As a member of the Bhonsle dynasty, Shahaji inherited the Pune and Supe jagirs (fiefs) from his father Maloji, who previously served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate.

Shahaji was the son of Maloji Bhosale, a Maratha warrior and nobleman who had been awarded the jagirs of Pune and Supe, Ellora, Dheradi, Kannrad and some more villages in the districts of Jafrabad, Daulatabad and Ahmadabad by Sultan Murtuza Nizamshah of Ahmadnagar.

According to Shiva Digvijay,[5][6] a text considered to be a modern forgery by historians such as Jadunath Sarkar and Surendra Nath Sen,[7] Maloji's wife Umabai allegedly prayed in the tomb of Sufi Pir Shah Sharif of Ahmadnagar to be blessed with a son.

Shahaji maharaj was betrothed to Jijabai, the daughter of Lakhuji Jadhav, the Maratha Deshmukh of Sindkhed in the service of Ahmadnagar's Nizamshahi Sultanate, when both of them were children.

[11] Ahmadnagar was involved in conflicts against the northern Mughal Empire and other Deccan Sultanates, and Shahaji kept switching his loyalty between these states.

[13] Adil Shah, a Muslim, was tolerant towards Hindus like Shahaji and saw Ahmadnagar as a buffer state between his kingdom and the Mughal Empire.

[12] Amid these circumstances, Shahaji returned to Ahmadnagar in early 1628[13] under the patronage of Malik Ambar's son Fatah Khan.

[15] In 1632, Malik Ambar's son Fatah Khan placed a puppet ruler on the Ahmednagar throne and allied with the Mughals.

[17] Shahaji's control over the area was very weak, but he managed to maintain an army of 2,000-10,000 men and provided services to the Ahmadnagar troops fleeing their state after the Mughal conquest.

[15] Shahaji installed 10-year old Murtaza of the Ahamadnagar royal family as the titular puppet ruler[18] and appointed himself chief minister.

A contemporary Brahmin newsletter from Bijapur states that the area controlled by Shahaji, not including his jagir of Pune and Indapur, yielded 7.5 million rupees in annual revenue.

[15] In the ensuing battle of Parenda (1634), in which Maratha soldiers fought on both sides, the Mughals defeated the Bijapur army led by Shahaji.

In early 1635, the Mughal army forced Shahaji to retreat from the Daulatabad area, capturing his supply train and 3,000 of his soldiers.

The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan personally arrived in Deccan with a large army, compelling Shahaji to leave northern Maharashtra.

[23] Shahaji was allowed to retain his jagir in the Pune region but was barred from living in the area as part of the Mughal-Bijapur treaty.

[24] Shahaji spent the last 20 years of his life in the south, where the Bijapur and the Golconda Sultanates were trying to capture territories from the declining Vijayanagara Empire.

[24] An army led by the general Rustam-i-Zaman Ranadulla Khan invaded Mysore with Shahaji serving as a subordinate commander.

The Bijapuri forces defeated several Nayakas, local chiefs who administered the area after the decline of the Vijayanagara Empire.

Shahaji was also given charge of the Kolar, Hoskote, Doddaballapura, and Sira areas by Ranadulla Khan, in consultation with the Bijapur ruler Muhammad Adil Shah.

Records show that the Bijapur ruler Muhammad Adil Shah ordered the Deshmukh of Lakshmeshwara to support commander Sidi Mooflah in arresting the "relations, dependents, servants and horses" of Shahaji.

He joined an army led by the Bijapur general Afzal Khan that captured the fort of Basavapatna from Keng Nayak.

Shahaji beautified Bangalore by commissioning several gardens and also built a palace called Gowri Mahal, which, according to popular tradition, was located in the present-day Basavanagudi extension.

In 1644, the Bijapur labelled Shahaji a rebel - an August 1644 letter from the Bjiapur asks Kanoji Nayak Jedhe, the Deshmukh of Bhor, to assist government representatives in defeating Dadoji Kondadev, who was campaigning in the Kondana area.

[30] While texts written under Maratha patronage such as Shiva-Bharat state that Shahaji was arrested because of a rebellion conducted by his son Shivaji, Bijapur records do not support this claim.

[34] At his court in Bangalore, Shahaji patronized several scholars, including Jayarama Pindye, who composed Radha-Madhava-Vilasa Champu and Parnala-Parvata-Grahan-Akhyana.

[39] Poets cited in the Radha-Madhava-Vilasa Champu include Sbuddhi-Rav, a native of Ghatampur, who compares Shahaji to Krishna holding up the Govardhan Hill to protect the people.