The 2nd of June marked the 350th anniversary of the coronation of ShivaJi. With that in mind – it seemed apt to finalize a piece looking at a rather under-explored detail pertaining to the great man’s ascent. 

As I think we all know by now, I make a fairly active study of what we might term ‘Combat Theology’. This comes in a number of flavourings. Some of them – as in this case – being the application of theological elements to the more sidereal spheres where words like “combat” are more usually anticipated to be. 

Now, these are things which we of course encounter within the mythic sphere; and, in the West, we are vaguely familiar with the notions that they encompass via our passing knowledges of ancient antiquity. Yet in the Indo-European East, such things never really went away – and the performance of elaborate offerings in order to invoke the favour, blessing, and protection of Divinity for rulers and generals was part and parcel of martial life. 

I had recently happened across the following detail in the Sabhasad Bakhar, a biography of ShivaJi of the Marathas. For context as to what’s going on here, Aurangzeb, the Mughal Emperor of his day, had chosen to send proxies to deal with the worrisome Hindu rebel lord. Something previously undertaken by Aurangzeb’s now-client Bijapur Sultanate also.

This had … not gone very well for the opponents of the young hero, – with the first such adversary, the Adilshahi general Afzal Khan sent by Bijapur, being killed by either ShivaJi or one of His guards following what we might somewhat euphemistically term a ‘breakdown in negotiations’ (that is to say , Afzal Khan is alleged to have attempted to stab ShivaJi when embracing Him … only for it to turn out that ShivaJi had been wearing chainmail under His robes, and come prepared for treachery with the famed ‘Bagh Nakh’ (‘Tiger-Claws’) and other weaponry to retaliate with).

The second fared no better. Shaista Khan having sought to insult ShivaJi in various terms via having a Sanskrit missive sent to Him calling Him (amongst other things) a “wild ape of the mountains” … received two replies.

One of which being in writing – and making the exact same riposte I thought of upon hearing the Khan’s insult … viz. “Monkey, if thou wouldst call me, oh Khan! Learn that I am like unto that Valiant One Whose Glories resound in the deathless verses of the Ramayan [i.e. Hanuman]. If He destroyed Ravana, the Lord of Lanka, I shall rout your insolent hosts and rid the world of such an abomination.”
[Takakhav’s ‘Life of ShivaJi Maharaj’]

The second reply … was a downright Odyssean ploy by ShivaJi which put the ‘Armed Procession’ back in ‘Armed Procession’ [‘Baraat’ – a custom of Hindu marriage rites] as applied a (faux) marriage which He had a friendly cavalry officer in Khan’s force undertake so as to provide the Marathas with an infiltration-vector into Khan’s camp at Mughal-held Pune. 

Khan having (perhaps deliberately) set up shop in a palace that had formerly been a longstanding home of ShivaJi’s … therefore found himself surprised via an attack through the kitchen by assailants fighting on – for them – familiar ground, and lost both a son and several fingers in the process. He retained his life, yet was withdrawn and reassigned by Aurangzeb, having fallen from favour (for a time at least) with the Emperor as the result of his failings. 

ShivaJi, meanwhile, had scored a considerable victory. One which we might otherwise phrase in terms of Sun Tzu’s famous maxim – “Your opponent is choleric. Irritate him.” (Which was certainly the net impact of a string of subsequent eventualities authored by the hand of ShivaJi and His compatriots, including the successful privateering of a Mecca-bound treasure-convoy, no less).

Except for the fact that instead of simply ‘choler’ on the part of Aurangzeb, it was also some flavour of suspicion and escalating distrustfulness. 

The stunt at Pune had evidently caused Aurangzeb to re-evaluate his foe, and per Takakhav’s account, had become “convinced that ShivaJi was a past master in the art of sowing treason in the enemies’ camp”. 

