Messengers were sent to hurry up Shiva, who was waiting below the fort. He advanced slowly, then halted on seeing Sayyid Banda, and sent to demand that the man should be removed from the tent. This was done, and at last Shivaji entered the pavilion. On each side four men were present, — the principal, two armed retainers and an envoy. But Shiva was seemingly unarmed,*[1] like a rebel who had come to surrender, while the Khan had his sword at his side.
The attendants stood below. Shiva mounted the raised platform and bowed to Afzal. The Khan rose from his seat, advanced a few steps, and opened his arms to receive Shiva in his embrace. The short slim Maratha only came up to the shoulders of his opponent. Suddenly Afzal tightened his clasp, and held Shiva's neck in his left arm with an iron grip, while with his right hand he drew his long straight-bladed dagger and struck at the side of Shiva. The hidden armour rendered the blow harmless. Shiva groaned in agony as he felt himself being strangled. But in a moment he recovered from the surprise, passed his left arm round the Khan's waist and tore his bowels open with a blow of the steel claws. Then with the right hand he drove the bichwa into
- ↑ * Khafi Khan, ii. 117, states that both Afzal and Shivaji came to the interview unarmed. But kamar wa karda. 'with no sword girt on the waist,' was the customary attitude of the defeated party, so often described in Persian histories.
