What was the reason behind 27 year war?
Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb became highly intolerant, Islamised. Aurangzeb destroyed many temples. Imposed cruel Jizya tax, pilgrimage tax on Hindus. Forced Hindus to convert in Islam. He even tried to impose Sharia law. Though there were many Hindu officers in Aurangzeb’s court, one and only goal of Aurangzeb was complete domination of the Indian subcontinent and complete Islamisation of India. He would have never tolerated young and only Hindu kingdom in Islamic India established by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Sooner or later, Aurangzeb was going to invade Deccan and crush Maratha kingdom with his mighty Mughal Army. But Aurangzeb never attacked Deccan until Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was alive. Aurangzeb had already tried to crush Marathas by sending his uncle Shiasta Khan with 1 lac 50 thousand army. Shivaji Maharaj slashed 3 fingers of Shiasta Khan by his sword in a daring surgical strike at night.Shiasta khans luck was great that he survived & left Maharashtra. Angered by this news Aurangzeb transferred Shiasta Khan to Bengal. In contrary to Aurangzeb, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharajs one and only goal was ‘ Hindu self rule' of India. As per Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mughals were foreigners and they had no right to rule India. Shivaji Maharaj was not against any particular religion, in fact many high ranking officers including Shivaji Maharaj's personal bodyguards were Muslim. Shivaji Maharaj was against foreign powers. Shivaji Maharaj was against forceful conversion of Hindus, Jizya tax & pilgrimage tax, destruction of Hindu temples, cow slaughter, etc. Shivaji maharaj was against injustice & slavery. Sooner or later, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was going to attack North India. Because of these 2 opposing thoughts, war was inevitable between Marathas and Mughals.
( 27 year war map)
Aurangzeb invades Deccan ( south India)
After death of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 1680, Aurangzeb arrived in Aurangabad, a Mughal headquarter of Deccan, with an army of over a half million (5lac), thousands of elephants & camels, massive artillery, enormous treasury & resources. 1 lac 50 thousand Maratha Army was ready to welcome Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb hoped to crush Marathas within months.
At that time Maratha kingdom was under Chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, an eldest son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.Aurangzeb dispatched his army to capture ‘ Ramsej fort' near Nashik city which was frontier fort of Maratha kingdom.He hoped to capture Ramsej fort within days. Aurangzeb tried his best to capture fort but not for 1, not for 2 not for 5 or 6 but for almost 7 years few thousand Marathas successfully defended Ramsej fort to death. And there were 300+ forts under Marathas!!! Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj once said that Badshaha Alamgir ( Aurangzeb) will have to live for 300 years to capture my kingdom!
Maratha navy ships Grabs and Gallivats attacking British ship of Bombay marine.
Aurangzeb underestimated rough mountainous terrain of Sahyadri ( Western ghats) & fighting spirit of Marathas. This time Aurangzeb worked with British of Bombay (Mumbai), Portuguese of Goa, Siddis(Africans) of Janjira, Bijapur & Golconda sultanates to encircle Marathas from all sides. Chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj first tried to break this encirclemnt by attacking Siddis of Janjira but his campaign failed against invincible Janjira fort ( Janjira is a fort in the Arabian sea).Sambhaji Maharaj wanted to teach a lesson to Portuguese of Goa for helping Aurangzeb. Sambhaji Maharaj attacked and destroyed Portuguese Goa, Portuguese were on the verge to surrender but luckily at the same time massive Mughal army under Husain Ali khan invaded Maratha territory elsewhere. Sambhaji Maharaj had to left Goa and fight Mughal army. Portuguese were lucky. Maratha navy kept check on movements of sea powers & their supplies to Mughal army. Aurangzeb now divided his troops in 2 which were commanded by his 2 sons Shah alam and Azam Shah. One force had to attack from north and another force had to attack from south. Aurangzebs plan was pincer movement strategy that is attack from both sides.Aurangzebs strategy was successful initially but as soon as they reached rough mountainous terrain of Western ghats they were continuously harassed by Marathas. Their supplies were cut down by Marathas. Mughals were starved to death. This mission of Aurangzeb failed. Aurangzeb even tried direct attack on central Maratha capital ‘Raigad fort' but Marathas successfully defended Raigad fort. Chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj fought 110 battles against mughals without losing any battle! For almost 9 years Aurangzeb and his army was traveling through Maratha territory without any gain. Aurangzeb healed his depression by conquering deccan shia sultanates of Bijapur (Vijayapura) and Golconda( Hyderabad) within 18 months. Mughal empire reached its territorial, economical and militrical height. After gaining treasury of these 2 sultanates and access to diamond mines of Golconda Aurangzeb attacked Maratha territory with full force but again he was repulsed by Marathas. Aurangzeb had now realised that it is impossible to defeat Sambhaji Maharaj in a war. He looked for treachery within Marathas. Unfortunately, Sambhaji Maharaj was captured by Mughals during secret meeting due to treachery of his own relative. Aurangzeb demanded Sambhaji Maharaj to handover Maratha Kingdom and to get converted in Islam. Sambhaji Maharaj refused. Angered by Sambhaji Maharajs reply Aurangzeb issued torture of Sambhaji Maharaj until he bows before his demands. Sambhaji Maharajs nails and hair were uprooted, his tongue was cut out, his eyes were gorged out,his fingers were cut everyday, his skin peeled off, his hands and legs were cut. For almost 40 days Sambhaji Maharaj witnessed torture but never bowed before Aurangzeb and not accepted Islam. He was beheaded but he preferred to die as a Hindu.
