his son, Shambhaji. Shivaji
and Shambhaji famously made a daring escape in baskets of fruit, becoming
heroes in the eyes of all Hindustan (620).
Sadly, Aurangzeb’s loyal general Jai Singh’s career
was a casualty of these events. His failure in Bijapur coupled with the escape
of Shivaji while under the direct guard of his men understandably left Aurangzeb
with little choice but to dismiss him.
On the other hand, had Aurangzeb accepted Jai Singh’s
idea of co-opting Shivaji by placing the Deccan in his hands under Mughal suzerainty,
history might have been very different. It would have been interesting to see
where India would have gone under the combined effect of Shivaji’s brilliance,
and Mughal might.
But it was not to be. Jai Singh was dismissed in
disgrace. He died soon thereafter. Aurangzeb sent his son, Prince Muazzam, to
the Deccan as governor, and placed Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur in charge of
military affairs there (618).
Negotiations resumed between Shivaji and the Mughals after his escape from Agra. As an aside, can you imagine such willingness to make terms with adversaries under the current Modi Regime which espouses the cause of its grudges to the exclusion of everything else?
Shivaji first reached out to the Emperor. Not receiving any reply from Delhi, Shivaji cultivated both Prince Muazzam and Jaswant Singh. They persuaded Aurangzeb to make terms with Shivaji. Under the agreed treaty, Aurangzeb conferred the title of “Raja” on Shivaji and permitted him to attack Bijapur on his behalf. As security, Shambhaji was sent to serve in Prince Muazzam’s armies.
Shivaji spent the next few years rebuilding his armies
and bringing his house to order, including introducing a thoughtful and
efficient tax system. But the treaty with the Mughals fell apart by 1670, when Shivaji resumed military
action in the Deccan.
If Shivaji had a fault, then it was of betraying his
trust too often, and too soon. His timing in betraying his agreements and
allies was always wrong, leaving him alone when a solid base of settled allies
and arrangements might have helped him achieve his ambitions.
Perhaps this is the reason why Aurangzeb always held
him at such a distance.
Shivaji retook the Fort of Kondana in Pune, brutally slaying
its Rajput qilladar, and hundreds of his men. He conducted another raid of
Surat. He menaced the English stations that had by this time come up in the
area, extracting gifts for protection. He defeated the Koli rajas of Ramnagar
(in Gujarat), and raided Khandesh (northern Maharashtra) and Burhanpur (Madhya
Pradesh). He also looted Bijapur, and managed to obtain tribute from Golconda
(618).
Aurangzeb was at his wits end. He changed his officers
in the Deccan to no avail. Soon Shivaji had taken back nearly all the forts
that he had ceded to the Mughals after the siege of Purandar.
Shivaji now had every right to be declared a raja in
the Deccan. But he faced a predicament similar to the one faced by the founders
of Vijayanagar kingdom. Just as the Hindu orthodoxy demurred at accepting Hakka
and Bukka as their raja, it now raised objections against Shivaji!
We must pause here to savour the irony of the Hindu
orthodoxy twice setting out to nip in the bud the two greatest Hindu dynasties to
rise since the start of Muslim rule in India! Few other things expose the
folly, self-destructiveness and, may I say, sheer stupidity, of orthodox
Hindu thinking in all its communal and caste-ist glory as does the fact that their
closed attitude was the only brake on the otherwise irresistible rise of these
two sets of brilliant Hindu Empire-builders in the time of Sultanate and Mughal
rule.
It is also curious that similar objections were not
raised by orthodox Hindus to their being ruled by Muslims or converted Hindus.
These objections were reserved for those who did not espouse Islam.
We are compelled to reach the irresistible conclusion that
it was non-casteist Islamic values that enabled talented persons such as
Shivaji and his forebears to be given the opportunity to rise as they did in
the Deccan. What makes the irony all the richer is that today the Hindu Right
presents the times of Vijayanagar and Shivaji as great episodes of Hindu glory
and resistance against Muslim rule.
Not only is this communalisation of Vijayanagar and Shivaji
a misrepresentation, it wilfully forgets that the founders of these two
kingdoms rose on the strength of the Sultans and the Mughals, who were always
willing to do business with them once they had proven their mettle, while
orthodox Hindus were busily raising objections to them on grounds of caste and
creed.
The position of Shivaji is correctly summed up by the
writer Girish Kuber when he says:
“many think of Shivaji’s as a ‘Hindu’ state. It wasn’t
– in the sense in which religion is looked at today. Nor can he be considered a
‘Marathi’ king in a parochial sense. He was much more than and above any of
that….
…painting him with religious and linguistic colours
undermines his greatness. On both counts he can be described as a true liberal…
…..Shivaji never considered himself to be the leader
of Marathi-speaking people alone. He saw himself as a Hindavi king – native,
indigenous, born of the soil. He expanded his kingdom up to [Tanjore] in the
south and wanted to stretch its boundaries up to Kashi in the north. No ruler
of the Marathi region before or after Shivaji, with the sole exception of
Gautamiputra Satkarni, dreamt of spreading his empire over such a vast area
(619)”.
