The following is an English translation of the earliest available Powada known as “Afzal Khancha Vadh”. Adyandas/Agindas the author who wrote the Powada was comissioned by Veeramata Jijabai herself to commemorate the victory over Afzal Khan (here referred to as Abdul Khan by the Agindas). So this Powada was written within Dharmayodha Chhatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj’s lifetime and describes Shivaji slaying Afzal Khan, which happened in 1659. It should also be noted that Veeramata Jijabai bore a long standing grudge against Afzal Khan for his treacherous murder of her elder son Sambhaji (not to be confused with Shivaji’s elder son) and Shivaji’s older brother. I have highlighted those parts that I thought were important in bold font.
HAIL in all faith in Shiwa,
God over gods supreme!
The iron age grows golden,
His eyes propitious beam,
Whenas the royal ensigns
And steadfast faith afford
Witness to Samb(1) incarnate
In Shiwaji our lord.
Drink from the royal fountain,
Whose living streams o’erflow;
Come, fellows, bathe within it,
And Shiwa’s promise know.
Rajghur(2), the royal castle,
The fort benam’d of gore,
And that stronghold which first the flag
Of victory proudly bore,
Fair Jowlee’s crown of palm-leaves,
High soaring into heaven,
And Mundun’s clust’ring palaces
The faithful god hath given;
Sonashila, and Pertapghur,
With Rajghur’s hidden gold,
The homes of ancient deities,
Gray forts and bastions old,
All, from a god propitious,
Holds Shiwaji the king;
Hearken, Maratha princes,
His glorious state I sing.
Oh hearken! bards and princes,
Young pillars of the state;
The conqu’ring viles of Shiwaji,
And wisdom I relate;
How the dark world of mountains,
With every fortress grim
That lowers above their valleys,
Were seiz’d and rul’d by him.
The dying eyes of Chandra(3)
beheld the lofty wall
Of Jowlee, then of Prabalghur,
And strong Panala fall;
The huge and rocky castle
which all the whirlwhinds sweep;
Ghosala, and the hamlets
By Matunghur that sleep;
The lovely homes that nestle
Above the Konkan green,
Like the sacred lotus swimming
On the water clear and sheen;
My song shall not forget you,
Nor you, the peasant’s home,
Fair lowlands of the Konkan,
To whose twelve harbours(4) come
The laden keels of nations;
Nor all the Deccan wide,
From Indapur to those old fanes
Where Moslem saints abide;
Piecemeal by town and hamlet,
They yielded to the king;
Hearken, Maratha princes,
His glorious state I sing.
When Kallian and Bhewndi
Were given to the sword,
The cry went up to Beejapore,
And Adil Shah its lord.
Fierce was the monarch’s anger,
Like flame his summows flew
To the valiant Moslem nobles,
And every good Hindu;
From all his wide dominions
They throng’d to the durbar;
But Abdul Khan the mighty
Seiz’d the betel leaf of war.
A sword that gleam’d like lightning,
A stately battle steed,
Were the grateful monarch’s guerdon
To the servant of his need.
Seven hundred rocket camels
Their eager riders mount;
The horse were fourteen thousand,
The footmen who could count?
Forth march’d they, but near Torweh(5)
Whene’er the vanguard drew,
Down fell the royal standard
That o’er the cannon flew;
‘Alas! an evil omen,’
Said Krishnaji, ‘we bring.’
Hearken, Maratha princes,
The raja’s state I sing.
To Tooljapore and Punderpore
Slow roll’d host along;
There to the gods most holy
They wrought grievous wrong;
Bhowani’s sacred image
They levell’d with the dust,
And into Bhiwra’s(6) shudd’ring depths
Great Vitobha they thrust.
Then rais’d the Khan a costly shrine,
That men again might pray;
The outrag’d gods received it,
And his sins were wash’d away.
