Shivaji and Surgical Strike : A True Story

From Vishalgarh, Shivaji made to the fort of Rajgad, his capital. Along side Bijapur, the Mughals too were becoming a potent threat, so they needed to be dealt with too. Shivaji had escaped from Panhala and now it was 1663. He had used the intervening time to expand his territories, win more forts, make his army stronger and harass the enemy. But now Shaista Khan, the Mughal governor, with a very large army, was near Poona, and he needed to be tackled on priority. Once again, Shivaji was faced with a much larger force. He knew he could not take on the mighty enemy face-to-face, so he started to launch nightly sallies, in which a few of his troops would come out of the fort at night, attack a part of the garrison, and go back causing some harm to the enemy. The harm caused by these attacks was not massive, but it certainly had an adverse psychological impact, as the enemy soldiers rarely knew when they would be attacked. They felt the pangs of terror all the time. And then, Shivaji planned something dramatic to cause irreparable psychological damage. Until now, the nightly sallies had targeted the posts located mostly on the outskirts of the garrison; but this time, Shivaji planned to strike at the very centre.

You have heard about the surgical strike that India launched not very long ago in 2016, in which a few of the brave Indian soldiers entered Pakistani territory and destroyed the terrorist camps. Perhaps they had learnt this lesson from the exploits of Shivaji that he undertook in 1663.

On the night of 5 April, 1663, Shivaji marched with 700 of his soldiers. He left 500 of them just outside the enemy garrison, asking them to enter if they perceived a problem. With the remaining 200 soldiers, Shivaji headed for the camp in which Shaista Khan lived. Let us not forget that Shivaji had walked almost 40 kilometers to undertake this daring attack.

Walking by the camps of the Mughal commanders, Shivaji reached the Janana or the inside palace of Shaista Khan. They broke through a wall and entered one by one. Only ten of them entered led by Shivaji, and the remaining were posted outside to alert them of any untoward movement. Shivaji headed for the cabin in which Shaista Khan was sleeping.

About this time, the Mughal soldiers were alerted about the enemy presence in the palace, but the lights were dim and nothing could be seen clearly. Before Shaista Khan could be attacked by Shivaji, he jumped out of the window to save his life, but in this melee, he lost three fingers of his right hand. Shaista Khan's son was killed in this attack.

Having caused a massive upheaval in the enemy camp, Shivaji returned to his base safely. He had struck terror in the enemy's heart. Striking at the very centre of the enemy garrison was no child's play. It terrified Shaista Khan so profoundly that he shifted his base from Poona to Ahmednagar. He was now too frightened to undertake any attack against the Marathas.