Battle of Salher- Prelude to Indian Reconquista

This battle of Salher is considered to be one of the bloodiest and significant in Indian history. It is one of the battles where an Indian Hindu army defeated a Mughal one in an open battlefield conflict. Bijapuris have already acknowledged Shivaji’s supremacy. After this battle, even Mughals became defensive.

Salher is the highest fort in the Sahyadri range of Maharashtra. Chhatrapati Shivaji wanted to capture of Salher fort as this could provide easy access to Gujarat.

Shivaji invested fort of Salher in January 1672. He personally scaled the fortress with a rope ladder with 20,000 men, surrounded the place and captured it. The Mughal commandant of the fortress named Fatullah Khan perished while fighting.  Imperialists tried to recapture the fort.This attempt at recapture led to the bloody Battle of Salher.

Aurangzeb sent Ikhlaas Khan and Bahlol Khan with a cavalry of 20,000 horses to attack Salher. Ikhlaas Khan then laid siege of Salher Fort. Shivaji sent two of his military officers- Sardar Moropant Pingle (Peshwa or First Minister) and Sardar Prataprao Gujar (Senapati or Army Chief) to fight the besieged Salher fort in 1672.  As planned, both Prataprao and Moropant rode to Salher from both sides and a fierce battle ensued. 

The Mughals possessed heavy cavalry and artillery guns transported on the back of elephants and camels. Shivaji’s light cavalry effectively held and broke Mughal lines.

The imperial Mughal armies were completely routed and the Marathas gave them a crushing defeat. Shivaji’s troops captured 6,000 horses, 6,000 camels, 150 elephants, heavy gold ornaments, gold coins, expensive carpets and expensive cloth from the enemy troops.The Marathas took two officers of the Mughals as prisoners of war (POW). They were Ikhlas Khan and Bahlol Khan.

This defeat created much consternation in Delhi court. It was now established firmly that Marathas could win open-field battles and would not shy away from challenges of this nature. For Aurangzeb, the "Mountain Rat" had finally come of age. Surendranath Sen captured the state of Aurangzeb in Siva Chhatrapati Vol.i- 

-The Badshah at Delhi felt much distressed on learning this news. For three days he did not come out. For three days, he did not come to the Hall of Public Audience. He said, “It seems God has taken away the Badshahi from the Musalmans (and) conferred it on Shivaji”