08-10-2006, 06:12 AM
For long I wished to write a brief history Sambhaji, the brother of Shivaji, his contributions to the Hindu struggle and his early death on the battlefield. What ever we know of his struggle is mainly from Sanskrit chronicles like those of Paramanand and Jayaram Pandit (Maharatta Brahmin historians and contemporaries), supplemented by bakars and Farmans of the Mohammedans. The core of the narrative here of course follows Paramanand and Jayaram's efforts.
From the reliable genealogies of the Bhosles we known that Babaji Bhosle had two sons, the elder of them Maloji Bhosle being born in 1552 CE. His younger brother was Vithoji Bhosle. Maloji Bhosle and his brother gained some prominence as a restorer of ancient rudra temples that had gone into disuse by repairing them, building tanks for them and supporting worship (gR^iShneshvara and shambhu mahAdeva; latter close to a temple built recently in Satara due to Chandrashekarendra Sarasvati, former AchArya of the Kumbhakonam maTha). Maloji had two sons Shahji and Sharifji and Vithoji eight sons all of whom fought under Shahji to resist the Mogol invasion of the Nizamshahi Sultanate. Shahji collaborated at first with the talented African slave Maliq Amber, who was sold to the Nizam Shah as a boy. The black warrior was remarkably innovative in his methods and Shahji closely observed him and learnt how to make maximum advantage of the terrain to counter numerically superior enemies with a small force. The Maliq started developing both land armies and a strong navy with fellow black slaves who had been sold to the Ahmednagar court.
Shortly, after Shahji began collaborating with Maliq Ambar, Sambhaji was born to Shahji and Jijabai, and he was named after one of their ancestral shiva temples. Shahji and Jijabai had 6 sons but of them only Sambhaji and Shivaji survived past puberty (teShAM madhye shaMbhu-shivau dvAvevAn-vaya-vardhanau - they were the middle sons). The African warrior laid a trap for the invading forces of the Mogol Padishah Jahangir and the Adil Shah who was also fighting on their side. Finally, the Mogol and Adili forces were ambushed by Amber in Bhatavadi where Shahji also entered the fight on the side of the black warrior with his brother and cousins. Paramanand's Sanskrit poem on this battle gives a detailed account of the action that took place. The spectacular feats of Shahji in the battle resulted in a rout for the Mogols and their allies. In course of time he conquered the Pune region and made it his land. This also resulted in the jealousy of the African warrior towards him and Shahji wandered away, with both him and his young son Sambhaji entering Adil Shahi court and then the Mogol court when Shah Jahan ascended the throne.
But soon after that the Mogols conquered Devagiri and pressed the Nizam Shah close to extinction. Shahji for the first time made a proto-nationalistic attempt at this point. He with his young son Sambhaji (Shivaji was just born sometime back) decided to become the protector of a puppet Nizam Shah and resist the Mogols. For about 3 years he struggled against the Mogols and the Adil with a force of about 12,000 men that he had assembled along with a renegade Brahmin fighter Murar Jagdev. Shah Jahan was at the pinnacle of his prowess, he had destroyed the Nizam Shah and defeated the Portuguese. The Mogol depredations combined with failed monsoons had triggered famines in Maharashtra depopulating many human settlements. The Mogol Padishaw pressed hard on Shahji and in the early 1630s captured his wife and the young Shivaji. However, they somehow got free after one of Jijabai's relatives bribed a relatively mild Moslem officer who had arrested them. Finally, after much fighting Shah Jahan reduced Shahji's possessions to a mere 5 forts and deputed a force to collaborate with the Adil and the Qutb to destroy Shahji and returned to Delhi. Shahji was finally starved in the siege of Mahuli and was forced to surrender to Randulla Khan, the able Jihadi of the Adil Shah.
