Page:Shivaji and His Times.djvu/204

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184
SHIVAJI.
[CH. VII.


Maharajah, "The Emperor has cast me off. Otherwise I intended to have begged the task of recovering Qandahar with my unaided resources. I fled (from Agra) in fear of my life. Mirza Rajah, my patron, is dead. If through your intercession I am pardoned, I shall send Shambhu to wait on the Prince and serve as a mansabdar at the head of my followers wherever ordered." (Dil. 69-70.)

Jaswant Singh and Prince Muazzam jumped at the offer and recommended Shiva to the Emperor (9th March 1668), who accepted the proposal, and thus a peace was made which lasted nearly two years. The Emperor recognised Shivaji's title of Rajah, but so far as we can judge did not restore to him any of his forts, except Chakan. For instance, Kalian- Bhiundy continued in the hands of the Mughals. For the next two years Shivaji lived at peace with the Mughal Government. The English factory letters at the close of 1668 and in 1669 describe him as "very quiet" and as "Aurangzibs vassal, (bound) to do whatsoever is commanded by the Prince." His relations with Bijapur also were pacific. "The country all about [Karwar] at present is in great tranquillity. Shivaji keeps still at Rajgarh, and though as yet there is no peace made between this king [Adil Shah] and him, yet both refrain from committing any acts of hostility against one another." [F. R. Surat Vol. 105, Karwar to Surat, 16 Sep., 1668.] Still later, on 17th July, 1669, the English traders at Hubli speak