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1655]
SATARA DISTRICT ANNEXED.
47


Baji Ghorpade to imprison Shivaji.*[1] Unfortunately for the credibility of such convenient " discoveries," none of the genuine old historians of Shiva could anticipate that this line of defence would be adopted by the twentieth century admirers of the national hero; they have called the murder a murder.

The two sons of the murdered Chandra Rao were taken to Puna and there put to death. †[2] But some of the Mores remained at large and sought to be avenged on Shivaji, though in vain. In 1665, when Jai Singh opened a campaign against that Maratha chief, he invited these Mores to join him and carry on their blood-feud with the Bhonslas with greater hope of success.

The annexation of Javli not only opened to Shivaji a door for the conquest of the south and the west, but brought a very important accession to his strength, in the form of many thousands of Mavle infantrymen from among the subjects and former retainers of Chandra Rao. In short, his recruiting ground for these excellent fighters along the Sahyadri range, was now doubled. The Mores had accumulated a vast treasure in eight generations of undisturbed and expanding rule, and the whole of it fell into Shivajis hands.

Two miles west of Javli he built a new fort


  1. * Parasnis Itih. Sangrah, Sfuta lekh, i. 26-29 and ii. II. Mahabaleshwar (Eng.), 17-21.
  2. † T. 5. 14a; Dig. 132; Chit. 42. Sabh. silent