While bhUShaNa was never a court poet of Moghals, two of his elder brothers were. Talking about himself, he says that since boyhood he was looking for a patron who could stand up to yavana's. So first he went to the Hindu king of kumAyUN in himAlaya-s and stayed for some time there. Although he was richly rewarded but was not impressed. He then went to chitrakUTa where bundela-s were still exerting some amount of freedom. It is here that he acquired the name of bhUShaNa (which is not his real name). While he was living here that the episode of shivAjI's heroic escape from the house-arrest in AgarA from tha palace of the son of savAI jai singha kacHavAhA became known, and shivAjI's fame spread all over and he became sort of a living legend among Hindus and was talked about in the streets of North India.
Hearing of his valour bhUShaNa immediately went to raigaDha and met with shivAjI -- an association which would last for life time but will remain of immortal fame till there is left one lover of brajabhAShA or one admirer of shivAjI.
He was not only a poet, but also a brilliant envoy and negotiator, and it is due to this skill that shivAjI appointed him his vakIl and sent on many occasions to negotiate on his behalf and carry his messages, to North Indian Hindu princes in rAjapUtAnA and mAlavA.
Legend about his being with awrangzib is partly true.
He met awrangzeb, on the invitation of the latter, but as the employee of shivAjI. The bhAkhar of chiTaNisa mentions this meeting, and a dispatch of its report to shivAjI. bhUShaNa had taken leave from shivAjI, for settling some matters at his native village near kAlapI on outskirts of today's Kanpur. While he was living here at the house of his brother, who was in service of awrangzib, he received an invitation from the latter for a meeting. Awrangzib probably wanted to lure him into his service and gain some inside information about deccan. bhUShaNa agreed to meet on condition of the conduct of safe passage.
At the moghal court, he was asked to recite some poems which he refused in the beginning. following is a kiMvadanti, that he asked awrangzib to first wash his hands before asking him to recite the poems. When asked why, he said because it seemed the emperor was used to listening to romantic poems (bhUShaNa's brother was a shR^i~NgAra-rasa poet), and must be stroking some other body parts, whereas himself being the poet of shivAjI, who hears the poems of vIra-rasa from bhUShaNa, which force the listener's fingers to one's mostaches. This way, if emperor insisted on listening to the poems that shivAjI listens to, then he had better wash the dirty hands first, lest his nUr-i-khudA (beard) becomes defiled and curse of harAm come on bhUShaNa.
Whatever be the truth of the above, which to us seems just a legend, there are some 8 kavitta-s which end with awrangzibs' name, and are said to have been recited by bhUShaNa before awrangzib himself. Each one is a harsh criticism of the moghal emporer, one even mentions kAbAh/kiblAh, which infuriated awrangzib too much that as per chiTaNisa he ordered immediate beheading of bhUShaNa, but was reminded by his courtiers of the promise of safe conduct and bhUShaNa was merely dismissed and asked to vanish.
These 8 manaharaNa kavitta-s are not found in shivarAja-bhUShaNa, which was already completed by this time, but are part of other collections of bhUShaNa's poems, and each ends with this half-line: "ali awrangzib tau champA shivarAja hai": If awrangzib be the Black Bee, then shivarAja is the flower of champA (to which Bees are attracted but can not reach close to).
Hearing of his valour bhUShaNa immediately went to raigaDha and met with shivAjI -- an association which would last for life time but will remain of immortal fame till there is left one lover of brajabhAShA or one admirer of shivAjI.
He was not only a poet, but also a brilliant envoy and negotiator, and it is due to this skill that shivAjI appointed him his vakIl and sent on many occasions to negotiate on his behalf and carry his messages, to North Indian Hindu princes in rAjapUtAnA and mAlavA.
Legend about his being with awrangzib is partly true.
He met awrangzeb, on the invitation of the latter, but as the employee of shivAjI. The bhAkhar of chiTaNisa mentions this meeting, and a dispatch of its report to shivAjI. bhUShaNa had taken leave from shivAjI, for settling some matters at his native village near kAlapI on outskirts of today's Kanpur. While he was living here at the house of his brother, who was in service of awrangzib, he received an invitation from the latter for a meeting. Awrangzib probably wanted to lure him into his service and gain some inside information about deccan. bhUShaNa agreed to meet on condition of the conduct of safe passage.
At the moghal court, he was asked to recite some poems which he refused in the beginning. following is a kiMvadanti, that he asked awrangzib to first wash his hands before asking him to recite the poems. When asked why, he said because it seemed the emperor was used to listening to romantic poems (bhUShaNa's brother was a shR^i~NgAra-rasa poet), and must be stroking some other body parts, whereas himself being the poet of shivAjI, who hears the poems of vIra-rasa from bhUShaNa, which force the listener's fingers to one's mostaches. This way, if emperor insisted on listening to the poems that shivAjI listens to, then he had better wash the dirty hands first, lest his nUr-i-khudA (beard) becomes defiled and curse of harAm come on bhUShaNa.
Whatever be the truth of the above, which to us seems just a legend, there are some 8 kavitta-s which end with awrangzibs' name, and are said to have been recited by bhUShaNa before awrangzib himself. Each one is a harsh criticism of the moghal emporer, one even mentions kAbAh/kiblAh, which infuriated awrangzib too much that as per chiTaNisa he ordered immediate beheading of bhUShaNa, but was reminded by his courtiers of the promise of safe conduct and bhUShaNa was merely dismissed and asked to vanish.
These 8 manaharaNa kavitta-s are not found in shivarAja-bhUShaNa, which was already completed by this time, but are part of other collections of bhUShaNa's poems, and each ends with this half-line: "ali awrangzib tau champA shivarAja hai": If awrangzib be the Black Bee, then shivarAja is the flower of champA (to which Bees are attracted but can not reach close to).