The pinnacles of Maratha attack

The first few months of the year 1689 saw the Marathas pass through their toughest time. Chhatrapati Sambhaji, who had ably led them against the Mughals for almost a decade, had been captured and cruelly put to death. The capital fort — Raigad — had been besieged by a Mughal army of over fifteen thousand, led by Zulfiqar Khan. Forts were falling like ninepins to the Mughals. It seemed all was lost for the Marathas. But they found a way out, thanks to the efforts of Yesaji Kank and Ramchandrapant Amatya. The new king — Rajaram — escaped from Raigad in disguise and made his way to Panhala. It was the start of an escape that would eventually see him travel all the way to Gingee fort in faraway Tamil Nadu.

Rajaram had left Ramchandrapant Amatya and Shankaraji Pant Sachiv to continue battling the Mughals in the Sahyadris. Immediately under them were Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav — providing a combination of diplomacy, planning and military skill that was exemplary and one of the main reasons that the Marathas could fight and win against the Mughals for the next two decades.

Although the escape of Rajaram had somewhat solved the immediate problem — Ramchandrapant knew they still had a colossal task ahead of them. Mughal armies were still four times larger than theirs and now had the advantage of having many forts in their hands. But the killing of Chhatrapati Sambhaji had angered the Marathas. The war would continue with renewed vigour.

Chhatrapati Sambhaji’s death would be avenged. Santaji Ghorpade decided to hit the very place on which the whole war hinged. The brave Maratha warrior planned an attack on Aurangzeb himself. It was a preposterous plan. Failure meant certain death. But hadn’t Chhatrapati Shivaji attacked Shaista Khan and emerged alive? At the time, Rajaram was still at Pratapgad and Santaji Ghorpade promised to bring him the Mughal emperor’s severed head.

Aurangzeb had pitched camp in an area between Tulapur and Koregaon and intended to go to Chakan from there. Santaji Ghorpade, along with Bahirji Ghorpade and Vithoji Chavan, set off to attack the camp. Their spies had always been their asset — and they had given minute information of Aurangzeb’s camp and tent. Right down to the detail of the colour of the flags on his tent. They knew the exact size of his tent and the timings of the guards keeping a watch over it. The tent had four sections, of which the part known as the ‘Daulatkhana’ was Aurangzeb’s personal quarters.

The tent was marked out by a wooden palisade which was roughly pink in colour. On the palisade flew red-brown flags. His spies also brought information that many Maratha soldiers had joined the Mughals at Koregaon and Marathi-speaking soldiers was not an odd sight! With all this minute information in hand, Santaji reached Koregaon in the middle of the night and gained access into the camp by convincing the guards that they were among the Maratha soldiers recruited by Aurangzeb. In the dead of the night, with the rains falling incessantly, they made their way to the royal tent, entered it and slaughtered anyone who came in their path. Much to Santaji’s dismay, the Mughal emperor was nowhere to be found. By sheer luck, he was not in his tent that night. But Santaji Ghorpade cut away the tent ropes with his sword and caused the whole structure to come crashing down.

Then he cut away the golden spires of the tent and carried them away. But the Mughals had by now found out that they had been tricked. Santaji Ghorpade and his two thousand odd soldiers fought tooth and nail and hastily made their way out. Hundreds died as a result, but Santaji himself, thankfully, remained safe. He then galloped away from Koregaon and made his way to Sinhagad near Pune. Here, he was warmly welcomed by Sidhoji Gujar, who was guarding the fort at the time. Sidhoji Gujar’s father was the famous Prataprao Gujar. One would presume Santaji must have entered the fort to rest for the night and perhaps spend a few days there. But Santaji Ghorpade chose to stay at the bottom of the hill, and just a day later, galloped off again — this time towards Raigad. The Mughals, believing that Santaji would not trouble them for a few days after the daring attack at Koregaon, were caught completely unawares. Zulfiqar Khan’s siege was ferociously attacked and thousands of Mughal soldiers were slaughtered. Then he retreated to Kolhapur and onto the fort of Panhala.

There the brave warrior presented Rajaram the spoils of his short but daring campaign — the golden spires of Aurangzeb’s tent. In return, Santaji Ghorpade received the title of ‘Mamlakatmadar’ while Bahirji Ghorpade was bestowed with the title of ‘Hindurao’. Vithoji Chavan was given the title of ‘Himmatbahadur’. And all over the Sahyadris, this attack on Aurangzeb caused much jubilation.

The writer is the author of Brahmaputra — Story of Lachit Barphukan and Sahyadris to Hindukush — Maratha Conquest of Lahore and Attock