This plan becomes visible in Sambhajiraje’s letter to Amer’s (Jaipur) King, Raja Ramsingh:
“That leader of the Yavanas (Aurangzeb) has begun to feel presently, that us Hindus have become unprincipled. We do not have any pride left for our own religion. We cannot tolerate this behaviour by the Badshah anymore. We are also Kshatriyas. We will not accept anything that brings disgrace onto our religion. The Vedas, Shrutis, Smritis etc. have appointed the duties that pertain to religion and castes. We will not tolerate their insults. We cannot leave our Dharma of protecting our subjects as their king. We are ready to bet our wealth, our country, our forts, in summary everything that belongs to us to fight these cruel Yavanas. With this firm resolve, we have provided refuge in our country to Akbar and Durgadas Rathod. We have killed many of the Commanders of the Badshah, many of them have been imprisoned, and many of them have been let off on payment of a ransom or sometimes even out of pity. Some of them paid bribes and got themselves released. Thus, these commanders of the Badshah have proven to be useless. The time is near when it will be possible to capture and imprison that demon Aurangzeb himself. Then it will be possible to make an arrangement wherein we would be able to re-establish our deities and carry out the usual religious rituals without any obstructions. Rest assured, that we have resolved to achieve all this very soon.
“But in your view, we are young and inexperienced. We have heard many stories of your religious pride and bravery. You are yourself enjoying the prosperity of the seven elements of kingship. If you display courage and adventurous spirit presently, and help us in the task to destroy the power of Yavanas, then what is impossible for us? When we think of this, we are surprised how you have been keeping quiet pushing aside the pride about your religion.
“Here we are thinking to send Akbar and Durgadas to Gujarat. In such a situation, request you to help as much as possible, in what is necessary, with sound courage. The King of the Pathans (Iran’s) Shah Abbas has written that he will help Akbar; but taking help from other Yavanas in this regard and allowing them to take the credit for success, somehow feels incorrect to me. Your father (Raja Jaisingh) helped this demon become Delhi’s ruler and earned credit, didn’t he? Similarly, you should also earn success by helping Akbar. If Akbar gets the throne through help extended by other Yavanas, then they will gain importance. Do not let this happen. If the two of us come together and help Akbar ascend the throne, it will be a task of protecting our religion, as well as through this achievement, Maharaja Jaisingh’s dynasty will shine in its glory.”
This letter displays Sambhajiraje’s pride towards his own religion, his resolve to bet his everything for his country and religion, and his ambition to punish Badshah Aurangzeb himself by imprisoning him first. Similarly, it also declares his grand plan to secure help from Rajputs and help Akbar ascend the throne of Delhi. Even when Iran’s Badshah Shah Abbas was ready to help in this task, a wise political thought of the powers in our country not allowing any foreign power to intervene in our country’s politics and relying on internal strength to carry out the whole plan, also gets expressed.
Since the Badshah’s forces were chasing him, without waiting for a response, the Shehzada straightaway came to Maharashtra through Khandesh and Baglan regions. A sardar named Khan Jahan was the Badshah’s Subedar in Deccan. The moment he got the news report about the Shehzada, he came forth from Aurangabad to block his route. Upon this, the Faujdar (military official) at Baglan informed him, that Akbar has gone towards Nasik by taking the western route. Khan Jahan quickly proceeded to Nasik, where he came to know that just the previous day, Akbar had left taking the Trimbak Ghat into Konkan. The moment he entered the Marathi kingdom, Sambhajiraje’s officials met him. He arranged for a Kembli (local resident’s) house to be vacated and given to Akbar for his residence, on the banks of the Amba river, near Nagothane, twenty-five miles north of Raigad. One can only imagine what the Shehzada, accustomed of living in huge and affluent buildings in Delhi and Agra, would have felt while living in that poor Konkan hutment. The mudbrick walls were covered using white curtains, and the floor treated with cow-dung was covered using cotton mats. There was hardly any retinue with him. Akbar had arrived with four hundred cavalrymen, some infantrymen, fifty load-bearing camels, on 9 August 1681, right at the beginning of the monsoon season, and had started enjoying Sambhajiraje’s hospitality. This location later came to be known by the name Patshahpur. Sambhajiraje had kept his own three hundred infantry soldiers for the Shehzada’s security.
To be continued…
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