SIVAJI THE MAEATHA CHIEFTAIN 155

become his friends, or had bought his favour, and of- fered few occasions for pillage. He turned, therefore, to the Moghul territory to the north, and pushed his raids almost to the gates of Aurangabad, the " Throne City." Several times Aurangzib changed his generals, but still the indomitable Marathas baffled their skill, surprised their quarters, sacked Surat though Sir George Oxenden beat them off the English factory- and even stopped the ships full of pilgrims that were sailing from the port for Mekka. For a moment, indeed, there was peace. Serious losses induced Sivaji to make terms, and even to appear at Delhi as the emperor's vassal. The sturdy little " mountain rat," however, was out of his element at the splendid court of the Great Moghul, and Aurangzib treated him with undis- guised contempt. Seldom was political sagacity more at fault. The rude highlander, who might have been converted into a powerful prop of the empire in the Deccan, was allowed to escape in disguise, affronted and enraged, to resume his old sway in the mountains in 1666. Too late the emperor attempted conciliation; the old antagonist had become a personal enemy, and noth- ing could soothe his resentment. His return to the Dec- can was followed by a series of triumphs. Surat was again sacked in 1671, and the Maratha swarms spread southerly past Madras to Tan j ore, levying blackmail wherever they went. Just as he was meditating still greater aggrandizement, a sudden illness put an end to his extraordinary career in 1680, when he was not quite fifty-three years of age. The date of his death is found