Enough and Plenty

 Superb jewels of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

The great Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji could   do impossible things  because he built the team of the devoted persons  who had special skills  in their respective fields. Shivaji Maharaj. knew when and where .......which person can do  a given task flawlessly. 

In the analysis the success of Shivaji Raje is attributed mainly to three things namely. ...

1. A  motivated army with fast moving cavalry .

2  An excellent network of Spies who will work out every minute details upfront.

3 Unwritten but committed  guarantee to all  his soldiers that they will not only get the timely payment but their families will be looked after well.

There were several other factors for the success and the most important thing was Leadership quality of the great king who on several occasions led from the front .Shivaji had an immaculate skill of accurately understanding the situation for which not only his  spy network was responsible but Shivaji himself had amassed in depth knowledge from his Guru and his mother.  He had the team of several greats like Tanaji Malusare,Yesaji  Kank,

Bahirji  Naik, Netaji Palkar, Baji Prabhu  Deshpande ,Annaji, Moropant (and later Balaji Moropant), Murar Baji , Hiroji Indulkar,Kanhoji Jedhe ,Jeeva Mahala and so on.....the list will perhaps have no end.

Here is an attempt to describe the skills of these individuals and their outstanding contribution.

I. JEEVA MAHALA

Once Shivaji Raje was going through a small village and found that  Jeeva Mahala a young 13 years old boy was surrounded by crowd. Shivaji joined them to understand what is going on .

The young boy was moving his belt with supersonic speed and there were several targets around him . The fast moving belt used to suddenly come to zero speed immediately after hitting the target. There were many water melons and  small size lemons around as targets for Jeeva and one after other Jeeva was cutting them in two pieces.

After every accurate shot crowd used to cheer Jeeva. Jeeva took the rest when the new targets were installed. After carefully observing the distance of each Target Jeeva's eyes were covered and he was blinded. He started swinging his belt again and to the surprise of everyone he hit every target .He demonstrated that he was not only accurate but precise as well.

Shivaji Raje was deeply impressed by this superb skill and  personally requested Jiva to join him. Obviously Jiva agreed and started living with Shivaji.

Later, after almost 4 years Jiva gave company to Shivaji when Afzalkhan was there near Pratapgad .On the day of visit only 10 Persons were supposed to give company to Raje and later it was decided that only one person will go inside Shamiyana. Shivaji Raje's Jiva Mahala was that one person. 

Jiva was given a specific task of observing movements of Sayyad Banda who was accompanying Sardar Afzalkhan. When Shivaji tore Afzalkhan's belly after the first attack from  enemy; Afzalkhan Khan started shouting . Sayyad Banda rushed to help him with his sword and was about to hit Shivaji 's head but Jiva with his supersonic speed and accuracy cut the hand of Sayyad Banda and Shivaji was saved . This was the  outstanding performance of Jiva Mahala  which not only saved Shivaji' s life but in the real sense saved swarajya. Since then People started saying

" Asel Jiva tar. Vachel Shiva"

Jiva Mahala was chief bodyguard of Shivaji.

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 II.      BAHIRJI NAIK

Since Bahirji Naik was himself  spy  not many things are known about him .His movements and assignments used to be secret missions . 

Bahirji Naik was name given to him by Shivaji himself . His original name was Daulat and he was associated with Shivaji right from the beginning when Shivaji used to live in Lal Mahal of Pune.In those days, around Pune there was dense forest and when Shivaji's mother wanted to develop Pune from the scratch ;she wanted to reduce the menace  of wolves in the forest. Jijau   had announced that whoever will bring tail of  wolf   will be rewarded. Daulat who was barely  of 14- 15 years age killed many "Landge" and with their tails visited Lal Mahal .Jijau ,mother of Shivaji was perplexed to see so many tails and for each tail she awarded gold bracelet  to Daulat. Daulat however was not interested in Gold but wanted to meet Shivaji . when Shivaji met him Daulat told that he can use various weapons and gave demo of the same . Daulat also had another superb skill of imitating sound of various birds. Not only birds, but he could imitate sound of any person . He used to perform small skits to entertain people and earn his daily needs .

Bahirji Naik used to  travel to several places in different dresses particularly. In the area of enemies  and has many persons  in his department including good actors of both genders, and with skill of knowing  several languages including the language of animals and birds ! Persons of  different age groups with full dedication of achieving the objective in a given mission used to be in his group. There are no proofs of who did excellent work in the given mission but Bahirji used to convert detail planning of Shivaji Raje in actions. 

