It is a popular tale that one fine day the Badi Begum of Adilshah challenged her court - "Is there a commander here who can take care of Shivaji?" and when no other general/warlord/commander came forth, Afzalkhan volunteered for the task - and he volunteered with a roar "I undertake this mission and will bring in Shivaji or kill him in a single ride to Pune even without getting down from my horse !!"
I am not sure how much of that is the actual history and how much is folk lore - but yes, both these statements definitely reflect the attitude, the intention and the thought process of both badi begum and of Afzalkhan.
While we all know Afzalkhan by now, let us try to understand who was this badi begum and what made her speak about taking care of Shivaji in the Adilshahi court.
Well, again a flashback!!
Story begins with Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan, who was always a little friendly with the Adilshahi Sultanate and always for some reasons despised the Nizamshahi sultanate. So, there was a alliance between Moghuls and Adilshah throughout the reign of Shah Jahan. This same alliance proved useful to Aurangzeb, when he first took help of Fath Khan [son of Malik Ambar] and then chased down Shahaji, to destroy the Nizamshahi sultanate. While Shah Jahan was seemingly content with this, Aurangzeb was not. He had a broader vision - A vision which envisaged the entire Indian subcontinent under Mughal rule!! It was his dream to conquer entire deccan, and as history tells us, he died in deccan trying to fulfill that dream.
So, after bringing Nizamshahi sultanate on the brink of extinction, Aurangzeb diverted his attention to the Qutubshahi sultanate. After rounds of convincing and offers, he got hold of the most reverred Qutubshahi General - Mir Jumla.
With help of revolting Mir Jumla, Aurangzeb began tearing down the Qutubshahi sultanate. Mohammad Adilshah was wise enough to sense that it is no longer about destroying the traditional enemy "the Nizamshah" anymore and Aurangzeb wants more!! He could also sense that after the fall of Qutubshah, Adilshahi sultanate is going to be the next target.
He send in reinforcements to help Qutubshah. While the combined forces were successful in preventing a complete wipe-out of Qutubshah, damage was already done. Qutubshahi sultanate was reduced to a size, where it did not matter anymore.
Aurangzeb was happy that it was Adilshah who first went against their alliance. However, before he could revert to the Adilshah for this or take any more of the territories in Deccan, Shah Jahan started having health issues. Sensing that it is about time for him to take over the Moghul empire, Aurangzeb rushed to the North.
Adilshah got a breather. But did he??
Just when he thought that all his troubles were over, there started a rising menace of Shivaji in Maharashtra - He was rapidly taking possesion of more and more territories - by invading Adilshahi lands and by negotiating with the Mughals.
And then, one fine day of November 1657, Mohammad Adilshah died. One of his wives, who was famous as the badi begum took help of some senior generals and diplomats in her court and crowned an 18 year old boy Ali Adilshah II as the new sultan. Badi begum became his regent, as the new sultan was not much familiar with the court proceedings.
Guess what!! This badi begum was sister of Qutubshah and hence she knew exactly the threat which Adilshahi sultanate was facing.
Ali Adilshah was not a legitimate son of Mohammad Adilshah and Aurangzeb declared that the Mughal empire does not approve of him as Sultan. The message was clear - sooner or later, Aurangzeb is going to try his best and take over the Adilshahi sultanate.
Time was upon Adilshahi sultanate to preserve itself.
Aurangzeb had already begun talking with Adilshahi nobles and commanders to change allegiance. Badi begum started thinking about the potential candidates - which of the Adilshahi commanders can be as fatal to her Sultanate as Fath khan was to Nizamshah and Mir Jumla was to Qutubshah?
Who among them would actually change sides without giving any thought to the future of Adilshahi sultanate?
Among the answers she found - there was one prominent name. He commanded a large invincible army and his changing sides would be prove catastrophic!! Add to it, he had his personal reasons as well to see that Adilshah goes down. He was Shahaji!!
And then there was his young son Shivaji, who was rapidly eating into the Adilshahi territories. Not only his territory was expanding, but also his troops were multiplying. Besides, he had already declared his allegiance to the Mughals.
If Shahaji changes sides, it would mean that Adilshahi forces would be engaged on three fronts - in extreme south with Shahaji and in Maharashtra with Shivaji on one side and Mughals on the other side. That would be the end of Adilshahi forces. Badi begum knew this. She knew something had to be done to take care both Shahaji and Shivaji !!
