Now Shivaji was taking over Dadoji’s responsibilities more and more gradually. Dadoji was getting older and older. Shivaji was doing the entire planning and executing them. It was decided by Shivaji and his young commanders to capture the nearby forts of the Muslim empires. But the task was not easy. Muslim empires were very strong and firmly entrenched in forts. White foreigners from the west were also landing in India. They were also grabbing lands and creating their own areas of influence. They were of English, French, Dutch and Portuguese origin.
So far, the empires were largely ignoring the activities of Shivaji. For them he was a small problem for which thy needed not lose their sleep. They guessed that they would be able to squish him whenever they liked. This helped Shivaji organise his Swarajya campaign unhindered. And his father being a valued commander of the one the important Muslim empires also provided psychological protection to Shivaji.
Shivaji prepared his task force of young warriors to raid the nearby Toran fort of Bijapur Empire. That fort was chosen because Shivaji had reliable information that it was a neglected fort. Bijapur didn’t value it much. Only a few disinterested guards were stationed there. Shivaji’s young brigade raided the fort with great speed and enthusiasm. For the young soldiers it was their first manly act. The guards didn’t put up any fight. They meekly surrendered.
It was realised that the fort was a crumbling structure which required immediate repairs. The repair work was taken up without any delay.
For the repairs when a wall was pulled down it revealed a great treasure hidden beneath it. It was a fortune and it changed the fortunes of young Shivaji who was badly in need of finances to push through his grand plans. The treasure was big enough to launch the Swarajya.
Rajgarh
A little flight away from Toran, there was a half built fort on a nearby hill. With the treasure found at Toran Shivaji got it completed and named it Rajgarh fort. The fort was abandoned by some empire. Rajgarh played very vital role in Shivaji’s later battles. From this fort another fort named Kanwarigarh was won. It was under a hostile Deshmukh and was easily won without much bloodshed. Shivaji’s warrior bands captured a series of other nearby forts. The conquered forts were put under very capable commanders who had contingents of soldiers to defend their charges. In quick time a long series of forts were flying the saffron flags of Swarajya. It was a great start for the dream of Shivaji.
The news alarmed the Muslim empires. They could not afford to ignore Shivaji any more because he was growing bigger and bigger with each day. The enigma for them was how a teenager without any resources could do so much damage and execute his daring plans. The biggest sufferer was Bijapur Empire. But emperor Shah Adil still believed it to be practical pranks of a naughty boy of one of his highly valued employee, Shahaji. But soon he was to reverse his opinion.
Bijapur Empire had a fort at Sirval. A small force was stationed there to assist Amin, the tax collector of the region and his staff. The Amin’s job was to collect taxes from Deshmukhs and send the collections to Bijapur. Shivaji’s men started way- laying the agents of the Amin while they would be carrying tax collections to the Sirval fort. No money was allowed to reach the fort. All the looted collections became the treasury of the Swarajya. The Amin was a worried man.
He wrote letters to Bijapur court complaining against Shivaji and his men. The letters carried the details of the plunder of tax by Swarajya people. The loss of money was a serious matter. Bijapur would no more afford to ignore the acts of Shivaji. Letters were issued to all Deshmukhs warning them against playing in the hands of Shivaji. They were ordered to report to the Amin at once and deposit with him all the due taxes otherwise they would face dire consequences including death sentence for treason. But by now Shivaji had become a force strong enough to deal with any local situation. He was a respected figure and he had won the confidence of the people and Deshmukhs. Shivaji’s bands of loyal and dedicated soldiers further boosted the confidence of the people. Almost all Deshmukhs stood by Shivaji and ignored the warnings of Bijapur court.
Meanwhile, a new development took place. The Deshmukh of Jawli, Daulat Rao More passed away. He died childless. His relatives started fighting for the throne. It developed into an ugly succession war. The widow of the Deshmukh wrote a letter to Shivaji requesting him to take over Jawli and do justice to her as he deemed fit. Shivaji obliged. He forcibly took control of the situation. The adopted son of the widow, Yashwantrao was declared the Deshmukh of Jawli. In return the widow promised that Jawli would be a reliable support pillar of Swarajya.
Some bigwigs of Jawli didn’t like it. They ran to Bijapur court to complain against Shivaji. In the meantime, Shivaji’s mentor, Dada Kond Dev passed away. It was a big blow to Shivaji. He felt like an emotional orphan. No one would fill the void left by him in Shiva’s life. Now all the responsibilities of Swarajya fell on the shoulders of young Shivaji.
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