Randulla Khan's invasion of the South
Muhammad who succeeded Ibrahim, as the Adil Shahi Sultan was a fanatic Jihadi who wanted to put the Hindus in their place and bring the whole of South India under the cresent banner. Muhammad gathered under his ace commander Randulla Khan several vigorous green holy warriors of the cresent who shared his vision - Mustafa Khan, Afzal Khan and Asad Khan were the chief of these. There was also the African warrior Siddi Jawhar fighting on their side. The Adil Shah ordered Randulla Khan to lead these forces into the Vijayanagaran territory and systematically attack Darwar, Lakshmeshvar, Penukonda, Vellore, Chandragiri, Shira, Ikkeri and Jinji and plunder the cities and destroy Hindu temples situated there. The renegade brahmin Murar Jagdev tried to negotiate with regards to the Hindus with the Sultan. He was murdered by Pathans sent by Mustafa Khan at night. Shahji who was forced to surrender after being starved in the siege of Mahuli, was asked to accompany the invasionary force with his surviving troops. The Moslem plan was simple but the utter strategic failure of the Vijayanagaran Nayakas and their armies allowed the Army of Islam to execute it. Every invasion they would leave immediately after monsoons and return just before the next monsoons to Bijapur.
In the first invasion (1637 CE) the ghazis of Randulla Khan stormed into Dharwar and Lakshmeshvar destroying and plundering the cities. They then attacked Ikkeri and besieged it. Virabhadra Nayaka exhausted his supplies in the Ikkeri fort in 2 months and was forced to surrender. He ran for life and hid in Bednur, while the Moslems devasted the city. It is claimed that they collected a staggering wealth of 1.8 million gold pieces from the plunder of Ikkeri. The houses of all Hindus were demolished and the males killed and women taken by the Moslems. In the next invasion Randulla Khan sent his deputy Afzal Khan a giant ghazi who was reputed to bend iron bars with his bare hands to destroy Kasturiranga, the prince of Shira. Kasturiranga put up brave fight but soon ran out resources and men in face of the streaming Islamic attacks from Bijapur. Afzal Khan promised to reach a settlement and asked Kasturiranga to meet him in private for the negotiations. When the prince came to meet the Khan, the latter stabbed him to death in course of the meeting. This incident left a profound impression on Shahji who kept as far as away as he could from the Adil Shahi general. Shahji got his chance to grab some land when he saw that Kempe Gauda the fort keeper of Bangalore was offguard. He promptly seized Bangalore and then forced the Wodeyar of Shrirangapattanam to vassalage. In Bangalore he ruled like an independent ruler paying only an occassional tribute to the Adil Shah and sending official messages pledging to be his vassal.
Ranadulla Khan then savaged Basavapattanam after killing Kenge Nayaka and then seized Tumkur, Balapur and Vellore. The Sultan was elated at these successes and had profitted over 40 million coins, with which he embellished Bijapur by erecting several specimens of Saracenic architecture. Shahji was a decent ruler of Bangalore and its surrounding regions--importantly he saved the Hindus in his territory by establishing a Hindu rule with Brahmin ministers rather than subjecting them to the Islamic courts.and soon added Balapur without rousing Adil Shahi suspicion to his territory. His son Sambhaji in his late teens proved his worth by slyly annexing Balapur to Shahji's territory without arousing the Moslems' suspicions. But the Adilshah noted the when Shriranga III came to the Vijayanagaran throne Shahji had opened contacts with him. Simultaneously, Shriranga started organizing a major counter-attack on the Moslems at Vellore and Shivappa Nayaka organizing a force in Bednur seized back Ikkeri from the Moslems.
Adilshah becoming suspicious asked Shahji to come over to Bijapur with his entire family and stay there for several months. Ranadulla Khan, who was generally lenient towards Shahji died around that time (1643), and his replacement Mustafa Khan asked the Sultan to take action on Shahji. Shahji ever aware of self-preservation agreed to toe the Moslem line. However, his young sons Sambhaji and Shivaji noticed this and were filled with the urge of independence. In the Peshve bakhar they are mentioned as explicitly saying that the devas were displeased with Shahji working with the Moslems who were uprooting Hindus and converting the whole country. Whatever the case, either due his young sons' independent thoughts or his own sub-current loyalty to his religion, he was seen my the Moslems as possibly involved secretly siding with the rebellions in Karnataka. So the Adil Shah severely reprimanded him in 1644, and sent Mustafa Khan to deal with the Hindus in the South.