Whenever Shivaji faught any battle Bahirji used to give him support in the form of information and logistics involved .Bahirji used to win half battle and Shivaji or his Sardar used to win remaining half battle . When Shivaji was in Aagra Bahirji traveled and gave support to Shivaji's plan . It is said that Disciples of swami Samarth Ramdas Swami used to feed information to Bahirji's persons .

Two incidents are mentioned here to get the idea about Bahirji's several contributions.

The first one is when Shashiste khan came to Pune with more than 1 lac army  to defeat Shivaji. Shahiste khan conquered Pune and started living in Lal Mahala where Shivaji Raje spent his childhood. For several days Shivaji Raje was doing nothing in the eyes of Mughals and people even started whispering why there is no resistance to Khan who was uncle of Auranzeb.

Shivaji Raje was gathering every information about Khan .The plan to attack Shahiste Khan directly was being hatched. It was clear to the soldiers how to enter in Pune City  however Maharaj was not clear about how to enter the Room in which Khan used to sleep. Entry from the door was difficult and would have consumed time .It is said that Bahirji solved this problem. Bahirji's one person managed to get the job of Gardner in Lal Mahal and was waiting for the opportunity to unscrew the  hinges of the window of the room in which Khan used to sleep.Just a week before the attack was done Bahirji gave message to Raje  that the job is done. In a spectacular dramatic  and daring style Shivaji himself reached Lal Mahal.. pushed the window hard and entered the room where Khan was sleeping.Fortunately for Khan his one of the wives removed candle which saved Khan's life. Shivaji didn't know that Khan survived as he  attacked him  in the absolute dark however khan's fingers were cut. Khan was terribly shocked to see suddenly appearing Shivaji . In the same mission Bahirji had planted several animals with lighted Mashals on their Horns to misguide enemy in chasing Shivaji.  The amount of detail planning and its execution to attack on  the  centre of the large army with bare 50 - 60 people has no parallel in the history of world. Certainly Bahirji's contribution in the mission was as great as Shivaji's daring "leading from the front" quality to frighten the enemy.Within one week Khan decided to abandon his mission.

The second outstanding contribution of Bahirji which has proof in the history is about the Surat loot.

Bahirji himself was lin Surat for over two months in the dress of Begger. An English officer has mentioned that he was shocked to know the begger was Shivaji's spy

 In Surat Bahirji did all the ground work of marking houses of Rich businessmen, estimating the likely amount of loot and arranging bags to pack the looted articles.He organized and sent all heavy material,by different ships to swarajya by sea root. All the detailing was executed by Bahirji's men and Shivaji knew upfront that he will not face any resistance from the enemy. Working each detail in advance in the  secrecy was an extremely tough job and person like Bahirji only could do that.

There were several other jobs executed by Bahirji but for the want of space I have mentioned only 2 of them.

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III. YESAJI KANK

Yesaji Kank was one of the most trusted sardar of Shivaji . Yesaji was Shivaji's childhood friend and since the age of 9 they were together. Yesaji was the tallest among all the close associates and was very  intelligent sardar  who  had many ideas of fighting the gorilla war.He was made chief incharge of planning the gorilla war when Afzalkhan of Adilshah came to Pratapgad. The detail planning which couldn't be imagined by enemy and it's clinical execution  was the main reason why Marathas could win against the two or  three times army of enemy. Yesaji was chief of the "paydal " while Netaji was chief of "Ghoddal " (cavalry). Since Yesaji and Shivaji were together from their childhood they had perfect understanding about what action to be taken añd how the victory will be achieved against enemy in the shortest possible time with minimum resources .

Yesaji Fought A Great Battle Of Pratapgad in which  Maratha Army got Victory. Yesaji was honoured by "Gold kade" (Bracelet ).He had since then always remained with Shivaji.

Later when Shivaji wanted to combine all army's of Qutub Shahi and Aadil Shahi to fight against  Delhi king Aurangjeb ,he went to south.

Qutub Shah asked Shivaji how many elephants you have in the army to which Shivaji answered that all his Sardars are his elephants and so there is no need to have real elephants. To prove his point 

Sardar Yesaji Kank played an important role. He fight with drunken Elephant Of Qutub Shah. Shivaji Choose Sardar Yesaji Kank because Yesaji Was Seven Feet Tall He was good warrior & powerful Sardar Of Shivaji's Army. The drunken Elephant Of Qutub Shah ran away from the ground in fear.

