for about four years after his return from agra, shivaji maharaj concentrated his attention on putting the affairs of swaraj in order. he re-organized the army and carried repairs to forts. in 1670, shivaji maharaj followed an offensive policy against the mughals. his first aim was to clear his homeland of the mughals. he also aimed at recapturing the forts and territories ceded to the mughals according to the treaty of purandar. the strategy followed by shivaji maharaj was to capture the forts by sending a well-equipped army on one hand and on the other hand to keep the mughals unstable by invading the mughal territories of the deccan. maharaj thus attacked ahmednagar and junnar. sinhgad was the first fort to be recaptured. mavala infantry under the command of tanaji malusare entered the fort secretly. the fort was defended by udai bhan. tanaji malusare fought with the greatest valor. he died a hero’s death. the fort was captured on 4th february 1670. shivaji maharaj also recaptured several other forts such as purandar, lohgad, mahuli, karnala, rohida one after another. then shivaji maharaj attacked surat for the second time. on the way back he fought a battle with the mughals at vani- dindori in nashik district. he defeated daud khan in the battle. the marathas under the leadership of moropant pingle captured trimbakgad. the maratha army then invaded baglan, a hilly district that was guarded by nine hill forts, the strongest among these were of salher and mulher, the others being smaller hill forts. the maratha army not only captured smaller hill forts of baglan but also captured mulher fort and salher which lay on the border of khandesh and gujarat. the capture of salher was an event of great strategic importance. then salher became a base of operations against the rich provinces of gujarat and khandesh. the mughals tried to recapture salher but failed. in 1672, shivaji maharaj’s army conquered the principality of jawhar and then ramnagar.