Victory At The Fort Of Valour

By Ritesh Shirpurkar

(The battle of Pratapgad* – year 1659 C.E.)

His military career when still in its infancy,

Shivaji faced a challenge that may have intimidated even the mighty.

For Bijapur sent forth a general,

Brave, cruel and manipulative, with an army of ten thousand.

To crush Shivaji’s fledgling career,

To nip the rise of a new power in its bud.

Afzal Khan came with a reputation so strong,

That provinces shrank to stand against him

tall.

He did not do any injustice to this,

By raiding and looting at will.

On his way to the easily accessible Poona,

Where Shivaji was stationed with his brave Marathas.

Shivaji’s instincts never failed him,

And he shifted his camp among the rugged Javali hills**.

Here on the crest of Sahyadri ⁺,

Stood aloof a fort built by Maratha chivalry.

It bore the name Pratapgad,

And the events that unfolded proved its naming apt as the ‘fort of valour’.

Afzal’s march all along was a success,

But Shivaji’s move now had him perplexed.

For his heavy cavalry was more suited for open warfare,

Which was now not possible in the thick jungle at the base of Pratapgad.

He then resorted to stratagem,

To capture Shivaji at a meeting and tie him up in chains, Or best to kill him if it was possible,

And be done and dusted with it, he thought to himself.

He then sent forth his agent to Shivaji, Apparently on a peace mission to negotiate a treaty.

Shivaji anticipated some treachery,

And formed his own plans to tackle the enemy.

To the agent he said that he will indeed meet Afzal,

But only very near to the fort Pratapgad.

And minus all the retinue and the army, Only if the Khan agreed to meet him

singly.

Khan agreed to this proposal,

And a day of meeting was fixed for the purpose.

Shivaji erected a royal tent at the base of Pratapgad hill, But his ministers were skeptical of success and ill at ease.

They suggested him surrender as the way ahead,

But blessed by Bhavani in his dreams, Shivaji chose the manlier way ahead.

He resolved to fight the enemy,

And Jijabai, his mother blessed him proudly.

Shivaji’s preparations for the meeting were an example in foresight, For he anticipated the enemy’s treachery and a good fight.

He wore a metal cap under his head gear and an armor beneath his clothes, 

He carried “bichwwa,” ^$a dagger hidden in his left sleeve.

He also apparently wore rings on his right fingers,

That concealed the “waghnakh” ^, clawed metal nails in his closed fists.

Accompanying him were two men of proven ability,

Jiva Mahalla and Sambhaji Kavji, with two swords

each.

Afzal came with Sayyid Banda,

The famous swordsman of that era.

Thus, there were four on each side,

The two protagonists, their agents and two armed men besides.

As Shivaji entered the royal tent,

 Apparently unarmed, with his agent, 

Afzal stood up to greet him in person.

Shivaji stepped ahead to greet the Khan, Who embraced him with his two open arms.

Shivaji matched Afzal’s height only up to his chest, When Afzal tried to choke him with his left.

To Shivaji it seemed an embrace of death, And he found Afzal’s grip difficult to negate.

Then suddenly with his free right hand, Afzal pierced his sword into Shivaji’s abdomen.

But the blow went waste,

As the armor under his clothes protected Shivaji as best.

Shivaji then shrugged off Afzal’s grip on his neck, And with his “waghnakh” wounded him in his abdomen.

Then taking out his “bichwwa” from underneath his left sleeve, He struck another blow to his enemy.

Afzal shouted ‘treachery’ as he fell, Forgetting that treachery had rebounded on himself.

Sayyid Banda attacked Shivaji straight on his head,

But again, he was protected by metal cap, 

That he had so thoughtfully worn under the head gear.

Jiva Mahalla then dashed to cut-off Banda’s hand, And killed him in that very instance.

His servants tried to carry the Khan in his palki,

But Sambhaji slashed at their legs and made them drop the palki.

In no time he was on the injured Khan,

And with one swift swing of sword, he decapitated the Khan.

Shivaji with his men rushed back to Pratapgad, And fired a cannon as a signal to his soldiers. Who were hiding in the thick Javali jungle,

To attack the enemy without wasting even a second.

To Afzal’s army it was as if the jungle had come alive, They found themselves surrounded by enemy from all sides. Already demoralized by the news of their general’s death,

They were now forced to fight leaderless.

Against an enemy who knew every nook and corner of the forest, And led by generals with their appetite for enemy whetted.

The massacre was indeed complete,

It resulted in Bijapur’s completest defeat.

Shivaji had made treachery rebound on the enemy, And saved his country from an eminent calamity.

The news of this victory spread far and wide,

And the people of the land thought it was a new dawn after a long night.

Minstrels composed songs in his praise, And took the event to the Land’s End.

People gathered around them,

In temples, under trees, at junctions, wherever they went.

To listen to this great fight,

Sung by the minstrels with such delight. Taking in every word of the great tale,

Their blood flowing in unison as the duel peaked to its epic end.

The chants of “Har Har Mahadev” ^$$ filled the air, And the idea of nationhood awakened everywhere.

This is Shivaji’s real legacy,

That he ruled the hearts of people not mere polity.

*Pratapgad is located in the western ghats in Satara district, Maharashtra.

** Javali is located in Satara district, Maharashtra, on the way to Pratapgad

+ Sahyadri is the Marathi name for western ghats

$ Bichwwa – a Marathi word for a small, straight dagger which is easy to conceal

^ Waghnakh – a Marathi word for a small metal weapon which is shaped like the claws of a tiger concealed in the grip of hand, with outer surface covered with rings (wagh=tiger). Recently it has been brought back from a museum in London. 

$$ Har Har Mahadev – the maratha war cry

Although the sequence of events of the incidence in the poem is common knowledge, at least in the state of Maharashtra, for the details mentioned in the poem, the book that has been referenced is “Shivaji and his Times” by Jadunath Sarkar.

By Ritesh Shirpurkar