The greatness of Yesaji kank and Shivaji Raje is evident from the fact that their several ideas of Gorilla style war are taught in the more than 15 top armies of different nations all over the world including Indian Army !!

Yesaji and his family were devoted to Shivaji till end.

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IV BAJI PRABHU DESHPANDE

Baji Prabhu was  quite elder to Shivaji Raje and was leader of his "Badal "community. The sacrifice made by him has no parallel in the history of the world.

His prominent contribution was to unite all his community and  give solid support to Shivaji Raje without which it would have been impossible for Shivaji Raje to build Hindu empire which gave stiff resistance to ever expanding Muslim regimes in those days.

The most important role played by Baji Prabhu  the great, was in the battle of "Panhala" fort, when Shivaji Raje with barely 600 soldiers successfully escaped from the fort . This was the superb retreat demonstrating the detail planning and its nearly clinical execution. It tells very important message that though the best way of defence is to attack,when one cannot attack how should one defend successfully by offering suprime sacrifice to achieve the set target.

After the defeat of Afzalkhan Muslim Empire of Adil Shah of Bijapur wanted to take revenge and had attacked Shivaji Raje's newly born very small empire .Adil Shah sent Siddi Johar  with full force and unlike Afzalkhan Siddi Johar was extremely disciplined and cautious. Raje was on Panhala fort near kolhapur. Siddi Johar with his army surrounded the fort and cut off the communication and external aid to the fort. All the  attempts to distract Siddi Johar's army by Shivaji's external Sardars were foiled by Siddi Johar. The fort continued to see extremely tightly surrounded army of enemy for more than 4 months.

There were two options for Shovaji, first was to  surrender and the second was to make the daring attempt to escape ., Shivaji with Baji Prabhu Deshpande and other Sardars decided to choose the second option. On the night of no moon day in absolute darkness of the night when it was heavily raining about 600 persons of Shivaji and Baji started their journey to escape. Shivaji's Sardar Bahirji had done all the work and decided the   escape route  which had  comparatively less number of enemy's army. In the total silence Shivaji Raje who was in the "PALAKHI "was carried by his persons . They had decided to take him to another fort Vishalgad which was about 28 miles away. 

Someone in the Siddi Johar's army was alert and awake and saw the movement of Shivaji's men. By the time he reported and Siddi Johar's army started the chase Shivaji's men had covered 5-6 miles .The enemy's cavalry  was chasing Shivaji's small army who was running and so the distance between the two armies  was shrinking after every minute. As planned another empty PALAKHI  was carried by Shivaji's persons and at one of the bifurcations of roads this empty Palkhi was carried  on another path while Shivaji's men continued their journey in the right direction.

As expected , Siddi Johar's army was fooled and went in the direction of empty Palkhi. Soon they reached and captured that originally empty  Palkhi in which a person who was duplicate of Shivaji was sitting. As they captured  duplicate Shivaji who was a barber,Johar's Sardar were extremely happy, thinking that they will be rewarded for arresting Shivaji. None of them had ever seen how Shivaji looks so happily they went back in Johar's tent  thinking they will be rewarded . Siddi Johar, unlike other Sardars was extremely cautious and he started questioning the captured persons of Shivaji and Duplicate Shivaji immediately ,without waiting for dawn .  Soon they came to know that the captured person was not real Shivaji .Siddi Johar furiously  ordered the chase with more persons and the hunt began again when the Sun was rising.  

All this gave Shivaji's persons about 4 hours and they had reached swiftly about 18 miles away from Panhala fort. Since that was the well known area   for Baji's men they knew every small road of the area and could move fast in the right direction of Vishalgad fort.

The task was still unfinished and barely half the distance was covered by Shivaji's men and here was the great Sahyadri mountain  which came to their help.

The road had become extremely narrow  and on either side of the road tall mountains were standing . The Path here  was very narrow and the place was about 13 miles away from "Vishalgad " .Baji knew upfront that enemy in their chase  will have to cross this place and there is possibility of stopping the enemy here. Baji took the control of the mission. He insisted that Shivaji should continue his journey from here with army  of 300 persons and other 300 will do all out efforts to stop the enemy here  till Raje reach to safety.Shivaji knew this is suicidal moove  and tried to convince Baji but Baji Prabhu taking advantage of his old age almost ordered Shivaji to agree to his request. After a brief halt Shivaji started his journey while Baji's persons waited for the enemy and planned their  fight in the batches of 20-25 soldiers. 

