THE RISE AND FALL OF THE MUGHAL EMPIREDeccan, Aurangzeb had constructed a rather top-heavy system there. In the
north, the ratio of ranks of 2,000 and above to those of 5,000 and above
was 8:1; in the Deccan it was 3:1. This was a complete perversion of the
system. Moreover, the financial base of this top-heavy structure was
unsound. The newly conquered areas of the Deccan yielded
proportionately much less revenue than the fertile plains of the north. The
expansion of the elite was therefore not accompanied by an increase in
resources.
In this way the measures adopted in the south had repercussions also in
the north. The large distances made the governance of the overexpanded
empire more and more difficult. Aurangzeb therefore once again emulated
Muhammad Tughluq: he shifted his capital to Aurangabad in the northern
Deccan, just a few miles away from Tughluq’s Daulatabad. He was
confident that his authority would not be challenged in the north and
remained in the south in order to control his most formidable adversaries,
the Marathas.
At the time when Aurangzeb turned his attention to the south the
Marathas had found a leader who was comparable to Baber in terms of
courage and presence of mind: Shivaji. The swift horseman and archer
Baber would have been a better match for Shivaji than Aurangzeb with his
huge, cumbersome army. Since the days of Baber the Mughal army had
greatly changed its character. It consisted of thousands of elephants, awe-
inspiring numbers of guns, large contingents of cavalry, and a huge crowd
of hangers-on. Logistics were a great problem for such an army, whose
supply lines could easily be cut by means of guerrilla warfare and surprise
attacks of light cavalry units. Shivaji was a past master in these guerrilla
tactics and swift cavalry warfare; he had also built a series of fortified
strongholds on the table mountains of the western Deccan whose steep
slopes were ideally suited for this purpose. Ensconced in these strongholds
he could make his forays and escape with impunity. Even when he sacked
Surat, the main port of the Mughal empire, he could thus still get away
with rich spoils.
Shivaji’s father, Shahji Bhonsle, had served many masters as a military
officer. He began his career in the service of the sultan of Ahmadnagar,
served the Mughals for some time, returned to Ahmadnagar and even ended
up in the service of Bijapur. He held a fief at Pune for most of this time, and
it was here that Shivaji grew up. Pune was halfway between Ahmadnagar
(which had been captured by Shah Jahan) and Bijapur (which was captured
by Aurangzeb only after Shivaji’s death). The forces of the enemies
neutralised each other in this border zone and this is why Shivaji could
establish his own base here and challenge the Great Mughal and the sultan.
Aurangzeb took note of Shivaji only after the sacking of Surat in 1664,
and sent a large army to subdue him. Faced with the superpower Shivaji
had to accept Aurangzeb’s conditions. He handed over several of his