Conquests and Guerrilla Warfare

The Art of Ganimi Kava

At seventeen, Shivaji captured his first fort. Over the next two decades, he would invent a revolutionary style of warfare, ganimi kava, the art of guerrilla tactics, that humiliated the mightiest armies of his age. From the killing of Afzal Khan to the daring raid on Shaista Khan, discover how a young warrior with a handful of Mavlas built an empire that the Mughals could not destroy.

The First Fort Falls

In 1645, two years before Dadoji Konddev's death, seventeen-year-old Shivaji made his first move. Without informing his father or his mentor, he took a small band of Mavla companions and captured Torna Fort, a neglected hilltop fortress in the Sahyadris.

The fort was poorly defended. Its Bijapur garrison barely resisted. But the message was revolutionary: a teenage Hindu had seized a Sultanate fortress and raised his own flag.

"I have taken what belongs to my people. Let those who object come and take it back."

Shahaji, his father, was furious. Serving the Bijapur Sultanate, he feared his son's recklessness would destroy the family. The Sultan was appeased with apologies and payments. But Shivaji had tasted independence, and he wanted more.

The Strategy of Forts

Between 1645 and 1659, Shivaji systematically captured fortress after fortress across the Sahyadri ranges. His strategy was clear:

By 1659, Shivaji controlled a network of hill forts stretching across the Western Ghats. Each fort was a base for further operations, a refuge in retreat, and a symbol of growing Maratha power.

Key forts captured in this period:

• Torna (1645), The first conquest
• Rajgad (1647), Became his first capital
• Kondana (later Sinhagad, 1648)
• Purandar (1648)
• Javli (1656), Required defeating the Maratha chief More

Ganimi Kava: The Art of Guerrilla Warfare

Shivaji's military innovation was ganimi kava, literally "enemy tactics" or what we now call guerrilla warfare. He fought not like a traditional Hindu king with elephant-mounted cavalry meeting the enemy in open battle, but like a mountain wolf:

Principles of Ganimi Kava:

1. Never fight pitched battles, The enemy has more men, elephants, and artillery. Avoid their strength.

2. Strike and vanish, Attack supply lines, isolated garrisons, and treasure convoys. Disappear before reinforcements arrive.

3. Use terrain, Fight in mountains where cavalry and elephants are useless. Know every path, every cave, every escape route.

4. Travel light, Mavla soldiers carried their own food, weapons, and supplies. No baggage trains to slow them down.

5. Attack at night, Storm forts under cover of darkness. Use grappling hooks and ropes to scale walls.

6. Deceive always, Use spies, false information, and theatrical deception to confuse the enemy.

The great Mughal and Sultanate armies had no answer to these tactics. They were designed to crush conventional forces on open plains. Against an enemy who refused to fight conventionally, their size became a weakness.

The Afzal Khan Encounter (1659)

Shivaji's most famous exploit came in 1659. The Bijapur Sultanate, finally taking the Maratha threat seriously, sent their greatest general, Afzal Khan, with an army of 10,000 to crush the upstart.

Afzal Khan was a giant of a man, renowned for his strength and ferocity. He had destroyed dozens of Hindu temples and killed many Maratha chiefs. He represented everything Shivaji's Swarajya opposed.

The confrontation unfolded in three acts:

Act I: The Psychological War

As Afzal Khan approached, Shivaji retreated into the hills around Pratapgad Fort, refusing battle. He let the giant army chase him through mountains that exhausted horses and broke supply lines. Afzal Khan, frustrated, proposed a personal meeting to negotiate.

Act II: The Trap

Shivaji agreed to meet Afzal Khan in a tent at the foot of Pratapgad. Both sides agreed to bring minimal guards. But Shivaji came prepared: beneath his robes, he wore chain mail. On his left hand, he wore the wagh nakh (tiger claws), a concealed weapon with four curved blades.

