I cannot believe that we are finally here - the grand finale of the Pratapgad Chronicle. This finale started with the meeting between Shivaji Maharaj and Afzalkhan and concluded by a great win by Shivaji Maharaj. Lets go through the sequence of events, shall we?
Most of the historians have narrowed down the timing of Shivaji-Afzalkhan meeting to around 4 PM in the evening. Afzalkhan arrived to the meeting place along with his musketeers, musketeers were positioned at an arrows distance and then when Afzalkhan was seated in the meeting tent, summons were sent to call Shivaji to the meeting.
Shivaji came in with Jiva Mahal. The envoys of both the side announced introduction of both the men and then Afzalkhan stood up for an embrace. He extended his arms and invited Shivaji for an alliance. Shivaji responded back by walking towards Afzalkhan with open arms and the two leaders embraced each other.
Just when things looked to be going so well and moods of all looked so merry, two sounds were heard - a clinging sound due to striking of two metals and a reflexive shout by wounded Afzalkhan. Both Shivaji and Afzalkhan had attacked each other with hidden daggers, just as they had entered each others arms.
Now, I have read it at so many places that Afzalkhan attacked first, but his dagger proved ineffective, thanks to the armor wore by Shivaji under his clothes, and then as a response to this attack, Shivaji attacked back. Well, I must beg to differ from this sequence of events.
We have to acknowledge the fact that both Afzalkhan and Shivaji were out there for blood. Despite all the propaganda of peace, all they wanted to do was kill each other.
Afzalkhan wanted to kill Shivaji - out of his addiction to kill opponents, to fulfill the orders given by his Sultan and Badi Begum, to have another chance of hurting Shahaji, to take control of all the territories that Shivaji had so far acquired and to end forever the menace that was Shivaji.
Shivaji wanted to kill Afzalkhan - to protect his budding Maratha empire, to avenge the murder of his elder brother, to avenge the humiliation of his father at hands of Afzalkhan, to avenge the destruction of all those temples and gods by Afzalkhan, to defeat a massive Adilshahi force and send a clear signal to the Adilshah that Marathas would not be stopped by anything now.
The only catch here is Afzalkhan had a history of killing people during peace talks and hence Shivaji knew exactly what to expect of him. Accordingly, Shivaji had shielded himself for the meeting. Afzalkhan, on the other hand, had no reasons to think that Shivaji can also kill him and did not assume so.
Coming back to the meeting, both men knew that their only chance to take out the hidden dagger and strike the opponent from a close distance was when they were locked with each other in an embrace. So, they did strike each other, almost at the same instance. Shivaji succeeded in putting his dagger into Afzalkhan, while Afzalkhan's dagger just went till the armor of Shivaji.
Sayyad Banda was quick to realize that Afzalkhan's strike had failed. It was his turn now. He was also quick enough to sense that Shivaji was wearing an armor under his clothes. Bang - he took out his Danda-Patta [a belt with blades on it, which was used to strike the opponent from a distance] and slammed it's blades on Shivaji's head. Shivaji's turban tore apart and his helmet was now clearly visible.
When Jiva Mahal saw Sayyad Banda attacking Shivaji Maharaj, he rushed himself in to this combat. Without wasting time, he used his own Danda-patta to cut off Sayyad banda's hand, with which Sayyad Banda was holding his danda-patta. Jiva Mahal then moved in quickly and killed Sayyad Banda by his Sword.
Seeing Sayyad Banda dead, Afzalkhan sensed trouble. It was probably the first time in his life-time, that this great general got scared. He rushed himself out of the tent, and now the only thing he wanted to do was to protect himself. Afzalkhan came out shouting "Dagaa, Dagaa".
As soon as Shivaji's men outside the tent saw Afzalkhan coming out, they rushed to his bodyguards and started slaying them. Afzalkhan's bodyguards were falling down even before they could hear Afzalkhan and react to his words. Afzalkhan knew this whole thing is going the wrong way. He sat in his palanquin [Paalkhi] and ordered its carriers to take him down the hill as fast as possible.
This is where Sambhaji Kavji jumped in. He first cut-off the legs of all men carrying Afzalkhan's palanquin and Afzalkhan fell down on the ground. [This is same as modern cops shooting at tyres to make a car stop :-)]
Without wasting any moment, Sambhaji Kavji cut off Afzalkhan's head, while he was still trying to get himself up from the ground.
