local chief of very small means and no high family influence, was just beginning to peep above
the horizon of history and to start or that career
of greatness whose noontide splendour was
destined to dazzle the Indian world and to leave
his name a byword for posterity. Shivaji, the
son of Shahji Bhonsla,Shivaji's negotiations with the Mughals; a Maratha captain in Bijapur service,
had taken forcible possession of
his father's western jagirs and seized hill-fort
after hill-fort in the Ghats from the agents of
Bijapur. When the Mughals were about to
invade Adil Shah's territory, he had sent an envoy
to Aurangzib's deputy at Ahmadnagar, offering
to co-operate on condition of being guaranteed
by the Mughals in the possession of the Adil Shahi Konkan. He had received in return vague
promises of favour and protection.[1] Even a
less astute man than he must have known that
such promises would amount to nothing in
practice when the need of the Imperialists would
be over.raids the Imperial dominion. So, on the outbreak of the war, he
seized his opportunity, and in concert with the Bijapuri officers in the neigbourhood, he raided the Mughal territory from the west. One
- ↑ Grant Duff, i. 161-162. Adab, 144b (Shiva sends agent, July 1656), 146a (Shiva sends agent, February 1657).
