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34 to serve him, sent him back to Shahji with his personal effects. Thus Supa was annexed. (Sabh. 8, Chit. 32, Dig. 119, T. S. 12a & b.) The fort of Chakan, guarding the road to Puna in the north, had been entrusted by his father to Firangji Narsala. This officer offered obedience to Shivaji and was confirmed in his post. (Chit. 32; T. S. 126; Dig 120.) The petty officers of the thanahs of Baramati and Indapur on the eastern margin of the jagir, peacefully submitted to Shiva's authority. The fort of Kondana, 11 miles south-west of Puna, was next secured by bribing its Adil-Shahi governor. (Sabh. 9.)

The strong fortress of Purandar, 18 miles s. s. e. of Puna, was held for Bijapur by an old Brahman named Nilo Nilkanth Nayak, whose family had been in hereditary charge of it and its adjacent lands ever since the days of the Ahmadnagar dynasty. Nilo was a stern grasping man who denied his younger brothers, Pilaji and Shankaraji, any share of his power or emolument. They resented this exclusion from their birth-right and appealed to Shivaji to arbitrate between them. He was admitted into the fort at the Feast of Lamps (November) as a guest. On the third day of his stay, the two younger brothers surprised and fettered Nilo and brought him before Shiva, who imprisoned all the three and took possession of the fort for himself! The Nayak's retainers, "all faithless and disorderly men," were expelled and a Mavle garrison was placed there by Shivaji. According to