I would add that the Vakatakas and Rashtrakutas were other
such empire-building Maratha-related dynasties, besides the Satvahanas to whom Gautamiputra
Satkarni belonged.
Kuber points out that Shivaji employed large numbers of
Muslims in senior posts in his kingdom, including as his top naval officials. His
army included seven hundred Pathans. A Muslim was even included in his personal
guard. Many of his lifelong adversaries were famous Hindu Maratha clans – the
Mores, Jadhavs, Ghorpades, Surves and Nimbalkars, among others.
Like Deva Raya of Vijayanagar, Shivaji showed respect
for the Quran. Khafi Khan, the Mughal historian, who had no love lost for
Shivaji, said that if a Quran fell into Shivaji’s hands, he would keep it with
respect, and give it to one of his Muslim servants.
Kuber also points out that the over one-lakh men sent
by Aurangzeb to fight Shivaji were mostly Marathi-speaking Hindus. So neither Aurangzeb
nor the Marathas viewed the battles with Shivaji in Hindutva’s communal terms. In
fact, most of the time in the Deccan, Aurangzeb was also fighting the Muslim
Sultans of Bijapur and Ahmadnagar.
To return to the story of Shivaji: by 1674, Shivaji’s
return was complete and more, and he wished to be declared raja in a rajyabhishekha (coronation ceremony) conducted by Brahmin purohits (620).
But, as mentioned above, objections were raised that
he was not a Kshatriya. This was what orthodox Hindus cared about, while
Nayakas proud of their shudra lineage were holding up the ancient Hindu
tradition in the deep South. A search for a purohit willing to declare Shivaji to
be a Kshatriya was undertaken.
A Pandit Bishweshwar was identified in Benares. He was
persuaded to ratify the Bhonsle lineage as traced by Shivaji’s ministers as
having the same ancestry as the Rajput Maharanas of Udaipur. Now Shivaji could
be invested with the sacred thread after performing ritual atonement for him
and his ancestors having “omitted” to perform Kshatriya rites in the past.
Invitations were sent to eleven thousand Brahmins and
their families. They, along with their families, numbering fifty thousand in
all, were hosted for four months by Shivaji. The menu included the daily
distribution of sweets.
When Shivaji asked to be taught the Vedic mantras, the
Brahmins are said to have refused, pointing to scripture. Shivaji retorted that
in that case Brahmins should be removed from secular posts as governors and
army commanders, and confine themselves to fasting and prayer as required in
the scriptures!
In the end some compromise was found by Pandit
Bishweshwara. Shivaji is said to have paid him 7000 hun (the currency of the
time) and distributed 17,000 hun, in addition. The day after this, Shivaji
distributed gold, spices and other rich gifts amounting to 1,00,000 hun to the
assembled Brahmins.
Even this was not enough: two of the assembled
Brahmins said that Shivaji had to be cleansed of the further sin of killing
Brahmins, cows, women and children during his military exploits. This required
the further payment of Rs. 8000.
The next day, the rajyabhishek began with 5000 hun
being given to Pandit Bishweshwar and 100 gold pieces to each of the assembled eleven
thousand Brahmins.
The total cost of these ceremonies is said to have
been one crore and forty two lakh hun. It exhausted Shivaji’s treasury
requiring him go on fresh raids, including against Hindu kingdoms and
communities.
Shivaji’s mother’s aristocratic background had helped
in getting support for her son’s coronation among the orthodox Hindus. By some
accounts, when she died, objections were once again raised to Shivaji’s rajyabhishekha on the pretext that there had been some defect in the earlier ceremony, and he
was made to go through the whole exercise a second time!
Having consolidated his holdings around Maharashtra,
Shivaji now turned his attention deeper south in the Deccan. It was 1677.
Shivaji’s half-brother, Ekoji, the favourite of his
father, had the throne of Tanjore. How Tanjore came to Ekoji is described in Chapter
17.
Shivaji planned his next move meticulously. First, he
negotiated a one-year truce with the Mughal Governor, estimating that it would
take about that time to complete his southern campaign. Bijapur was in disarray
owing to internal conflicts, and so did not pose any immediate threat. Then Shivaji
turned his attention to Golconda, through which he needed a safe passage in
order to get to Ginji and Tanjore.
How Shivaji obtained the agreement of Golconda is a charming
lesson in the manner in which Hindu rajas and Muslim sultans engaged with each
other in those days.
To begin with, Shivaji engaged the good offices of the
former minister of Ekoji, Hanumante (mentioned in Chapter 17), a Brahmin “with
a deep interest in metaphysics and a perfect knowledge of court Persian” to
cultivate Madanna, the Brahmin prime minister of Golconda (621).