Mustafa Khan's invasions
Shah Jahan called on Adil Shah and Qutb Shah to destroy the Hindus of the South and bring the whole of Hind under Islam. First, Mustafa Khan attacked the Vijayanagaran army lead by the Nayaka Shivappa who had liberated Ikkeri (1645). The Hindus fought with great fury and inflicted severe losses on the Moslems in the battle of Sagar. But Mustafa Khan who greatly hated the Hindus was strengthened by reserves and he fell back on Shivappa Nayaka and routed in the second battle of Ikkeri. But Shriranga III began his counter-operations right away and captured Vellore. The Moslems were alarmed and the Qutb Shah and Adil Shah made a common cause and dispatched a large army of Jihad against Shriranga. Shahji refused to join this army eventhough he was asked to. At that time his young son Shivaji in Maharashtra instead started making preparations to take a critical fort of Kondana near Pune from the Moslems. His other son Sambhaji started secret negotiations with Hindu Palegars to look upto Shahji and not side the Moslem invasionary force. Mustafa Khan struck rapidly and captured Vellore. But as soon as Mustafa Khan returned to Bijapur Shahji and Sambhaji secretly provided intelligence and help to Shriranga and he was able to defeat the Moslems and recapture Vellore. Furious, the Sultan sent Mustafa Khan along with Afzal Khan and Asad Khan to destroy Shiranga. Shahji was ordered to help the invasion and threatened with arrest if he sided with the Hindus. Shriranga contacted Shahji and asked him to open negotiations for peace with Mustafa. Shahji duely did so and was trying to buy time for the Vijayanagarans, when Shriranga thought he might succeed by launching a preemptive strike on the Moslems. However, he was mistaken-- while outwardly the Moslems seemed to be negotiating peace as per Shahji's moves, they were themselves preparing to strike. So Shriranga's element of surprise was completely blown off and the Moslems slaughtered his forces in the battle and seized Vellore. However, Shahji helped him escape with life. While the Adil Shahi army was tied with Shriranga, Shahji's son Shivaji captured the Kondana fort from the Moslems, while his elder son Sambhaji quite deposed a Moslem palegar in the Raichur Doab and was bringing territory under his control in contrivance with the local Hindu population.
The brahmins met at the Tirupati temple and bank-rolled a Hindu army using temple revenues under the surviving Nayakas to counter the Moslem depredations. Alarmed at the growing Hindu counter-attack the Sultans ordered a major offensive with two Jihadi armies under Mustafa Khan and Afzal Khan from Bijapur and the zealous Mir Jumla from Hyderabad. The Hindus at first fought the Moslem army at Virinchipuram, where despite their defeat staved of the Moslem army by inflict heavy losses on them. The surviving Nayaka, Rupa Nayaka went over to Jinji and from this excellent fort began operations against the Moslems with the Tirupati funds. He kept hitting the Moslem armies repeatedly and kept retreating to his fort. Sambhaji kept providing the Nayaka secretly with intelligence and was thus coming of his own in concieving a nationalist Hindu cause, much as his brother was in Maharashtra. The brahmins at the Tirupati meet also decided to take a second course of action and selected a set of expert tantriks to perform a series of abhicAra rites on the Sultan of Bijapur. The abhichAra had its due effect and the Sultan's limbs were paralyzed. Mustafa Khan and Mir Jumla enraged over the developments launched a major attack on Jinji. Shahji and Sambhaji were asked by Mustafa Khan to join him against the Nayaka at Jinji. Shahji proved an obstructionist and kept interfering by shielding various Nayakas and delaying encounters. Mustafa Khan furious over these actions had him arrested with the help of Shahji's treacherous relative Baji Ghorpade when the former was offguard due to a wild party. Shahji was put in chains by Afzal Khan and taken with him to Bijapur. Mustafa himself was targetted by a mAraNa prayoga laid by the brahmins and is said to have died in a week there after. But his successor Muhammad Khan continued the siege and finally killed Rupa Nayaka and captured Gingi.
Following Shahji's arrest his sons Sambhaji in Banglore and Shivaji in Pune started asserting theior independence against the Moslems. With the help of the Brahmin advisers they started acting as independent *Hindu* rulers and did not remit any tributes to the Adil Shah. The Sultan acted quickly and sent a force under Asad Khan from Jinji to take Bangalore from Sambhaji. Sambhaji gave a notable display of his valor by routing the Moslem force advancing towards Banglore by after intercepting it on the way to the city. Shivaji was in the mean time attacked in both Purandar and Kondana by two columns of the Sultan's army, but he too gave an ample taste of his valor by defeating both the Moslem armies. The action by Shahji's sons and their ability to punish the Moslem armies both in North and south made the Sultan wary of any action on Shahji. In the meantime the brothers tried an unusual political move by contacting a representative of the Mogol emperor to negotiate with the Sultan for their father's safety and possible release from captivity. Ahmad Khan the Moslem commandant agreed to negotiate his safe release provided his sons surrendered Kondana and Banglore. Shahji agreed to such a deal and was released. His sons on the surface agreed to do so but secretly harbored plans to seize back their territory from the Moslems.