This became pertinent due to the other axial of Aurangzeb’s perhaps understatedly sensible plan – that of his having sent two commanders, one Hindu (the Rajput Raja Jay Singh) and one Muslim (Diler Khan) this time; the one to watch the other, and perhaps arrest not only the prospect of treason on the part of his colleague (by which, of course, it is imputed that the Rajput Hindu lord was the main subject of such anticipated distrust), but any other silly mistakes of the sort which had previously been felt by the (wishfully thinking) Imperial perspective to characterize the actions of ShivaJi’s opponents as an explanation for his string of stunning victories. 

In any case, Jay Singh appears to have been the exactly right man to have sent; as rather than the more … bulldozery-bellicose approach of certain other Mughal agents (including, as it happened, particular of  the Muslim factotums whom he’d been dispatched with – which caused some difficulty and needless losses for the Mughal side), this was a man who made active use of the forging of alliances and diplomacy, stirring up grudges and extending offers to the various chieftains of the Deccan so as to motivate them to oppose ShivaJi and thusly to wield as many of the Maratha’s adversaries into a single coalition as he might.

In this way, he sought to deny his opponent the vital ‘political’ terrain that could otherwise have provided support and fertile grounds for expansion amidst its internecine ‘room to maneuver’; just as his strategy of swift-moving ‘flying columns’ darting across the landscape, harrying him from multiple directions, and the raising of Maratha villages (in preference, as at Rajgarh, to attacking nearby Maratha fortification) that thence ensued sought to undermine Shivaji’s ‘base’ and environs in the more conventional manner.

One supposes we could designate this style of campaign a sort of ‘proto-counter-insurgency’ (not that the Marathas would quite fit under the categorization of an ‘insurgency’ in the modern sense of the term) – carried out via approaches which bore not inconsiderable resemblance to those tactics and orientations employed by an ‘insurgency’ or ‘guerilla force’, itself; yet considerably availed, also, via the superiority of resources which one of the world’s then-great empires could afford to bring to bear upon its hill-country opposition. 

Jai Singh’s efforts also extended into the ‘subversive’ in other fashions – incorporating espionage-ish efforts which sought to recruit ShivaJi’s officers to the Mughal cause in a manner perhaps not entirely unreminiscent of ShivaJi’s own earlier successful efforts in this sphere against his Mughal-sent foe, Shaista Khan; albeit without the aforementioned ‘Odyssean’ genius to his ploys which characterized ShivaJi’s efforts (Jai Singh hardly needing such intricacies due to the scale of resources and sheer application of conventional siege cannon which he could bring to bear), even as they could prove damaging to the integrity of ShivaJi’s forces through the metal of gold rather than the metal of bullets.

ShivaJi, for his part, was alleged to have kept up his previous gambitry, with skillful co-options within the Mughal camp under Jai Singh inferred by the latter to have taken place – although as applies the most prominent of these, one Daud Khan Qureshi, it would seem also possible that various of his actions supposedly carried out as pro-Maratha subversion may also be explicable via simple incompetence and other more ‘endogenous’ motivations instead.

However, if we are to discuss those stratagems of Shivaji which had found most interesting ‘mirroring’ by Jai Singh, then it is the religious dimension that – perhaps predictably – harbours my greatest degree of interest herein.

And in that particular regard, there is a most interesting accounting to be found in the Sabhasad Bakhar, a Maratha text written approximately thirty two years after the events we are about to recount.

Now, it is a Maratha presentation – and this has lead to some critical commentary observing that particular details are a bit ‘different’ as applies other tellings … in particular, as applies Jai Singh, turning what is a ‘surrender’ of sorts by ShivaJi (albeit one that was to prove of temporary and strategically useful scope) into more of a parlay and putative Hindu point of sodality. And, further, rather glosses over the perceived ‘low-born’ status of ShivaJi being part of Jai Singh’s perception of the Maratha and thus the refusal to treat the great king as an equal. But we digress.