Hanumante greatly impressed Madanna who introduced him
to the Sultan. The Sultan was in turn charmed by Hanumante’s beautiful Persian,
and after several meetings at the palace, an invitation was issued to Shivaji.
Shivaji set forth with an entourage of 70,000 men and
his senior-most officials. The entire party was decked out in the most splendid
regalia. Even the horses and soldiers were festooned in gold and pearls. The
men were given strict instructions not to engage in any looting or other
hostile behaviour.
As Shivaji approached the gates of Hyderabad, he received the message
that the Sultan would be coming out to receive him. The regal compliment was returned
by Shivaji, who said that as he was the younger brother, the Sultan must not
take the trouble, and that he, Shivaji, would reach himself to the palace to
pay his respects.
The Sultan had ordered a splendid welcome for Shivaji.
The streets were decorated with kumkum and saffron – it may be noted that kumkum
– sindoor in North India – is a symbol of auspiciousness and celebration for
Hindus. Welcoming archways, tents and flags dotted the city. There were showers
of gold, and women doing arti along the way. Shivaji in turn cast handfuls of
gold and silver into the crowd. Robes were given to the chief residents of
every ward.
Shivaji reached the palace, and was escorted to the
presence of the Sultan. The Sultan rose to greet Shivaji with an embrace, and
made him sit next to him – a mark of high regard and affection.
Then the Sultan asked Shivaji about his legendary
exploits – how he had held off the Mughals, and how he had escaped from Agra Fort
where Aurangzeb had held him. Afterall, the Mughals were a common adversary for
them both!
Shivaji was happy to oblige with the tales of his
adventures. The meeting ended with the Sultan offering Shivaji attar and pan
from his own hands.
Shivaji stayed in Golconda for a month attending feasts
and holding further meetings with the Sultan. There was a contest between one
of Shivaji’s men and the Sultan’s elephants, which ended (or was orchestrated
to end!) with the former striking off the elephant’s trunk with his sword.
At the end of this summit, the passage of Shivaji
through Golconda was agreed. The Sultan of Golconda even agreed to give Shivaji
men and funds for his southern campaign.
Shivaji proceeded towards Vellore and Gingi. He placed
Vellore under siege. Gingi was won easily, and Shivaji marched on southwards.
He camped outside Tanjore where he was met by an envoy
of the Madurai Nayaka. The Nayaka negotiated a price for peace with the
Marathas.
Then Shivaji’s half-brother, Ekoji, came out to meet
him. The meeting is said not to have gone well. However, Shivaji did not push
into Tanjore, leaving instead to conquer the northern Tamil districts of
Madras, Arni, and North and South Arcot.
Shivaji went on to Karnataka where he took by force
what he had previously asked of Ekoji, his father’s possessions in east and
central Mysore. English reports of the time say that the whole of Karnataka
“was peeled to the bone” by Shivaji’s plunder and demands of gifts.
Shivaji returned to Maratha country after appointing
one Shantaji as Governor in Gingi, and another official as Deputy Governor in
Mysore. Ekoji saw his opportunity and attacked Shantaji. But Shantaji defeated
him, and Ekoji was forced to sue for terms. Shivaji returned Tanjore to Ekoji
for a price, and with the condition that Hanumante be appointed there as prime
minister.
In the meantime, Shivaji’s friendship with Golconda
broke down, as the Sultan felt that he had received nothing, not even a single fort,
in return for helping Shivaji. Golconda reached out to Bijapur, and they formed
an alliance with the intent of attacking Shivaji. But the Mughals suddenly
attacked Bijapur.
Bijapur promptly abandoned its alliance with Golconda,
and appealed to Shivaji for help. Shivaji sent in his forces. They managed to
hold the Mughals at bay. But then Shivaji turned on Bijapur, plundered its
suburbs and carried off its banias as ransom!
The beleaguered Sultan of Bijapur now opened
negotiations with the Mughals. The Mughal commander Dilir Khan attacked
Shivaji. The Mughals managed to capture Shivaji’s fort of Bhupalgarh.
Now trouble began to brew in Shivaji’s household. His
second wife, Soyarabai, resented his elder son, Shambhaji, from his first wife.
Soyarabai wanted the throne for her son, Rajaram. Her plots and intrigues
resulted in Shambhaji being placed under house arrest with his wife. Shambhaji and
his wife managed to escape, and they sought refuge with the Mughal commander
Dilir Khan (621).
Dilir Khan decided to attack Bijapur once more. Bijapur again turned to Shivaji. Dilir Khan besieged Bijapur without success and had to content himself with plundering the villages outside. Soon thereafter, Shambhaji got wind of a Mughal plot to have him arrested. He fled back to Shivaji, only to be placed under arrest by his father again.
Shivaji continued his campaign of plunder in
neighbouring Mughal dominions. In late 1679, he rampaged through the rich trade
centres of western Khandesh.
