In early 1689, Sambhaji called his commanders for a strategic meeting at Sangameshwar in Konkan. In a meticulously planned operation, Ganoji Shirke and Aurangzeb's commander, Mukarrab Khan attacked Sangameshwar when Sambhaji was about to leave the town. A small ambush followed and Sambhaji was captured by Mughal troops. He and his advisor, Kavi Kalash were taken to Bahadurgad. Aurangzeb humiliated them by parading them wearing clown's clothes. Later, Sambhaji and Kavi Kalash were tied upside down to camels with Mughal soldiers throwing stones, mud, and cow dung at them.
When they were brought face to face with Aurangzeb, the latter offered to let Sambhaji live if he surrendered all the Maratha forts, and converted to Islam. Sambhaji refused to convert to Islam, and instead sang praises of Mahadev. Aurangzeb ordered him and Kavi Kalash to be tortured to death. Sambhaji and Kavi Kalash were brutally tortured for over 40 days. The torture involved plucking of eyes, pulling out nails, scraping out large pieces of skin and dismemberment. Sambhaji succumbed to the cruel torture and was beheaded on March 11, 1689 near the confluence of the Bheema and Indrayani rivers at Tulapur near Pune. Despite the torture, [Sambhaji]] refused to convert to Islam. In so doing he earned the title of Dharmaveer by which he is known to this day. Aurangzeb ordered to cut Sambhaji's body into pieces and throw it into river water. Residents of nearby village named 'Vadhu' collected as many pieces of his body as they found, sewed them together and performed the final rites on his body. These villagers later went on to use the surname 'Shivale', which means sewing in the Marathi language
