The Sacking of Burhanpur (31 January 1681 - 2 February 1681) refers to the looting of the wealthy city of

Burhanpur Burhanpur'' is a historical city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative seat of Burhanpur District. It is situated on the north bank of the Tapti River and northeast of city of Mumbai, southwest of the state's capi ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

by the Maratha ruler

Sambhaji Sambhaji Bhosale (14 May 1657 – 11 March 1689) was the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire, ruling from 1681 to 1689. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. Sambhaji's rule was largely shaped by the ongoing ...

. The Maratha army commanded by

and

Hambirrao Mohite Hambirrao Mohite was the chief military commander of Chattrapati Shivaji's army. An able military general, he executed several campaigns for Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj and later served under Chattrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. Early life Hambirra ...

attacked and plundered the city for three days. The Marathas got a huge loot and returned to Raigad by evading Mughal forces.Marathas also sacked aurangabad after this sack.

Background

Sambhaji ascended to throne after the death of his father

Shivaji 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 Adils ...

in 1680. He was crowned on 16 January 1681 at the

Raigad Fort Raigad is a hill fort situated in Mahad, Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It is one of the strongest fortresses on the Deccan Plateau. It was previously known as Rairee or Rairy fort. Many constructions and structures on Raigad were ...

. His coronation ceremony was attended by more than 50,000 people. A large amount of money was spent on the function, and Sambhaji wanted to replenish his depleted treasury. The Mughal emperor

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

had finished his campaign in Rajputana and was preparing for a full-scale invasion of the

Deccan Plateau The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

. Sambhaji knew that 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 ...

was heading into a sustained conflict against the overwhelmingly larger

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

. He wanted to fill the Maratha treasury before the arrival of Aurangzeb in Deccan. Sambhaji also wanted to gain a psychological edge over his opponent Aurangzeb by scoring the first victory.

Maratha Plan

Sambhaji called a strategic meeting of his advisors and senior generals at Raigad, just after his coronation. Sambhaji and Maratha generals decided to attack and plunder Burhanpur as it was an important trading center and a very rich city. The distance between

and

was more than 500 kilometres. The city was heavily fortified and guarded by a force of 8,000. Sambhaji had got the news that Bahadur khan Kokaltash, the

Subedar Subedar is a rank of junior commissioned officer in the Indian Army; a senior non-commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army, and formerly a Viceroy's commissioned officer in the British Indian Army. History ''Subedar'' or ''subadar'' was the ...

of Burhanpur was going to Aurangabad for his nephew's wedding with a girl from the royal family of

Abul Hasan Qutb Shah Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, also known as Abul Hasan Tana Shah was the eighth and last ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, sovereign of the Kingdom of Golconda in South India. He ruled from 1672 to 1686. The last Sultan of this Shia Islamic dynasty, Tana ...

. Bahadurkhan took a force 3,000 with him for the wedding. Hence Burhanpur was left with an army of 5,000 under Bahadurkhan's deputy Kakar Khan.

decided to further bifurcate the force at Burhanpur by feigning a move to attack

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...

, forcing the Mughals at Burhanpur to send reinforcement to Surat, which had been sacked by Shivaji twice before.

Sacking of Burhanpur

reached the forests near Burhanpur with a 15,000 strong cavalry force. Kakar Khan gathered civilian forces and decided to attack Hambirrao at midnight. As he came out of the city gates, Sambhaji himself attacked from the old trenches with a cavalry force of 4,000. Sambhaji's force routed the ill-prepared Mughal garrison. Sambhaji then left 200-300 soldiers at the main city gate and left for Bahadurpura, the richest suburb of the city. Sambhaji started to loot the houses of the richest merchants which were shown to him by his spies. Hambirrao's force soon joined Sambhaji and the combined Maratha force started looting the city. Hambirrao, then sealed the city's entrances to ensure that the word of the attack doesn't spread out. Marathas looted the city consecutively for three days. Marathas earned a loot estimated to be around 2 crore rupees. The Marathas also captured the city fort and arrested Kakar Khan. Bahadurkhan got the news and immediately left Aurangabad with a large army to save Burhanpur. When Marathas heard this they immediately fled the city, as they were far away from Maratha territory.

Withdrawal of Maratha forces

Sambhaji left Burhanpur and started marching towards Raigad. Bahadurkhan left Aurangabad with a force of around 20,000 to seize the loot back from the Marathas. Sambhaji divided his forces into three divisions. There were two routes to reach Raigad, a shorter one via Dharangao-

Chopda ''Chopda'' is a city and municipal council in the Jalgaon district in the state of Maharashtra, India. Geography Chopda is a town and one of the Tehsils constituting 111 villages in the Jalgaon district in Maharashtra, a state in the western ...

and a longer one via

Erandol Erandol is a town and a taluka in Jalgaon district in the Indian state of Maharashtra state. It is situated on the banks of the Anjani River. Folklore Erandol was known as "Ek Chakra Nagari" in the time of the Pandavas. Later, the town's name ...

. Bahadurkhan was waiting for Sambhaji's forces at the first route. Sambhaji's first division under Mulla Kazi Haider disguised as envoys took this route. Bahadurkhan arrested them all but they convinced him that Sambhaji would choose the longer route to avoid his forces. After some time the second division of Maratha force consisting of 3,000 soldiers passed via the same route without any loot. Bahadurkhan did not attack them as he was concerned with securing the loot. Bahadurkhan was convinced after seeing this force that Sambhaji has opted for the longer route and left for Erandol. Three hours after Bahadurkhan had left the first route, the entire remaining Maratha army (Third division) took the loot via the same Dharangaon-Chopda route towards the Maratha stronghold of

Salher Salher is a place located near Waghamba in Satana tehsil in Nashik district of Maharashtra, India.The old name of Salher was Gavalgarh, which was based on the name of the local Bhil king named Gaval Bhil, he was the discoverer of this place. I ...

. And the Marathas reached Raigad shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, Bahadurkhan had left Aurangabad hastily with a large army leaving only few soldiers in Aurangabad. Seeing this opportunity a Maratha sardar named Suryaji Jakhde attacked Aurangabad with a force of 7,000 via

Paithan Paithan pəɪ.ʈʰaɳ(), historically Pratiṣṭhāna ɾə'tɪʂʈʰana is a town with municipal council in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, India. Paithan is located south of present-day Aurangabad on the Godavari River. It was the cap ...

. Bahadurkhan immediately rushed to Aurangabad via Fardapur and Suryaji Jakhde had to retreat from the city.

Assassination attempt on Sambhaji

had stationed a few of his elite horsemen called Ahadi, in every important Mughal city. Their job was to locate and kill the leader of enemy forces in case of an attack. When Sambhaji left Burhanpur for Raigad, five Ahadi horsemen from Burhanpur started to chase the returning Maratha army. Sambhaji went to Vani with a small force to visit Saptashringi temple, and was attacked, but he managed to kill the 5 assassins in the fight.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burhanpur * Military history of India Wars involving India 17th-century conflicts Wars involving the Mughal Empire 17th century in India Conflicts in 1681 Battles fought by Marathas under Sambhaji