Conquest of Javali: A strategic place for a strategic win

Today, in this scorching summer, I am travelling back to Javali for getting some cool!

This is a region located in modern day Satara district of Maharashtra state.  Here used to lie one of the most dangerous and hard to scale strategic regions of medieval India. 


This region had dense forests, inaccessible mountain ranges, and a number of dangerous fauna that made anyone who did not know this area a sitting duck. It was even said about this region that "It would be easy to find a louse in a demon's head but it would not be possible to find a lost elephant in the forests of Javali". Such was the terrain of Javali back in the 17th century while the Maratha power was on the rise. 

Javali had some important mountains such as 'Bhorpya', 'Rairi', 'Mahabaleshwar' etc. It also had the terrifically inaccessible terrain as written above. Moreover, Javali provided the doors to descend the mountains in Konkan strip and also the doors till the region of Panhala fort in the Kolhapur region could be opened if one had Javali in their control.
Such was the strategic importance of this region. 

Eyeing this and correctly realizing the importance of Javali, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj started strategic movements in this area around mid 1650s. Due to a scuffle with Adilshah of Bijapur in 1648, Shivaji Maharaj had to stop expansion of his kingdom for 8 odd years but he continued strategic movements outside his kingdom in these years. 

Javali used to be ruled by the "More"s as a part of the Adilshahi kingdom. The Mores used the title "Chandrarao".  Around 1654 when the ruler of Javali passed away, his widow approached Shivaji Maharaj instead of Adilshah to help her ascend the heir to the throne. Thus the new "Chandrarao" Yashwantrao More ascended the throne with the help of Shivaji Maharaj. 
Maharaj's strategic move behind this was to instill a ruler of his choice so that the ruler is indebted to Hindavi Swarajya and helps in expansion of the kingdom. 

However, Chandrarao forgot Shivaji Maharaj's favours due to his ambition of ruling territories of Gunjan Maval in modern day Pune district in addition to Javali. Most of this part was under Shivaji Maharaj's control. 

He started incursions in Maharaj's territory and there were a few scuffles between his and Maharaj's army.  He also started giving refuge to Maharaj's convicted criminals which enraged Shivaji Maharaj even more. 

Thus Shivaji Maharaj started diplomatic talks with Chandrarao More involving mild threats and language of diplomacy; but to no avail.

Due to such perilous terrain of Javali, Chandrarao was confident that he can easily defeat Shivaji Maharaj even if he invaded him. One day Shivaji Maharaj sent him a rather strict letter

"You call yourself kings! I am the king! Shri Shambhu has given me this kingdom. You should not call yourself the king. You should be my servant and serve me and my kingdom. If you misbehave, I shall have to capture Javali and imprison you."

Chandrarao laughed at this letter and sent a rude reply
"You became the king yesterday! Who gave you the kingdom? Who believes you are the king? You said that you will capture Javali! I dare you to come and leave Javali alive. If you have any guts then come to Javali today itself if you are planning to come tomorrow. I am the king of Konkan and Javali and my king is Shri Mahabaleshwar! I rule because of his mercy. Adilshah has bestowed this kingdom upon me and we have ruled Javali for many generations. If you come here you will leave unsuccessful."

After this letter Maharaj was extremely angry and sent a befitting reply, " Leave Javali and surrender to me otherwise if you continue your behaviour, you will be killed!"

Chandrarao was still over confident and challenged Maharaj and did not budge. 

On 15th January 1656, Shivaji Maharaj finally invaded Javali from all sides. Hanmantrao More, one of the prominent courtiers of Mores was killed in the battle. 

Another braveheart was fighting from More's side in this battle. He was Murarbaji Deshpande. Shivaji Maharaj was impressed by his valour and offered him to work for swarajya. Murarbaji obliged. 
This is the same Murarbaji Deshpande who defended Purandar against the mughals later in the battle of Purandar in 1665. 

Chandrarao More escaped and ran away to the mountain of 'Rairi'. In April 1656, Maharaj had besieged Rairi and Chandrarao More finally surrendered!
However, Maharaj showed mercy and treated him with respect. Still Chandrarao now tried to sought the help of Bijapur. Now Maharaj caught him and ordered the deaths of him and his two sons Baji and Krishnaji More. 

Thus was the conquest of Javali by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. 
By reading this we can understand the importance of this conquest. This conquest shaped the history of the maratha empire. 
Let us discuss some key takeaways and key things that happened due to this campaign-

1) Control over the strategic terrain of Javali-
Swarajya was still on its baby steps with very few forts under control. A terrain like Javali added around 8 more forts in Swarjya along with inaccessible forests. The doors for konkan and Kolhapur and Panhala were now opened.

2) Murarbaji Deshpande- Anyone who has studied the history knows Murarbaji Deshpande. Maharaj gained a loyal and fierce general like Murarbaji Deshpande who played a vital role in future conquests of Swarajya for nearly a decade.

3) Newer forts and future capital of Hindavi Swarajya- 
Swarajya gained Chandragad, Makrandgad, Kangori, Songad, Chambhargad forts. 
More importantly the mountain of 'Rairi' was given the jewels of fortwalls and renamed as "Raigad" which was later the capital of a coronated Shivaji Maharaj.

Another mountain named 'Bhorpya' was turned into a strong fort and renamed as "Pratapgad". This fort just 3 years later saw one of the greatest battles in history.

4) Re-starting the expansion of Swarajya-
After a scuffle with Adilshah in 1648, which we will discuss in some other blog, Shivaji Maharaj had to halt the expansion of Swarajya for 8 years. With conquest of Javali, Maharaj was back with a bang!

Stay tuned for the next blog while I chill on the hills of Javali!


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