The navy and guerrilla warfare

As Shivaji's kingdom reached India's west coast, he faced a new problem, and solved it in a way nobody around him had.

To secure the resources of the coast, he set up a navy. The chapter calls this "a truly revolutionary step at the time", and the comparison shows why.

The Bijapur Sultanate had merchant ships but no full-time navy to protect the coast. Even the Mughal Empire's use of a navy was very limited.

So the great powers in India had ships for trade but not for defence. Kings thought the sea belonged to merchants; Shivaji saw that a king must control the water too. The Maratha Navy's deeds became legendary, and sea forts like Sindhudurg, near the Maharashtra–Goa border, were built to support it.

On land, Shivaji used guerrilla warfare: small groups working in a focused way, using speed, surprise and knowledge of the land to beat bigger armies.

His successes angered the Bijapur Sultanate, which sent the experienced general Afzal Khan against him.

Shivaji and his advisers persuaded Afzal Khan to meet him one-on-one at the foot of Pratapgad fort, among thick forests. There Shivaji killed him with the wāgh nakh: a small weapon shaped like a tiger's claw, made for close fighting.

And the meeting was only half the plan. The Marathas, hidden in the mountains, then routed the Khan's leaderless army with guerrilla attacks. The place had been chosen as carefully as the weapon.