At around noon the army of Siddi Johar led by Johar's sonin law Masood   reached the spot,There was a very narrow path and dense forest around to hide.and Marathas were expert in Gorilla style war.Time and again the attempt of moving ahead was foiled . Baji and his men stood like a solid rock between Siddi Johar and Shivaji for more than 4 hours till they heard the sound of cannons telling Shivaji reached Vishal Gad safely.

Only because Persons like

Baji Prabhu were with Shivaji ,he

could establish the new kingdom .

In the memory of Baji Prabhu Shivaji changed the name of "Ghod khind"

to "Pawan Khind"

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V. TANHAJI MALUSUARE

Shivaji Raje's best friend from his childhood was Tanhaji Malusure. He was associated right from the beginning with  Shivaji and played the main role when the very  first  Fort " Torana "was conquered and swarajya mission began against all odds . Among all the friends of Shivaji ,Tanhaji was very close to Jijau   and Jijau had full trust in 

Tanhahji .  In early days  whenever Shivaji used to go to accomplish any mission Jijau used to ensure  that Tanhaji is accompanying Shivaji.  Tanhaji was excellent organizer and was an inspiring person for people in the surrounding villages .Together they fought and won several battles and laid the solid foundation of Swarajya along with other associates like Yesaji and Bahirji. 

Tanhaji's maternal uncle  "Shelar mama "used to share his experience with Tanhaji and his  younger brother Suryaji used to be second in command.

Later when Shivaji was crowned          Tanhaji was conferred title " Subhedar"( Governer who used to manage certain area called "Subha" )

When Shivaji  successfully escaped from  Agra , many forts which were given to Mirza Raje Jaisingh as a part of Purandar treaty, were still in the control of Mogal. Total there  were 23 such  forts and Shivaji wanted to recapture them.The strategically located " Kondhana "fort near  Pune was one of them.This fort was visible from Raigad and Jijau wanted Bhagava( Saffron) flag on it so that Pune area could  be controlled properly. The fort was very tough in 

its approach and ,Auranzeb's man  Udaybhan Rathod was chief of the fort   He  was quite brave and alert and one of the experts in sword war. Jijau and Shivaji both were confidant that Tanhaji  can win Kondhana and do the nearly impossible task.

In Tanhaji's home there was marriage of his son and to invite Shivaji for the marriage Tanhaji visited Shivaji at Raigad.He came to know about " Kondhana mission" and offered his services for leading the mission.Jijau and Shivaji both refused  to send Tanhaji for winning Kondhana because

Tanhaji's presence for his son's marriage was important. Tanhaji immediately postponed the marriage and said "Aadhi lagin kondhanyach"( First there will be celebration of winning the fort Kondhana) Shivaji Raje agreed and the famous battle of Kondhana followed.

Though Tanhaji had won several battles earlier he is wel- known for his last battle because not only he won Kondhana he laid his life while vehemently fighting with Udaybhan Rathod by giving priority to his duty over his family .

On yet another no moon day Tanhaji started his mission as soon as it was dark and selected the most dangerous path to enter the fort. About 100 persons climbed the stiff mountain with the help of Ropes thrown from top by 4 dare devils who climbed the mountain without assistance of any Ropes. It is said that there was trained pet " Ghorpad " ( a lizard like animal which can climb difficult terrain and can hold the rope ) which helped those dare devils. Some say it was the group led by the person named Ghorpade who was expert in climbing on stiff mountain led the mission. Tanhaji's other army in large number had silently reached main gate of the fort and was silently waiting for doors of the fort to open. As expected.....the plan was successful as those 100 persons who successfully climbed and entered the fort fought tooth and nail and reached the door and opened it. Udaybhan himself jumped in the battle and to counter him Tanhaji himself accepted his challlenge.There was the big fight between two and unfortunately Tanhaji was badly injured. Injured Tanhaji continued the fight and Udaybhan was also badly injured . Both died in one of the most absorbing battles. After fall of Tanhaji his army was demoralised and started running away but Shelar Mama and Suryaji gave them the confidance and continued the fight till the fort was won and the Safaron flag started fluttering on the fort. As planned there was signal of winning the battle by burning huge volume of straws . The fire could be seen from Raigad . Shivaji who was awake, immediately started from Raigad to reach to Kondhana to congratulate his friend Tanhaji.  By the time Shivaji reached Kondhana in the morning he learned that his friend is no more. His lion hearted friend gave the suprime sacrifice. 