Afzalkhan was dead. The great general of Bijapur was dead. The biggest threat to the Maratha empire was be-headed. Victory was now just a matter of time!!
But wait, this was not the only place where some action was taking place. Netaji had already taken off from Mahabaleshwar and was rapidly riding towards Wai.
Moropant and Kanhoji's men in the jungle had worked for the whole night before the meeting to cut the tree trunks half-way. so that these big trees can be easily pulled down to block ways of fleeing Afzalkhan troops, they had dug trenches and covered them with sticks, clothes and sand, so that the horses and camels and elephants and men rushing out of Javali basin can fall in these trenches and get trapped. They had positioned their archers on tree tops to kill anyone who passes through their line of attack. They had made arrangements to take care of those Afzalkhan's men who would try to flee and now they were ready to attack the Afzalkhan camp.
Ragho Atre had long discussions with Shivaji's spies and had identified priority targets. His men and his horses were all set for the first blood.
On the other hand, Afzalkhan camp as such knew that Shivaji and Afzalkhan are currently meeting on the Pratapgad fort. They also knew that Afzalkhan has taken his elite musketeers with him on the fort. They could sense that Afzalkhan would kill Shivaji in this meeting and it would be all over. There was a relaxed, jolly mood in Afzalkhan camp and nobody really expected any ambush in that Jungle of Javali Basin.
Besides if you are an army with 15,000 infantry men, 10,000 elite cavalry men and have 90 big cannons, 85 Elephants, 1200 Camels and a 1500 men strong artillery unit, all of it stationed in a single big camp, you don't expect that anyone would dare to attack the camp.
But then, at the per-determined time, a blood bath began. Arrows started swooping in from all directions and before anyone could notice, ranking officers and soldiers on guard at the perimeter of the camp started falling down. Even while Afzalkhan's men were trying to figure out what was happening, there were horsemen entering the camp from all directions. Horsemen who were shouting and threatening and killing anyone who was in their way. These men penetrated the Afzalkhan camp and started killing their targets. There was such a ruckus and chaos caused in the camp, that nobody knew what is to be done.
Are these Shivaji's men? If so, why are they attacking us even while Shivaji is having meeting with Afzalkhan? Have they revolted against Shivaji because he was talking peace with Afzalkhan? Are these Prataprao More's men, who came out of nowhere in this Javali basin? Are they sent by Mughals? We can only think of the confusion that got created in minds of Afzalkhan's soldiers.
Add to it, more and more of their ranking officers were found dead and this was delaying any decisions to be taken.
And then, they heard it. The distinct war cry of the Marathas 'Har Har Mahadeo'. Moropant and his men had attacked the still-confused artillery unit. Before they could get ready, the whole artillery unit was slayed and all the cannons were taken into possession. The gun power was now in hands of more alert men, and if somebody was to attempt taking it back, they would have faced cannon shots fired from a very close range. Marathas were now charging more and more and Afzalkhan's men were still undecided.
At the meeting place, as soon as Afzalkhan and all his bodyguards were taken down, Shivaji and his unit of bodyguards rushed back to the Pratapgad fort. He then fired cannon shots to signal his men all around the Pratapgad fort and it's foothills that he was safe and that Afzalkhan was dead.
Netaji's handful men, which he had left behind, picked up the signal and galloped to give him the good news. Kanhoji knew his king was safe and he no longer has to form a dam between retreating Afzalkhan and his musketeers. All men who had started ambush by attacking Afzalkhan's camp now knew that the victory was close.
I mean imagine a cricket match, where your team is to bat second against a mighty opponent. Your bowlers keep a tight leash on the opponent batsman and fielders make sure that there are no free runs scored. With this discipline, Wickets are taken at consistent intervals and score of the opponent becomes achievable. And then, in comes your opening pair and scores most of the runs. When the first wicket fells, and the new batsman walks in, if he know his team has 9 wickets in hand, 15 overs remaining and 10 runs to win, he knows they are already a winner. He is more relaxed than ever, as he enters the field, and also more enthusiastic to score. Instead of scoring singles, he now goes for the big shots. As the morale of opponents is already down, he actually succeeds in hitting the big ones.
Same was the case of all Shivaji's men. After the cannon shots, deep down, they knew that they were already the winners and all they had to do was take this whole affair to it's finish-line. They got more enthusiastic and attacked with more vigor on the opponents.
