Shivaji was born in a period of Mughal imperial siesta, with the afterglow of Akbar still illuminating the empire of Jehangir, the Just and Shah Jahan, the Magnificent but being a child of the hills (Aurangzeb called him a mountain rat), Shivaji could spot the shadows that lurked, behind which he hid himself, and, as they extended under Aurangzeb, he his forays, striking at the flanks, Shivaji rarely took on the Europeans: he didn’t want yet another enemy.

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