The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c17.41

v4.c17.41

While Jahāngīr had been seeking health in Kashmīr the position on the southern frontier had deteriorated. Malik ‘Ambar, ever restless and intriguing on behalf of his master, had again reconciled the kings of Bījāpur and Golconda and pursued his recruiting among the Marāthās. The Mughul governor was besieged in Ahmadnagar and the high commanders were quarrelling. They might succeed in pitched battles but lost ground after each and were so harried by marauding bands that they were forced to fall back on Burhānpur, which was beset, and even Māndū was not safe. The emperor, in reply to the pressing demands for reinforcements, appointed Shāh Jahān to command them, but progress was delayed by the fact that so many troops had been sent on the futile expedition against Kāngra. Shāh Jahān, himself, realising the uncertainties of the position at court, insisted on having charge of his elder brother Khusrav, and when Jahāngīr had at last acceded to this the two brothers left their father at Lahore (1620) and never saw him again. The expedition was successful in its immediate objects. One division which was detached to relieve Māndū soon scattered the Marāthās who were laying waste the country round, while Shāh Jahān forced the armies round Burhānpur to withdraw, and thus relieved the garrison which had been practically beleaguered for two years and had been greatly straitened for food and supplies. Before long the imperial troops had penetrated as far south as Khirkī, where the Nizāmshāhī rulers had established their headquarters after Ahmadnagar had been incorporated in the imperial dominions. Here they demolished the new buildings of the capital and set out to raise the siege of Ahmadnagar. By this time Malik ‘Ambar, who had removed his royal master and his family for safety to Daulatābād, realised that his position was insecure. He offered terms and Shāh Jahān, already anxious about arrangements for the supply of food for his large army in a tract which had been devastated and plundered, agreed to treat. Besides restoring the territory which had previously become Mughul, the insurgents agreed to give a strip fourteen *kos* (25 to 28 miles) wide, and a tribute of five million rupees from the three kingdoms of Bījāpur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda. The rainy season of 1621 being now over he returned to Burhānpur and occupied himself with reorganising the administration which had been dislocated by two years’ warfare. The rejoicing over this victory which delighted the emperor, and prompted him to reward generously those who had taken part in it, was marred by his illness. As he frankly admits in his memoirs, he indulged more frequently in liquor, and suffered for it, till the empress gradually persuaded him to reduce his potations and adapt his diet to his condition. In October he travelled to the upper courses of the Ganges to seek a place with a suitable climate where he might build a new city and avoid the trying heat of Āgra. He found Hardwār not pleasant, and decided to visit Jammū and Kāngra. Leaving the bulk of his great camp in the plains he had started for the hills when he was recalled by grave news about the health of I‘timād-ud-daula, who was advanced in years and had been left behind ill. Both the emperor and empress returned and were present when he died. In spite of their earlier disagreements reconciliation had been effected and Jahāngīr mourned the loss of an able and faithful minister, and a wise and kind friend. He was then free to visit Kāngra and rejoice over his capture of that ancient place. To celebrate the achievement he took with him persons learned in the law of Islām and after prayers formally desecrated the temple by sacrificing a cow.