Editing Shivaji (section)

== Conquest in southern India ==
[[File:Tanjore Maratha Kingdom.jpg|thumb|[[Thanjavur Maratha kingdom|Tanjavur Maratha Kingdom]]]]

Beginning in 1674, the Marathas undertook an aggressive campaign, raiding [[Khandesh]] (October), capturing Bijapuri [[Ponda, Goa|Ponda]] (April 1675), [[Karwar]] (mid-year), and [[Kolhapur]] (July).{{sfn|Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times|1920|p=17}} In November, the Maratha navy skirmished with the [[Siddi]]s of [[Janjira State|Janjira]], but failed to dislodge them.<ref name="(India)1967">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EXtEAQAAIAAJ|title=Maharashtra State Gazetteers: Maratha period|author=Maharashtra (India)|publisher=Directorate of Government Printing, Stationery and Publications, Maharashtra State|year=1967|page=147}}</ref> Having recovered from an illness, and taking advantage of a civil war that had broken out between the Deccanis and the Afghans at Bijapur, Shivaji raided [[Athani (Karnataka)|Athani]] in April 1676.{{sfn|Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times|1920|p=258}}

In the run-up to his expedition, Shivaji appealed to a sense of Deccani patriotism, that Southern India was a homeland that should be protected from outsiders.<ref name="Kruijtzer2009">{{cite book|author=Gijs Kruijtzer|title=Xenophobia in Seventeenth-Century India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTTJa0usl80C|year= 2009|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-8728-068-0|pages=153–190}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kulkarni|first1=A. R.|title=Maratha Policy Towards the Adil Shahi Kingdom|journal=Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute|date=1990|volume=49|pages=221–226|jstor=42930290 }}</ref> His appeal was somewhat successful, and in 1677 Shivaji visited [[Hyderabad]] for a month and entered into a treaty with the [[Qutubshah]] of the Golkonda sultanate, who agreed to renounce his alliance with Bijapur and jointly oppose the Mughals.

In 1677, Shivaji invaded Karnataka with 30,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry, backed by Golkonda artillery and funding.{{sfn|Haig & Burn, The Mughal Period|1960|p=276}} Proceeding south, Shivaji seized the forts of [[Vellore]] and [[Gingee]];<ref name="Jr.2010">{{cite book| author=Everett Jenkins Jr. |title=The Muslim Diaspora (Volume 2, 1500–1799): A Comprehensive Chronology of the Spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kSYkCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA201|year=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-0889-1|pages=201–}}</ref> the latter would later serve as a capital of the Marathas during the reign of his son [[Rajaram I]].{{sfn|Haig & Burn, The Mughal Period|1960|p=290}} This conquest gave him possession of vast territory in Mysore plateau and Madras Carnatic, containing 100 forts.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Shivaji intended to reconcile with his half-brother [[Venkoji]] (Ekoji I), Shahaji's son by his second wife, Tukabai (née [[Mohite (clan)|Mohite]]), who ruled [[Thanjavur Maratha kingdom|Thanjavur]] (Tanjore) after Shahaji. The initially promising negotiations were unsuccessful, so whilst returning to Raigad, Shivaji defeated his half-brother's army on 26 November 1677 and seized most of his possessions on the [[Mysore plateau]]. Venkoji's wife Dipa Bai, whom Shivaji deeply respected, took up new negotiations with Shivaji and also convinced her husband to distance himself from his Muslim advisors. In the end, Shivaji consented to turn over to her and her female descendants many of the properties he had seized, with Venkoji consenting to a number of conditions for the proper administration of the territories and maintenance of [[Shahaji|Shahji]]'s tomb ([[Samadhi (shrine)|''samadhi'']]).{{sfn|Sardesai|1957|p=251}}<ref name="Jayapal1997">{{cite book|author=Maya Jayapal|title=Bangalore: the story of a city|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEluAAAAMAAJ|year=1997|publisher=Eastwest Books (Madras)|isbn=978-81-86852-09-5|page=20|quote=Shivaji's and Ekoji's armies met in battle on 26 November 1677, and Ekoji was defeated. By the treaty he signed, Bangalore and the adjoining areas were given to Shivaji, who then made them over to Ekoji's wife Deepabai to be held by her, with the proviso that Ekoji had to ensure that Shahaji's Memorial was well tended.}}</ref>