Enlightenment · South Asia · War

1659

Afzal Khan Slain by Shivaji

1659

At the fortress of Pratapgad in the Western Ghats, the Maratha warrior Shivaji met the Bijapur general Afzal Khan in what was supposed to be a peace parley. Shivaji, concealing steel tiger claws in his fist, disemboweled the larger man in a single embrace. The ambush launched the Maratha Empire and became the stuff of legend.

More from 1659 Enlightenment

In context

Also in 1659 (4 other events on record)

Treaty of the Pyrenees · Europe · Politics
Huygens Describes Saturn's Rings · Europe · Science
Vermeer Paints Girl Reading a Letter · Europe · Culture
Jamaica Gains Synagogue · North America · Religion

Before and after in South Asia

Before: 1658: Aurangzeb's Brothers Die at Samugarh
After: 1668: English Acquire Bombay

Before and after in War

Before: 1658: Swedish Empire Peaks at Treaty of Roskilde
After: 1661: Koxinga Expels the Dutch from Taiwan

Era

Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.