Soon they had their chance when the two Moslem Sultans, the Sunni and Shia started fighting amongst themselves over their territorial possessions after the battle of Jinji. In course of this fight, Shahji and Sambhaji secured Banglore and went on take Kanakagiri for themselves. When Mir Jumla started driving the Adil Shahi troops, Shahji and Sambhaji intervened with their forces. To the Hindus they were protectors for Moslem depredations and for Adil Shah they were the only hope to survive Mir Jumla. They caught Mir Jumla in an ambush between their columns near Bangalore and defeated him soundly. They held him ransom for 900,000 gold pieces and with this victory became the most powerful force in South India. In Kanakagiri, Sambhaji saw the remnants of the past Hindu glory and the idea of founding an independent Hindu kingdom with this fort as a base came to his mind. Sambhaji accordingly dispossessed to local Moslem officials and appointed his Hindu ministers instead. Abba Khan the local Moslem Adil Shahi warlord was furious over these movements and raising a force of ghazis launched a fierce attack on Sambhaji. Shahji tried a political move by representing to the Adil Shah that he was holding the territory for the Sultan while Abba Khan was revolting against him. Afzal Khan was sent to settle affairs, and he long wanted to punish the Maharatta upstarts severely. He also had a grudge against Sambhaji due the defeat at his hands in the Bangalore encounter.
Afzal Khan laid a cunning plan. He sent a message to Sambhaji that he would help him against Abba Khan and asked the former to storm the defences of Abba. Sambhaji vigorously attacked and was in the thick of battle when the detachment of Afzal Khan which had supposedly come to help turned against him and surrounded him. He tried to cut his way out, but received several shots was killed. Thus at the age of 25, Sambhaji, the poorly known brother of the future Maharatta Raja died in front of Kanakagiri. His mother Jijabai bore a long-standing grudge against Afzal Khan after this event, and finally had her satisfaction, when Shivaji slew the Khan and restored the Hindu prestige.
From the reliable genealogies of the Bhosles we known that Babaji Bhosle had two sons, the elder of them Maloji Bhosle being born in 1552 CE. His younger brother was Vithoji Bhosle. Maloji Bhosle and his brother gained some prominence as a restorer of ancient rudra temples that had gone into disuse by repairing them, building tanks for them and supporting worship (gR^iShneshvara and shambhu mahAdeva; latter close to a temple built recently in Satara due to Chandrashekarendra Sarasvati, former AchArya of the Kumbhakonam maTha). Maloji had two sons Shahji and Sharifji and Vithoji eight sons all of whom fought under Shahji to resist the Mogol invasion of the Nizamshahi Sultanate. Shahji collaborated at first with the talented African slave Maliq Amber, who was sold to the Nizam Shah as a boy. The black warrior was remarkably innovative in his methods and Shahji closely observed him and learnt how to make maximum advantage of the terrain to counter numerically superior enemies with a small force. The Maliq started developing both land armies and a strong navy with fellow black slaves who had been sold to the Ahmednagar court.
Shortly, after Shahji began collaborating with Maliq Ambar, Sambhaji was born to Shahji and Jijabai, and he was named after one of their ancestral shiva temples. Shahji and Jijabai had 6 sons but of them only Sambhaji and Shivaji survived past puberty (teShAM madhye shaMbhu-shivau dvAvevAn-vaya-vardhanau - they were the middle sons). The African warrior laid a trap for the invading forces of the Mogol Padishah Jahangir and the Adil Shah who was also fighting on their side. Finally, the Mogol and Adili forces were ambushed by Amber in Bhatavadi where Shahji also entered the fight on the side of the black warrior with his brother and cousins. Paramanand's Sanskrit poem on this battle gives a detailed account of the action that took place. The spectacular feats of Shahji in the battle resulted in a rout for the Mogols and their allies. In course of time he conquered the Pune region and made it his land. This also resulted in the jealousy of the African warrior towards him and Shahji wandered away, with both him and his young son Sambhaji entering Adil Shahi court and then the Mogol court when Shah Jahan ascended the throne.