Aurangzeb praised fighting spirit of Sambhaji Maharaj. Aurangzeb now relaxed that his biggest hurdle Sambhaji Maharaj has been executed. He thought Maratha Empire was nothing but dead. But this was the biggest mistake of Aurangzeb. The way Aurangzeb treated and executed Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, it enraged Marathas. Marathas were united now like never ever before and took oath for revenge of Sambhaji Maharaj that they will never let Aurangzeb return alive to his capital Agra. Maratha forces started to attack Mughal territory now. Sambhaji Maharaj’s younger brother Rajaram now became Chhatrapati of Marathas.
It was advised by Maratha generals to Rajaram that he should travel to Ginji fort in present day Tamil Nadu to avoid full scale war against Mughals & to divert Mughal troops.Rajaram along with few thousand Maratha army travelled to Ginji fort. After hearing successful escape of Rajaram to Ginji, angered Aurangzeb and he dispatched a small mughal army to Ginji to capture Rajaram. Here in Maharashtra, 2 brave Maratha generals Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav continuously harassed and defeated Mughal army by guerilla warfare. Once Santaji and Dhanaji did single most daring attack on Mughal camp. Duo attacked tent in which Aurangzeb used to sleep. Luckily Aurangzeb was elsewhere but his bodyguards were killed . Not only that they cut golden apex of Aurangzebs tent to remind him this incident that how close he was near to death and teach him a lesson. Mughal historian Kafi khan has written that whenever Mughal horses used to refuse drink water, then they must have seen reflection of Santaji and Dhanaji on water. That's how Santaji and Dhanaji terrorised Mughals. Meanwhile in south, Rajaram successfully escaped from encirclemnt of Ginji fort by Mughals. For almost 8 years Ginji fort resisted against Mughal Army. Ginji fort fell to the Mughals thereafter. Rajaram returned to Maharashtra. That excited Marathas to attack mughal territory. Unfortunately Rajaram died just after few years. Moreover Maratha capital Raigad fort fell to the mughals due to treachery and widow & son of Sambhaji Maharaj, Rani Yesubai & young Shahu maharaj were captured by Mughals. Aurangzeb started bribing Maratha commanders and few Maratha commanders joined Mughals. Top Maratha general Santaji died. It was in this difficult times Marathas rose to power again under the leadership of Maharani Tarabai. Maharani Tarabai, widow of Rajaram put her son Shivaji II to the throne of Chatrapati and led Maratha campagining against Mughals. One woman stood against complete destruction of Indian civilisation. For almost 7 years Maharani Tarabai successfully repelled Mughals. Aurangzeb put his all power to destroy Marathas in the Deccan but he could win only handful of forts by bribing maratha commanders at the end of war, meanwhile mughal provinces in central India started falling one by one under Maratha counter-offensive. Marathas reached as far as Bhopal at the end of war and threatened Mughal capital Agra and Delhi. It was this time Aurangzeb realised that war has been lost.
Aurangzeb had now given up all hopes and planned a retreat to Burhanpur. Santaji attacked and defeated his rearguard but Aurangzeb was able to reach his destination. He died on 12 Feb 1707.
The Indologist Stanley Wolpert says that:
The conquest of the Deccan, to which, Aurangzeb devoted the last 26 years of his life, was in many ways a Pyrrhic victory, costing an estimated hundred thousand lives a year during its last decade of futile chess game warfare. The expense in gold and rupees can hardly be accurately estimated. Aurangzeb's encampment was like a moving capital – a city of tents 30 miles in circumference, with some 250 bazaars, with a 1⁄2 million camp followers, 50,000 camels and 30,000 elephants, all of whom had to be fed, stripped the Deccan of any and all of its surplus grain and wealth ... Not only famine but bubonic plague arose ... Even Aurangzeb, had ceased to understand the purpose of it all by the time he was nearing 90 ... "I came alone and I go as a stranger. I do not know who I am, nor what I have been doing," the dying old man confessed to his son, Azam, in February 1707.
Tomb of Aurangzeb, Khuldabad, Maharashtra
The Biggest success of Marathas was that Aurangzeb not died in Fergana( Uzbekistan) from where his ancestors attacked India, not in Kabul not in Lohore, Not in Delhi, Not in Agra but he died in Maharashtra. With his death 27 year war was over.
The Epic 27 Year War That Saved Hinduism
Mughal–Maratha Wars - WikipEmpire
Please do share. Let others know real freedom struggle.
Proposed statue of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Arabian sea, near Mumbai which will be world's tallest statue after statue if Unity. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Iy4r-wF4g
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