Coming back to the meeting place, Shivaji's troops in the fort now began descending down and soon reached near the musketeers of Afzalkhan. These musketeers were not sure what to conclude of it. Was Afzalkhan dead and were these men attacking them? Was Shivaji dead and were these men running for their lives? They were unsure and decided to wait till the Marathas closed in. When Marathas arrived, they launched an offensive on the musketeers directly. Just when the musketeers started attacking back, more Maratha soldiers appeared out of no-where and attacked the musketeers side ways.
And then, they saw it. Afzalkhan's head put up on a spear and being waved around to cheer the Marathas. They knew the war was lost and started fleeing the scene. Marathas went after these musketeers and started slaying them.
Once the message was passed on, Shivaji ordered his men to immediately bring back the head of Afzalkhan. It was then sent to Jijabai as a gesture of victory. Shivaji ordered a formal burial of Afzalkhan's corpse and made sure it was not mutilated by anyone.
Some of the musketeers eventually succeeded in reaching the base camp and they informed Fazal Khan, the son of Afzalkhan, about the death of Afzalkhan.
Fazal Khan decided to retreat and go back to his province of Wai. He took off from the Javali basin along with Prataprao More and his 500 men immediately.
When the remaining of musketeers and the Marathas in their pursuit came down the Pratapgad fort, it was time for those engaged in attacking the camp to return to their positions in the Forest. They were now to kill anyone who tries escaping the Javali basin.
News of Afzalkhan's death and Fazalkhan's retreat spread immediately in the base camp and the confusion till now in their minds got replaced by Panic. Their leader was dead, his successor had fled the war-scene and the Marathas were already out there killing whoever comes in the way. As in case of most of the oriental armies of those days, the only choice these men thought of, was to flee the battleground themselves.
If the readers remember, this is a similar situation, in almost the same place, when Shivaji and his men had attacked Chandrarao More. But then, unfortunately, Afzalkhan's troops lacked leaders like Baji Prabhu and Murarbaji, or visionaries like Shelar Mama, who would fight and make their troops fight the battle despite fall of the commanders and rulers. So it was, that the blood bath began.
All those who tried to flee were killed, all those who resisted were killed, all those who attacked were killed. However, those who surrendered their arms were spared and taken as war-prisoners. The odds of the war were 1:3 in Afzalkhan's favor, if the total number of soldiers were to be considered and Shivaji's men beat the hell out of these odds to emerge victorious!!
I could only imagine Marathas at the end of this entire saga - All drenched in the blood red, with their pulse pumping high, their hearts pounding heavily and their spirits hitting the sky!!
When Afzalkhan's forces in Wai saw Netaji coming, they were not sure what to expect. They put up a line of defence anyways. And then, even while Netaji was surrounding Wai and trying to make inroads in the province, he got the news of Afzalkhan's death. The intensity of attack suddenly increased. After some time, a handful of Afzalkhan's men also succeeded in reaching Wai to inform the Afzalkhan camp of his death. I believe these men were sent by Fazal Khan to alert the troops in Wai and he wanted to have a strong, well guarded place to retreat.
The effect of news was however exactly opposite and as soon as they heard of Afzalkhan's death, all the men from Wai started withdrawing and marching towards Vasota for retreat. In no time, Netaji took control of Wai, only to welcome Fazal Khan and his men and arrest them.
On his way, Fazal Khan was ambushed by Shivaji's men deployed to prevent traffic towards Wai. These men realised that Fazal Khan has more soldiers with him and they would eventually be outnumbered. Hence, they decided to make a surgical attack and ambushed Fazal Khan directly. He got wounded heavily, and by the time Marathas could do any further damage, these 50 odd men were all killed by Fazal Khan's troops. As he was wounded heavily, Fazal Khan did not put up any resistance against Netaji and surrendered straight away.
Netaji then took his horsemen and chased the fleeing Adilshahi troops. He went on till Vasota and put up a siege to Vasota. Sarvarkhan and his men were now trapped and they knew Afzalkhan was dead. After trapping the huge Adilshahi army in Vasota fort, Netaji galloped ahead acquiring regions in Satara and Kolhapur and took over the a total of 17 forts including Panhalgad and Vishalgad. Eventually, Sarvarkhan surrendered the fort of Vasota as well to the Marathas.