Shivaji then said in deep grief " Gad aala ...pan. Simha Gela" ( we have won the fort but lost our lion )

In the memory of Tanhaji Shivaji renamed Kondhana fort as "Simha Gad"

Even after over 750 years Tanhaji's brave  fight is remembered everyday particularly by those who visit the site of Simha Gad.

From the childhood of Tanhaji till death I e  for over 40 years ,association of Shivaji and Tanhaji was growing great guns .

The cruel clutches of death separated the two great friends. !

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VI. HIROJI INDULKAR

      

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was one of the greatest engineers

of India who belonged to the 20 th century .

The greatest  architect and engineer of 17 th century was perhaps  Hiroji Indulkar who was one of the jewels Shivaji proudly possessed.

Hiroji became close associate of Shivaji ever since Shivaji won the Rairi fort in 1656 from Chandrakant More who was self proclaimed  king of Jawali area.

After winning the Fort Shivaji surveyed the area and thought that the place had a very good potential to be future capital of Swarajya .The area was strategically located and there was dense forest around. It was very difficult for any enemy to approach and conquer the place. Shivaji decided  to develop the area however sufficient finance was not available then .

Shivaji had many specialists in his team and Hiroji Indulkar was one of them who was totally devoted to the assigned task without expecting any reward.Hiroji became Shivaji's trusted man during long discussions on the newly conceived project.

 Hiroji  executed many  projects for visionary Shivaji Maharaj including  building architectural wonders  in the form of new forts like Sindhudurg and Raigad . Under his supervision many  reconstruction / repairs of several forts for swarajya were done and the prominent among them was Pratapgad and Purandar Forts

Shivaji knew that to control  the coastal area ,he should not only have cavalry but should have Naval force as well.He had observed Britishers,French and Portugese people who came all the way to India only because they had good ships and based on that they were controlling some coastal area. Siddi Halal was another independant force because of his Naval strength . Shivaji therefore wanted his own Naval force and some fort in the sea .  He  built Sindhudurg fort and was the pioneer of modern Indian Naval force . The idea  of building the fort in the sea was Shivaji's but it's execution from the selecting the site to completing monumental work was done by  Hiroji Indulkar.

In those days people used to mainly have two sources of earnings ,either do farming  or join the army. It was Shivaji Raje who provided employment on large scale to people in the field of construction and executing new projects . It is really difficult to estimate value of the projects done in the 17 th century  but in today's context Project of Raigad itself could be worth 50 to 60 thousand crores and Sindhudurg project was even more costlier. The notable thing is even today after more than 700 years the large portions of the construction is in tact. Till Britishers destroyed Raigad in 1818 the construction was in good condition.

The  Raigad fort project is considered as one of the most important and unique architecture of 17 th Century. The project was conceived by the great Shivaji Raje in 1656 but only after Shivaji got huge wealth in Surat battle the project was on the fast track.

 Hiroji was quite systematic and he first prepared various sketches and made models from clay and wood and worked out every small details including  constructing artificial lakes ,temple, private quarters for Shivaji's wives ,Darbar Hall, Market area, places for secret discussions, places for storing weapons and storing grains, a place for punishing criminals ,Drainage system and the system for water conservation and many other things .  Each place and system had its own importance and Hiroji had captured almost all the expectations of Shivaji. Shivaji had total trust in the capability of Hiroji and he never interfered while work was in progress .Shivaji had  instructed Moropant Pingale ,his prime minister , to make required  resources available to Hiroji and told  that money should not be the constraint in the construction of the new fort related project . Jokingly he  used  comment that  " if required we can again go to Surat again"

In the year  1672 the new fort was ready .In 1674, after being crowned the emperor of the Maratha kingdom, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj chose Raigad as his capital. After seeing every detail of various buildings  Shivaji was extremely pleased and asked Hiroji himself

"what should be his reward ?"

Shivaji assured Hiroji that whatever he wants he can demand and it would be done.

 An humbleness and Hiroji's love for Shivaji is seen from the demand of Hiroji.

After such an open offer Hiroji asked only one tile . On the tile he wanted his name to be engraved with the condition that the tile will be fitted on the stair of temple so that Shivaji's feet will touch the tile every time he goes to the temple.

 The tile with Hiroji Indulkar's name engraved on it ,was fitted on the temple stair. It reads " Hiroji Indulkar ...seveshi tatpar...Krupa asavi "

( Hiroji Indulkar always ready to offer his services)

 Needless to add that Shivaji honoured the great architect adequately.

