Masterpiece of strategic mobility- Part 1

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.. And Portuguese would have left India 3 centuries earlier..- Part 1

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GOA: 1681-1682 Its the summer season and people are busy getting tanned on the beaches of Goa.  However, they do not realize that the same Goa was a fortè of the imperial Portuguese for 4 odd centuries! After Vasco da Gama sailed to India in 1498, the Portuguese gradually became a formidable "trading" entity in India and their power concentrated in the parts of Goa,  northern parts of Konkan, Daman and Diu over the next century. Their power grew so much that in the 17th century the Marathas collaborated with the Portuguese to help build their navy. Gradually as the influence of the Marathas grew, relations between Portuguese and Marathas started straining. These relations remained bitter until the death of Chh. Shivaji Maharaj in April 1680.  Just 3 years after his death, the Marathas launched an offensive against the Portuguese that would have wiped the Portuguese off from India 3 centuries earlier than 1961, when they were actually made to leave India. Let u...
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..And Portuguese would have left India 3 centuries earlier..- Part 2

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GOA: 1683 Now let us move forward to the next part of the offensive of the Marathas on the Portuguese.  As we discussed in the previous blog, the relations between the Marathas and Potuguese deteriorated and the Portuguese eventually decided to capture Ponda, an important fort of the Marathas to counter the reverses faced in North Konkan. In the recently released film "Chhaava" on the life of Chh. Sambhaji Maharaj,  the battle with the Portuguese has been completely left out, maybe due to time constraints.  But this is one of the most fierce battles fought by Chh. Sambhaji Maharaj himself  and would have been a visual treat to watch on the big screen for sure! On 1st November 1683, the Portuguese army crossed the river separating their territory and maratha territory; towards Ponda. Their army is estimated to be around 3200 men combining infantry and cavalry along with some cannons. After defeating the patroling units of the Marathas, they besieged the fo...
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The Rise of The Phoenix of Deccan- Part 3

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In the last blog, we saw that the Nizam and the Marathas, both destroyed their opponent's capitals and the Marathas were now headed for Aurangabad, which was the second capital of the Nizam of Hyderabad.  The Marathas had significantly weakened Nizam by their diplomatical tactics by alienating the defected Maratha sardars like Bhosles of Nagpur and Patwardhans of Miraj from the Nizam. After these sardars joined the marathas, the Nizam became a sitting duck in the maratha territory.... but the Nizam was completely unaware of these events and was inching towards Aurangabad to save his capital from the Marathas.      Peshwa Madhavrao I, Peshwe Park, Pune THE PHOENIX RISES-        The Nizam was left alone on his march towards Aurangabad along with his favourite minister Vitthal Sundar. Vitthal Sundar pleaded the Maratha sardars on Nizam's side to not leave them seeing the possibility of a clash with the marathas now seemingly inevitable. B...
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