Well I did never mention Chhatrapati Shivaji as a Hindu nationalist, I am also unfavourable to his portrayal as such.
My statement that he was outright against Jagirs, must have been typed by me in a frenzy (well that happens when you idolize someone ). I agree that no large scale abolition of Jagirs took place and the deshmukhs were retained as the local administrators. But examples were surely made of those that disregarded central authority.
Shivaji didn't form a state within Bijapur he was in open rebellion against them. And about the Mughals, yeah he did try to gain support of the Mughals by making promises to join them. That was basically because at that time he made this offer to the Mughals, his father Shahaji Bhonsle was imprisoned in Bijapur under the suspicion that maybe the father was inciting his son to rebel, to secure his release was of utmost importance to him. As by accepting Mughal service, he would gain Mughal support to secure the release of his father; which he did gain when the Mughals sent a letter to the Adilshah to that effect.
Shivaji accepting Mansabdari was because due to the stipulations of the treaty of Purandar (you surely must be knowing that ). He never accepted it of his own accord. You may criticize me if I am wrong anywhere.
I understand that war makes a ruler make difficult decisions. Well what you speak about Jagirs is technically true, but usually those Jagirs became hereditary and started accumulating military power as such that happened with the Moreys of Javali, a prominent example among those who fought Shivaji.
And I never said anything amounting to that the Marathas were strong enough to smash the Mughals outright. The Maratha triumphs in the later stages of the 27 year war wet basically the result of the Mughal mishandling of the war. That doesn't mean that the Marathas were so weak that anyone could conquer them. They had the strength to maintain their independence as a strong force.
Well the Marathas functioning within the Mughal system is true to a significant extent. I would not dispute that right now . Also I right now know not much about the true extent to which the Marathas were part of the Mughal system. I will speak about that when I have some valid points to speak about.
Interesting, so is it possible to claim they were working as a system within a system, with the obvious tensions that would create?