Bahirji Naik

 This is the story of Bahirji Naik, Shivaji’s Chief of Intelligence, who was so perfect in his methods that history can only infer what he (and his people) did but not how they accomplished their supreme feats. This is as it should be. For unlike some of the fiasco’s associated with “intelligence” operations in the 20th century, methods used by successful spies should best remain unknown.  To my knowledge, there is no official picture of Bahirji! The drawing accompanying this story is artist’s rendition of Bahirji spies at work. They are shown here searching for a way out of the siege of Panhala. They succeeded in finding a path that was “safe” in that it was not as well guarded by Jowhar’s army as other paths. Shivaji was supremely confident of Bahirji’s information and based his escape strategy accordingly. Shivaji sent his emissary to negotiate a date for a “summit meeting” with General Jowhar in Jowhar’s tent. This had the effect of slightly reducing the attention paid to the siege by his army, even though Jowhar himself continued to be cautious. The night before the appointed date, Shivaji and a select few of his soldiers left Panhala under the cover of darkness and the cacophony of monsoon rains! Baji Prabhu Deshpande was the captain of these soldiers. The plan was to achieve safety atop the difficult fort of VishalGad.  As if leaving Panhala siege under cover was not hard enough, Bahirji had warned Shivaji that VishalGad was under siege by a Marathi  captain of Vijapur darbaar! However, through the good office of Bahirji Naik, Shivaji had arranged to have his chief at VishalGad attack the siege from inside the fort when they saw Shivaji and his army attacking it from outside. Vijapur army could not withstand this attack on two fronts and the siege of VishalGad was broken. Thus, Shivaji reached this fort with freshly reinforced army and could finally rest a few days in relative safety. Thus, Bahirji’s intelligence operation played a vital role in saving Shivaji!

 This was not the only occasion when Bahirji was a key contributor in Shivaji’s success. Bahirji was good at gathering detailed information about every aspect of his missions and a lion’s share of credit for many of Shivaji’s surprising feats must go to Bahirji Naik and his people.  Some of the results of their work are listed below.

• Shivaji and his officers specialized in capturing the enemy forts via surprise attacks followed by quick victories. This was the strategy underlying Shivaji’s guerrilla warfare -- a rare practice in those days. Having precise military information was crucial to the success of this strategy. The battles were usually over within hours rather than months needed to capture a fort via open siege.
• In UmbarKhind, a mountain pass near Lonavala, Shivaji ambushed and defeated the 20,000-strong army of Colonel KartalabKhan, a well-known military officer of ShahisteKhan, in a 2-hour battle! Shivaji captured valuable military equipment and accepted the deserters from Khan’s army into his own.
• Shiavji paid a surprise visit to ShahisteKhan in Khan’s military camp at Pune comprised of at least 70,000 soldiers under cover of darkness. The objective was to kill Khan and thus de-moralize his army. Khan survived this daring attack by Shivaji – minus four fingers! Shivaji then escaped to SinhGad while enticing Khan’s army on a wild chase to a mountain pass in Katraj. Khan did not die but was thoroughly de-moralized. He had occupied Pune and terrorized the surrounding population for over 3 years. Within 3 days of Shivaji’s visit, Khan left Pune!
• Twice, Shiavji successfully attacked Surat, Aurangzeb’s financial capital and carried away much of its wealth as repatriation of the expenses incurred and pain suffered by Shivaji’s citizens during years of occupations by forces of Aurangzeb’s army first under ShahisteKhan and then under MirzaRaja JaiSingh. On each occasion, Shivaji did not harm those who had engaged in significant acts of charity.
• Shivaji escaped from Aurangzeb’s jail in Agra, a city that was totally foreign to Shivaji – even though the jail itself was surrounded by 1,000-strong army under an able commander, and Shivaji had to travel 700 miles through Aurangzeb’s kingdom.
• After the second expedition to Surat, Colonel IkhlasKhan was chasing Shivaji’s army. When Khan reached KanchanBari (near Nasik), he found that Shivaji was ready to face Khan in an open battle! Khan had lost the advantage of surprise. Shivaji captured valuable military equipment after his victory in this 6-hour battle.

 It is not fashionable in the United States of the last several decades but spies perform a much needed function for the benefit of their nation, and according to Sage Narada in the great epic MahaBharat, a capable leader must cultivate spies. The same advice of also given by Arya Chanakya – the chief advisor to emperor ChandraGupta Maurya, “Spies are the eyes of a ruler”. Political decline of the otherwise powerful state of Sindh at the hands of Moslem invaders from Northern Asia was a consequence of neglecting to develop and nurture this essential function. This mistake was repeated by the otherwise mighty rulers of DevGiri with the consequence that Maharashtra suffered centuries of tyranny at the hands of a succession of Moslem rulers of foreign origin (Afghanistan, Turkey, Persia, etc.). It was this tyranny that Shivaji was trying to eliminate.

This fort borders on Konkan and that side of the fort has shear drop of thousands of feet. Consequently, it would have been almost impossible to lay impregnable siege to this fort.

Unfortunately, more often than not Shivaji had to fight other Hindu chiefs of army rather than Moslems. His was not a religious war but rather a war between ideologies. Shivaji wanted to create a nation of laws that common citizen could relate to. The opposing kingdoms were ruled by tyrants and despots whose appointments were hereditary.

Shivaji was an Equal Opportunity Employer and rewarded capable persons regardless of their caste or religious affiliations. Bahirji Naik was an “untouchable”. Given the prevailing social norms, other rulers might not have given him opportunities to demonstrate his talents.