Slow rolled the Mogul army
Round Pali’s ancient shrine,
Then Khundoba put forth his might,
And show’d an awful sign;
The quaking Moslem turn’d them,
And cried a dreadful cry,
And full two leagues in furious rout
Like hunted deer they fly;
Then straight they build a lamp tower,
That night may be as day;
The god appeas’d receiv’d it,
And their sin was wash’d away.
Towards Awoond’s sacred towers
The Moslem host aspire,
There the great goddess Yemai
Display’d a portent dire;
A holy feast the Khan proclaim’d,
And call’d the priests to pray;
The goddess check’d her fury,
And his sin was wash’d away.
Slow rolling, widely wasting,
The Mogul army went,
Trouble and woe to Sambhu
When the Khana pitch’d his tent!
At last at Wye he halted,
Which once his sway had known;
And Krishnaji his letters bore
To the great raja’s throne.
The Brahman stood before him;
‘To Shiwaji be health!
‘Receive the Khan, and peace be thine,
‘And joy, and mighty wealth.’
‘What are his gifts?’ the raja said;
‘Were we at peace, I vow,
‘With four-and-forty castles strong
‘The Khan I would endow;
‘In the fair halls of Jowli
‘A stately pageant awaits;
‘There will I bide the Khan’s approach,
‘And greet him at my gates.’
He touch’d the holy Brahman’s feet,
Dismissing him, and sent
With him the Mhaldar (Mace-Bearer) Jiwaji
To seek the Abdullya’s(7) tent.
With aspect blunt he greets him,
As one untaught to fear;
‘If not to bow before our gods,
‘Why are thy horsemen here?’
No more obeisance paid he,
But turn’d and went his way;
And the furious Khan upstarted,
And bade his host array.
Straight to Rantondi’s fortress
His haughty troops he led,
And fourteen days around it
The baffled host was spread.
The raja rous’d his chieftains,
They came from far and near,
With many a Mawul swordsman,
And many a horse and spear;
In council close the leaders
Were gather’d round the king.
Hearken, Maratha princes,
His glorious state I sing.
‘Brothers and friends,’ quoth Shiwaji,
‘No stripling is our foe;
‘The holy gods themselves are aw’d
‘When Abdul’s name they know;
‘Say, shall we hail him as a guest,
‘Or greet him with our sword?’
‘The captain of the fort is here,
Give counsel to your lord.’
‘O Shiwba!’ the Gaikwar cried,
‘The coming feast is sweet;
‘But sword and spear and helm and mail
‘For such a guest are meet.’
The counsel pleas’d him; they arm him,
And round his waist they take,
The one-edged sword that coils and bites(8)
Like the deadly hooded snake;
The two-edg’d glaiwe by Jiwaji,
The Mhaldar stout, was borne,
And the curv’d steel of the tiger claws
On the raja’s hand was worn.
O’er his snowy vest of cotton
His robe imperial flow’d:
He sought his mother’s blessing,
She met him on his road;
In a palki(9) Jeeja met him,
And bless’d the goodly king.
Hearken, Maratha princes,
His glorious state I sing.
‘If in thy lot, Shiwba,
‘Or woe or bale be writ,
‘On me let all the evil fall,
‘Towards me I conjure it.’
Thus pray’d his mother Jeeja,
‘Be prosperous and brave,
‘I give thee here the betel,
‘Remember Mahadev.’
She spoke, low bow’d the raja,
And filial reverence paid;
‘O mother! would the Dewan’s(10) hand
‘Could on my head be laid;
‘Wide spread my lands and rich my halls,
‘But where is he – my sire?’
‘Son, meditate thy purpose high,
‘And fulfill thy soul with fire.
‘The blood of Sambhaji(11) doth cry,
‘His wrong is unredress’d.’
‘Mother I go; but tell my sire,
‘I thought of him, and bless’d’
He fill’d his forts with warriors true,
And till he came agen,
He gave his power to Nettaji,
With full five hundred men;
And with him Umaji was join’d
The royal seat to fill,
While Tookya’s eager troops were drawn
Around Rantondi hill.