Let us quote from the Surandranath Sen translation:

“They started from Delhi as Shaista Khan had previously done, with a (mighty) host. A cloud of dust spread from the earth to the sky, such was the ocean like (immensity) of the army, that started for the south. They marched stage by stage. Where they encamped, the army, used to cover (an area of) 1 1/2 ganus in length and one ganu in breadth.

Then Jaya Sing Raje argued within himself thus,
“Shivaji is intensely perfidious, full of devices and a brave soldier. He personally killed Afzal Khan. He entered Saista Khan’s tent and fought (him) there. How can success come to us (in a contest with him) ?”

So thought he. Then great Brahman priests suggested (to him) the means.
“ A religious rite should be solemnised to please the Devi (goddess) and then success will come to you.”
So they said.

Then the Mirza Raja replied —
“ One koti [ten million] of Chandi and eleven kotis of Linga should be made (and worshipped). For the fulfilment of my desire prayers should be offered to propitiate Bagalamukhi Kalaratri.
These performances should be made.”

Four hundred Brahmans were employed in these performances and they were celebrated every day. Two krores of Rupees were set apart for these performances. The performances were completed after continual celebration for three months. Final oblations of the performance were made and the Brahmans were gratified with Dakshina and charity gifts.
Then he marched on, stage by stage.”

Now, as we can see, Jai Singh has consulted with Brahmins, and been given a most ingeniously logical solution to his strategic concern. One which is not quite stated at that juncture in the text – although which is fairly countenancable as being the co-option (or co-occupancy?) of what truly gives an opponent his strength, so as to deny him that salient advantage.

ShivaJi is, as we all know, Divinely guided and empowered – by Devi; as can be seen clearly via His Wielding of the justly-famed Bhavani Tulwar in service of the cause of the re-immanentization of Hindu Rule across Her Domain. 

Hence, it is the Goddess Who is recommended to be propitiated here by Jai Singh – although interestingly [and notwithstanding the Chandi – I assume Chandi Path – invocations aforementioned along with the Linga ones], rather than, say, attempting to approach the Goddess-Form Who is most closely correlated with ShivaJi [indeed, is rather ‘eponymous’, some might say – although ‘Bhavani’ is the more prominent perspective] , a different vector is chosen: namely, this enigmatic figure of “Bagalamaukhi Kalaratri”.

And I say “enigmatic”, because ostensibly, these are two different Aspects – and there is no other, that I can easily find, attestation for such a conjunction of invocation. Sen’s translation suggests in the footnoting that what had actually been meant was the propitiation ought take place at midnight – although he means this in specific regard to Kali, so I am not sure if that is the overt explanation for that which has gone on here. And I shall not delve, herein, into other explanations for the Tantrika phenomena in question beyond what is obviously implicit in full public view already.

Although one point that does spring to mind via way of potential explication as to why Bagalamukhi-Kalaratri, is Jai Singh’s musing immediately prior to the declaration as to his decision to propitiate Her that ShivaJi had “entered Saista Khan’s tent and fought (him) there”, with his enemy being described by him also (and not at all unrelatedly) as “intensely perfidious, full of devices” (I chose the rather more polite “Odyssean” – cognizant, of course, of Odysseus managing an array of that which He did, in the courses of both Iliad and Odyssey (prospectively up to and including the well-known ‘Horse-gambit’) due to Athena’s favouring assistance to Her Chosen, not least via the provision of ‘invisibility’ and ‘disguises’ to facilitate infiltrations … ) .

Why? Well, Bagalamukhi is straightforward enough to countenance here (and we shall examine this forthwith) – but Kalaratri? 

Consider one of the most archaic attestations for Her by that name specifically that has come down to us – the situation of the ‘Night Raid’ encountered in the Mahabharat [X, Sauptika Parva, 8, in the Ganguli translation].