Then he turned south to reach the city of Jalna just outside Aurangabad. A sufi fakir, Sayyid Jan Muhammad, had his abode at the edge of Jalna. As Shivaji was known not to attack holy men or places, the wealthy denizens of Jalna had decamped to the fakir, with much of the town’s treasure.
When Shivaji’s men learnt what had occurred, they
attacked the fakir’s dwelling (633).
Legend has it that Shivaji’s sudden death a few months
later was owing to this action. Others
say that he was poisoned by his wife Soyarabai. Be that as it may, Shivaji took
ill suddenly, and died at the relatively young age of 54. It was 1680.
A giant had fallen.
Shivaji was a brilliant soldier and statesman. His
daring, and the boldness and audacity of the career that he carved for himself
almost singlehandedly were truly remarkable. His legacy is much diminished in
the hands of the Hindu Right. More should be done by secular thinkers to
understand him, in the words of Kuber, as a “Hindavi leader”.
He was indeed among the last of the great Dakkhani
rajas. He embodied the multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual Dakkhani
culture, equally at ease among his native Marathas as among the Persianate
courtiers of the Deccan Sultanates; free of petty religious prejudice; and,
most importantly, seeing the Deccan and all of Hindustan as one field, not
defined or divided by narrow religious, ethnic or cultural differences.
Before moving on in our story from Shivaji, it is
interesting to read his letter to Aurangzeb below. The letter was ostensibly written
in criticism of Aurangzeb’s imposition of the jiziya, but this can hardly be
taken seriously in light of Shivaji’s own use of devastating plunder, including
of Hindu kingdoms and peoples, as a pillar of his own state policy.
The letter is quoted here to demonstrate Shivaji’s
understanding of the Mughals, of India’s religious diversity, and of the situation
of Hindus and Muslims in India as co-religionists.
Though the letter breaks off from time to time into
excoriating denunciations of Aurangzeb, the fact that Shivaji chose to frame
the case in terms of the magnanimity and religious tolerance of Aurangzeb’s
forebears - Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan - shows that these were also held to
be Mughal values and ideals:
“……May it please your Majesty! The architect of the
fabric of empire Akbar Padishah… adopted the admirable policy of sulh-i-kul in
relation to all the various sects, such as Christians, Jews, Muslims, Dadu’s
followers, falabia [skyworshippers], malakia, ansaria [materialists], daharia [atheists],
Brahmins and Jain priests. The aim of his liberal heart was to cherish and
protect all the people. So he became famous under the title of “Jagat Guru”,
the world’s spiritual guide.
Next, the Emperor Nuruddin Jahangir for 22 years
spread his gracious shade on the head of the world and its dwellers, gave his
heart to his friends and his hand to his work, and gained his desires. The
Emperor Shah Jahan for 32 years cast his blessed shade on the head of the world
and gathered the fruits of eternal life – which is only a synonym for goodness
and fair fame – as the result of his happy time on earth……
Through the auspicious effect of this sublime
disposition wherever he [Akbar] bent the glance of his august wish, victory and
success advanced to welcome him on the way. In his reign many kingdoms and
forts were conquered….the Emperors….had the power of levying the jiziya but
they did not give place to bigotry in their hearts, as they considered all men,
high and low, created by God to be examples of the nature of diverse creeds and
temperaments. Their kindness and benevolence endure on the pages of Time as
their memorial, and so prayer and praise for these pure souls will dwell
forever in the hearts and tongues of mankind, among both great and small…..
…..[Yours] is a reign in which the army is in a
ferment, the merchants complain, the Muslims cry, the Hindus are grilled…..
…..The infamy will quickly spread from west to east
and become recorded in books of history that the Emperor of Hindustan…..dashes
down to the ground the name and honour of the Timurids!
…..Verily, Islam and Hinduism are terms of contrast.
They are [diverse pigments] used by the true Divine Painter for blending the
colours and filling in the outlines. If it be a mosque, the call to prayer is
chanted in remembrance of Him. If it be a temple, the bell is rung in yearning
for Him only. To show bigotry for any man’s creed and practices is equivalent
to altering the words of the Holy Book. To draw new lines on the picture is
equivalent to finding fault with the Painter….. (632)”
It is all the more moving and reassuring to read these
words, with echoes in one’s ears of the Sangh Parivar’s scurrilous cries of 500
years of Mughal oppression in India from the production at Ayodhya in January last
year. They leave one in no doubt as to what Shivaji’s response would have been
to the whole saga.
After Shivaji
On the death of Shivaji, Soyarabai hurriedly installed
Ramaraja on the throne. But Shambhaji escaped from prison, and had her
executed. He was now the Chhatrapati.
Aurangzeb immediately tested Shambhaji by sending
forces into the new Chhatrapati’s domains. The Emperor also attacked Bijapur
and Golconda. While the Deccan Sultanates, including Bijapur, fell to the
Mughals, Shambhaji was able to hold out for nearly a decade.