Act III: The Kill

When the two men embraced in the tent, Afzal Khan tried to stab Shivaji with a concealed dagger. The chain mail saved Shivaji's life. In the same instant, Shivaji struck with the wagh nakh, disemboweling the giant general.

As Afzal Khan fell, his bodyguards rushed in. Shivaji's hidden soldiers counterattacked. The Maratha army, positioned in the surrounding hills, fell upon the leaderless Bijapur force. The rout was complete.

The message echoed across India: the Marathas had killed the greatest general of the age in single combat.

The Raid on Shaista Khan (1663)

Four years later, Shivaji faced an even greater threat. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb sent his uncle, Shaista Khan, with a massive army to crush the Marathas. Shaista Khan captured Pune itself and established his headquarters in the Lal Mahal, Shivaji's childhood home.

For two years, Shaista Khan seemed invincible. His army was too large to attack directly. The Marathas were pushed back into the hills.

Then Shivaji attempted the impossible.

On a moonless night in April 1663, a small band of Marathas infiltrated Pune disguised as a wedding party. They knew the Lal Mahal intimately, it had been their own home. Using secret passages and bribed servants, they penetrated the Mughal defenses.

Shivaji himself led the assault on Shaista Khan's bedchamber. In the chaos, Shaista Khan escaped through a window, but lost three fingers to a Maratha sword and saw his son killed before his eyes.

The humiliation was total. The mighty Mughal general, with 150,000 troops, had been attacked in his own bedroom. Aurangzeb, enraged, transferred Shaista Khan to Bengal in disgrace.

The Surat Raids (1664 & 1670)

Shivaji followed the Shaista Khan raid with an even bolder stroke: attacking Surat, the richest port in India and the Mughal Empire's economic lifeline.

In January 1664, Shivaji's forces descended on Surat. For three days, they looted the city, seizing treasure worth millions from Mughal nobles and foreign merchants. They carefully spared Hindu and common Muslim households, targeting only the wealthy and powerful.

The English and Dutch trading companies watched from their fortified factories, too terrified to intervene. The message was clear: the Marathas could strike anywhere, even the heart of Mughal commerce.

Shivaji returned in 1670 for a second raid, taking even more treasure. These funds financed the expansion of his navy and the fortification of his hill forts.

The Cost and the Glory

By 1665, Shivaji controlled:

• Over 40 hill forts across the Western Ghats
• A growing navy with bases along the Konkan coast
• A trained army of 50,000 Mavla soldiers
• Revenue from conquered territories
• The fear and respect of every power in India

But success brought greater threats. In 1665, Aurangzeb sent Jai Singh, one of his ablest generals, with an overwhelming force. This time, there would be no easy escape. The Mughals besieged Shivaji's forts one by one.

Faced with the destruction of everything he had built, Shivaji made a painful choice: he agreed to the Treaty of Purandar, surrendering 23 forts and agreeing to serve as a Mughal commander.

It seemed like the end of Swarajya. But Shivaji was playing a longer game. His acceptance of Mughal terms would lead to the most dramatic episode of his life, his journey to Agra and his legendary escape.

The Art of War, Maratha Style

Shivaji's military genius lay not in winning great battles, he rarely fought them, but in making the enemy's strength irrelevant.

Traditional warfare favored:

• Large armies on open plains
• Elephants and heavy cavalry
• Siege warfare with artillery
• Set-piece battles with clear outcomes

Ganimi kava substituted:

• Small, mobile forces in mountain terrain
• Light cavalry and infantry
• Rapid fort capture and defense
• Endless harassment with no decisive engagement

The Mughals and Sultanates never solved this puzzle. They could win any battle Shivaji would fight, but he wouldn't fight battles. They could besiege any fort he held, but while they besieged one, he captured three others. They could occupy any territory, but couldn't hold it against constant raids.

This was Shivaji's revolution: not a new ideology, but a new way of war that made Hindu resistance sustainable against vastly superior forces.