Jaoli (or Jawali) principality was a

Jagir A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, start ...

of Maratha

Morè (clan) Morè is a Maratha clan and Mahar clan from the present day Indian state of Maharashtra. Clan members also use it as the surname. Members of the Marathas as well as Mahars Morè clan use the clan name as their surname. The totem associated with this ...

which is located in the western part of the present day

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

state.

Jaoli Jaoli is a tehsil, a taluka in subdivision of Satara district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. History The area was ruled by the Morè (clan). The Morè clan claims descent from the Somavanshi king of ...

was seen as a strategically important by Shivaji Maharaj as it is surrounded by dense forest with 13 forts.

History

The state was centered on the valley surrounding

.Battacharya, Sachchidananda. ''A Dictionary of Indian History'' (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1977) p. 516-517. In the 1650s, it was ruled by More family, who were vassals of the

Adil Shah Ali-qoli Khan ( fa, علیقلی‌خان), commonly known by his regnal title Adel Shah (also spelled Adil; , "the Just King") was the second shah of Afsharid Iran, ruling from 1747 to 1748. He was the nephew and successor of Nader Shah (), th ...

of the

Bijapur Sultanate The Adil Shahi or Adilshahi, was a Shia,Salma Ahmed Farooqui, ''A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century'', (Dorling Kindersley Pvt Ltd., 2011), 174. and later Sunni Muslim,Muhammad Qasim Firishta's T ...

. The ruler used the name Chandra Rao, who called himself the king of

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

. He claimed to rule by the divine sanction of the god Mahabaleshwar (an aspect of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

), and had been formally recognized as the local ''Raje'' (king) by the Adil Shah. Around 1656,

Shivaji Maharaj Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adilsh ...

- another vassal of Adil Shah forcibly captured Jaoli. Shivaji Maharaj, who had similarly captured other territories in the area, justified his action to the Adil Shah, arguing that he governed these territories better than the deposed rulers did. However, the Adil Shah doubted Shivaji Maharaj's loyalty, and sent his general Afzal Khan against Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji Maharaj defeated Afzal Khan, and went on to establish an independent kingdom that evolved into the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

References

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History

See also

References