Shivaji's forces in Rajgad also moved swiftly and took back the areas in and around Pune, which were taken over by Afzalkhan.
When Siddi of Janjira got the news of Afzalkhan's death, he decided to withdraw his forces and wait for another opportunity. Shivaji's immediately sent in a cavalry unit under command of Doroji Patil and took control of his original territory and also acquired the cities of Dabhol and Rajapur.
So it was that during the Pratapgad battle and it's after-math, Shivaji took over a heavy consignment of Adilshahi artillery and ammunition, 65 Elephants, 90 Cannons, 4000 Horses, 1200 Camels, Jewels worth 3,00,000 Rupees, Coins worth 1,00,000 rupees, heaps of previous clothes, lots and lots of tents at the foothills of Pratapgad and also the provisions and grain stores at Wai.
5,000 of Afzalkhan's men were killed, an equal number of them were wounded, 3000 soldiers were taken as war prisoners, equal number of men - mostly servants, merchants, etc were showed safe passage to Bijapur. Fazal Khan and his brother were also released and allowed safe passage to Bijapur. Many men in Adilshah's troops requested Shivaji to take them in his troops and Shivaji approved of this. Siddi Hilal was one of the prominent commanders among these men joining Shivaji.
Shivaji on the other hand lost 1734 men and 400 of his men were wounded.
To sum it all, Adilshah lost a quarter of his territory, forts and a fifth of his army were captured or destroyed; while Shivaji doubled his territory, losing a tenth of his army, all within fifteen days of the Battle of Pratapgad.
It was a great and glorious victory for the Marathas, and well-deserved as well.
This is the legacy of Shivaji - his courage to take on mightier opponents, his strategy to make them yield, his foresight to build an empire, his promptness to take immediate advantage of crisis in enemy camp, his absolute prowess in terms of intelligence network, his ability to convince people about the vision of Maratha empire so much that they stake their lives and families in the battlefield, his empathy which won him friends and companions and not just warlords and soldiers and which allowed safe passage even to the opponents ..
I can just go on and on..
May be I will continue further on Shivaji's qualities, when I write the further blogs on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Till then, enjoy reading this Chronicle of Pratapgad Battle and enjoy the glorious moments which defined the Indian history.
Most of the historians have narrowed down the timing of Shivaji-Afzalkhan meeting to around 4 PM in the evening. Afzalkhan arrived to the meeting place along with his musketeers, musketeers were positioned at an arrows distance and then when Afzalkhan was seated in the meeting tent, summons were sent to call Shivaji to the meeting.
Shivaji came in with Jiva Mahal. The envoys of both the side announced introduction of both the men and then Afzalkhan stood up for an embrace. He extended his arms and invited Shivaji for an alliance. Shivaji responded back by walking towards Afzalkhan with open arms and the two leaders embraced each other.
Just when things looked to be going so well and moods of all looked so merry, two sounds were heard - a clinging sound due to striking of two metals and a reflexive shout by wounded Afzalkhan. Both Shivaji and Afzalkhan had attacked each other with hidden daggers, just as they had entered each others arms.
Now, I have read it at so many places that Afzalkhan attacked first, but his dagger proved ineffective, thanks to the armor wore by Shivaji under his clothes, and then as a response to this attack, Shivaji attacked back. Well, I must beg to differ from this sequence of events.
We have to acknowledge the fact that both Afzalkhan and Shivaji were out there for blood. Despite all the propaganda of peace, all they wanted to do was kill each other.
Afzalkhan wanted to kill Shivaji - out of his addiction to kill opponents, to fulfill the orders given by his Sultan and Badi Begum, to have another chance of hurting Shahaji, to take control of all the territories that Shivaji had so far acquired and to end forever the menace that was Shivaji.
Shivaji wanted to kill Afzalkhan - to protect his budding Maratha empire, to avenge the murder of his elder brother, to avenge the humiliation of his father at hands of Afzalkhan, to avenge the destruction of all those temples and gods by Afzalkhan, to defeat a massive Adilshahi force and send a clear signal to the Adilshah that Marathas would not be stopped by anything now.
The only catch here is Afzalkhan had a history of killing people during peace talks and hence Shivaji knew exactly what to expect of him. Accordingly, Shivaji had shielded himself for the meeting. Afzalkhan, on the other hand, had no reasons to think that Shivaji can also kill him and did not assume so.
