It should be noted that Afzal Khan had managed to slay Shahaji’s elder son, Shambaji in a battle near Bangalore. It was said that Afzal Khan had played a dirty trick to kill Shambaji. Thus, he was in a way sworn enemy of Shahaji family. He had played an important role even in the arrest of Shahaji a few years back.
Warrior Afzal Khan was a six feet tall massive demon. A horse could not carry his bulk. So, he always rode an elephant or in a palanquin carried by twelve wrestlers. Immensely powerful he was. His grip was death like which allowed no escape.
And he was a fanatic Muslim who loathed Hindu. For him a Hindu was a worthless vegetable that worshipped stones for God, a living bad
joke. Killing such a creature was always a
pleasure for him. Afzal Khan was cruel and ruthless by very nature. Even his Muslim rivals were in
dread of him.
In the month of April, Afzal Khan departed from Bijapur after making all necessary war preparations. His massive force consisted of 1200 horse mounted soldiers, 1000 foot soldiers, 400 small guns and 75 big guns. On the way contingents from the armies of other chieftains and commanders kept joining his force turning it into a huge river of soldiers.
The first target to bear the brunt of Afzal Khan’s fury was Tuljapur where there was a Bhavani temple. It was believed by masses that Shivaji enjoyed the divine blessings of the power of the goddess, Bhavani. It was a deliberately created legend by the followers of Shivaji to generate awe, respect and confidence among masses for Shivaji. The people had come to believe the Shivaji was a chosen warrior of the goddess who projected her power in him.
So, Afzal had to target the temple to kill the legend. He stormed into the temple and stood before the Bhavani idol hissing hatefully, “So, you are the goddess who powers that Shiva rat to gnaw at our empire, huh? What power can you have, you metal idol! Let me see your power and I will show you my power…ha…ha…ha…!” He fell the idol with the swing of his sword. The fallen idol was smashed into pieces and Afzal trampled upon the pieces thundering invectives and spitting foul words punctuated by mad laughters.
He ordered his soldiers to pull down the temple structure. The temple was turned into a heap of stones and rubble.
Shivaji heard about the outrage and cursed the fanatic. He had abandoned his Singhgarh fort and taken refuge in another fort when he learnt about the arrival of Bijapur army led by Afzal. He didn’t want engaged in an open battle because enemy was superior in men and material.
Afzal Khan guffawed and roared, “I have not even begun to fight and that Shiva rat is running away scared to death…ha…ha…ha…!”
His cronies nodded their heads and sang praises of Afzal’s terrifying valour and reputation. The pumped up Afzal stormed Pandarpur, the home of famous Bithova temple. He desecrated the temple and destroyed it. Outraging of temples gave great satisfaction to his hate filled fanatic mind.
Shivaji kept his cool. He knew that Afzal was enacting those desecrations to make him do some rash act or move or to draw him out in open. Shivaji stayed put safely in his fort.
Afzal Khan rampaged on razing down villages terrorising and killing people. He reached Faltan where Shivaji’s brother-in-law Nimbalkar lived. Inspite of Nimbalkar being in the service of the Bijapur empire Afzal Khan grabbed him, abused him, beat him, tortured him, converted him into Islam and then announced death sentence. Even this outrageous act failed to provoke Shivaji.
Hindu commanders and soldiers of Bijapur didn’t like Afzal’s acts. Naik Pandre spoke to Afzal Khan, “We keep quite over whatever you have been doing keeping in view of our being soldiers of one army. But you forget that Nimbalkar is our man. Whole of the Nimbalkar family is loyal Bijapur employees. You are inflicting wounds on yourself. Shivaji should be laughing at us because you are trying to defeat yourself. All our Hindu soldiers are getting upset.”
This cooled down Afzal Khan. He realised his mistake and released Nimbalkar on the condition that he would pay a fine of 60,000 coins.
As Hindus of Bijapur army resented the destruction of temples and Afzal’s fanatical attitude the army was now less united. The strategists of Afzal camp were now realising why Shivaji was not coming out in open to challenge them. Afzal was becoming very unpopular in his own camp which suited Shivaji.
At Wai, the district centre, Afzal Khan announced a period of rest to heal the wounds and cool down the anger of his soldiers. Monsoon had set in. The atmosphere became gloomy. All around there were high dark mountains and forests. There was no sign of Shivaji.
Shopping Cart
