Shaista Khan, Surat and Purandar

After Afzal Khan came a bigger threat. The Mughal nobleman Shaista Khan invaded Shivaji's lands with a large army and stayed for three years.

Shivaji's answer was not a battle. With only a few soldiers he raided Shaista Khan's camp at night. The Khan barely escaped, losing a few fingers, and quickly left Maharashtra.

The chapter compares this to a modern surgical strike: a military attack meant to damage only a specific target, with little or no harm to other people or buildings.

Then Shivaji struck back for those three years of attacks by sacking Surat, a rich Mughal port city in present-day Gujarat. He took treasure worth almost one crore of rupees, a huge sum for the time.

But note what he did not do. He was careful not to attack religious places, and he spared the house of Mohandas Parekh, a charitable man. Even a raid had rules.

He sacked Surat again a few years later, and the news travelled far beyond India. The London Gazette reported how he wrote to all the European agents there demanding 'immediate presents of money', or he would 'return and ruin that city'.

Surat was a great insult to Mughal pride, so Aurangzeb sent Jai Singh, a famous Rajput general, against him.

This time Shivaji lost. He accepted defeat at Purandar Fort near Pune and signed a treaty, giving up a large part of his kingdom, and his son Sambhaji had to enter Mughal service. The chapter does not hide his defeats, which makes the comeback that follows worth reading.