Shivaji and Navy

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Shivaji started building his own naval forces since 1656, well
before he killed Afzal Khan. This explains the canvass of his vision.
Maratha-Portuguese relations were always strained. The decision of
Shivaji to build a navy was essentially to contain European forces.
Portuguese authorities issued orders to be wary of the Maratha Navy
from 1659. After the great Ramraja Chola of 11th century, no Indian
dynasty gave importance to the Navy. Vijaynagar, Adilshah, Kutubshah,
Nizamshah, Mughals were seeing the increasing Portuguese influence.
However, no one treated Navy as essential component of their armed
forces. The Construction of Naval forts like Sindhu-durga in 1664,
Vijay-durag, and Khanderi-Underi, his naval conquest of Basnoor and
Gokarna in 1665 are of immense importance while trying to grasp the
personality of this man. Portuguese had issued Inquisition in Goa and
were forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity, well before
Shivaji’s birth. He defeated Portuguese for the first time in 1667,
and Sambhaji and later the Peshwas continuously perpetuated his anti-
Portugal policy. The reasons of this policy were not only political,
but theological too. English were not a considerable force at the
time.