chatrapati shivaji maharaj letter to Aurangzeb
*chatrapati shivaji maharaj letter to Aurangzeb* This firm and constant well-wisher Shivaji, after rendering thanks for the grace of God and the favours of the Emperor, which are clearer than the Sun, begs to inform your Majesty that, although this well-wisher was led by his adverse Fate to come away from your august presence without taking leave, yet he is ever ready to perform, to the fullest extent possible and proper, everything that duty as a servant and gratitude demand of him… It has recently come to my ears that on the ground of the war with me having exhausted your wealth and emptied your treasury, your Majesty has ordered that money under the name of jaziya should be collected from the Hindus and the imperial needs supplied with it. May it please your Majesty! That architect of the fabric of empire , [Jalal-ud-din] Akbar Padishah , reigned with full power for 52 (lunar) years. He adopted the admirable policy of universal harmony (sulh-i-kul) in relation to all the various