There we find Ashvatthama, the son of the now-deceased Drona, carrying out a bold and barbaric ‘Night Raid’ in a manner violating both the accepted precepts of the Laws of Warfare and of Physics. He offers up his very Soul to Shiva to be granted the vengeance he craves for his father’s death upon the battlefield, and so is imbued with a portion of the Great God’s Power and granted a war-party of beings both invisible and invidious to accompany him upon the incursion. He enters the encampment of his adversary “by a spot where there was no door”. The whole thing is conducted, as it were, under an aegis (symbolic … and otherwise) of that figure Ganguli (understandably) chooses to render as ‘Death-Night’. 

To quote therefrom:

“Endued with great strength, Drona’s son made a heavy carnage amongst the sons, the grandsons, and the followers of Drupada, singling them out one after another. Accomplished in the use of the sword, Ashvatthama then, rushing against other combatants, cut them down with his excellent sword. The warriors in the Pandava camp beheld that Death-Night in her embodied form, a black image, of bloody mouth and bloody eyes, wearing crimson garlands and smeared with crimson unguents, attired in a single piece of red cloth, with a noose in hand, and resembling an elderly lady, employed in chanting a dismal note and standing full before their eyes, and about to lead away men and steeds and elephants all tied in a stout cord.

She seemed to take away diverse kinds of spirits, with dishevelled hair and tied together in a cord, as also, O king, many mighty car-warriors divested of their weapons. On other days, O sire, the foremost warriors of the Pandava camp used to see in their dreams that figure leading away the sleeping combatants and Drona’s son smiting them behind!

The Pandava soldiers saw that lady and Drona’s son in their dreams every night from the day when the battle between the Kurus and the Pandavas first commenced. Afflicted before by Destiny, they were now smitten by Drona’s son who terrified them all with the frightful roars uttered by him. Afflicted by Destiny, the brave warriors of the Pandava camp, recollecting the sight they had seen in their dreams, identified it with what they now witnessed.”

Of course, it is also intriguing to note that ‘division’ within one’s own camp and ‘psychological warfare’ in the form of the internecine results are also made mention of in this context:

“Terrified at that noise, many awoke from sleep. Possessed with fear, blinded by sleep, and deprived of their senses, those warriors seemed to vanish (before the fury of Ashvatthama). The thighs of many were paralysed and many were so stupefied that they lost all their energy. Shrieking and possessed with fear, they began to slay one another.

Drona’s son once more got upon his car of terrible clatter and taking up his bow despatched many with his shafts to Yama’s abode. Others awoke from sleep, brave warriors and foremost of men, as they came towards Ashvatthama, were slain before they could approach him and were thus offered up as victims unto that Death-Night.”

Now, if we consider ShivaJi’s operations thus far – the ones which had successfully lain low Jai Singh’s predecessor as local enforcer for Aurangzeb, Shaista Khan (particularly at Pune) – well, a certain ‘resemblance’ may, perhaps, be felt to be in evidence. 

Night raids, subterfuge and the stoking of internal disunity, striking from unexpected quarters and causing immense chaos and devastation which could terrify even the hardened foe … and enabled to do this via this most forceful Will of the Goddess (not to mention, perhaps, the occasionally encountered supposition of ShivaJi being an ‘Amsha’ (a sort of ‘partially empowered Avatar’, or ‘imbuement-of-essence’) of Shiva – which I do not believe there is any solid attestation of (nor do I seek to advance as a proposition), but did briefly cross my mind as a perspective when considering the situation of Ashvatthama acting as just such a thing in the MBh; we are cognizant, in any case, of the Linga invocations of great numbering which Jai Singh had also ordered carried out).

In essence, I suspect it possible that that dual invocation of “Bagalamukhi-Kalaratri” by Jai Singh … the Kalaratri component may have been due to exactly that saliency for Her from the Mahabharat. Desire, on the part of the Rajput, not to have some similar situation cause his effort to become thusly wounded, and to return back to Aurangzeb a more successful man than his immediate predecessor.

So, perhaps, the dual-invocation is in order to i) win over the Goddess-Form Who might have enabled ShivaJi’s style of gambit previously, and/or with the ii) component of Bagalamukhi – to ‘restrain’ such empowerment from ShivaJi. 

