CHAPTER XII.
Invasion of the Karnatak, 1677-1678.
§1. The Madras coast: its wealth.
Shivaji's grand coronation in June 1674 had greatly reduced his treasury. Since then he had not been able to seize any very rich prize, though his roving bands had raided many places in Adil-Shahi territory. Added to this, his wars with the Mughals and the Bijapuris in 1674 and 1675 and his siege of Ponda had been costly affairs, and chequered by defeats, while his invasion of the Sunda country or Kanara uplands (May 1675) had failed. In the earlier months of 1676 he had suffered from a protracted illness, which had forced on him a long period of inactivity.
He, therefore, looked about for some fresh field of gain. In the Mughal territory, Surat had been sucked dry by his two raids, while his permanent occupation of the Koli country of Ramnagar and Jawhar, close to Surat, had so alarmed that port that its trade and wealth were well-nigh gone. The rich Kanara coast had already been swept clean of booty. The disorder and misgovernment of the Bijapur State during the effete rule of the regent Khawas Khan and the civil war between the Afghan and Deccani parties at the Court had so impoverished the central part
