Storia do Mogor 108: Shiva Ji wounds Shaistah Khan.
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 108
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Shiva Ji wounds Shaistah Khan.
108.1
At the beginning of this my second part (II. 15) I said that Aurangzeb had sent his uncle, Shaistah Khan, to make war against Shiva Jī in the Dakhin. As soon as he reached the lands of Shiva Jī he took a small fortress called Puna. Outside it he lived in a mud house that he had caused to be built near a tank. There he meant to pass the rainy season. Shiva Jī sought every means of killing Shaistah Khan, being thus counselled (so they say) by Rajah Jaswant Singh, who would have liked to appropriate the treasury of Shaistah Khan. He (Shiva Jī) came to the resolve to send bold and resolute men among the soldiers and into the dwelling of Shaistah Khan. They were to pretend to be dependents of Shaistah Khan, so that they could carry out the plot in security, and digging through the house wall should slay whatever men and women were found therein.
108.2
To put in execution such a plan, he availed himself of the custom among the Moguls of sounding their military music eight times in the day and night upon the anniversary of the king's coronation. This takes place near the headquarters of the general — namely, in the morning at six, at nine, at noon, at three in the afternoon, at six, at nine, at midnight, and at three of the next day. For his purpose he chose the hour of midnight, at the time the musicians began to play. Some of Shiva Ji's soldiers, pretending to belong to the household of Shaistah Khan, went back and fore saying to the musicians that, as it was a night of rejoicing, the Nawab wished them to make a great sound with their instruments, the whole of them playing together. This was done that no one might hear when they were digging into the house.
108.3
The women heard the sound of the picks, and reported to Shaistah Khan. He paid no heed to their statements, being already somewhat elevated by wine, but said the noise was made by troopers driving in pegs for their horses' heel-ropes. Shiva Ji's soldiers entered by the hole they had dug. The women were in consternation, not being accustomed to see men in their apartments ; and thus they cried aloud, assuming there must be treachery on foot. The eldest son of Shaistah Khan, called Buzurg Omedcan (Buzurg Umed Khan), ran in that direction sword in hand, but his valour served but to get [78] his head cut off, the soldiers of Shiva Ji using their swords against everyone they encountered. The women perceived there was a design by the enemy to assassinate the Nawab Shaistah Khan. They lamented, saying that Shaistah Khan was killed, and they blew out the lamps, so that no one might see him. The enemy rushed hither and thither, and, unable to see, eight of them fell into a tank. Shaistah Khan stood, spear in hand, ready to resist anyone coming at him. On their finding him, he managed to kill one, but another delivered a sword-stroke, which cut off his index finger and severed the spear staff. These daring men heard the voices of the women who were saying that the Nawab was already dead; and concluding they had effected their purpose, they came away to their own camp.
108.4
I leave it to the reader to imagine the confusion existing in the camp during that night, everyone imagining that Shiva Ji was in their midst and slaying all men without intermission. In this confusion Shaistah Khan's sufferings from his wound were increased from not being able to call in any surgeon for fear that, in place of a surgeon, some traitor might gain admittance. When Aurangzeb, being then in Kashmir, received a report of this treachery, it being a little after his hearing the news of Mir Jumlah's death, he wrote to Shaistah Khan directing him to proceed as governor to Bengal. In reply, Shaistah Khan prayed His Majesty to leave him in the Dakhin, for he longed to wreak vengeance for his son's death and the loss of his limb occasioned by Shiva Ji's treachery. He took upon himself either to lose his own life or to destroy Shiva Ji's army and kill Shiva Ji himself. A fresh order issued from Aurangzeb directing him peremptorily to remove to Bengal, but Shaistah Khan, anxious to gain a reputation for courage and also eager for vengeance, wrote once more to the king asking to be left in the Dakhin, where he would bear all the expenses of the war until Shiva Ji was destroyed. At the same time he wrote to his friends to save him from removal.
108.5
His friends at court did loyally all that they could to assist Shaistah Khan, but Aurangzeb was immovable in his determination, and replied with severity that a man in a passion could never act with prudence, that the stay of Shaistah Khan in the Dakhin as leader against Shiva Ji could result in nothing but the loss of his army. He therefore wrote to him once again that without further discussion he must start for Bengal. Thus was Shaistah Khan sent against his will to take charge of the province of Bengal. When Shaistah Khan left the Dakhin, Aurangzeb recalled Jaswant Singh to court, who, instead of obeying, retired to his own territory. Aurangzeb ordered Mahabat Khan to march with all rapidity possible to take up the office of Shaistah Khan and continue the campaign against Shiva Ji, sending also his own son, Shah 'Alam, not as commander, but as representative of the royal person in matters of parade.