Page:Shivaji and His Times.djvu/333

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1678]
NAVAL WAR WITH SIDDIS.
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to Shiva, carrying his family and personal retainers with himself, the most notably among them being his gallant nephew Siddi Misri.

Qasim left Bombay with the fleet in November; up to March next he cruised of! the Konkan coast, making frequent landings and kidnapping the people, all of whom (including the Brahman prisoners) he forced to do impure menial services. In April 1678 he returned to Bombay to rest during the monsoons. Shivaji, wishing to avenge the degradation of Brahmans, sent his admirals Daulat Khan and Daria Sarang with 4,000 men to Panvel, a town opposite Bombay (July), with orders to cross the creek and burn the Siddi fleet then anchored at Mazagon in Bombay island. But insufficiency of boats and the violence of the monsoon prevented the army from crossing, and Daulat Khan, after vainly pressing the Portuguese to allow him a passage through their territory, retired to Raigarh. Siddi Qasim sent his boats and plundered the Alibagh coast.

In October 1678, Daulat Khan was sent with a large army and a mightier train of artillery than before to renew the bombardment of Janjira; but Siddi Qasim could not pay his men for want of remittance from Surat, and had to continue inactive in Bombay harbour.

Shivaji 's navy had by this time been increased to 20 two-masted ghurabs and 40 gallivats. "None of his harbours admitted ships of a great size, such as were used at Surat, or by the Europeans. The