“The Marathas quickly conquered the south of Narmada. They spread like ants across the regions of Dakkhan, Khandesh, Varhad and Kokan” – Bhimsen Saksena
This note by Bhimsen Saksena sums up the rapid movements of Marathas in the Deccan. The years from 1700 (after Rajaram Maharaj’s death) till 1707 (the death of Aurangzeb) were the years that tested the bravery, loyalty and resilience of both the Marathas as well as the Mughals. After the death of Rajaram Maharaj it was the stalwart queen of the Bhonsle family; Tararani Bhonsle who was the driving force behind the Marathas. She deployed sardars such as Nemaji Shinde, Keso Trimal, Parsoji Bhonsle, Dhanaji Jadhav, Hanmantrao Nimbalkar and Hindurao Ghorpade on these missions. Marathas made their presence felt from Machallipattnam in the South to Bengal and Gujarat in the North.
Aurangzeb would invest a lot of his army sending them on various campaigns to regain the Maratha forts. This gave an advantage to the Marathas and they would plunder the Mughal regions and get large amounts of loot from the Mughal camps.
The Marathas dash into the enemy territory-
The region of Govalkonda had been of prime importance since the time of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Around 22 thousand Maratha troops dashed into Govalkonda and gathered a large sum of loot from the Mughals there. Manuchi writes “The subedar of Govalkonda upon hearing the arrival of Marathas in his region gave up his entire treasury and ran away and hid in the fort of Bhaganagar”. During the same time Tararani instructed Dhanaji Jadhav, Hanmantrao Nimbalkar and Hindurao Ghorpade to go on a campaign to Karnataka. Excessive fear among the Mughals there forced them to bow before the Marathas and they readily gave away all the money and treasury that the Marathas demanded.
Four of the important forts that the Marathas recaptured in the consecutive years-
· In the year 1704, in the month of December Tararani conquered a fort in the North Karnataka, the fort of Koppal. This fort was been taken by Shivaji Maharaj during his Deccan campaign and had gone in the hands of Mughals after his death.
· The very next year that is 1705 Dhavji Visar and Chafaji Shinde won back the fort of Lohagad. Letter from Tararani applauding them about the successful mission is found in the archives.
· Sinhagad, yet another important fort of Hindavi Swarajya was won over by Shankaraji Narayan Sachiv and his men. In the appreciation letter Tararani writes “Sinhagad has been captured by you. You have captured Devisingh too (deployed by Mughals to protect the fort). You have proven (yet again) the loyalty to Maratha throne”.
· Gunaji Sawant won back the fort of Rajmachi in June 1705.
As can be seen from these records, the Marathas did not leave a single stone unturned to teach some good lessons to their enemy. They crossed the Narmada in the North and Mahanadi in the East plundering the regions of Gujarat and Bengal. Manuchi writes “The Maratha army entered Bengal and reached Orissa. They plundered the villages of Daka and Rajmahal. A Hindu sardar stopped them and tried to trap them due to which they couldn’t ride further. However they brought back home a huge amount of the loot. None of them (enemy) dared to stop them on their way back”.
Around the same time Muhammad Azam who was stationed at Gujarat started his journey from Ahmadabad to Aurangabad to meet his father Aurangzeb, who was now on death bed. Tararani took this as an advantage and sent Dhanaji Jadhav and Nemaji Shinde with their troops to Gujarat. The army looted and plundered the city of Surat. They futher crossed Narmada and dashed into the city of Badodara. Dhanaji Jadhav and Nemaji Shinde fought with the Mughal army of Abdul Hamidkhan and Najarali Khan. Kafikhan writes “These Mughal sardars were not equipped with the knowledge of the Maratha (guerilla) warfare. They were badly hit and lost the skirmish to Marathas”. The Marathas later arrested many of the Mughal sardars and brought them back to Maharashtra with the incalculable loot they had received.
Marathas under the strong leadership of Tararani were successfully winning back their forts and provinces. While they arrested the Mughal sardars and plundered and looted their wealth, Aurangzeb was lying in his death bed, waiting for his final journey towards the ‘Jannat’.
*All the dates mentioned are according to the Julian calendar.
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