Then forth to Jowli’s audience halls
The prudent raja far’d.
And there, to greet the Khan’s approach,
A pageant great prepar’d.
Through every spacious chamber
The silken sheets were spread,
Gay with their various borders
Of plumage blue and red;
On carv’d and painted pillars
Rich wreaths of coral hung,
Garlands of pearls and rubies rare
From every cornice swung.
Bright as the glorious Sun in heaven,
Their glow the lamps enhanc’d,
And like the tall and graceful crane,
The fountains leap’d and danc’d.
A canopy of costly cloth
And curtains fine enfold,
Gleaming with many a diamond,
The raja’s throne of gold.
Four stalwart Moslem marching
Their monarch’s missive bring.
Hearken, Maratha princes,
Tha raja’s state I sing.
For them no courtly greeting,
No prayer, or gift, or bribe;
Rough, in the first and second courts,
The speech of guard and scribe.
But better far than greeting,
In the third court they found
A troop of lovely dancers
Approach them with a bound.
Rapt were the gazing Moslem,
And Abdul laughed aloud;
When Shiwaji and Jiwaji
Enter’d amid the crowd.
‘First to my guardian Mahadev,
To Shahji next, my sire,
‘Then doth to the world’s great mother
‘My reverence due require;
‘Then to the gallant free men
‘Who guards my forts in mail;
‘And last to thee, Abdullya;
‘I bow, and bid thee hail.’
Such was the raja’s greeting,
And lofty the reply;
‘Whence did a peasant’s son achieve
‘To raise these walls so high?
‘And whence the wealth that far outshines
‘The courts of Beejapore?’
‘Hence to thy wells and gardens,
The royal rents restore.’
‘Abate thy pride,’ said Shivaji
‘The gods alone I fear;
‘They rule the fates that govern
‘All issues far and near;
‘For thee-thy birth and rank I know;
Thus far the undaunted king.
Hearken, Maratha princes
His glorious state I sing.
‘Back to thy father’s oven!
Back to thy mother’s store!
‘Whose toothsome sweetmeats oft delight
‘The boys of Beejapore
‘Shall rajas brook the insult
‘Of thee-the baker’s son?’
He look’d upon Abdulla,
And knew his work was done.
The Moslem leap’d upon him,
His grasp was fierce and fell,
And how he plied the dagger
The dinted mail might tell.
But Shiwaji the raja
In answer made him feel
The twin sting of the scorpion,(12)
The deadly claws of steel.
His entrails torn and bloody
Gap’d through the horrid wound;
But Abdul was a warrior bold,
And faltr’d not nor soown’d.
He loos’d his girdle deftly,
Uncoil’d the sword below,
And dealt upon the raja’s head
A fierce and furious blow.
It cleft the emroider’d turban,
And twisted chains foruteen,
And the raja felt, as steed the spur,
The sword edge sharp and keen.
His blade leap’d out and wrapp’d the Khan,
Like the sacred thread to view,
Between the neck and shoulder
It struck, and clove him through.
He fell, down fell the Moslem
While steadfast stood the king.
Hearken, Maratha princes,
His glorious state I sing.
Up leap’d the Syud Bundoo,
And rais’d his sword in haste;
But the wary raja turn’d it,
And cleft him to the waist.
Then forward stepp’d the Brahman,
Seeing the Syud die;
‘Turn back, turn back,’ cried Shiwaji,
‘Turn back, and haste to fly.
‘I may not smite a Brahman,
‘Lest the curse of God should sound.’
The raja laugh’d, and cast his sword
Down clatt’ring to the ground.
