Shivaji had lost a lot of money in the campaign of Shaista Khan. Shivaji planned to plunder the territory of the Mughals to compensate for this wealth. In those days Surat was the richest city of the Mughal Empire and the main port of India. From here merchant ships from all over the world used to come and go. This port was also used by Muslims to go to Mecca. The Mughal emperor used to get crores of rupees in revenue every year from this port. On the strength of this money, Mughal armies were operated all over the country. At that time there were about 20-25 merchants in Surat who had accumulated property worth crores. Shivaji decided to plunder Surat. Since Shivaji had to go through Burhanpur to reach Surat, where the Mughals had a large cantonment, he divided his army's 4000 selected warriors into small teams and moving them away from Burhanpur, 29 km from Surat, Gandevi instructed to reach the place called. Shivaji himself also left for Surat on 1 January 1664. On January 6, these groups got together after reaching Gandevi.
Inayat Khan, the Mughal governor of Surat, was a dishonest man. He used to keep very few soldiers in comparison to the number of soldiers he received from the emperor for the defense of Surat city and kept all the salary with himself. There was not even any kind of wall around Surat. Therefore the plunder of Surat was inevitable. Shivaji wrote a letter to Inayat Khan and the elders of Surat, informing that I do not intend to harm anyone, but the emperor has forcibly imposed war on me and has also confiscated my funds. Even my house, Lalmahal has been snatched away and I have been forced to eat stumbling blocks from door to door. Therefore, all these things will be compensated by the merchants and government treasury doing business under the emperor's umbrella. Either you give the money peacefully or be ready for harsh action. Shivaji wanted 20-25 wealthy merchants of Surat to donate only 50 lakh rupees by donating among themselves. This amount was too small for these traders.
After receiving these letters, the Mughal Subedar sent a letter advising Shivaji not to enmity with the mighty Mughals and himself fled and hid in a fort. The merchants of Surat did not leave their homes relying on the Mughals. Many English and Dutch merchants also lived in Surat. He was aware of Shivaji's power. He made security arrangements at his cells. The British sent a Christian priest to Shivaji requesting him to have mercy on our poor Christian settlement. Shivaji promised the priest that he would not attack the poor people. Anyway, Shivaji did not have to entangle with the British because he had commercial goods but gold was not silver.
When no merchant came to meet him on the first day, Shivaji instructed his soldiers to rob the merchants' houses of Surat city. Shivaji's soldiers entered the city of Surat and snatched the money of the merchants and started heaping them in Shivaji's tent. Meanwhile, Inayat Khan, the Mughal governor of Surat, sent a fraudulent conciliation at the hands of a soldier. This soldier pretended to give a secret message to Shivaji and reached very close to Shivaji. He suddenly took out a dagger from his clothes and tried to stab Shivaji in the body. Shivaji's bodyguard was alert. He immediately cut off the hand of the soldier. After this act, the Marathas increased their strictness. Money started to be withdrawn by breaking the doors of houses, shops, chests and shelves. Wealths were taken out by digging the houses of wealthy merchants. Many localities were offered to fire. About 2 crore rupees came to Shivaji and Surat became completely uncharted. There was no one to save the subjects of the Mughals. Inayat Khan's soldiers started making cannon balls on Shivaji's soldiers from the wall of the fort. Due to this, fire broke out at many places in Surat Nagar.
In the meantime, Shivaji got the news that a huge army of Mughals was moving towards Surat. Therefore, he distributed the expensive clothes, utensils and other items received in the loot among the poor people of Surat and suddenly left Surat on 10th January with gold and silver and money. Even after this, patience did not arise among the people and the exodus of traders from Surat continued. After the departure of Shivaji, the Mughal army reached Surat. Now there was a deserted and ugly city left in Surat, which was discussed with pride all over the world. At the time when Shivaji reached Surat to plunder, some horse-traders from Arabia were coming to Surat to sell their horses. When he came to know that Shivaji had come with his army, he took his horse and reached Shivaji. Shivaji took horses from them and captured the merchants and took them captive. When Shivaji started leaving Surat with the loot money, he released the horse-traders after paying the price of the horses. Due to these qualities of Shivaji, enemies also praised Shivaji.