Coming back to the meeting, both men knew that their only chance to take out the hidden dagger and strike the opponent from a close distance was when they were locked with each other in an embrace. So, they did strike each other, almost at the same instance. Shivaji succeeded in putting his dagger into Afzalkhan, while Afzalkhan's dagger just went till the armor of Shivaji.
Sayyad Banda was quick to realize that Afzalkhan's strike had failed. It was his turn now. He was also quick enough to sense that Shivaji was wearing an armor under his clothes. Bang - he took out his Danda-Patta [a belt with blades on it, which was used to strike the opponent from a distance] and slammed it's blades on Shivaji's head. Shivaji's turban tore apart and his helmet was now clearly visible.
When Jiva Mahal saw Sayyad Banda attacking Shivaji Maharaj, he rushed himself in to this combat. Without wasting time, he used his own Danda-patta to cut off Sayyad banda's hand, with which Sayyad Banda was holding his danda-patta. Jiva Mahal then moved in quickly and killed Sayyad Banda by his Sword.
Seeing Sayyad Banda dead, Afzalkhan sensed trouble. It was probably the first time in his life-time, that this great general got scared. He rushed himself out of the tent, and now the only thing he wanted to do was to protect himself. Afzalkhan came out shouting "Dagaa, Dagaa".
As soon as Shivaji's men outside the tent saw Afzalkhan coming out, they rushed to his bodyguards and started slaying them. Afzalkhan's bodyguards were falling down even before they could hear Afzalkhan and react to his words. Afzalkhan knew this whole thing is going the wrong way. He sat in his palanquin [Paalkhi] and ordered its carriers to take him down the hill as fast as possible.
This is where Sambhaji Kavji jumped in. He first cut-off the legs of all men carrying Afzalkhan's palanquin and Afzalkhan fell down on the ground. [This is same as modern cops shooting at tyres to make a car stop :-)]
Without wasting any moment, Sambhaji Kavji cut off Afzalkhan's head, while he was still trying to get himself up from the ground.
Afzalkhan was dead. The great general of Bijapur was dead. The biggest threat to the Maratha empire was be-headed. Victory was now just a matter of time!!
But wait, this was not the only place where some action was taking place. Netaji had already taken off from Mahabaleshwar and was rapidly riding towards Wai.
Moropant and Kanhoji's men in the jungle had worked for the whole night before the meeting to cut the tree trunks half-way. so that these big trees can be easily pulled down to block ways of fleeing Afzalkhan troops, they had dug trenches and covered them with sticks, clothes and sand, so that the horses and camels and elephants and men rushing out of Javali basin can fall in these trenches and get trapped. They had positioned their archers on tree tops to kill anyone who passes through their line of attack. They had made arrangements to take care of those Afzalkhan's men who would try to flee and now they were ready to attack the Afzalkhan camp.
Ragho Atre had long discussions with Shivaji's spies and had identified priority targets. His men and his horses were all set for the first blood.
On the other hand, Afzalkhan camp as such knew that Shivaji and Afzalkhan are currently meeting on the Pratapgad fort. They also knew that Afzalkhan has taken his elite musketeers with him on the fort. They could sense that Afzalkhan would kill Shivaji in this meeting and it would be all over. There was a relaxed, jolly mood in Afzalkhan camp and nobody really expected any ambush in that Jungle of Javali Basin.
Besides if you are an army with 15,000 infantry men, 10,000 elite cavalry men and have 90 big cannons, 85 Elephants, 1200 Camels and a 1500 men strong artillery unit, all of it stationed in a single big camp, you don't expect that anyone would dare to attack the camp.
But then, at the per-determined time, a blood bath began. Arrows started swooping in from all directions and before anyone could notice, ranking officers and soldiers on guard at the perimeter of the camp started falling down. Even while Afzalkhan's men were trying to figure out what was happening, there were horsemen entering the camp from all directions. Horsemen who were shouting and threatening and killing anyone who was in their way. These men penetrated the Afzalkhan camp and started killing their targets. There was such a ruckus and chaos caused in the camp, that nobody knew what is to be done.
Are these Shivaji's men? If so, why are they attacking us even while Shivaji is having meeting with Afzalkhan? Have they revolted against Shivaji because he was talking peace with Afzalkhan? Are these Prataprao More's men, who came out of nowhere in this Javali basin? Are they sent by Mughals? We can only think of the confusion that got created in minds of Afzalkhan's soldiers.
