Baji Prabhu DeshPande

By Madhukar Joshi
     This is the story of a military officer who started his career in the service of ChandraRao More, a feudal lord  that was a lifelong enemy of the Bhosale family and ended it as a captain who saved Shivaji and his vision of Hindavi Swarajya.
     When Shivaji defeated ChandraRao More and his clan at Jawali (near RaiGad), Baji Prabhu was a defending officer! Shivaji convinced Baji to join the cause of Hindavi Swarajya and thus gained a powerful ally. This is a credit to Shivaji’s powers of persuasion as well as to Baji’s acceptance of righteousness of the cause. Baji and his ancestors had been DeshPande’s (feudal lords) for many generations whereas Shivaji was a relative “commoner”. Indeed, throughout his career, Shivaji had to fight many feudal lords of Marathi origin (DeshPande, DeshMukh, Inamdar, etc.) as fiercely as he fought the dictators of Vijapur or Delhi because Shivaji was a commoner to these entrenched feudal lords. Baji was a notable exception – just like Kanhoji Jedhe  DeshMukh.
     Baji was Shivaji’s officer in the fight against AfzulKhan and in the many victorious battles after the defeat and death of that Khan. He was with Shivaji at Panhala and thus was, one of the officers defending Panhala against the siege by Siddi Jowhar,   a brave and expert General from Vijapur. When it became clear that Shivaji and a select few must escape Panhala siege, Baji was the chief officer in charge of the escape attempt. With his 500 trusted soldiers, and with Shiva Kashid  as a decoy, Baji led Shivaji out of Panhala in the darkness of a rainy night.
     Despite their best attempts at a quiet getaway, Siddi Jowhar’s soldiers became aware of the escape attempt, and despite the heroic martyrdom of Shiva Kashid, more time had to be “purchased” to enable Shivaji and his party to reach VishalGad safely. Unfortunately, that fort was also under siege by a Marathi officer  loyal to Vijapur! Shivaji needed time not only to reach VishalGad but to force his way into that fort.
 Baji Prabhu dispatched half of his 500 soldiers with Shivaji and stood ready to fight Siddi Masood  with the other half at the entrance to GhodeKhind, a narrow mountain pass that the 5,000 army under Siddi Masood  must cross if they were to recapture Shivaji. Despite these 20-to-1 odds as well as the fact that they were already tired due to the stress of the secret escape attempt during a dark and rainy night, Baji Prabhu and his brave troops defended the mountain pass till they heard 3 consecutive shots of a cannon from VishalGad – the much anticipated signal that Shiavji had reached safely in that fort. Baji Prabhu and his loyal soldiers had blockaded Siddi Masood’s progress for over 12 hours! Though seriously wounded, Baji was holding on to life almost purely by his will power and died when he heard the cannon shots. Now that their goal was achieved, the rest of the Baji soldiers  left the mountain pass.
 That mountain pass has since been renamed “Pawan Khind” meaning a holy mountain pass. There Baji enabled Shivaji & the Hindavi Swarajya to survive and prosper against heavy odds Part 11
 
 


  Presumably ChandraRao More was a descendant of the great Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya dynasty and illustrious ancestor of Samraat Ashok! Literally, “Chandra” means moon and “Rao” is an honorific. His brother was “Surya” – meaning the Sun. Despite this, both brothers were happy serving the dictators of the Vijapur!
   Swarajya was to be an independent nation of laws that would replace tyrannical rulers of the day.
   Firangoji Narasala was the last of the human “gems” sent to Shivaji by his brave and visionary father, Shahaaji Bhosale. Starting with Bahirji Naik, we have been sketching portraits of the gems who were “discovered” by Shivaji himself. This is the third portrait of such heroes. In a very real sense, Shivaji had now become a leader in his own right who could persuade some of his enemies to become his friends and contribute to his vision.
   See an earlier character sketch.
   A “Siddi” is a person of African origin – a Negro in today’s terminology. They came to India as “soldiers of fortune” and often found happiness in the service of the Muslim emperors of the day (Vijapur, Delhi, etc.). They were brave, smart, hard-working and tenacious. In fact, Shivaji was never really successful against their campaigns. For instance, Siddi rulers of Janjira were so tenacious that even when one of their rulers was bribed by Shivaji’s officer, his colleagues and captains imprisoned that ruler and then continued to defend their fort against Shivaji! Eventually, as Shivaji himself became a successful leader, some of the Siddi’s (notably, Siddi Hilal) joined in Shivaji’s service.
   See the preceding character sketch.
    He was a “double” Sun --- His first name was “Surya” (!) last name was Surve. Nonetheless, he was helping spread the darkness of slavery to Vijapur dictators rather than bring in the Sunshine of independence!
   A son-in-law of Siddi Jowhar.
   Many of Shivaji’s contemporaries have openly wondered on his amazing ability to gather such supremely loyal people. What made them do it? We will try to analyze some of the reasons in a future article.