In 1681, Aurangzeb’s son, Muhammad Akbar, joined the
Rajputs in a rebellion against him (626). In the course of these intrigues,
Muhammad Akbar even took refuge for a while in Maratha country with Shambhaji,
who helped him to flee to Persia.
The next year, in 1682, Shambhaji attacked and routed
Mysore, then under the rule of Chikka Deva Wadiyar, who was in alliance with
Emperor Aurangzeb. He also attacked Madurai’s possession of Trichy in alliance
with Ekoji of Tanjore.
This is as far from a picture of Hindu solidarity as
one could possibly get, and it is breathtaking how the Hindu Right has
succeeded in convincing people that these Wadiyars and Marathas were icons of a
Hindu Age.
In 1687, Aurangzeb replaced the Sultan of Golconda
with his own governor, styled as “Nizam”. The south and east of the former
Deccan Sultanate domains were carved into a new province, the “Carnatic” or
“Arcot”. Here Aurangzeb appointed a Nawab.
The Nawab of Arcot (or “Carnatic Nawab”) captured the
Fort of Gingi and surrounding lands upto Trichy from Shambhaji, and placed it
in the charge of his nephew Chand Saheb.
At this point Madurai was
under the rule of a woman for the second time – Nayika Rani Meenakshi. She came
to power when her husband, the reigning Nayaka, died without issue. The Rani
adopted a boy from within the extended family with a view to raising him as the
next Nayaka. But the boy’s biological father, Bangaru, set up a challenge to
the Rani immediately after the adoption.
This internecine strife
weakened Madurai, and seizing the opportunity, the Nawab of Arcot sent in his
forces. Arcot was ready to keep the Nayika Rani in place if she agreed to
become a tributary. The Nawab’s nephew, Chand Saheb, who had been given the charge
of Fort Gingi, was sent to conduct the negotiations.
But the Nayika Rani was
now reconciled with Bangaru and refused to come to terms. Chand Saheb
eventually deposed her in 1736 (622). This was the end of Nayaka rule in
Madurai.
The fighting between Shambhaji and Aurangzeb greatly
depleted the Chhatrapati’s coffers. The Maratha countryside had been ravaged by
the constant fighting, and revenues were significantly reduced. As a
consequence, many of the fiefs consolidated by Shivaji began to rebel and fight
with each other.
With service in the Chhatrapati’s armies no longer as
well-paid as it used to be, many of Shambhaji’s Maratha commanders began to
leave. Many of them joined Aurangzeb, who was able to offer them lucrative
posts and estates.
The final blow came with the death of Shambhaji’s
general, Hambeirao Mohite. With him gone, the Maratha forces disintegrated, and
in 1689 Shambhaji was captured and killed by the Mughals. His son, Shahuji, was
taken captive (627).
Shambhaji is said to have been brutally tortured and
humiliated before being executed by Aurangzeb. However, Aurangzeb was only able
to get Shambhaji after he had been betrayed and deserted by his own men.
Clearly, the idea of a “Hindu” Chhatrapati or Maratha kingdom, which is the
presentation of Shivaji and his successors by the Hindu Right, did not hold the
much weight for Hindus or Marathas at the time.
Shambhaji was succeeded by his half-brother Rajaram.
When Rajaram died, his son was still underage, and his wife, Tarabai, appointed
herself regent. In the meantime, Aurangzeb also died (628).
At this point, the Mughal Empire was greatly weakened.
The incessant fighting in the Deccan had been as heavy on its treasuries as it
had been on that of the Marathas. Aurangzeb’s personal unpopularity had diminished
the prestige of the throne everywhere. His successor Azam Shah was challenged
by his brother Shah Alam, who took the throne. Unlike Aurangzeb, Shah Alam seems
to have seen the good sense in allying with the Marathas, especially
considering the weakened state of the Mughal Empire. He released Shahuji.
Shahuji had been raised from a boy by Aurangzeb’s
sister and considered her as his mother. For all that Aurangzeb is said to have
been a bigot, he did not make Shahuji convert to Islam. He must have shown more
than a little kindness to Shahuji, as when the released Maratha prince was sent
to the Deccan, he went in state on foot to pay his respects at Aurangzeb’s
grave in Aurangabad.
Tarabai and Shahuji went to war, where Shahuji
eventually prevailed. He divided the Maratha kingdom into provinces, each ruled
by a prime minister or “peshwa”. He relied heavily on his prime minister, Peshwa
Balaji Vishwanath, putting him in charge of raising an army (629).
In 1718, Peshwa Balaji negotiated a treaty with the
Mughals under which Shahuji accepted Mughal overlordship. On the death of
Peshwa Balaji, Shahuji appointed his son, Baji Rao, as peshwa in 1720. The
position of the Peshwa had thus become hereditary, showing the rising power and
influence of this office.
In 1740, the second Nawab of Arcot, was defeated by
the Marathas under Shahuji. The Marathas took Arcot and Trichy. Chand Saheb was
seized and sent off in exile to Satara in southern Maratha country. Two years
later, the Nizam of Hyderabad challenged the Marathas and was able to take the
former domains of the Carnatic Nawab, that is, the province of Arcot. The rajas
of Tanjore, who were in any case from the rival Ekoji-branch of Marathas,
remained in place.