Plan A: Attack both Shahaji and Shivaji simultaneously: This means diversion of attention on two fronts and division of forces. Shahaji was notorious to be invincible, so chances on winning against him with just half the forces were rare. Shivaji was relatively young and a less seasoned commander, so there was a chance, but if nearby Mughal troops join him, adilshahi army will be outnumbered and it would be difficult to defeat him as well. In this case, Aurangzeb would not even need to send any help down to the deccan and he would have fulfilled his agenda of destroying Adilshahi sultanate!! So, there was no point in attacking both.
Plan B: Attack Shahaji and eliminate his threat forever. This was almost the same as plan A. Agreed that Shahaji would now be attacked by a full strength of Adilshah, but hadn't they tried this before at Bhatwadi? You never know what Shahaji would come up with and then defeat your forces before you even notice it!! Also, this leaves the regions in Maharashtra vulnerable to Shivaji. Besides, considering that Mughals had already helped Shivaji in securing release of Shahaji previously, they would also have intervened to avoid his death at the hands of Adilshahi commanders. Aah, let's drop this plan as well.
Plan C: Attack Shivaji with full forces. If he gets surrendered or arrested, Shahaji would not want another of his sons to die and would give up automatically. If Shivaji gets killed, all the region he has taken would be recovered and Adilshahi sultanate would be in a better position against the mughals. After losing two of his sons, Shahaji would be emotionally vulnerable and there was a possibility of defeating him. Aurangzeb would possibly not want to interfere if Shivaji was attacked, as he would wait for both sides to cause maximum damage to each other. Even if he does interfere, if Adilshah deploys his full strength, they can cope with Mughal army currently in Deccan and hold the ground till there is any new reinforcement sent by Mughals from the north.
That is it !!
The best plan to come out of the crisis was to attack Shivaji. So, comes the challenge by Badi begum in the court and then we see Afzalkhan rising to the occasion.
By the way, I have a feeling, no matter Afzalkhan would have volunteered or not, he was most loyal commander to Mohammad Adilshah and Badi begum would have anyways wanted him to accompany whoever goes after Shivaji. Also, there was no body of his stature in the Adilshahi court at that moment, hence it was naturally going to be an army led by Afzalkhan.
For the dramatic effect, lets just stick to the popular tale I mentioned in the beginning of this chapter :-)
And so it was that in the April of 1659 Afzalkhan's raid on Shivaji was triggered in the adilshahi court.
What happened next - read it in the subsequent chapters :-)
I am not sure how much of that is the actual history and how much is folk lore - but yes, both these statements definitely reflect the attitude, the intention and the thought process of both badi begum and of Afzalkhan.
While we all know Afzalkhan by now, let us try to understand who was this badi begum and what made her speak about taking care of Shivaji in the Adilshahi court.
Well, again a flashback!!
Story begins with Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan, who was always a little friendly with the Adilshahi Sultanate and always for some reasons despised the Nizamshahi sultanate. So, there was a alliance between Moghuls and Adilshah throughout the reign of Shah Jahan. This same alliance proved useful to Aurangzeb, when he first took help of Fath Khan [son of Malik Ambar] and then chased down Shahaji, to destroy the Nizamshahi sultanate. While Shah Jahan was seemingly content with this, Aurangzeb was not. He had a broader vision - A vision which envisaged the entire Indian subcontinent under Mughal rule!! It was his dream to conquer entire deccan, and as history tells us, he died in deccan trying to fulfill that dream.
So, after bringing Nizamshahi sultanate on the brink of extinction, Aurangzeb diverted his attention to the Qutubshahi sultanate. After rounds of convincing and offers, he got hold of the most reverred Qutubshahi General - Mir Jumla.
With help of revolting Mir Jumla, Aurangzeb began tearing down the Qutubshahi sultanate. Mohammad Adilshah was wise enough to sense that it is no longer about destroying the traditional enemy "the Nizamshah" anymore and Aurangzeb wants more!! He could also sense that after the fall of Qutubshah, Adilshahi sultanate is going to be the next target.
He send in reinforcements to help Qutubshah. While the combined forces were successful in preventing a complete wipe-out of Qutubshah, damage was already done. Qutubshahi sultanate was reduced to a size, where it did not matter anymore.
Aurangzeb was happy that it was Adilshah who first went against their alliance. However, before he could revert to the Adilshah for this or take any more of the territories in Deccan, Shah Jahan started having health issues. Sensing that it is about time for him to take over the Moghul empire, Aurangzeb rushed to the North.
Adilshah got a breather. But did he??
