- Book – Santaji
- Writer – Kaka Vidhate
- Page – 892
- Chapters – 15 Aurangzeb thought that in just six months after the death of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj the Maratha kingdom was broken and the Marathas are over now. And.. suddenly a terrible storm began to roar. The name of the storm that rose on the land of Deccan was Santaji Ghorpade. Storm shattered the ships of the Mughal Empire. This is the story of Great Maratha worrier and his war skills
Mughal Writer Khafikan said that there is only three options
to fight with Santaji ..to be defeated and become his prisoner or to fight and
die or to get rid of him by paying ransom.
The first few months of the year 1689 saw the
Marathas pass through their toughest time. Chhatrapati Sambhaji, who had ably
led them against the Mughals for almost a decade, had been captured and cruelly
put to death. The capital fort — Raigad — had been besieged by a Mughal army of
over fifteen thousand, led by Zulfiqar Khan. Forts were falling like ninepins
to the Mughals. It seemed all was lost for the Marathas. But they found a way
out, thanks to the efforts of Yesaji Kank and Ramchandrapant Amatya. The new
king — Rajaram — escaped from Raigad in disguise and made his way to Panhala. It
was the start of an escape that would eventually see him travel all the way to
Gingee fort in faraway Tamil Nadu.
Rajaram had left Ramchandrapant Amatya and
Shankaraji Pant Sachiv to continue battling the Mughals in the Sahyadris.
Immediately under them were Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav — providing a
combination of diplomacy, planning and military skill that was exemplary and
one of the main reasons that the Marathas could fight and win against the
Mughals for the next two decades.
Although the escape of Rajaram had somewhat
solved the immediate problem — Ramchandrapant knew they still had a colossal
task ahead of them. Mughal armies were still four times larger than theirs and
now had the advantage of having many forts in their hands. But the killing of
Chhatrapati Sambhaji had angered the Marathas. The war would continue with
renewed vigour.
Chhatrapati Sambhaji’s death would be avenged.
Santaji Ghorpade decided to hit the very place on which the whole war hinged.
The brave Maratha warrior planned an attack on Aurangzeb himself. It was a
preposterous plan. Failure meant certain death. But hadn’t Chhatrapati Shivaji
attacked Shaista Khan and emerged alive? At the time, Rajaram was still at
Pratapgad and Santaji Ghorpade promised to bring him the Mughal emperor’s
severed head.
Aurangzeb had pitched camp in an area between
Tulapur and Koregaon and intended to go to Chakan from there. Santaji Ghorpade,
along with Bahirji Ghorpade and Vithoji Chavan, set off to attack the camp.
Their spies had always been their asset — and they had given minute information
of Aurangzeb’s camp and tent. Right down to the detail of the colour of the
flags on his tent. They knew the exact size of his tent and the timings of the
guards keeping a watch over it. The tent had four sections, of which the part
known as the ‘Daulatkhana’ was Aurangzeb’s personal quarters.
The tent was marked out by a wooden palisade
which was roughly pink in colour. On the palisade flew red-brown flags. His
spies also brought information that many Maratha soldiers had joined the
Mughals at Koregaon and Marathi-speaking soldiers was not an odd sight! With
all this minute information in hand, Santaji reached Koregaon in the middle of
the night and gained access into the camp by convincing the guards that they
were among the Maratha soldiers recruited by Aurangzeb. In the dead of the
night, with the rains falling incessantly, they made their way to the royal
tent, entered it and slaughtered anyone who came in their path. Much to
Santaji’s dismay, the Mughal emperor was nowhere to be found. By sheer luck, he
was not in his tent that night. But Santaji Ghorpade cut away the tent ropes
with his sword and caused the whole structure to come crashing down.
Then he cut away the golden spires of the tent
and carried them away. But the Mughals had by now found out that they had been
tricked. Santaji Ghorpade and his two thousand odd soldiers fought tooth and
nail and hastily made their way out. Hundreds died as a result, but Santaji
himself, thankfully, remained safe. He then galloped away from Koregaon and
made his way to Sinhagad near Pune. Here, he was warmly welcomed by Sidhoji
Gujar, who was guarding the fort at the time. Sidhoji Gujar’s father was the famous
Prataprao Gujar. One would presume Santaji must have entered the fort to rest
for the night and perhaps spend a few days there. But Santaji Ghorpade chose to
stay at the bottom of the hill, and just a day later, galloped off again — this
time towards Raigad. The Mughals, believing that Santaji would not trouble them
for a few days after the daring attack at Koregaon, were caught completely
unawares. Zulfiqar Khan’s siege was ferociously attacked and thousands of
Mughal soldiers were slaughtered. Then he retreated to Kolhapur and onto the
fort of Panhala.
There the brave warrior presented Rajaram the
spoils of his short but daring campaign — the golden spires of Aurangzeb’s
tent. In return, Santaji Ghorpade received the title of ‘Mamlakatmadar’ while
Bahirji Ghorpade was bestowed with the title of ‘Hindurao’. Vithoji Chavan was
given the title of ‘Himmatbahadur’. And all over the Sahyadris, this attack on
Aurangzeb caused much jubilation.
For better understanding grab the book from Santaji By Kaka Vidhate
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