In the meantime, Chand Saheb began negotiating with
the Marathas, offering to help them recover Arcot (623). When the reigning
Nizam of Hyderabad died in 1748, plunging the state into the chaos of the usual
succession battles, Chand Saheb was able to obtain a release from the Marathas.
He marched to Tamil country, and found an ally in the French. The English and
the French were well established in Tamil country at this point.
The English had set
themselves up in Fort St George on the coast of Chennai since 1639 when the
Vijayanagar raja based in Chandragiri leased this land to the English East
India Company.
They styled the official
in charge of Fort St George as “Governor” and employed locals as sepoys or
soldiers. Between 1676 and 1693, the English East India Company
acquired land around Tamil country from the Golconda Sultan, Mughals, Tanjore Marathas and Vijayanagar rajas.
In 1692, the then Governor of Fort St George, Elihu
Yale (who went on to found Yale University), obtained the right from the
Mughals to mint coins (624). The Tanjore Marathas gave them trading and
settlement rights in Cuddalore to the southeast of Chennai.
The French, under the Pondicherry-based Governor
General of French India, Joseph Francois Dupliex, were betting on Chand Saheb
in their contest with the English for India. The English sided with Hyderabad.
Chand Saheb won, and took over Arcot. For a while the French were the winners
against the English.
However, the deposed Arcot Nawab’s son, Muhammad Ali
Walajah, allied with the British and the Tanjore Marathas to oust and execute
Chand Saheb. Robert Clive, who went on to become the famous Governor of the
Bengal Presidency, was then a lieutenant at Fort St George. While the action
was taking place in Tanjore and Madurai, Clive moved north to conquer Arcot.
Walajah now had Arcot, as well as Madurai and Trichy.
The fact that at the time of his killing by the Tanjore Marathas, for it was they who carried out his execution, Chand Saheb was an ally of the Maharashtra-based Marathas who aspired to expand into southern Tamil Nadu and Karnataka shows the tangled web of Deccan politics, that cannot be reduced to a straight contest for Hindu or Muslim dominance.
The story on the ground had
nothing to do with communal or ethnic identity. In the Deccan, all such
identities were, in any case, greatly mixed just beneath the surface.
In the 1750s, a sepoy
named Yusuf Khan rose to prominence at Fort St George. He was made revenue
collector of Arcot (which at this pointed included Arcot, Trichy and Madurai).
Yusuf Khan had been born a Telugu Velala and converted to Islam in Nellore
(just north of Chennai). He had begun his carrier under Chand Saheb, after
whose defeat in Madurai, he joined the forces of Clive.
Yusuf Khan was deputed by
the English to take Madurai from the Nizam. He was able to do so in 1758. He
also established control over the nearby town of Tirunelveli (or “Tinnevelly”).
Yusuf Khan was popular
with both Hindus and Muslims. He patronised the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai (625).
His ability to negotiate the communal sensibilities of his diverse subjects
show him to have been the Dakkhani that he was. But eventually, when Yusuf Khan
became powerful enough to try and assert himself against the English, they had
him executed. It was 1764.
Yusuf Khan had become so popular
among the people that a dargah came up around his grave in Madurai, called the
Khan Saheb Dargah. Yusuf Khan had a Portuguese wife, Maza, who is said to have
died shortly after he was executed. Legend has it that their young son was
smuggled away by the fisher folk who loved Yusuf Khan. They brought him up as a
Christian. That’s the syncretism of the Deccan of the times for you.
Madurai came under direct rule of the English East India Company by 1801. The Maratha rulers of Tanjore remained in place as tributaries of the Company.
Meanwhile, in the northern branch of the Marathas, the
power of the peshwas was growing apace. Baji Rao had appointed Scindia of
Gwalior and Holkar of Indore and Malwa as deputies. The Gaekwads of Baroda and
the Bhonsles of Nagpur, also held power in these regions as peshwas. The
peshwas in turn expanded the Maratha empire.
Shahuji allied with Nizam Asaf Jah of Hyderabad against the Mughals. He had a rival within his own family in Kolhapur called Shambhaji II. Asaf Jah betrayed Shahuji, joining forces with Shambhaji II. But Baji Rao was able to defeat both Shambhaji and Asaf Jah who signed a treaty accepting Shahuji as Chhatrapati (630).
But the saga of internal Maratha betrayal and rivalry
went on. Later, Shahuji’s army chief betrayed him, with the support of the
Gaekwads of Baroda. Asaf Jah again sided with Shahuji’s enemies, and Baji Rao
was once more successful in defending Shahuji against them all.