But Jiwaji the Mhaldar
His broad spear raised on high,
And, leaping at the Brahman,
He whirl’d, and made it fly;
It met him in the navel,
The steel of Burhanpore,
Through the backbone it pierc’d him,
He fell and spoke no more;
Twice did he call on Shiwa
And then his breath was gone;
‘Forward!’ exclaimed young Kowji,(13)
‘The raja’s gallant son;
‘Have at the palki-bearers,
‘That not a man remain,’
And with his sword he dash’d among
The trembling menial train.
They dropped the stately palki,
And wild with wounds they fled;
He bore it to Bhowani,
Most like a conqu’ring king.
Hearken, Maratha princes,
His glorious state I sing.
To her, the world’s great mother,
In Pertapghur that dwelt,
And bore him through victorious,
He offer’d it and knelt;
‘Receive my gift, O mother,
‘This goat(14) of goodly frame;
‘His teeth are as the teeth of men,
‘And Abdul is his name.’
Then was the signal given,
The raja’s cannon spoke;
Their twelvefold voice the people heard
And saw the whirling smoke.
Out dash’d the rapid footmen,
With weapons bare to kill,
They followed the gallant Trimukh,
And crown’d the Rantondi hill;
Down went the Moslem standards,
As on the swordsmen dash,
The elephants that bore them
Fell with an echoing clash.
The Moguls fear’d and turn’d them
And they fled with all their force,
And Tookya clos’d and captur’d
Full sixty Arab horse.
Back march’d the host victorious,
Hanmunta at their head,
And to Panhala’s fortress
By Shiwaji were led;
There the strong walls were strengthen’d
And arm’d on every side,
And the raging hosts of Beejapore
Victoriously defied.
The noise of war is over,
The songs of victory sound,
The lady Jeeja calls the chiefs,
The loyal chiefs around;
They throng the halls of Jowli,
The minstrels sing and play,
And, master of all melodies,
Agrindas(15) gains the day.
With the sweet Kadaka rhythm
A village rich he won,
For ever free from tax or fee
From father unto son;
Two golden bracelets deck’d him,
Gifts from the goodly king.
Hearken, Maratha princes,
His glorious state I sing.
Notes
(1) – SAMB is Shiwa, i.e., one with Amba; स sa, with, and Amba, अंबा, the wife of Shiwa. Shive gave half his body to his wife, who is called Devi, Amba, Bhowani, Amba Bhowani, and a score of other names. Shiwaji was and is believed by Marathas to have been an incarnation of Shiwa.
(2) – Rajghur, not to be confused with Raighur, is a small hill fort in the Bhore state. Shiwaji took it when he was only twenty years old, and made it his headquarters or capital, till he moved to Raighur.
(3) – The murder of Chandradevrao More, raja of Jowli, was one of Shiwaji’s worst actions. He held the Ghat Matha or hilly tracts of Western Deccan under the king of Beejapore from the Krishna to the Warna. As he would not join Shiwaji, the latter compassed his assasination by emisarries, who pretended to wish to negotiate a marriage between Shiwaji and Chandrarao’s daughter. Shiwaji had assembled his troops in the wild hills and jungles, and, on hearing of the murder, attacked and took Jowli and subdued the whole of Chandrarao’s dominions.
(4) – The ‘twelve harbours’ of the Konkan are Alibag, Revdanda, Bankot, Harnai, Dabhol, Jaygad, Ratnagiri, Jaytapure, Vijaydroog, Devgad, Malwan, Vingorla.
(5) – Torweh is a suburb of Beejapore.
(6) – Bhivra, the Bheema.
(7) – This is a familiar form of Abdulla, intended by the writer to be contemptuous.
(8) – The sword called Firangi is spoken of as having been twisted round the waist in the copy of the poem from which the translation is taken, and which differs in some details from that which was published by Mr. Shaligram and myself in 1891.
(9) – It was a good omen to meet the raja in a palki. The sight (darshana) of a horse, elephant, or a palki at the time of starting on an expedition is considered very auspicious (vide Dharma Sindh, p. 516).