Add to it, more and more of their ranking officers were found dead and this was delaying any decisions to be taken.
And then, they heard it. The distinct war cry of the Marathas 'Har Har Mahadeo'. Moropant and his men had attacked the still-confused artillery unit. Before they could get ready, the whole artillery unit was slayed and all the cannons were taken into possession. The gun power was now in hands of more alert men, and if somebody was to attempt taking it back, they would have faced cannon shots fired from a very close range. Marathas were now charging more and more and Afzalkhan's men were still undecided.
At the meeting place, as soon as Afzalkhan and all his bodyguards were taken down, Shivaji and his unit of bodyguards rushed back to the Pratapgad fort. He then fired cannon shots to signal his men all around the Pratapgad fort and it's foothills that he was safe and that Afzalkhan was dead.
Netaji's handful men, which he had left behind, picked up the signal and galloped to give him the good news. Kanhoji knew his king was safe and he no longer has to form a dam between retreating Afzalkhan and his musketeers. All men who had started ambush by attacking Afzalkhan's camp now knew that the victory was close.
I mean imagine a cricket match, where your team is to bat second against a mighty opponent. Your bowlers keep a tight leash on the opponent batsman and fielders make sure that there are no free runs scored. With this discipline, Wickets are taken at consistent intervals and score of the opponent becomes achievable. And then, in comes your opening pair and scores most of the runs. When the first wicket fells, and the new batsman walks in, if he know his team has 9 wickets in hand, 15 overs remaining and 10 runs to win, he knows they are already a winner. He is more relaxed than ever, as he enters the field, and also more enthusiastic to score. Instead of scoring singles, he now goes for the big shots. As the morale of opponents is already down, he actually succeeds in hitting the big ones.
Same was the case of all Shivaji's men. After the cannon shots, deep down, they knew that they were already the winners and all they had to do was take this whole affair to it's finish-line. They got more enthusiastic and attacked with more vigor on the opponents.
Coming back to the meeting place, Shivaji's troops in the fort now began descending down and soon reached near the musketeers of Afzalkhan. These musketeers were not sure what to conclude of it. Was Afzalkhan dead and were these men attacking them? Was Shivaji dead and were these men running for their lives? They were unsure and decided to wait till the Marathas closed in. When Marathas arrived, they launched an offensive on the musketeers directly. Just when the musketeers started attacking back, more Maratha soldiers appeared out of no-where and attacked the musketeers side ways.
And then, they saw it. Afzalkhan's head put up on a spear and being waved around to cheer the Marathas. They knew the war was lost and started fleeing the scene. Marathas went after these musketeers and started slaying them.
Once the message was passed on, Shivaji ordered his men to immediately bring back the head of Afzalkhan. It was then sent to Jijabai as a gesture of victory. Shivaji ordered a formal burial of Afzalkhan's corpse and made sure it was not mutilated by anyone.
Some of the musketeers eventually succeeded in reaching the base camp and they informed Fazal Khan, the son of Afzalkhan, about the death of Afzalkhan.
Fazal Khan decided to retreat and go back to his province of Wai. He took off from the Javali basin along with Prataprao More and his 500 men immediately.
When the remaining of musketeers and the Marathas in their pursuit came down the Pratapgad fort, it was time for those engaged in attacking the camp to return to their positions in the Forest. They were now to kill anyone who tries escaping the Javali basin.
News of Afzalkhan's death and Fazalkhan's retreat spread immediately in the base camp and the confusion till now in their minds got replaced by Panic. Their leader was dead, his successor had fled the war-scene and the Marathas were already out there killing whoever comes in the way. As in case of most of the oriental armies of those days, the only choice these men thought of, was to flee the battleground themselves.
If the readers remember, this is a similar situation, in almost the same place, when Shivaji and his men had attacked Chandrarao More. But then, unfortunately, Afzalkhan's troops lacked leaders like Baji Prabhu and Murarbaji, or visionaries like Shelar Mama, who would fight and make their troops fight the battle despite fall of the commanders and rulers. So it was, that the blood bath began.
All those who tried to flee were killed, all those who resisted were killed, all those who attacked were killed. However, those who surrendered their arms were spared and taken as war-prisoners. The odds of the war were 1:3 in Afzalkhan's favor, if the total number of soldiers were to be considered and Shivaji's men beat the hell out of these odds to emerge victorious!!
