Chhatrapati Shivaji: The great escape from Aurangzeb’s clutches

Here’s an interesting chapter from the pages of history – Shivaji Bhosale’s great escape from the clutches of Aurangzeb after the later had put Shivaji Maharaj under house arrest.

Shivaji Maharaj found great success against the Mughals using his guerilla tactics, much to the dismay of Aurangzeb.

After Shivaji defeated Shaista Khan (Shayista Khan), in 1664, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb sent a strong force of 10,000 soldiers under the leadership of Maharaja Jai Singh, one of his ablest commanders and diplomats, to defeat Shivaji.

Jai Singh captured several of Shivaji’s forts and his army then attacked the fort of Purandar where Shivaji was residing. Facing defeat, Shivaji signed a treaty of peace under which Shivaji would have to hand over 23 out of 35 forts to the Mughal emperor.

Jai Singh suggested that Shivaji personally accompany him to Agra to meet Aurangzeb for sanctioning the treaty; he assured his safety. The Mughal emperor also sent a letter on April 5, 1666, to Shivaji saying that he will be treated royally on arrival.

Shivaji, accompanied by his son, and a small force reached Agra on June 11, 1666. The Prime Minister, Asad Khan led Shivaji and his son to the Mughal durbar where both Shivaji and his son offered the customary nazar to the emperor.

Then both were taken back and asked to stand in the third row of nobles/courtiers. This angered Shivaji (Aurangzeb had promised to treat him royally) who complained about the breach of the terms.

An enraged Aurangzeb ordered Shivaji’s house arrest for three months (he was not allowed to leave Agra). Some say that the plan was to move Shivaji to a secluded place where he could be easily killed.

Under house arrest, Shivaji started plotting his escape. He pretended to be ill and told the Mughals that he was suffering from several stomach ache. After a three-day treatment by doctors, Shivaji was declared fit.

Shivaji requested for sweets and money to distribute among doctors, Brahmins, and the poor. Sweets made in huge quantities were sent out in bamboo baskets; these were strictly checked by the guards initially. However, after a few days, the security guards became more relaxed. It is said that Shivaji had bribed a few Mughal officers as well, to not check all the sweets baskets.

Taking opportunity of this lax approach of the guards, on August 19, 1666, Shivaji along with his son escaped by hiding inside the huge baskets of sweets. Its believed that before escaping, Shivaji dressed up two of his courtiers like himself and his son to avoid suspicion.

Once Shivaji and his son escaped, instead of going to Maharashtra, they moved towards Mathura where Shivaji shaved off his beard and mustache, applied ash on his face, so that he looked like a Sanyasi (hermit). From Mathura, the father-son went to Prayag (Allahabad), Banaras and then to Bundelkhand (Madhya Pradesh) and then to Golconda (Andhra Pradesh) and finally reached Raigarh in Maharashtra in October 1666, after a journey of almost 60 days.

On June 6, 1674, Shivaji was coronated with the title ‘Chhatrapati’ in Raigarh fort.

Read more on Shivaji Maharaj here