§11. Capture of Ponda and annexation of Kanara coast, 1675.
In March 1675 he got together an army of 15,000 cavalry, 14,000 infantry and 10,000 pioneers with pickaxes, crow-bars and hatchets, etc. Arriving at Rajapur (22nd March), he spent three days there, ordering forty small ships to go to Vingurla with all speed and there wait for fresh commands. Next he marched to his town of Kudal, and early in April laid siege to Ponda, the most important Bijapuri fort near Goa. While he was prosecuting the siege, another division of his army plundered Atgiri in Adil- Shahi territory and two other large cities near Haidarabad, carrying away "a great deal of riches, besides many rich persons held to ransom."
He began the siege of Ponda on 9th April 1675 with 2,000 horse and 7,000 foot, and made arrangements for sitting down before the fort even during the coming rainy season in order to starve the garrison into surrender. Muhammad Khan had only four months' provisions within the walls; there was no hope of relief from Bijapur or even from the Portuguese who now trembled for the safety of Goa and appeased Shivaji by promising neutrality. Rustam-i- Zaman had too little money or men to attempt the raising of the siege. But Muhammad Khan made a heroic defence, unaided and against overwhelming odds.
Shivaji ran four mines under the walls, but they were all countermined, with a heavy loss of men