I could only imagine Marathas at the end of this entire saga - All drenched in the blood red, with their pulse pumping high, their hearts pounding heavily and their spirits hitting the sky!!
When Afzalkhan's forces in Wai saw Netaji coming, they were not sure what to expect. They put up a line of defence anyways. And then, even while Netaji was surrounding Wai and trying to make inroads in the province, he got the news of Afzalkhan's death. The intensity of attack suddenly increased. After some time, a handful of Afzalkhan's men also succeeded in reaching Wai to inform the Afzalkhan camp of his death. I believe these men were sent by Fazal Khan to alert the troops in Wai and he wanted to have a strong, well guarded place to retreat.
The effect of news was however exactly opposite and as soon as they heard of Afzalkhan's death, all the men from Wai started withdrawing and marching towards Vasota for retreat. In no time, Netaji took control of Wai, only to welcome Fazal Khan and his men and arrest them.
On his way, Fazal Khan was ambushed by Shivaji's men deployed to prevent traffic towards Wai. These men realised that Fazal Khan has more soldiers with him and they would eventually be outnumbered. Hence, they decided to make a surgical attack and ambushed Fazal Khan directly. He got wounded heavily, and by the time Marathas could do any further damage, these 50 odd men were all killed by Fazal Khan's troops. As he was wounded heavily, Fazal Khan did not put up any resistance against Netaji and surrendered straight away.
Netaji then took his horsemen and chased the fleeing Adilshahi troops. He went on till Vasota and put up a siege to Vasota. Sarvarkhan and his men were now trapped and they knew Afzalkhan was dead. After trapping the huge Adilshahi army in Vasota fort, Netaji galloped ahead acquiring regions in Satara and Kolhapur and took over the a total of 17 forts including Panhalgad and Vishalgad. Eventually, Sarvarkhan surrendered the fort of Vasota as well to the Marathas.
Shivaji's forces in Rajgad also moved swiftly and took back the areas in and around Pune, which were taken over by Afzalkhan.
When Siddi of Janjira got the news of Afzalkhan's death, he decided to withdraw his forces and wait for another opportunity. Shivaji's immediately sent in a cavalry unit under command of Doroji Patil and took control of his original territory and also acquired the cities of Dabhol and Rajapur.
So it was that during the Pratapgad battle and it's after-math, Shivaji took over a heavy consignment of Adilshahi artillery and ammunition, 65 Elephants, 90 Cannons, 4000 Horses, 1200 Camels, Jewels worth 3,00,000 Rupees, Coins worth 1,00,000 rupees, heaps of previous clothes, lots and lots of tents at the foothills of Pratapgad and also the provisions and grain stores at Wai.
5,000 of Afzalkhan's men were killed, an equal number of them were wounded, 3000 soldiers were taken as war prisoners, equal number of men - mostly servants, merchants, etc were showed safe passage to Bijapur. Fazal Khan and his brother were also released and allowed safe passage to Bijapur. Many men in Adilshah's troops requested Shivaji to take them in his troops and Shivaji approved of this. Siddi Hilal was one of the prominent commanders among these men joining Shivaji.
Shivaji on the other hand lost 1734 men and 400 of his men were wounded.
To sum it all, Adilshah lost a quarter of his territory, forts and a fifth of his army were captured or destroyed; while Shivaji doubled his territory, losing a tenth of his army, all within fifteen days of the Battle of Pratapgad.
It was a great and glorious victory for the Marathas, and well-deserved as well.
This is the legacy of Shivaji - his courage to take on mightier opponents, his strategy to make them yield, his foresight to build an empire, his promptness to take immediate advantage of crisis in enemy camp, his absolute prowess in terms of intelligence network, his ability to convince people about the vision of Maratha empire so much that they stake their lives and families in the battlefield, his empathy which won him friends and companions and not just warlords and soldiers and which allowed safe passage even to the opponents ..
I can just go on and on..
May be I will continue further on Shivaji's qualities, when I write the further blogs on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Till then, enjoy reading this Chronicle of Pratapgad Battle and enjoy the glorious moments which defined the Indian history.
"Proudh-Pratap-Purandar.. Kshatriya-kulavantas.. Shreeman-Yogi .. Sinhasanadhishwar.. Maharajadhiraj.... Yogiraj...
SHRIMANT CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ KI JAY......."