Storia do Mogor 354.6
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 354.6
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354.6.1
The prisoner lost not an instant, but, embracing the hoped-for opportunity, left the fortress, and joined his Mahrattah friends, who were waiting for him with horses. He took the road to the mountains, and was soon in safety. He continued his flight, however, in all haste, and went to join the Mahrattahs, who were encamped in the lands of Aduni. The extravagant delight with which the Mahrattahs received him can be easily imagined; this can also be collected from the sign of it they gave in assembling an army for him, with which to take satisfaction for the affront done him by Dã,úd Khãn. Bahadur Khãn, while engaged in scouring the country in that neighbourhood, came cross a despatch-rider carrying letters to Dã,ud Khãn. Speaking politely to the man, but without revealing his identity, he made over to him a letter [139] directed to Dã,ud Khãn, to the following effect: 'I left my scull-cap on the bed where I slept. Keep it safe, for shortly, when my horsemen and elephants are ready, I am coming to inquire for it from you.' When this letter reached Dã,ud Khãn he was far from content, for he knew the nature of his own tribe when they entertain a hatred to anyone. [Here follows (fols. 139-148) a story of a herdsman and Shãh 'Abbas the Great, of Persia. As it has no reference to India I omit it, as also another about the same Persian king (fols. 148-149).]
354.6.2
[149] At the present time the kings of Persia are a good deal different from the former kings. They are now much addicted to wine and women, besides such diversions as music and dancing. They pay no heed to what concerns the crown. The government is left in the hands of eunuchs and persons learned in religion. The new kings do not make a display of their ability in governing like the former kings did.
354.6.3
In the reign of Shãh Sultãn Husain, the son of Shãh Sulaimãn and grandson of [150] Shãh 'Abbas the lesser, there was a famous general called [blank in text]. This man noticed the great difference between this king and his predecessors. In place of making much of and showing esteem for officers who had grown grey in battle-fields, he insulted them by refusing them the offices that they had merited. In this fashion the affairs of the state went from bad to worse. Therefore that general said boldly in the king's presence at a public audience : 'Your Majesty is incapable of governing, since you do not rule like your predecessors ; they raised to high place those who merited it, and could be serviceable to them. Your Majesty, quite to the contrary, appoints low men to places of authority, men of little judgment, and therefore you will be the cause of your own destruction.' On hearing these reproofs the king directed him to withdraw, and never appear at court again. The command was executed, and to this day he lives in retirement in his own house. To say the truth, this was a great piece of courage, not to say temerity, by which this general was deprived of his king's favour, although he had been highly thought of previously.
354.6.4
You will have already seen (IV. 224, V. 34) the agreement made by the Dutch commissary Bernard Phoosen [151] with the French of Pondicherry when he was made a prisoner. The Dutch gentlemen who live in Batavia, and have control over Indian affairs, when they heard of the agreement that he (Phoosen) had made, deprived him of his office, as they did also to the other officials who accompanied him, and dismissed even the officials at the town of Negapatam who had signed the agreement. We come now to speak of King Aurangzeb. During the time of the rains the king cantoned his army near the river Quessina (Kishnã), which flows past the territory of the prince Aganguiri (Wãkinkerah). Not to be idle, he dispatched General Zu,lfiqãr Khãn to make war against a prince who was a vassal of the kingdom of Bíjãpur ; he also ordered the general Chinichiliscam (Chin Qalích Khãn) to march with his army and invest the principal fortress of another prince, equally a vassal of the Bíjãpur kingdom. The first of these princes offered thirty thousand, the other twenty thousand rupees in order that the king might allow them to live in peace. This offer was referred to his Majesty, who directed that these sums of money should be taken, and the cash should be kept as a present by the said generals [152]. Yet he instructed them to continue their best efforts to destroy these rebels. This is a habit of this king, although his orders are not carried out as he gives them.
354.6.5
Meanwhile he sent men to reconnoitre the route along which, as he pretended, his army would make its advance on its way to attack the prince of Massur (Maisur). The same was done in regard to Taniaur (Tanjor) and Triginapali (Trichinopoly); it was meant only as a means of intimidation and the extraction of money from them. With the same object he gave a fresh order for Dã,ud Khãn to return to the Karnãtik. The Khãn, assuming pleasant ways, feigned himself the friend of those princes, and advised them to offer handsome tribute to the Mogul if they wished to be liberated from imperial interference. These princes are so ignorant that they paid what was demanded of them, without foreseeing the destruction which would overtake them therefrom. The said Dã,ud Khãn amassed all the money that he could from them and from the Europeans, since he had bound himself to pay to the court a revenue fifty per cent. in excess of that usually paid. From this cause the people had a good deal to suffer. The Shivã Jls (the Mahrattahs) quitted the neighbourhood of the royal camp, started for their own territory, and in less than three months recovered the fortresses of which the conquest had occupied Aurangzeb so many years.
354.6.6
[153] Dã,ud Khãn left the court and came back to the Karnãtik, and when he reached it all the European nations sent him their presents, which he accepted. From the French alone did he refuse to take any, in spite of his declaring himself to be their very great friend. Instead of receiving their tribute, he rejected it with displeasure. He said to their agent that he was not a man fit to carry on their affairs; he must therefore write to Monsieur Martin, Governor of Pondicherry, to send him some person of judgment to arrange certain interests of the greatest importance. At once Governor Martin sent a Hindu inhabitant of Pondicherry, named Anomond, bearing a substantial and notable present. When this man reached the camp of Dã,ud Khãn, he was not well received; on the contrary, he was spoken to in a somewhat arrogant and menacing manner. He was given to understand that the French ought to restore to the Dutch the ship Phénix, taken from their commissary, with all the valuable cargo in it; otherwise he (Dã,úd Khãn) should proceed to destroy the fortress of Pondicherry.
354.6.7
This discussion took various turns, and in the end Dã,ud Khãn announced that if they gave him one hundred thousand rupees he would leave them alone. This settlement was not accepted by the French of Pondicherry; they were resolute to pay nothing, and began to prepare for defence [154]. At the same time, Governor Martin did not relax his efforts to adjust the claim; and, with the aid of some friends, he succeeded in settling matters. Up to the present time Dã,ud Khãn has done him no injury, although he has uttered many threats. But that is what they always do. The prince of Maisur was aware that, as soon as the rainy season was over, King Aurangzeb would make war upon him. He therefore made ready to resist him with a force of fifteen thousand horsemen of different tribes — Pathãns, Rãjputs, and Moguls, et cetera. The whole of these men came out of the Mogul empire; not finding employment at that court, they went and took service with this prince. I do not believe that these men will be faithful to him; on the contrary, I know that Aurangzeb, following his custom, will be sure to invite them to desert to his standard by an offer of higher pay, if he has not done this already, as he has practised in the kingdoms of Bījāpur and Gulkandah, and in other principalities.
354.6.8
The said prince suspected, however, that this tampering had taken place, and called a council of his principal officers. He asked them, in case such a desertion happened, what would be the remedy for the evil. They replied to him that he should place no reliance on those horsemen; in time [155] of need his Highness had forty thousand captains, not to speak of the soldiers who fought under their standards, making a total of three hundred thousand men, all of them ready to defend his Highness.