Pratapgad & Afzal Khan

Last night the giant climbed into the hills with his enormous army and his empty cage. Tonight — on the 10th of November, 1659 — comes the most famous moment of Shivaji's whole life. It is a thrilling night, so hold on tight. And we are going to tell it honestly, because there are two different versions of one very important part of it.

The meeting place had been agreed: a spot on the slope just below Pratapgad. There a splendid tent — a shamiana — had been set up, with soft carpets, silk hangings and every kind of finery. The rules had been agreed too: each of them would come almost alone, with only a few bodyguards, and even those were to wait a little way off. Afzal Khan's huge army stayed camped far below in the valley. And Shivaji's Mavlas? They were hidden in the thick forest all around — unseen, silent, barely breathing.

That morning Shivaji was calm, but he was not careless. He knew Afzal Khan's name for treachery; he had not forgotten what had happened to his own elder brother. So under his clothes he wore a coat of iron chain mail, and under his turban a steel cap. Hidden in his left fist were the wagh-nakh — the "tiger claws": iron rings for the fingers, with sharp, curved blades like a tiger's claws. And up his sleeve was a bichwa, a small curved dagger shaped like a scorpion's sting. Not to start a fight — but to be ready, whatever happened.

The old accounts say that before he set out, he bowed at the feet of his mother, Jijau, for her blessing, and carefully arranged what should be done if he did not come back. Think how much courage that took: to say goodbye with a smile, knowing in your heart that it might be the very last goodbye.

Then Shivaji walked down the slope — slim, quick and calm. With him came his loyal bodyguard, Jiva Mahala, a master of the sword. As Shivaji stepped into the tent, Afzal Khan rose to his feet — so much taller than Shivaji, so much broader — and spread his arms wide for an embrace. That was the custom when two great men met.

And here is what the Maratha accounts say happened next. As they embraced, the giant suddenly clamped Shivaji's neck tight under his left arm and, with his right hand, drove a dagger at Shivaji's back. But the blade scraped harmlessly across the hidden chain mail! The armour had saved his life.

Quick as lightning, Shivaji struck back — first with the tiger claws, then with the bichwa. The giant staggered back, badly hurt, and shouted, "Treachery! Treachery! Help me!"

At that cry, Afzal Khan's swordsman, Sayyad Banda, burst into the tent. He swung his long sword at Shivaji, and the blow landed on his turban — it sliced the cloth, but the steel cap underneath took the blow. Before Sayyad Banda could strike again, Jiva Mahala sprang in like the wind, and with one sweep of his sword he brought Sayyad Banda down. That is why, to this very day, all of Maharashtra says this line with gratitude:

"होता जिवा म्हणून वाचला शिवा""Because there was Jiva, Shiva was saved."

Afzal Khan, wounded, tried to escape in his palanquin, but Shivaji's men caught up with him, and the giant did not survive that day. Then a signal was given from the fort — and from every side of the forest the hidden Mavlas rushed down upon the great camp below. Trapped among the trees and ravines, that mighty army broke apart and fled, leaving its elephants, horses, cannon and treasure behind. The trap had worked. It was Shivaji's first great victory over a major power, and the whole of the Deccan heard about it.

Now for the honest part. Who struck first? The old Maratha accounts say Afzal Khan did. But a Persian chronicle written later, on the Mughal side, by a historian named Khafi Khan, tells it the other way round — that Shivaji struck first. Historians argued about this for a long time. The great historian Jadunath Sarkar studied a whole mountain of evidence, and concluded that Afzal Khan really had planned to kill Shivaji at that meeting. So we tell the Maratha version, because most of the evidence supports it — but you should know that every story can have two sides, and it is good to ask who is telling it.

And here is the part people often forget. Shivaji did not mock his fallen enemy. He ordered that Afzal Khan be buried with honour at the foot of Pratapgad, and had a tomb built for him there — and it still stands today. When the battle was over, so was the hatred. That is the greatness of a true warrior.

And up on Pratapgad, Shivaji built a temple to the goddess Bhavani — the very goddess whose temple at Tuljapur Afzal Khan had smashed — so that she would have a home of her own on his own fort. (A legend says Shivaji's famous sword, the "Bhavani", was the goddess's own gift to him. That is a beautiful story of faith, and that is how we tell it.)

And Shivaji did not stop to rest. While Bijapur was still reeling, he swept south into its lands, taking fort after fort. Just eighteen days after Pratapgad — on the 28th of November, 1659 — he captured a great hill-fortress near the town of Kolhapur, called Panhala. Remember that name. Bijapur was not going to swallow this defeat quietly — and Panhala is exactly where tomorrow night's story begins: with Shivaji shut up inside it, and an enemy army all around.

Goodnight — tonight's badge is a great line: "होता जिवा म्हणून वाचला शिवा", "Because there was Jiva, Shiva was saved." No hero wins alone — Shivaji lived because a true friend stood beside him.