Valley : Shivaji soon got busy with
his new activities. Along with his
comrades he started intensive training
in swordsmanship, riding, exploring
the secret paths in the hills and getting
familiar with the general topography of
the land, its valleys and ghats and possible
communication routes. He won over the
Mavlas who became his most devoted
followers, willing to lay down their lives
for him at any time. Shivaji’s enthusiasm
increased a thousandfold. Shivaji made a
detailed survey of all the forts and military
establishments in the area. In this, his
followers were of great help to him. In
the course of time, he came to know the
smallest detail of every establishment;
secret pathways, underground routes,
ammunition dumps and cellars.
Friends in Maval : All over the
twelve Mavals there were Deshmukhs,
guarding their individual ‘Watans’ (gifted
land in lieu of service) to which they were
more attached than anything else. There
were constant quarrels between them
leading to useless waste of money and
manpower. Shivaji saw this waste and
decided to put an end to it. He would visit
the Deshmukhs in the area, talk to them,
persuade them to desist from their folly and
raise before them a very attractive picture
The Royal Seal
of the Swaraj of his dreams. He thus won
many of them over to his side. He used
force against those who were adamant. In
this way he stopped the mutual warfare.
Everybody was pleased with this happy
result and all started singing the praises
of Shivaji. Zunjarrao Maral, Haibatrao
Shilamkar, Baji Pasalkar, Vithoji Shitole,
Jedhe, Paygude, Bandal were some of
the Deshmukhs in the Maval valley
who began to look upon Shivaji as their
leader. The dream of Swaraj was fastapproaching the day of fulfilment.
Nice
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