And, to expand upon that …

Now, Bagalamukhi is a Goddess(-form) one would think of in the circumstance of removing a particular potency (two, in fact) from a foeman. She seizes the Tongue of the demon, in Her iconography – thus rendering him incapable of speech, of the utterance of spells or mantras. She is also regarded as being associated with the paralysis in other ways of the adversary.  

Effectively, if the issue is that one’s foe – as in this case – is powerful due to the connexion he (or she) enjoys with the Goddess … usually something of this nature would be one logical pathway forward. And, indeed, we find quite the suite of such instances right the way through from the archaic Vedic scriptural texts [I have a Shatapatha Brahmana episode … and ritualistic typology … in mind] through to more recent mythic source material – the presumption being that said connexion is the result of serious prayerful and other ritual-liturgical engagement [c.f. the Devi Puran Mahabhagwat Ramayan in explication as to how and why Devi is ’empowering’ Ravana’s empire, for a good exemplar – something which has to be ‘sundered’ by Lord Rama carrying out ritual invocations of His Own, of Her] … and, therefore, that by disrupting the adversary’s ability to engage at that (represented and also quite literally meant, as the power of Speech), one therefore loses him his ability and his advantage.

Just such a thing is beheld – in consequence, at least, if not so in ‘preparatory execution’ – at SBr III 2 1 19-24, wherein a ‘Ritual Combat’ is engaged in between the Gods and Their Champion (the Priest – Agni in other renditions of the typology in the same text; here, it is the Yajna … which, certainly, is also a ‘Holy Fire’) and the Demons and their ‘priestly’ champion. The demons lose – in this instance – due to their mispronunciation of the sacred syllabry, meaning they are unable to keep Vak (Devi) ‘bound’ through same. And so Vak returns, instead, to the Gods.

You can see instantly how affecting an opponent’s ability to speak – even if ‘merely’ slightly shifting the tongue in its ability to pronounce properly rather than outright paralyzing that organ same – might have quite marked results … shifting the pronunciation of a key word so that the outcome of an invocation is the opposite to that which is intended, for example (as, although it was not done in this way, Tvastr’s creation-spell for Vrtra per SBr I 6 3 10 – wherein the empowerment for Vrtra to be “Slayer of Indra” is mispronounced by a single syllable … thus resulting in Vritra becoming fated to be Slain by Indra. Pronunciation Saves Lives!).

Yet whereas this might have yielded the full scale of intended results had it been performed by another … or, rather, performed against another … ShivaJi was one of the Goddess’s Own Chosen – and so therefore His connexion to Her was not simply one of ritualistic linkage but rather something so deep that it could not be extinguished via such ‘surface’ means and mechanisms. She was, in Her way, I suppose one might even say – a ‘part’ of Him. And thus, it is interesting to consider that which happened next. Again, from the Sabhasad Bakhar, Sen translation:

“The Maharaja was at Rajgad; and the couriers and spies came to him. They submitted the news that,
“ Jaya Sing Mirza Kaja is coming with an army of eighty thousand horse, with Dilel Khan (and his) five thousand Pathans.”

Hearing this the Rajsri fell into (serious) deliberations. He summoned his Karkuns to the presence, and questioned (them). They all said —
 “ Afzal Khan was killed, and Saista Khan was surprised. They were unwary Mahomedans. The devices adopted [against them] were also new, but these are now well-known to the Rajput. He will not allow you to hoodwink him.
Peace should be concluded with him.”
So said (they).

The Raje said that —
“ The Rajputs will be somehow won over, but this Dilel Khan is a great scoundrel and a faithless (rogue) . He is one of the Badshah’s favourites. That is not at all good. What he will do, I cannot divine.
If he were not with (Jaya Sing), my desire would have been fulfilled. Well ! But what about it now ?
The kingdom is Sri’s (Goddess). The burden has been placed on Sri. She will do what She likes.”
So he said.

