The Marathas felt greatly emboldened at the news of Shivaji’s escape, and reconquered fort after fort, Moropant Pingle took advantage of the recall of Jai Singh to seize the forts north of Poona and a greater portion of the province of Kalayan.
Aurangzeb now deputed Jaswant Singh and Diler Khan to retrieve the position but the wars in the North-West and the feuds between the officers in the Deccan compelled Aurangzeb to make peace with Shivaji who was recognized as ‘Raja’ and Sambhaji was given a mansab of panjhazari.
Shivaji badly needed this respite to reorganize his government machinery. In 1670 he levied chauth and asked the local authorities in Khandesh and other places to pay to him one- fourth of the yearly revenue due to their government. He sacked nine forts in Bijapur territory, plundered Surat and occupied the neighbouring towns of Ramnagar and Jawahar.
Aurangzeb now deputed Mahabat Khan to the Deccan but the general failed to dislodge the Maratha chief. Mahabat Khan was recalled and the command was taken over by Bahadur Khan and Diler Khan whom Shivaji defeated near Sulher (February 1672).
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Shivaji now extended his activities further. He defeated the Bijapur armies and captured the forts of Panhala, Sahara and Parli. A naval expedition reconquered the coastal district of Karwar.
The Raja of Bednore was made a tributary while the Maratha generals Prataprao Gujar and Hansaji Mohite-defeated the Bijapur army in 1674. Although Shivaji now ruled over an extensive kingdom, the Mughals still looked upon him as usurper and the Bijapur sultan treated him as a rebel.
It was, therefore, essential that he should be coronated. On 16 June, 1674, he was crowned Chhatrapati at Raigad. By coronating himself, it is said, “Shivaji wanted to reassert self-reliance and independence.”
The coronation “opened an unlimited vista for heroism and territorial conquest for the Maratha sardars that followed Shivaji and gave them a justification for their soldiery activity.”
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With the coronation, a new calendar Raiya abhisek Shaka commenced in Maharashtra. Shivaji decided to remove all Persian terminologies then in vogue in administrative affairs and asked Pandit Raghunath Pant to–prepare “Rajya Vyavahar Kosh.”
Soon afterwards in 1675, Shivaji captured Phona (a fort of Bijapur) near Goa, followed by the conquest of Jinji, Vellore and many other forts which greatly enriched his treasury.