But soon after that the Mogols conquered Devagiri and pressed the Nizam Shah close to extinction. Shahji for the first time made a proto-nationalistic attempt at this point. He with his young son Sambhaji (Shivaji was just born sometime back) decided to become the protector of a puppet Nizam Shah and resist the Mogols. For about 3 years he struggled against the Mogols and the Adil with a force of about 12,000 men that he had assembled along with a renegade Brahmin fighter Murar Jagdev. Shah Jahan was at the pinnacle of his prowess, he had destroyed the Nizam Shah and defeated the Portuguese. The Mogol depredations combined with failed monsoons had triggered famines in Maharashtra depopulating many human settlements. The Mogol Padishaw pressed hard on Shahji and in the early 1630s captured his wife and the young Shivaji. However, they somehow got free after one of Jijabai's relatives bribed a relatively mild Moslem officer who had arrested them. Finally, after much fighting Shah Jahan reduced Shahji's possessions to a mere 5 forts and deputed a force to collaborate with the Adil and the Qutb to destroy Shahji and returned to Delhi. Shahji was finally starved in the siege of Mahuli and was forced to surrender to Randulla Khan, the able Jihadi of the Adil Shah.
Randulla Khan's invasion of the South
Muhammad who succeeded Ibrahim, as the Adil Shahi Sultan was a fanatic Jihadi who wanted to put the Hindus in their place and bring the whole of South India under the cresent banner. Muhammad gathered under his ace commander Randulla Khan several vigorous green holy warriors of the cresent who shared his vision - Mustafa Khan, Afzal Khan and Asad Khan were the chief of these. There was also the African warrior Siddi Jawhar fighting on their side. The Adil Shah ordered Randulla Khan to lead these forces into the Vijayanagaran territory and systematically attack Darwar, Lakshmeshvar, Penukonda, Vellore, Chandragiri, Shira, Ikkeri and Jinji and plunder the cities and destroy Hindu temples situated there. The renegade brahmin Murar Jagdev tried to negotiate with regards to the Hindus with the Sultan. He was murdered by Pathans sent by Mustafa Khan at night. Shahji who was forced to surrender after being starved in the siege of Mahuli, was asked to accompany the invasionary force with his surviving troops. The Moslem plan was simple but the utter strategic failure of the Vijayanagaran Nayakas and their armies allowed the Army of Islam to execute it. Every invasion they would leave immediately after monsoons and return just before the next monsoons to Bijapur.
In the first invasion (1637 CE) the ghazis of Randulla Khan stormed into Dharwar and Lakshmeshvar destroying and plundering the cities. They then attacked Ikkeri and besieged it. Virabhadra Nayaka exhausted his supplies in the Ikkeri fort in 2 months and was forced to surrender. He ran for life and hid in Bednur, while the Moslems devasted the city. It is claimed that they collected a staggering wealth of 1.8 million gold pieces from the plunder of Ikkeri. The houses of all Hindus were demolished and the males killed and women taken by the Moslems. In the next invasion Randulla Khan sent his deputy Afzal Khan a giant ghazi who was reputed to bend iron bars with his bare hands to destroy Kasturiranga, the prince of Shira. Kasturiranga put up brave fight but soon ran out resources and men in face of the streaming Islamic attacks from Bijapur. Afzal Khan promised to reach a settlement and asked Kasturiranga to meet him in private for the negotiations. When the prince came to meet the Khan, the latter stabbed him to death in course of the meeting. This incident left a profound impression on Shahji who kept as far as away as he could from the Adil Shahi general. Shahji got his chance to grab some land when he saw that Kempe Gauda the fort keeper of Bangalore was offguard. He promptly seized Bangalore and then forced the Wodeyar of Shrirangapattanam to vassalage. In Bangalore he ruled like an independent ruler paying only an occassional tribute to the Adil Shah and sending official messages pledging to be his vassal.
