Through his fearless and brazen ways, Shivaji metamorphosed from a small time warlord into a powerful master of large swathes of territory, which stretched a couple of hundred kilometres, and an army of some 7,000 horses and a large infantry. Aurangzeb, despite the might of the Mughal empire, had never been able to subdue Shivaji. Having a common enemy in Aurangzeb, Shivaji and Adil Shah from Bijapur decided to enter into a pact of mutual convenience though Adil Shah had to publicly keep up the pretence of campaigning against Shivaji in concert with Shaista Khan, Aurangzeb’s uncle.
Aurangzeb had appointed Khan as the Deccan’s governor to subdue Shivaji and the recalcitrant Marathas who had been resisting Mughal domination, and to mercilessly quell the Maratha menace. Shivaji’s new stature placed him in a perilous situation because he stood in the way of the southward expansion of the Mughal juggernaut. Moreover, Shivaji’s habit of pillaging the Mughal Deccan had earned Aurangzeb’s wrath .
In 1660, Khan arrived in Aurangabad and as he advanced towards the Maratha country with a formidable force, the Marathas retreated. The Marathas were on the run and Shivaji seemed to have lost the initiative. He now had to somehow reclaim his honour and ensure that the Maratha dream was kept alive. He had to act fast and do something brazen and spectacular. Typical of Shivaji, he decided to lead a commando strike and assassinate the imperial commander in his camp itself.
The circumstances were favourable since the Mughal army had camped in Pune, a town where Shivaji had spent his youth and Khan had taken up residence in Shivaji’s old home. Shivaji was at Sinhgarh, some 20 kilometres south of Pune. Khan was well aware that Shivaji was lurking in the vicinity and owing to Pune not being a walled town, he had taken elaborate precautions to protect his camp. He had mandated that no person, especially no Maratha was allowed to enter the city or the lines of the army without a pass and no Maratha horseman was taken into service. Despite all the precautions, the sly mountain rat managed to burrow into the Mughal camp.
Shivaji’s audacious raid was planned with meticulous care. His spies had provided him with detailed information about the Mughal presence in Pune and he had picked the day of the raid with care — April 15, 1663 — which was the anniversary of Aurangzeb’s accession to the throne during the month of Ramadan. Being the Muslim month of fasting, Shivaji was aware that vigil at the camp would be slack because the Muslim soldiers would be exhausted after the day-long fast and drowsy after the feast at night. He decided to strike at midnight because the band at the camp would be, as was customary during the anniversary celebrations, playing music at midnight, which would help mask the sound of the raid.
A party of Maratha infantrymen in the Mughal service who had been won over by Shivaji’s spies had taken help from the Kotwal to admit into the city some 200 Marathas whom they claimed were part of a marriage party. A boy dressed as a bridegroom, escorted by Marathas with drums and music, entered the town early in the evening. Another contingent of Marathas entered the town as though they were prisoners taken at one of the Mughal outposts. One of the infiltrators was Shivaji himself.
At midnight Shivaji and a squad of his men sneaked into Khan’s residence, a house he was intimately familiar with. He led the men into the cook-house next to the womens’ apartments where after quietly killing the servants who were sleeping or at work there, they opened a passage into the harem by knocking down a lightly bricked up window. Another group of raiders went into the band room and informed them that Khan’s instructions were to play the music louder while another group went into the guard room and slaughtered all those there.
When a servant, awakened by the sounds of pickaxes and of those dying in the cook-house, alerted Khan, he dismissed the report saying it would be the cooks preparing the pre-Ramadan meal. But now some maids came running saying that a hole was being made through the wall.
Khan was alarmed and seized his bow, arrow and a spear. Just then some Marathas came up in front and Khan shot one with an arrow but he managed to get up and cut off his thumb. Two Marathas tumbled into a reservoir of water and Khan brought down another with his spear. In the midst of all the confusion, two slave girls managed to take the Amir with his hand and dragged him to a safe place. A quick witted woman managed to put out the lamps which enabled Khan to escape. This turned the raid into a chaotic scrimmage with the Marathas slashing blindly in the dark, killing several women and servants. The Marathas fled before the camp became aware of their presence and there was no attempt to pursue them.