Baji Rao died in Shahuji’s lifetime, and Shahuji
appointed his son, Nana Saheb, as Peshwa. But the Marathas themselves opposed
Nana Saheb. In 1761, the Marathas were defeated by the Afghan king Ahmad Shah
Durrani with whom the Mughals alternately allied and fought. The growing power
of the Peshwa annoyed the other Brahmins in Shahuji’s services. After Shahuji’s
death, many of them preferred to take Mughal jagirs rather than to serve under
the Peshwa.
A later Maratha Peshwa, Narayanrao, was killed by his
own uncle. His infant son, Sawai Madhavrao was placed on the Maratha throne
with his tutor Nana Fadnavis as regent. Madhav Rao is said to have committed
suicide.
Now the English East India Company that had been
waiting at the door moved in. They appointed Pratap Singh Bhonsale, a
descendant of Shivaji, as Chhatrapati. A number of autonomous rajas came up out
of the Peshwais – the Gaekwads in Baroda, the Holkars in Indore, the Bhonsales in Nagpur and the
Scindias in Gwalior. Each of them was more interested in increasing their own
power, rather than establishing a Maratha empire.
In the mid-1700s, the Holkars defeated the Rajputs,
while Scindia defeated the Jats and Rohilla Afghans to take over Delhi and
Haryana. Scindia also attacked the rajas of Madhya Pradesh. He had French
soldiers in his armies, whom he deployed to defeat the Rajputs in Jaipur and
Jodhpur. Scindia also captured Marwar in Rajasthan. This was how the Scindias,
who are powerful there till today as politicians, came to power in Rajasthan.
Haider Ali and Tipu
Sultan
Around the same time, an
enterprising officer called Haider Ali, whose forebears had served in the
armies of the Bijapur Sultanate, was engaged in the Mysore Army by Nanjaraja,
the general of the reigning Mysore Raja Krishna Raya Wadiyar (631). This was a
time when the Marathas and Wadiyars were in fierce contention against each
other in the Deccan theatre. The Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Arcot, English
East India Company and the French were the other major players on the scene.
As in many Deccan
kingdoms of the time, effective power in Mysore, was exercised by Chikka
Devaraja, the “Dalavay” or Prime Minister of the Wadiyars. Nanjaraja was his
brother.
Devaraja and Nanjaraja were themselves in competition with each other. The seat of Hyderabad had its own on-going internecine battles, and, as we saw above, the English and French were also engaged in a bitter contest over the Deccan.
Haider Ali was sent by
Nanjaraja to support Nasir Jung in his battles over Hyderabad. Mysore sided with the English against Chand Saheb in Trichy, where Haider Ali was
deputed by Nanjaraja.
Haider Ali distinguished
himself in service, rising to the position of commander-in-chief. He stepped in
to reconcile Devaraja and Nanjaraja, and pacify the soldiers whose pay had been
delayed owing to the stretching of the Mysore treasuries in all the fighting.
The Marathas attacked
Mysore in 1758 and were defended so well by Haider Ali that he became a hero
in Karnataka country. He was rewarded
with the title of Nawab by Krishna Raya Wadiyar. Devaraja died that same year,
and Haider Ali took the position of Dalavay.
Haider Ali was now
unchallenged in Mysore, though still functioning with Krishna Raya Wadiyar as
titular king. The latter died in 1766, to be succeeded by his son Nanjaraja
(not to be confused with the Nanjaraja who earlier served as commander of the
Mysore armies). Haider had him executed on charges of conspiring with the
Marathas, and installed a cousin of his, one Chamaraja Wadiyar, as a puppet
raja on the throne of Mysore.
One of Haider Ali’s most
important advisers was a Hindu, and a Brahmin, called Purniah, who also served
Haider Ali’s son and successor, the legendary Tipu Sultan.
Haider Ali never took the
crown of Mysore for himself, always taking care to have a pliant Wadiyar
nominally on the throne, and controlling affairs in his name. This was a
familiar tactic in Dakkhani politics, and had frequently been deployed, as we
observed in earlier chapters, among the Vijayanagris and the Deccan Sultanates.
Haider Ali’s
administration was heavily staffed with Brahmins who were prized at the time
for their literacy and learning as scribes and administrators. They robustly
defended Haider Ali in the ongoing confrontations of Mysore with the Marathas,
where the Brahmins were also in effective control as Peshwas.
Haider shows himself to
have been yet another cosmopolitan Dakkhani personality in this assessment of
him by the English East India Company: “It was his avowed and public opinion
that all religions proceeded from God, and are equal in the sight of God; and
[he respected] the mediatory power represented by Runga Swamy [Ranganathaswamy
of the Vishnu temple in Srirangapatnam] (631A).”
Competition in the Deccan
theatre continued as before. The Marathas allied with the Nizam of Hyderabad
and the English East India Company in trying to conquer Mysore. Haider Ali and
Tipu Sultan’s reign saw a number of attacks by the Marathas and English on
Mysore.