Ranadulla Khan then savaged Basavapattanam after killing Kenge Nayaka and then seized Tumkur, Balapur and Vellore. The Sultan was elated at these successes and had profitted over 40 million coins, with which he embellished Bijapur by erecting several specimens of Saracenic architecture. Shahji was a decent ruler of Bangalore and its surrounding regions--importantly he saved the Hindus in his territory by establishing a Hindu rule with Brahmin ministers rather than subjecting them to the Islamic courts.and soon added Balapur without rousing Adil Shahi suspicion to his territory. His son Sambhaji in his late teens proved his worth by slyly annexing Balapur to Shahji's territory without arousing the Moslems' suspicions. But the Adilshah noted the when Shriranga III came to the Vijayanagaran throne Shahji had opened contacts with him. Simultaneously, Shriranga started organizing a major counter-attack on the Moslems at Vellore and Shivappa Nayaka organizing a force in Bednur seized back Ikkeri from the Moslems.
Adilshah becoming suspicious asked Shahji to come over to Bijapur with his entire family and stay there for several months. Ranadulla Khan, who was generally lenient towards Shahji died around that time (1643), and his replacement Mustafa Khan asked the Sultan to take action on Shahji. Shahji ever aware of self-preservation agreed to toe the Moslem line. However, his young sons Sambhaji and Shivaji noticed this and were filled with the urge of independence. In the Peshve bakhar they are mentioned as explicitly saying that the devas were displeased with Shahji working with the Moslems who were uprooting Hindus and converting the whole country. Whatever the case, either due his young sons' independent thoughts or his own sub-current loyalty to his religion, he was seen my the Moslems as possibly involved secretly siding with the rebellions in Karnataka. So the Adil Shah severely reprimanded him in 1644, and sent Mustafa Khan to deal with the Hindus in the South.
Mustafa Khan's invasions
Shah Jahan called on Adil Shah and Qutb Shah to destroy the Hindus of the South and bring the whole of Hind under Islam. First, Mustafa Khan attacked the Vijayanagaran army lead by the Nayaka Shivappa who had liberated Ikkeri (1645). The Hindus fought with great fury and inflicted severe losses on the Moslems in the battle of Sagar. But Mustafa Khan who greatly hated the Hindus was strengthened by reserves and he fell back on Shivappa Nayaka and routed in the second battle of Ikkeri. But Shriranga III began his counter-operations right away and captured Vellore. The Moslems were alarmed and the Qutb Shah and Adil Shah made a common cause and dispatched a large army of Jihad against Shriranga. Shahji refused to join this army eventhough he was asked to. At that time his young son Shivaji in Maharashtra instead started making preparations to take a critical fort of Kondana near Pune from the Moslems. His other son Sambhaji started secret negotiations with Hindu Palegars to look upto Shahji and not side the Moslem invasionary force. Mustafa Khan struck rapidly and captured Vellore. But as soon as Mustafa Khan returned to Bijapur Shahji and Sambhaji secretly provided intelligence and help to Shriranga and he was able to defeat the Moslems and recapture Vellore. Furious, the Sultan sent Mustafa Khan along with Afzal Khan and Asad Khan to destroy Shiranga. Shahji was ordered to help the invasion and threatened with arrest if he sided with the Hindus. Shriranga contacted Shahji and asked him to open negotiations for peace with Mustafa. Shahji duely did so and was trying to buy time for the Vijayanagarans, when Shriranga thought he might succeed by launching a preemptive strike on the Moslems. However, he was mistaken-- while outwardly the Moslems seemed to be negotiating peace as per Shahji's moves, they were themselves preparing to strike. So Shriranga's element of surprise was completely blown off and the Moslems slaughtered his forces in the battle and seized Vellore. However, Shahji helped him escape with life. While the Adil Shahi army was tied with Shriranga, Shahji's son Shivaji captured the Kondana fort from the Moslems, while his elder son Sambhaji quite deposed a Moslem palegar in the Raichur Doab and was bringing territory under his control in contrivance with the local Hindu population.