Then that day passed. The next day, Sri Bhavani came (over him) and said,
“ Oh child ! The occasion this time is a formidable one. I shall not kill Jaya Sing. He will not sue for peace.
You will have to see him. After an interview, you will have to go to Delhi.
Serious difficulties will come (upon you) there.
But I will go in your company.

 I will put forth various endeavours, protect the child and bring him back, I shall give him success. Do not be anxious.
Tell My Child so.
The kingdom I have conferred on My Child as a boon, has not been granted for one generation only.
For twenty-seven generations it has been granted.
The kingdom of the Deccan (extending) to the Narmada has been conferred (on you). Care for the kingdom is Mine.
Realise it fully. Whatever faults of action My Child may commit I have to rectify. Do not be anxious on any account.”
So Saying the Goddess disappeared.

The scribes had put those words in writing. After that, the Raje regained consciousness.
Then the words of the Goddess were delivered to him by all. Thereupon the Raje felt highly satisfied and mustered courage. “

The rest, as they say, is history.

Now there are a few points we might make in relation to … well, pretty much all of the above. Yet to my mind, there is really only one that is necessary here to underscore for further emphasis. Well, two actually. But who’s counting.

The first of these is that all of those many and various ritual and mythic typologies that I seem to spend much of my waking-/writing-life chronicling – it is easy to come to construe them as rather abstract, arcane things. Religious undertakings (or understandings), and ones that are, certainly,  fairly actively engaged with within those spheres (the Mythic, and the more broadly Religious), but which are effectively confined thereto.

Certainly, we are not entirely surprised to hear that there are, say, Vedic liturgies to be recited for victory in battle – but we are often somewhat surprised, if we haven’t thought in depth nor detailing about it before, that the processes via which the Divine may become enlisted to aid in affairs of state can be every bit as complex and multifaceted as other and more conventional mechanisms to victory.

That instead of something so simple as petitioning Divinity for assistance, or for protection, or to smite one’s foe … that is to say, simple and unilateral (more properly – bilateral) operations wherein the connexion is fairly directly between Petitioner and Deific(s), with offerings made and boons (hopefully) received in fairly direct consequence and of tangible, overt, again direct impact – 

What we behold here is quite different, insofar as it is not a bilateral undertaking (nor, even, is it two bilateral undertakings – one, each, by Jai Singh and ShivaJi, to relevant Goddess(es) in each instance). Rather, it is a participation by both mortal men (and also, we may surmise – the Goddess(es)) in an environment which is both i) dynamic, and ii) multilateral :

ShivaJi having pre-standing Divine connexion and assistance, Jai Singh seeking protection against that which that might tangibly entail in ‘conventional military’ outcomes (e.g., assumedly, ShivaJi being able to do things like miraculously appear in the middle of one’s headquarters-camp with a body of armed men, having bypassed an entire army surrounding one – as happened to the disgraced-by-it Shaista Khan at Pune), and therefore choosing to propitiate the rather specific Devi-Form associated with such; but also choosing to propitiate the other rather specific Devi-Form one would seek to turn to when attempting to neutralize the invocatory capacity of an opponent, all up. 

And it is also interesting to observe – that even though KalaRatri was not, so far as I know, invoked, propitiated, or otherwise actively enlisted to facilitate ShivaJi’s bold gambits aforesaid (although who can say what might have been carried out in secret … ), this may not have been required in order for an invocation by Jai Singh to have had import and impact upon ShivaJi’s overarching mytho-metaphysical military capabilities. Instead, the fact of there being a ‘resonancy’ at hand between Kalaratri, and the style of operation which ShivaJi had previously been quite successfully able to engage in, may have proven enough. 

It is a delicate game of prognostication and ‘weaponized faith’. Identifying which Goddess-Forms are involved with resonancy or direct engagement upon the part of the opponent, and the appropriate ‘counter-moves’ in each, dedicated instance thereto. 

