Machine summary:
g. , Dr. Smith) are of opinion that it was Shivaji who gave the first blow with a treacherous motive and Afzal Khan was an innocent victim at the hand of the Marhatta hero.
Taka Khab of the Queen's College, Bombay) say that it was Afzal Khan who took the first initiative in the engagement and gave the first blow, and the blow of Shivaji was a mere recoil upon the Khan," Dr. Surendranath Sen, who is also a great authority on Marhatta history, says:" ...
But the Marhatta historians (or, more properly, chroniclers and ballad• writers) say that the first proposal for the interview came from Afzal Khan who, with a treacherous motive, gave the first blow.
•• At which the king of Bijapur beginning to cast an eye, finding him aspiring and intending to blast him in the bud, sent a potent army against him conducted by Abdul Caun [Afzal Khan], an experienced soldier, yet outwitted by Seva-Gi. For he, understanding of his having taken the field, while the main body was yet at a distance, sent him flattering and seducing messages, intimating withal, if he would but stop his march at an appointed Choultry (place of halt], out of sight of each rendezvous, he would meet him and kiss his feet.
If Afzal be the first man (as the Marhatta Chroniclers and their followers assert) to make the first proposal and be anxious for it, then why should Shivaji send his mother as a hostage to the Khan?