chhatrapati shivaji maharaj letter to mirza raja jaysingh

chhatrapati shivaji maharaj letter to mirza raja jaysingh 

In a lengthy letter to Jai Singh, Shivaji conveys the Mirza Raja: “If you have come to conquer Deccan for yourself, I would prefer to offer my services at your disposal. But since you have come on behalf of Aurangzeb, I am little perplexed how to deal with you. If we both fight, the loss of the Hindus would be from both sides. One would not be considered brave and no heroism in fighting among each other.” “The intention of Aurangzeb is no brave man among the Hindus should survive. The lions should fight among each other and finish off themselves so that the vultures can rule over. You do not understand the strategy of the Mughals… I would appreciate you not to blacken the faces of Hindus by fighting with lions like us. If you have guts, you should attack the enemies of Hindu religion and get rid of Islam. If Dara Shukoh would have been the ruler of this country, he could have showered love and affection on us. But since you have ditched persons like Jashwant Singh, you cannot distinguish between good and bad. You have been fighting small fries so far and now since you have to fight with lions like me, you would realize where do you stand. You may run after mirage. It is like after making so much of efforts, you can capture a beautiful lady to be handed over to our enemy. Are you such a low level personality? Do you feel proud of earning favours of such rascal? Are you not aware of the outcome of the efforts of Zuzar Singh?” 

Jai Singh was instrumental in getting Dara Shukoh, the eldest son of the Emperor Shah Jahan, captured and killed by Aurangzeb. Jai wrote a letter to Jashwant Singh of Ajmer not to extend any support to Dara. Dara believed in Hindu-Muslim harmony unlike his fanatic brother Aurangzeb. Zuzar Singh was the King of Odisha loyal to the Mughal Emperors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, but Aurangzeb sacked him from his Durbar and made him run from pillar to post. 

Shivaji writes further: “A few Muslims taking over our great country really surprises me. But this has happened not because of their adventures. They talk nicely with us and made us slaves if you try to understand. If your eyes can see, you may realize it. We need to realize how they are tying shackles in our legs and cutting off our heads by our own swords. We need to make tremendous efforts to protect Hindus, Hindustan and Hindu religion. We should go for tit for tat policy. The Turks be shown the power of our swords. If you can join hands with Jashwant Singh, Raja of Marwad, and Raj Singh, Rana of Mewar, it would be of great help.” The Maratha leader expresses his desire to wipe out the influence of Islam not only from Deccan but also the power and fame of Emperor like Aurangzeb from India too.