Just when he thought that all his troubles were over, there started a rising menace of Shivaji in Maharashtra - He was rapidly taking possesion of more and more territories - by invading Adilshahi lands and by negotiating with the Mughals.
And then, one fine day of November 1657, Mohammad Adilshah died. One of his wives, who was famous as the badi begum took help of some senior generals and diplomats in her court and crowned an 18 year old boy Ali Adilshah II as the new sultan. Badi begum became his regent, as the new sultan was not much familiar with the court proceedings.
Guess what!! This badi begum was sister of Qutubshah and hence she knew exactly the threat which Adilshahi sultanate was facing.
Ali Adilshah was not a legitimate son of Mohammad Adilshah and Aurangzeb declared that the Mughal empire does not approve of him as Sultan. The message was clear - sooner or later, Aurangzeb is going to try his best and take over the Adilshahi sultanate.
Time was upon Adilshahi sultanate to preserve itself.
Aurangzeb had already begun talking with Adilshahi nobles and commanders to change allegiance. Badi begum started thinking about the potential candidates - which of the Adilshahi commanders can be as fatal to her Sultanate as Fath khan was to Nizamshah and Mir Jumla was to Qutubshah?
Who among them would actually change sides without giving any thought to the future of Adilshahi sultanate?
Among the answers she found - there was one prominent name. He commanded a large invincible army and his changing sides would be prove catastrophic!! Add to it, he had his personal reasons as well to see that Adilshah goes down. He was Shahaji!!
And then there was his young son Shivaji, who was rapidly eating into the Adilshahi territories. Not only his territory was expanding, but also his troops were multiplying. Besides, he had already declared his allegiance to the Mughals.
If Shahaji changes sides, it would mean that Adilshahi forces would be engaged on three fronts - in extreme south with Shahaji and in Maharashtra with Shivaji on one side and Mughals on the other side. That would be the end of Adilshahi forces. Badi begum knew this. She knew something had to be done to take care both Shahaji and Shivaji !!
Plan A: Attack both Shahaji and Shivaji simultaneously: This means diversion of attention on two fronts and division of forces. Shahaji was notorious to be invincible, so chances on winning against him with just half the forces were rare. Shivaji was relatively young and a less seasoned commander, so there was a chance, but if nearby Mughal troops join him, adilshahi army will be outnumbered and it would be difficult to defeat him as well. In this case, Aurangzeb would not even need to send any help down to the deccan and he would have fulfilled his agenda of destroying Adilshahi sultanate!! So, there was no point in attacking both.
Plan B: Attack Shahaji and eliminate his threat forever. This was almost the same as plan A. Agreed that Shahaji would now be attacked by a full strength of Adilshah, but hadn't they tried this before at Bhatwadi? You never know what Shahaji would come up with and then defeat your forces before you even notice it!! Also, this leaves the regions in Maharashtra vulnerable to Shivaji. Besides, considering that Mughals had already helped Shivaji in securing release of Shahaji previously, they would also have intervened to avoid his death at the hands of Adilshahi commanders. Aah, let's drop this plan as well.
Plan C: Attack Shivaji with full forces. If he gets surrendered or arrested, Shahaji would not want another of his sons to die and would give up automatically. If Shivaji gets killed, all the region he has taken would be recovered and Adilshahi sultanate would be in a better position against the mughals. After losing two of his sons, Shahaji would be emotionally vulnerable and there was a possibility of defeating him. Aurangzeb would possibly not want to interfere if Shivaji was attacked, as he would wait for both sides to cause maximum damage to each other. Even if he does interfere, if Adilshah deploys his full strength, they can cope with Mughal army currently in Deccan and hold the ground till there is any new reinforcement sent by Mughals from the north.
That is it !!
The best plan to come out of the crisis was to attack Shivaji. So, comes the challenge by Badi begum in the court and then we see Afzalkhan rising to the occasion.
By the way, I have a feeling, no matter Afzalkhan would have volunteered or not, he was most loyal commander to Mohammad Adilshah and Badi begum would have anyways wanted him to accompany whoever goes after Shivaji. Also, there was no body of his stature in the Adilshahi court at that moment, hence it was naturally going to be an army led by Afzalkhan.
For the dramatic effect, lets just stick to the popular tale I mentioned in the beginning of this chapter :-)
And so it was that in the April of 1659 Afzalkhan's raid on Shivaji was triggered in the adilshahi court.
What happened next - read it in the subsequent chapters :-)
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