Escape From Agra

By Ritesh Shirpurkar

(Shivaji’s escape from Agra – year 1666 C.E.)

A landmark event took place in Agra,

Which changed the course of history in Maharashtra.

For Shivaji did the unthinkable,

And escaped from the clutches of the scheming Mughal.

He had gone there on promises of Raja Jaisingh*,

Trusting the Rajput and hoping for a good deal.

But in his court, the emperor wasted no chance of insulting him,

Making him stand in a row of generals far below him.

Shivaji remonstrated to this treatment meted out to him,

“I am standing among those whose back only I’ve seen in the battlefield”.

It became difficult to placate Shivaji in the open court,

And the Emperor asked Jaisingh’s son, in whose charge Shivaji was, 

As to “What is the cause?”

Madho Singh replied the long journey may have taken its tall,

And took the emperor’s permission to take him back to his own mahal.

But here the emperor immediately placed under house arrest,

With his movements severely restricted.

Shivaji knew, now his return was difficult,

What could he hope for, where the emperor’s own imprisoned brother fared poor**.

He was continuously guarded by soldiers,

His every movement under the scanner.

The emperor had appointed Fulad Khan,

A cruel, unforgiving man as officer in charge of the guard.

Everything and everyone going in and out of the house was checked,

It was madness to even think of escape.

Aurangzeb had a dark mind,

Which now fully manifested itself in all its ugly sights.

He initially planned to send him to Afghanistan,

And had him killed on the way, but Jaisingh’s promise of his safety stalled his plan.

Once later he thought “it’s enough” and decided then and there to kill him,

But again, Madho Singh, who had guaranteed Shivaji his safety, came in-between.

Months passed in this fashion,

And Shivaji grew helpless and despondent.

He petitioned the emperor many a times for return,

Promising him the capture of the entire Deccan.

But his pleas the emperor ignored,

There was no way Aurangzeb would allow him to return.

Shivaji now felt being pushed to the wall,

Having exhausted all options, which he could recall.

His ingenious mind then planned a scheme,

And one fine day he sent back all except a few of the retinue that had accompanied him.

The emperor was more than happy,

Now that he had to deal with that much less enemy.

With the burden of his retinue now off his head,

Shivaji one day feigned illness.

And started sending boxes full of sweets to temples,

To pray to Gods for his recovery faster.

Every box of sweet was quite big,

Carried on a pole, with one person holding at the back and other on the lead.

Each box was checked thoroughly by the guards,

From top to bottom, before being allowed to pass.

Gradually, however, the guards grew tired of the checking,

And let the boxes pass, with only a superficial screening.

This was exactly what Shivaji was hoping,

And he executed his next move where the enemy was caught napping.

One day, in evening he sent the guards a message,

That he was not to be disturbed in his sleep as he was quite unwell.

Hiroji Farzand, a cousin of his looks however slept under the sheets in his place,

With Shivaji’s ring in the finger of his hand that lay outstretched on the bed. 

Any suspicion of the guards watching on him was thus lulled,

And then Shivaji did the unthinkable!

He got into a box of sweets,

With his few years old son in another similar box of sweets! 

Lids covered the two in their boxes,

With sweets occupying rest of the upper space.

And as was the practise lately,

Guards checked the boxes only lightly!

The two thus passed undetected,

Nobody in the enemy camp wiser of their escape.

The boxes were carried directly out of the city,

Without arousing any suspicion throughout the journey.

Here a few of his loyal soldiers waited on him,

With two extra horses as astutely planned by him.

The entire party rode out of the city,

As fast as they could to get away from the enemy.

Hiroji Farzand got out of the bed next day morning,

And placing some pillows under the bedsheet, he also exited the room!

But not without warning the on-duty guards,

“The master is not to be disturbed at any cost!!”

Guards finally got suspicious in the evening,

When there was unusual stillness and no one to be seen.

They entered the room and got the shock of their lives,

They found the cage empty and the bird nowhere in sight!

Fulad Khan was informed immediately,

Who cooked up a story to absolve himself cleanly.

He informed Aurangzeb that Shivaji had done some black magic,

And disappeared out of the guards’ plain sight!

The emperor however was too smart to believe it,

And ordered him to launch a massive search for him.

To send his soldiers in the direction of south,

Which was the most likely way for the Deccani from the South. 

But again, Shivaji outsmarted his enemies,

And rode opposite towards north since that was expected least likely.

His instinct proved to be correct,

And with a clear one-day lead he galloped to Mathura undetected. 

Here he gave the custody of his exhausted young son Sambhaji,

To a family of brahmins who pledged him complete loyalty.

He promised the brahmins that he would write to them,

And call them back to Maharashtra once he returned himself.

Shivaji then rode out of Mathura with a few trusted men,

And continued further north to outfox the Mughal camp.

A day’s ride took him to Allahabad,

That holy town where the sacred Ganga flows fast.

Here the party changed their attires,

And took on the garb of holy men who are always on travel.

The men accompanying Shivaji were the fast Deccani couriers,

Adept at galloping at lightning speed and covering long distances faster.

At some point in his journey, he turned south,

And sped down through jungles avoiding the Mughal scouts.

He thus crossed central India to reach the dominions of Hyderabad,

And then turned west to journey through the Bijapuri kingdom fast.

Finally, after an arduous journey of sixty days,

He reached Raigad, but in a knocked-out state.

Still dressed as a wandering holy sage,

Without recognising him, the guards there took him to Jijabai on his request.

On seeing her, he fell down to her feet,

Surprising her as to why a sage so did?

She recognised him only when he revealed his identity,

And hugged him as if she was meeting him after an eternity.

A joy of wave spread though out the fort,

And the news soon spread to all other Deccan forts.

The good news was celebrated with the firing of cannon,

And so lit up the whole of the land. 

To the world Shivaji feigned the death of his son,

To lull the suspicion of the Mughal soldiers while he returned.

The brahmins who brought his son were suitably rewarded,

As were the men with him on his journey return.

The news of Shivaji’s return reached the Mughal court a month later,

It left Aurangzeb feeling all the more bitter.

He regretted this delinquency for the whole of his life,

And couldn’t conquer Deccan till Shivaji was alive.

“A small mistake and see how I have to suffer for long years” 

He wrote at the fag end of his life.

Spent as it was in the quest to subdue the Deccan,

And he had nothing to show for this at the end in return.

Shivaji went on to build an independent nation,

In the tooth of opposition from the Mughals.

Showing what wonders could be possible,

If only a man believed in himself.

*Mughal’s Rajput Commander-in-chief for campaign in Deccan

** In the struggle for succession Aurangzeb and imprisoned one of his brothers and father

By Ritesh Shirpurkar