SHIVAJI'S ESCAPE

Shivaji gained kingship in 1674 and ruled till 1680. He was called Chhatrapati Shivaji.

Shivaji once sent a letter to Aurangzeb saying that he wanted to meet him to offer him his friendship, but he had actually planned to kill Aurangzeb.

Shivaji was called to the court in Agra, but when he went there, he was insulted.

He was made to sit with the common people and not with the nobles in the court. This was done not only because Aurangzeb wanted to insult him, but also because he did not want Shivaji to come near him.

Feeling insulted, Shivaji got angry and tried to walk away from the court, but Aurangzeb had him arrested. He was kept under house arrest along with his son Sambhaji.

Slowly the news spread that Shivaji was sick and was soon going to die.

He told Aurangzeb that he would like to make up for the sins he had committed.

He asked for Aurangzeb's permission to send sweets and other gifts for the poor. As Aurangzeb was very religious man, he agreed to this at once.

Every day, each and every basket was checked by Polad Khan before sending them out.  But he found only sweets in them.

Slowly the guards became careless and did not check the baskets thoroughly.

Then one day, Shivaji put his son in one basket and in another he sat himself.

That day too Polad Khan checked some baskets and found only sweets in them.

He did not check the baskets in which Shivaji and his son were sitting.

After the baskets were taken out, Polad Khan went to see Shivaji in his room to make sure he was there.

He saw a man lying down covered with a blanket with his hand outside the blanket. On one of the fingers was the royal ring of Shivaji.

In this way Shivaji escaped from the Mughal prison. He was healthy and not sick. All this sickness was his plan to escape from the prison because Aurangzeb wanted to hang him.

Polad Khan was thus satisfied that Shivaji was inside his own room.

The man who was lying in the place of Shivaji was Hiroji. He was wearing he ring given by Shivaji. A Young boy was sitting near him.

The date on which Shivaji was to be hanged was drawing closer and Aurangzeb was eagerly waiting for it.

A day before the day of hanging, Hiroji got up and wore his own clothes. He went to the guards and said that he had to go and get some medicines as Shivaji was felling very sick.