It was only because of people like Hiroji,Shivaji could convert many ideas to reality and definitely Hiroji  was the great Hero of newly born Maratha Empire.

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VII. NETAJI  PALKAR

Netaji Palkar was the first chief General of Shivaji's army a nd was very brave.He faught several battles for   "Swarajya" and enemy used to get frighten even with the rumour of he is approaching them. Netaji was earlier associated with shahaji,father of Shivaji and had lot of experience of battles. He was elder to Shivaji by about 16-17 years and Shivaji used to address him " Netaji Kaka"  

In those days king used to marry many times to strengthen the relationship with his associates and out of 8 different wives of Shivaji one was Netaji's youngest daughter. In any mission Netaji's opinion used to have lot of  value And Shivaji Raje had an absolute faith in Netaji .People in swarajya and even Shivaji's enemies used to consider Netaji as "Prati Shivaji"( like Shivaji ).

Except the two battles related to Panhala Fort Netaji had won almost all the battles he fought.

Netaji's  main strength was his very fast moving cavalry which used to perplex enemies. Netaji had the great knowledge of different breeds of horses and used to change them frequently.In Shivaji's empire all the horses used to be Government property and Netaji was incharge of entire cavalry.

When Shivaji was trapped in Panhala fort by Siddi Johar Netaji made attempts to reach to Shivaji but couldn't succeed.Siddi Johar has kept a separate fresh soldiers to foil all attempts of Netaji to rescue Shivaji Raje. Netaji even attacked Bijapur thinking Adil Shaha will have to call back Johar , but except imposing huge losses  to Adilshah and Siddi Johar at different places  Netaji could not  penetrate Siddi Johar's arm forces and was forced to wait for the Mansoon. Netaji thought he might have better chances of uprooting the Johar 's army in the rainy season. Shivaji used to get information about Netaji from Bahirji's spies who somehow used to manage to reach to fort. Shivaji 's people in the fort planned and executed a dare devil escape from Panhala and the Hero of that battle was another old man Baji Prabhu Deshpande.

The second time when Netaji didnot succeed in the battle related to Panhala was almost 7 years later. At that time Aurangzeb had sent Mirza Raje to conquer Shivaji and to ensure that Mirza Raje and Shivaji will not join hands another Sardar Diler Khan was second in command.Mirza Raje was quite strategic and shrewd and Shivaji was forced to surrender after 2 or 3 battles  particularly after the battle of Purandar Fort. After Shivaji's surrender in more than 28 Forts were handed over . Mirza Raj wanted Shivaji to win Panhala Fort for Auranzeb so that Mogal king will be pleased. Shivaji led the mission and asked Netaji to join him at specific time. Unfortunately Netaji could not join the battle on time as a result Shivaji was forced to retrieve and couldn't win Panhala fort which was In Adil Shah's control. This led to misunderstanding between Netaji and Shivaji. Netaji and Shivaji both were deeply hurt after their verbal duet.Perhaps Shivaji Raje was disappointed and Netaji became the target of anger and frustration of Raje.

Aurangzeb wanted to kill Shivaji so he ordered Mirza Raje to send Shivaji with his  9 years old son Sambhaji to Agra and Netaji was asked to go to all the way to Kabul to fight with external enemy. Mirza Raje continued to stay in South and was asked to finish other enemies including Adil Shaha and Kutub Shaha  in the South .

In the next 4-5 months Shivaji successfully and dramatically escaped from Agra which was the

biggest set back to Aurangzeb and so he furiously ordered arrest of Netaji Palkar. After the arrest,Netaji was given option of accepting Islam religion or die. Away from the homeland and knowing cruel nature of Mogal king Netaji accepted conversion and was renamed Mohammad kuli khan. Netaji Palkar knew that was the only way to survive and was helpless.

After another one year Mohammad Kuli Khan also managed to escape and reach to his homeland. Many people however didnot accept Netaji and he was deeply saddened. Shivaji however knew the unfortunate  journey of Netaji and Raje invited Netaji .   Netaji was old then and was exhausted  and wanted to live peaceful life. Shivaji didnot offer any important post to him but with the help of Brahmins from  Banaras converted Mohammad kuli khan back to his original religion which was perhaps the first such incident showing concern of Shivaji for his men.

First time forcibly converted Hindu was brought back to his original religion.

One of the greatest but unfortunate Sardar of Shivaji died peacefully after Shivaji's death in 1681.

Who knows..... Netaji Palkar might have taken rebirth as another great Netaji whom we know as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who was also unlucky !

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