and welcome Shivaji on the way. But the Maratha chief very gracefully declined the offered honour, saying, "You are my elder brother. You should not come forward to receive a junior like me." So, the Sultan remained at Haidarabad, but his ministers Madanna and Akanna with many of the highest citizens met Shivaji several miles before the capital
and conducted him into it.
§5. Shivaji' s grand entry into Haidarabad.
The city of Haidarabad had been gaily decorated to welcome the great friend and protector of her king. "The streets and lanes on all sides were coloured with a thin layer of kunktim powder and saffron.Maypoles and triumphal arches were erected and flags hung at intervals throughout the city. The citizens in their hundreds of thousands lined the roads" to gaze on the scene, while the ladies crowded on the balconies to bless the visitor.
The guests responded to the city's civility. The Maratha army, for once, abandoned its rude simplicity and magnificently attired itself. Shiva had distributed among his captains and select soldiers strings of pearls (torah) for their helmets, gold bracelets, bright new armour, and rich accoutrements embroidered with gold, "and made the whole army look splendid." His generals in their equipment and trappings rivalled the grandeur of hereditary nobles.
