The Maratha forces, led by Sambhaji, withdrew from Janjira to the Konkan region in response to Mughal attacks, leaving a contingent behind under the command of Dadaji Raghunath Deshpande.

The Siddis of Janjira, who allied with the Mughal Empire following the fall of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, posed a significant threat to the Marathas of Konkan.

They established settlements along the Malabar coast of India and gradually evolved into a naval power, with their main base located at Janjira, described as an "impregnable sea-girt fortress."

[2] With the ascent of Shivaji and the subsequent decline of Bijapur as an independent state, coupled with the loss of one of their more distant forts to the Marathas, the Siddis of Janjira shifted their allegiance to the Mughal Empire.

According to Orme, this change in loyalty occurred in 1661, with Low stating that "the condition of his tenure was the maintenance of a marine for the protection of the Mughal subjects trading to the Gulf of Persia and Arabia, from the Malabar pirates and the Portuguese.

The Siddis of Janjira are depicted in the Ajayapatra (royal edict) of Amatya, a statesman from the era of Shivaji, as follows:[4] "Further with a view to bring under his control this kingdom by his valour, he thought of subduing first the adjoining enemy who was like a disease in the stomach.

In 1676, Shivaji constructed Padmadurg sea fort northeast of Janjira in an attempt to rival the Siddi stronghold, yet this initiative ultimately ended in failure.

The Siddis, who had pledged allegiance to Aurangzeb, battled the Marathas, spreading havoc and seizing many strongholds in the Konkan.

Subsequently, Sambhaji attempted to burn the Siddi ships and landed 200 men in Underi, resulting in disaster of Marathas as most were killed or captured.

Sambhaji pledged to appoint him as one of the eight Pradhans of the Maratha empire if he successfully besieged and captured the Janjira fort.

[11] By the final days of December 1681, Durga Das Rathore, the Rajput general of Marwar, and Prince Akbar, the son of Aurangzeb who rebelled against the Mughals, formed an alliance with Sambhaji against the Siddis.

[11][14] Sambhaji then endeavored to fill the channel, which was eight hundred yards wide and thirty feet deep, with stones and rock fragments, aiming to create a causeway for the assaulting parties.

He left ten thousand men under Raghunath Deshpande's command at Janjira due to ongoing Mughal attacks in the Konkan region, including the capture of the Kalyan fort.

Following the arrival of the Siddis, they pillaged the Maratha coast, venturing as far inland as Mahad in Kolaba, and abducted the wife and family of Dadaji, Sambhaji's general.