But there were also some
alliances between these players, in the pattern of the lively theatre of the
Deccan. One of the Tanjore Maratha rajas, Tulajaji II, was suspected by the
English of plotting with Haider Ali. This may well have been the case as rajas
everywhere were keen to rid themselves of the yoke of the English East India
Company. The English used this as an excuse to invade Tanjore in 1773.
Tulajaji was forced to
accept Company terms, but Haider Ali and Tipu continued to hold the English at
bay between 1780 and 1783.
Haider invaded Kerala
country in alliance with the Coorgis. The Pazhassi Raja of Kottayam (in Kerala)
applied to the English East India Company for help. But the Company deposed
him. In the game of ever-changing alliances in the Deccan theatre, Haider Ali
later turned against the Coorgis, bringing them under tribute to Mysore.
Haider Ali died in 1782,
and was succeeded by his son, Tipu. In 1791, the Marathas launched an attack on
Mysore that included a savage plunder of the Sringeri Matt. In course of the
fighting, they killed resident priests and broke the temple idol. Again, this
history belies the image of “Hindu” resistance or a Hindu block of any sort in
the Deccan at this time.
The priests of Sringeri
Matt famously appealed to Tipu for help, and he, famously, defended them, and
restored the Matt and temple. Years later, on the morning of 4 May 1799, the
day that Tipu was fated to die fighting the British, he sent offerings and a
request for prayers at the Ranghanatha temple in Srirangapatnam.
After killing Tipu, the English
East India Company located a child-descendant of the Wadiyars, and installed
him as their puppet raja, retaining Purnia as Dewan.
In the meantime, Pazhassi
Raja who went into hiding in the Waynard forests after being deposed by the
English, kept up a fight against them for many years, harrying them with the
support of the local villagers and Malabari Muslims. He was finally killed by
the English in 1805.
The last Maratha ruler of
Tanjore, Sarabhoji II, surrendered his throne to the English in 1799. It is
significant that this was the year that Tipu Sultan was killed. The fall of
this last great southern bulwark against English rule would have dealt a heavy
blow to the morale of the Tanjore rajas.
The death of Tipu Sultan
did not completely extinguish the spirit of fight against the English. In 1801,
two warrior-chief brothers of Sivaganga, the Marudu brothers, led a rebellion
against them.
The rebellion had been
sparked by the English Collector of Tirunelveli demanding evidence of descent
from the native ruling family of Sivaganga.
Chinna Marudu had notices
signed by him put up at the gates of the Trichy Fort as well as the temple of
Srirangam, calling upon all communities - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas,
Shudras and Muslims - to fight the English. The English managed to suppress the
rebellion, but only after several months of fighting.
Resentment against the
English continued to simmer, and in 1806 Indian sepoys at Fort Vellore, where
Tipu’s sons had been exiled, mutinied. The mutineers comprised Hindu and Muslim
sepoys. They declared Tipu’s son, Fateh Haider, as king and raised Tipu’s flag
over the fort.
The rebellion was
suppressed after much bloodshed. It had been set off by religious sentiments of
both Hindus and Muslims being offended in the rules against caste-marks and
beards, and the requirement to replace their turbans with European style hats.
The similarities of this episode with the Revolt of 1857 half a century later
in North India are remarkable.
In 1831, Mysore was
annexed by the English. Together with Tanjore and Madurai, which had already
been annexed by them, these domains now formed the “Madras Presidency” under the
English East India Company.
In 1855, Arcot was
annexed by the Company under the Doctrine of Lapse.
Two years later, in 1857,
the famous Revolt referred to above broke out in North India. Native forces in North
India mutinied against the English declaring as their king Bahadur Shah Zafar,
the last of the Mughals, who had been confined to his fortress in Old Delhi for
years.
By now, most of the
Madras Presidency had been under Company rule for over 50 years. Afzal ud
Dawla, the Nizam of Hyderabad, chose to support the English, and not the
Mughals in Delhi. Yet another example of religion being ancillary to the events
of the time.
The Nizam sent his men to
protect the English Resident, Colonel Davidson. The Resident’s palace had been
picketed by Pathan Rohillas who gathered around there on hearing the news from
North India.
Crowds of Muslims also
gathered at Srirangapatnam, Mysore and outside the erstwhile residence of the
Nawab of Arcot in Triplicane. There is no record of the Hindus of South India being
inspired to join the rebellion sparked off by the Hindu (and Brahmin) Mangal
Pandey in the North.
Tamil Brahmins were by
this time a fixture of Company Rule, having been extensively engaged by the
English in administering the Madras Presidency. This was a factor which
contributed to some resentment against them in Tamil country in times to come.
The story of India goes on and on, but I will leave it
here with the start of English rule, the events following which the readers are
more familiar with than the earlier history that I have told.
Procession
of Nizam Ali Khan. Hyderabad. Salar Jung Museum. Note the Nizam’s English guard
and the red-coated figure on the horse who is probably the English Resident
(see below). Photo Credit: Seyller
and Mittal 2018, pg. 230-231.
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