(10) – ‘The Diwan’ means Shahji, Shiwaji’s father. He seized the regency of the Nizam Shahi dominions in 1634, and seems to have kept the title of Diwan ever since.
(11) – Sumbhaji was Shiwaji’s elder brother. He was killed in the Carnatic in 1653 in an expedition against the killedar of Kanikgeeree.
(12) – The bicchu, or scorpion, is a double-bladed dagger, two curved blades about half an inch apart, and parallel to each other, projecting from the same handle.
(13) – The copy from which the translation is taken calls Kowji the son of Shiwaji; the published copy says correctly Sambhaji, the son of Kowji. He was a devoted Maratha follower of Shiwaji, who, with Ragoo Bullal, was principally instrumental in the assassination of Chandrarao More.
(14) – The usual offering to Bhawani was a goat or a buffalo.
(15) – This is an evident corruption of Adnyandas (अज्ञानदास), which is the name given in the published copy of the original. It was Agrindas in the copy from which the translation was made, and which was obtained some years before the other.
Source: Ballads of Marathas By Acworth Harry Arbuthnot, pgs. 1-13 & pgs. 119-120.
The complete book is online here:
http://www.archive.org/details/balladsmarathas01acwogoog
The complete Powada in Marathi in Devanagari script can be viewed here:
Some author’s have condemned Shivaji for his alleged treachery in killing Afzal Khan (e.g. Nehru in his “Glimpses of World History”) but seem to conveniently ignore or forget a few facts which I will point out here:
1) As the powada and other contemporary sources make it clear, Afzal Khan and his army had desecrated several important Hindu shrines including Tuljapur Bhavani.
2) They laid waste to the countryside (briefly referred to here in the Powada) and committed many atrocities against Hindu civilians according to other contemporary sources.
3) Afzal Khan was personally responsible for the treacherous murder of Shivaji’s elder brother Sambhaji, this incident is glossed over. Sambhaji saw the remnants of past Hindu glory in Kanakagiri and with a view towards establishing an independent Hindu kingdom like his younger brother, removed the Muslim officials and appointed his Hindu ministers instead. Abba Khan the local Muslim Adil Shahi warlord was furious about this and a war broke out. Adil Shah then sent Afzal to settle the matter, it must be noted that Sambhaji defeated Afzal in a battle earlier in Bangalore and for this Afzal bore a grudge against Sambhaji. Afzal Khan laid a cunning plan. He sent a message to Sambhaji that he would help him against Abba Khan and asked the former to storm the defences of Abba. Sambhaji vigorously attacked and was in the thick of battle when the detachment of Afzal Khan which had supposedly come to help turned against him and surrounded him. He tried to cut his way out, but received several shots and was killed. Thus at the age of 25, Sambhaji, the poorly known brother of Shivaji died in front of Kanakagiri.
4) In 1637 Randulla Khan was sent by Adil Shah to invade the South to crush the remnants of the Vijayanagara empire which were still holding out. They were completely victorious and took a lot of wealth and Hindu women after committing many atrocities, for the second invasion Randulla sent Afzal to destroy Kasturiranga, the prince of Shira. Kasturiranga kept up valiant resistance for a while but his supplies ran out and he agreed to negotiate, but when he came to meet Afzal Khan the latter treacherously stabbed him to death.
5) All the Maratha sources are unanimous in stating that it was Afzal Khan who made the first strike in his meeting with Shivaji.
Keeping these facts in mind it must be said that Shivaji was completely justified in killing Afzal and even if he was the one who struck first, it would be justified considering Afzal’s treatment of Hindus and his treacherous murders of Sambhaji and Kasturiranga. Sri Krishna himself told Arjuna to shoot Karna while the latter was on the ground trying to get his chariot wheel out of the earth by pointing out Karna’s earlier behavior towards Draupadi and his role in the killing of Abhimanyu.
dharmayuddha 