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56 Aurangzibs policy of "keeping the path of correspondence with him open." An envoy from Shiva approached Aurangzib directly at Aurangabad and reported his demands. The Prince replied in "reassuring and friendly terms, so as to make him more devoted to the imperial cause than before." (Adab. 144b, 145b.) This correspondence seems to have passed in December 1656 or the next month, though the letter to Multafat Khan may have been written as early as the preceding August.

Shivaji had evidently demanded that the Mughal Government should take him under its protection and legalise his usurpations of Bijapur territory. The vague promises of favour and protection made by the Prince could not satisfy him. Even a less astute man than he must have known that such promises would amount to nothing in practice when the need of the imperialists would be over. So, when the war broke out, Bijapur made a higher bid and induced Shivaji to make a diversion by raiding the south-western corner of Mughal Deccan, while Aurangzib' s forces were concentrated at the siege of Bidar, beyond his south-eastern frontier. Two Maratha leaders, Minaji Bhonsla at the head of 3,000 horse, and Kashi, crossed the Bhima and plundered the Mughal villages in the Chamargunda and Raisin subdivisions respectively, late in March 1657. They carried devastation and alarm to the very-gates of