1,000 of his Pathans, and Shivaji about five or six hundred men" If so, Dilir Khan had either made a rash frontal attack on one of the entrenched passes or fallen into an ambuscade of the Marathas.
Throughout these four months, December 1673 to March 1674, Shivaji's wars with Adil Shah and the Siddis were carried on languidly with only occasional outbreaks of vigour. The soldiers on both sides were weary of fighting and their commanders not in earnest to end this paying business. The winter rains of this year were very heavy and bred pestilence. Shiva in December and January was compelled to distribute his horses throughout his dominions in order to stable them in comfort.* [1]
Soon afterwards, the Mughal power in the Deccan was crippled. The rising of the Khaibar Afghans became so serious that Aurangzib had to leave Delhi (7th April) for Hassan Abdal, in order to direct the war from the rear, and next month Dilir Khan was called to the North-western frontier. Bahadur Khan was left alone in the Deccan with a greatly weakened force. This lull in the war was utilised by Shivaji to crown himself with the greatest pomp and ceremony. (M. A. 132; F. R. Surat 88, Oxinden's Letter, 21 May, 1674.)
The eve of Shivaji's coronation affords a suitable time for making a survey of his territorial
- ↑ * Narayan Shenvi's letter from Raigarh in F. R. Surat, Vol. 86; O. C. 3906 and 3939; Dutch Records, Vol. 34. No. 840.