Might the course of history have proven different had Jai Singh managed (also) to identify and engage the more specific Devi-Expression that had actually proven the heart of (indeed, the director of) ShivaJi’s thus-far success? 

I do not know. Although I suspect, given the events recounted in the Devi Puran Mahabhagwat Ramayan that events would not have been ‘allowed’ to become arranged in such a manner that Devi’s Pledge toward ShivaJi (indeed, Her active utilization of ShivaJi as Her Tool, Her Weapon, Her Blade – even as He wielded Her Weapon in His Guided Hand, Himself) should have come under serious threat. (Or, even if they had – as shown in the text just immediately aforementioned, Devi proved quite capable of freeing Herself from such ritualistic invocatory ‘bindings’ , even if it did entail the sending of the Avataras of at least two major Gods along with the active employment of several other members of the Pantheon, per Her Divine Design, to deliver the outcome which She had sought to produce).

As I have said – we are all too often conditioned, here in both the West and in ‘Cultural Modernity’, to think of (and, worse, to feel) ‘Mythology’ and ‘Theology’ as arcane disciplines of little ‘practicable’ worth. Something ‘for Sundays’ (so to speak), and at best a charming source of mere ‘inspiration’, much of the rest of the time except where it’s actively inconvenient and an obstacle. This is quite wrong. 

One does not, I think, need to be a ‘believer’ in order to find one’s self ‘swept up’ within the inherent ‘logic’ of Myth nor Ritual – we have pondered that as applies the episode I am often mentioning from the Vijayanagara Empire wherein Muslim forces had sought to disrupt a Mrgayatra rite , which features a ‘symbolic’ combat against ‘symbolic’ demons … only to find themselves charged down by the RudraGanika clades Who had ridden out with the Murti of that Great Huntsman Himself, Rudra. 

Yet the proper ’employment’ , ‘active engagement with’, and above all (and thusly facilitating all others) – ‘perception as to’ myth and one’s prospective place therein so as to allow initiative and support one’s own agency using these capacities and within such circumstances … that is to say, seeking to shape, direct, and drive the course of events through the skillful invocation of the stories (‘patterns’, ‘patternings’) which have gone before : 

Well, this takes more than ‘just’ Belief in them. It takes knowledge, insight, wit, wisdom, will, and a certain Je Ne Sais Quoi which is probably construable as ‘Divine Blessing / Fiat’ … and, of course, also not only the ‘perspicacity’ to be able to notice which myths, which mythic figures, which patterns, which Divinities to seek to invoke (and how), but also the functional capacity to actually do so, in train. In Jai Singh’s case, possessing the approximate resources (some 200,000 rupees in the currency of those times; three months of time – an underrated strategic commodity; 400 Brahmins; and other necessary elements, inter no doubt alia) to be able to do more than just ‘perceive’ – but to actually ‘act’ as he felt to be required in service to his aims. 

All, as one can quite plainly consider, so much more intricate and involved as a process than ‘merely’ carrying out a short and conventional prayer for victory and then getting on with the ‘conventional warfare’ approaches as if the pious invocations had been little more than a perfunctory (pre-formed) after-thought. 

These things require ‘active integration’ – and almost form (indeed, do form) a parallel battlespace in and of themselves also; one which is innately bound up with, and yet not entirely coterminous with the sidereal and its more overt and easily perceptible maneuvers. In this it has something in common, perhaps, with the manner in which espionage – or, at the greater level of grand strategy, politics and diplomacy – may ultimately be conceived of. But more upon all of that at some other time. 

For now, I think, it is enough to but briefly observe that as applies this notionary concept of ‘active integration’ – one could almost surely not do any better in this regard than ShivaJi … Who was (and is) its quite literal ‘active embodiment’. 

No wonder, then, that He was ultimately successful. 

Her Will, as ever, Triumphant – She Who Is Victory, Herself. 

Jai Mata Di.