The politics of Javali

Javali Introductory

In the year 1646, Shiva Raya had indirectly supported the adopted son of the Chandrarao More family of Javali. So it was not wrong to expect Navin Chandra Rao to be friendly with him. A few days before the year 1649, Chandrarao's cousin Hanmantrao took Jor Khore. This part belonged to Afzal Khan's Y Pargana.

Afzal Khan's move to take over from Hanmantrao did not go ahead. After this, due to the movements of the More family, the subjects of Shiva Raya's territory began to suffer. As Moray was next to him, he had to make some arrangements.

Shivaraya had written to Chandrarao that he should not use the title Raje and should keep faith with Shivarayan. This mention is found in More Bakhri. Chandra Rao's reply to this threatened the relationship with Shivarayan. So it is clear that Shiv Rai's attack on Jawali was mainly for politics.

Attack on Jawali

It is said that Shiva Raya had an army of ten thousand but this is probably an exaggeration. His plan was to attack Javali from two sides simultaneously. He sent a group to the Ghat of Weeping. She was intercepted by Chandra Rao's men. Taking another large group, the king himself went from the plateau of Mahabaleshwar to Javali through Nisani Ghat.

On January 15, 1656, Javali came to Shiva Raya and the king stayed there till March 30. Chandrarao More escaped from Jawli and went to Rairi i.e. Raigad. There must have been some resistance in Jawli which forced Shivaraya to stay there till March 30. While Raje was there, his men must have besieged Rairi as well.

After leaving Jawli, Shivaji Raje reached Rairi on 6 April 1656. Immediately thereafter, Chandra Rao laid down his arms and was imprisoned along with his two sons, Krishnaji and Baji. Chandra Rao tried to escape from captivity and his letter to Ghorpade was intercepted by Shiva Raya. Chandrarao and Krishnaji were beheaded and probably his second son Baji escaped. This mention is found in a letter written by Mirza Raje Jaisingh to Aurangzeb in 1665.

An overview of the Javali campaign

It appears that Shivarai took a very strategic decision to take Jawli. After taking Jawli, they got a direct route to Konkan. He gained a large territory that suited his small army and swift movements and was hostile to larger rivals like the Adil Shahi and the Mughals. He immediately started building Pratapgad on Bhorpya mountain. After just three years, Raje Afzal was to be killed at the same place.

After conquering Javali, Surya Rao Survya of Prabhavali immediately accepted Shiva Raya's rule in Konkan. Due to this, Shiva Raya's territory increased even more. Janjirekar Siddi also now became a neighbor of Shiva Raya. Rairi was also conquered by Shivaraya after which Raigad became the capital of the Maratha empire. This move gave the king a much larger territory than Pune and its surrounding areas. After this move, the king started getting respect from his neighbors too.

Along with Rairi and Pratapagad from Javali, they got the Vasota fort which is still hidden in a very dense and terrible forest. Most importantly, Shivaraya got a big beach for the first time. So it was imperative for him to pay attention to the armour. Because of all these things, winning Jawli was a big step for him. The small Jahgiri of the king got the appearance of a small kingdom due to this.

Importance of Javali campaign

In the year 1656 Mughals invaded Qutb Shahi. Adil Shahi also kept his army on the Qutb Shahi border to prevent this storm from entering their territory. This area was far away from Jawli. So Mughals or Adil Shahi had no time to pay attention to the happenings in Java. Also Shivraya was aware of the incidents in More and Adilshahi. Therefore, if the time had come, the king could have advanced the reason that his attack on Javali was done only for Adilshahi.

It cannot be said with certainty that Shiva Raya attacked Javali with all these factors in mind but certainly the time was right. Before launching his attack on Javali, Shiva Raya had asked Sambhaji Kavji to march to the Jor valley towards Hanmantrao. Therefore, he had already taken care that Shiva Raya would not be attacked from there. From this we can see Shivaraya's skill in making precise plans and executing them.

Shivaji wins Jawli

The conquest of Jawli in 1656 was a very important milestone for Shiva Raya. So their communication in Konkan became free and Siddi of Janjira became their neighbor now. Javali gave them a strategic position that would frighten his enemies. The dense forest and the vast uninhabited forest were well known. He also got strong forts like Pratapgad and Raigad from Jawli. Along with that some other forts like Chandragad, Kamalgad also came to his share.