The brahmins met at the Tirupati temple and bank-rolled a Hindu army using temple revenues under the surviving Nayakas to counter the Moslem depredations. Alarmed at the growing Hindu counter-attack the Sultans ordered a major offensive with two Jihadi armies under Mustafa Khan and Afzal Khan from Bijapur and the zealous Mir Jumla from Hyderabad. The Hindus at first fought the Moslem army at Virinchipuram, where despite their defeat staved of the Moslem army by inflict heavy losses on them. The surviving Nayaka, Rupa Nayaka went over to Jinji and from this excellent fort began operations against the Moslems with the Tirupati funds. He kept hitting the Moslem armies repeatedly and kept retreating to his fort. Sambhaji kept providing the Nayaka secretly with intelligence and was thus coming of his own in concieving a nationalist Hindu cause, much as his brother was in Maharashtra. The brahmins at the Tirupati meet also decided to take a second course of action and selected a set of expert tantriks to perform a series of abhicAra rites on the Sultan of Bijapur. The abhichAra had its due effect and the Sultan's limbs were paralyzed. Mustafa Khan and Mir Jumla enraged over the developments launched a major attack on Jinji. Shahji and Sambhaji were asked by Mustafa Khan to join him against the Nayaka at Jinji. Shahji proved an obstructionist and kept interfering by shielding various Nayakas and delaying encounters. Mustafa Khan furious over these actions had him arrested with the help of Shahji's treacherous relative Baji Ghorpade when the former was offguard due to a wild party. Shahji was put in chains by Afzal Khan and taken with him to Bijapur. Mustafa himself was targetted by a mAraNa prayoga laid by the brahmins and is said to have died in a week there after. But his successor Muhammad Khan continued the siege and finally killed Rupa Nayaka and captured Gingi.
Following Shahji's arrest his sons Sambhaji in Banglore and Shivaji in Pune started asserting theior independence against the Moslems. With the help of the Brahmin advisers they started acting as independent *Hindu* rulers and did not remit any tributes to the Adil Shah. The Sultan acted quickly and sent a force under Asad Khan from Jinji to take Bangalore from Sambhaji. Sambhaji gave a notable display of his valor by routing the Moslem force advancing towards Banglore by after intercepting it on the way to the city. Shivaji was in the mean time attacked in both Purandar and Kondana by two columns of the Sultan's army, but he too gave an ample taste of his valor by defeating both the Moslem armies. The action by Shahji's sons and their ability to punish the Moslem armies both in North and south made the Sultan wary of any action on Shahji. In the meantime the brothers tried an unusual political move by contacting a representative of the Mogol emperor to negotiate with the Sultan for their father's safety and possible release from captivity. Ahmad Khan the Moslem commandant agreed to negotiate his safe release provided his sons surrendered Kondana and Banglore. Shahji agreed to such a deal and was released. His sons on the surface agreed to do so but secretly harbored plans to seize back their territory from the Moslems.
Soon they had their chance when the two Moslem Sultans, the Sunni and Shia started fighting amongst themselves over their territorial possessions after the battle of Jinji. In course of this fight, Shahji and Sambhaji secured Banglore and went on take Kanakagiri for themselves. When Mir Jumla started driving the Adil Shahi troops, Shahji and Sambhaji intervened with their forces. To the Hindus they were protectors for Moslem depredations and for Adil Shah they were the only hope to survive Mir Jumla. They caught Mir Jumla in an ambush between their columns near Bangalore and defeated him soundly. They held him ransom for 900,000 gold pieces and with this victory became the most powerful force in South India. In Kanakagiri, Sambhaji saw the remnants of the past Hindu glory and the idea of founding an independent Hindu kingdom with this fort as a base came to his mind. Sambhaji accordingly dispossessed to local Moslem officials and appointed his Hindu ministers instead. Abba Khan the local Moslem Adil Shahi warlord was furious over these movements and raising a force of ghazis launched a fierce attack on Sambhaji. Shahji tried a political move by representing to the Adil Shah that he was holding the territory for the Sultan while Abba Khan was revolting against him. Afzal Khan was sent to settle affairs, and he long wanted to punish the Maharatta upstarts severely. He also had a grudge against Sambhaji due the defeat at his hands in the Bangalore encounter.
Afzal Khan laid a cunning plan. He sent a message to Sambhaji that he would help him against Abba Khan and asked the former to storm the defences of Abba. Sambhaji vigorously attacked and was in the thick of battle when the detachment of Afzal Khan which had supposedly come to help turned against him and surrounded him. He tried to cut his way out, but received several shots was killed. Thus at the age of 25, Sambhaji, the poorly known brother of the future Maharatta Raja died in front of Kanakagiri. His mother Jijabai bore a long-standing grudge against Afzal Khan after this event, and finally had her satisfaction, when Shivaji slew the Khan and restored the Hindu prestige.