पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

Shivaji was a bold soldier and a clever general, an able engineer who
knew the art of fortifications better than the engineers themselves, and, above
all, had studied geography with the minutest detail with the help of specially
prepared charts, as Abbe Carre, the French padre, reports. Can any one
doubt Shivaji's modernism with this testimony? Shivaji not only revered
Brahmins, but employed them in building his state with the whip of a task-
master, too. He made them crown him as a true twice born warrior and
received back into his own caste men like Netaji Palkar, who had been living
in Afghanistan as a full Muslim for ten years. His bold stand electrified the
whole Hindu society from the Indus to the Brahmaputra. Sikhs, Rajputs,
Jats, Bundelas, and even the distant Ahoms of Assam rose against Aurangzib
and made his reign one long line of more or less successful rebellions. In the
south, Shivaji built up a strong state guarded by long lines of impregnable forts
and newly built ships, which withstood Aurangzib for a quarter of a century,
and ultimately sent him to his grave in 1707.
With all their personal drawbacks and vices, Shivaji's immediate suc-
cessors could tide over the Fundy tide of Mughal invasion because the men
trained under Shivaji knew the basis of his state. With the passing away of
these men, a new twist was given to the basis of the Maratha State which
ultimately led to Panipat. It came to pass in the following manner. Shivaji's
grandson Shahu had been captured with his mother by Zulfiqar Khan when he
took Raigad in 1689. He lived in Aurangzib's moving camp for full seventeen
years till 1707, when he was released on the advice of Zulfiqar Khan with the
intention of creating dissentions amongst the Marathas. He had been be-
friended by Aurangzib and his daughter in his captivity, as a result of which
Shahu imbibed a life long sense of personal gratitude towards the Mughal
imperial house. He could never entertain the idea of completely destroying
the Mughal empire. On the other hand, he now and then gave a helping hand
to the Mughals. As the orphan son of Shivaji's eldest son who had suffered
death terribly at the hands of Aurangzib, and himself a long sufferer in cap-
tivity through all sorts of insults privations and slavery, the Marathas natu-
rally felt a sympathy for Shahu when he returned. But the army and the
civil officers all divided into two opposing factions, creating a permanent
schism in the Maratha polity, which is historically found perpetuated in the
establishment of Kolhapur as a separate state.
Shahu triumphed over his aunt Tarabai, because he was the legitimate
heir for whom common people felt a sympathy born of his miseries as well as
on account of the shrewish behaviour of his overbearing aunt, who turned all
her officers into enmity, one after the other. Shahu returned as a nominee of
the Mughals, and as such received the support of all Muslim officers as well
as all those who sided with the Mughals for personal gain. All opportunists
and new candidates, who had nothing to hope from the party of Tarabai,
naturally supported Shahu. Ambitious and unscrupulous men found a new
opening for their talents in this fratricidal war. But his supporters overlooked
one important constitutional point in their enthusiasm for the good new king.
He had returned with the Mughal badge of slavery round his neck. The
lands bestowed on him by the Mughal emperor are styled Zamindari lands.
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