Treaty of Purandar (1665) | Brief Information
Treaty is an agreement or a pact or a deal which is done formally between states or countries. This can be done both in the national level as well as in the international too. The effect of a treaty depends on the rules which have been included in the treaty. There are treaty contracts and law making treaties.
The law making treaties make rules for general use. These rules are made so that the loopholes which exist due to various issues can be removed. These types of treaties have been on an increase. These treaties help in many activities. While the treaty contracts are for states in order to discuss and resolve the matters present among the states. These treaties may affect them in the future.
When a treaty is made between two states or organizations or among countries, they all should give their consent to it. Only then it will become an agreement. Maximum times treaties are in a written format. They are very rarely in an unwritten format.
A treaty or an agreement making is a four way process. First, the needs and goals are identified. Then the states, organizations or bodies, countries among which a treaty is being made, they negotiate on the needs and goal. After this they adapt what is needed and those are incorporated. Then the treaty is implemented, modified and amended. After the treaty has been put into force, the parties are bound by it.
Some of the important treaties in the history of India are: Treaty of Asurar Ali (1639), Treaty of Purandar (1665, 1775), Treaty of Allahabad (1765), Treaty of Lahore (1846), Treaty of Amritsar (1846) etc.
The five most important treaties in the world are: Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), The Peace of Westphalia (1648), The Treaty of Paris (1783), The Congress of Vienna (1814-15) and The Treaty of Versailles (1919).
History of the Treaty of Purandar (1665)
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was a powerful ruler. He was underestimated by Shashta Khan. But Rajput ruler Raja Jai Singh did not do this mistake of underestimating Shivaji. He planned to make a short campaign against Shivaji. His plan worked out because this short campaign turned out to be properly executed and conceived.
He wanted to make Shivaji isolate. His wish became successful. The officers of Vijapur, chiefs Jawhar and Ramnagar, all of them rushed gathered at Vijapur. While, the Mughals were joined by Siddis of Janjira.
After Jai Singh arrived in Poona, he marched to the Purandar fort. Ihtishan Khan and Qutub Khan were given as the incharge of Poona. They got an army of four thousand horses. In the year 1665 on March 14th Jai Singh left from Poona and then we went to Saswad.
Meanwhile, Diler Khan with his troops and strong weapons were already ahead. The Mughals were able to set up for themselves between the various forts of Rudramal and Purandar. The Marathas were very strong but their attacks were not enough to defeat the Mughals. It was a tough fight between the Marathas and the Mughals. On March 30th 1665, the blockade of Purandar started.
Meanwhile at the same time Paranda had been raided by Netaji Palkar. They suddenly attacked over the place. They made attacks even at night without wasting any time. They had passes which were not accessible. They blocked the roads and set the jungles on fire.
Due to this the Islamic army’s condition became difficult. The army had their own animals. But most of them could not bear the attacks and they died. In order to answer to this attack Jai Singh appointed Daud Khan as the governor of Khandesh. He sent around seven thousand cavalry force with Daud Khan. After Daud Khan got his forces, they attacked the villages. The Mughals captured men, women, cattle and set fires.
This attack on Purandar has been considered as been considered as a memorable one in the Indian history. The Marathas came again from the fort to attack on the Mughals. This time it was just hand to hand fights. During one of these fights Murar Baji gave his life.
He was a fearless and courageous Maratha commandant of Purandar. But in the Maratha history he was an everlasting person. Very soon even Rudramal was captured by the Mughals. They moved their trenches towards the fort’s north-east.
The five towers of the forts were taken over by the Mughals. While the Marathas took over the fort’s inner walls. Shivaji felt towards the end of May 1665 that the war was not ending and only causing harm and ruining the country. He did not want his men to suffer anymore.
So, he thought to end the war by cooperating with Jai Singh. He met Jai Singh and gave his collaboration for the Mughal- Vijapur conflict. But Jai Singh did not agree to this collaboration. Instead he wanted the Mughals to surrender to them completely.
Shivaji tried his level best so that he could influence Jai Singh to go towards Vijapur. He did this so that he could get his moderate terms. Jai Singh did not agree to this too. After a very long time Vijapur agreed to join hands with Shivaji.
The Agreement or Treaty
The two armies finally agreed to cooperate and they made their terms. The Mughal Empire would get twenty three forts of Shivaji both large and small. The revenue for this was around sixteen lakh rupees or four lakh hons. While Shivaji would get only twelve forts.
This included Rajgad as well. If Shivaji was not loyal to the Mughal Empire ad he went against the conditions of service then he had to pay the revenue of around four lakh rupees which was four lakh hons. His son Sambhaji would become the Mansabdar and he would get the rank of 5000.
Mansab requested to let off Shivaji. But that would be allowed only if the served for the Mughals in any of their Deccan wars against Vijapur. Shivaji wanted to have Talkonkan which was a territory of Vijapur and some mahals from Balaghat that generated almost five lakh hons under his command. He even agreed to pay forty lakh hons to the emperor for this.
The Mughals took away many forts. Some of them were very strong forts which included Lohagad, Purandar, Rohida, Visapur, Kondana and Mahuli. Shivaji got only Rajgad and Torna. These two forts were of deemed importance. The Mughals took over Kalyan-Bhiwandi coastal belt and plains of Poona.
They also made the Siddis work for them and thus extended their power. Shivaji had to bear a lot of humiliation. But it was his greatness that he bore all of them with strength. He had a lot of patience. He wanted to survive and he did this by fighting successfully.
Capturing over places
Jai Singh gave Shivaji the task to attack the Vijapur kingdom from the west and take over Panhala. In order to complete his task, Shivaji took leave from Jai Singh in the year 1666. Jai Singh gave this task of Panhala to Shivaji because he came to know that Diler Khan wanted to kill Shivaji many times. But he was never bothered by whatever Diler Khan spoke. Shivaji reached Panhala on 16th June.
After he reached there he started to lead the attack. But Netaji Palkar who was his general could not reach there on time. But the attack was not successful and Shivaji lost almost thousand of his men. Shivaji was very angry with Netaji Palkar because he did not reach on time.
So, he removed him from his post. As Netaji was removed from his post he left the Maratha forces and then joined Vijapur and then Mughals. He offered them bigger Mansab. This act of Netaji showed that no one, not even his nearest officers understood the condition of Shivaji and through what struggle he was going through.
The campaign did not end properly for Jai Singh as he did not have enough weapons. It turned out to be a disastrous one. He was afraid that Shivaji would join hands with Vijapur in order to get back all his forts and territories. This is why he suggested Aurangzeb to call Shivaji to the court.
He wrote to a letter to Aurangzeb in which it was written that they should send Shivaji to northern India so that they could win his heart and he could get more people for him. Jai Singh tried his level best so that Shivaji went to Agra and he would get territorial benefits. This is why Shivaji had to go the court to meet Aurangzeb. He had no other choice.
