The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c17.44

v4.c17.44

Overshadowed by this event, the new year of the reign brought news of trouble on the western frontier. Shāh ‘Abbās, king of Persia, had from time to time sent ambassadors to Jahāngīr professing friendship. One of these arrived at Ajmer in 1616 when Roe was at the court. Although Roe thought this envoy’s behaviour servile, and not becoming the representative of an independent monarch, he recognised the difference between the reception of the Persian and his own treatment, and regretted that he himself was unable to offer such magnificent gifts as had been sent from Isfahān. Jahāngīr’s estimate of the relative importance of the two envoys appears from the elaborate account in the memoirs of the Persian and a full transcription of the message which he brought, while the English ambassador is not mentioned. Moreover, a Mughul representative was sent to Persia in return and there received a gracious welcome. This exchange of courtesies was a mere cloak to hide designs of aggression by Shāh ‘Abbās, and after a fourth embassy arrived at the end of 1620 the garrison of Qandahār fell to a few hundred soldiers, the main forces of the empire being collected in the Deccan. The city was important owing to its command of the land route to Persia on which the bulk of the trade between that country and India was still carried, and its possession was also a matter of pride since its capture by Akbar. News of the collection of a Persian force had been received and Shāh Jahān, the only commander who had been successful in recent years, was directed to take an army to defend the frontier. Before anything could be done the fort was beleaguered and it was reported that another army was marching on Sind. Great preparations were made to collect troops and the vast quantity of supplies required for an army in a tract the products of which barely support a thin population. A proposal by the officer in immediate command to take what forces were ready was not accepted as the emperor hoped to collect an army which could advance as far as Isfahān, the capital of Persia. His hopes had been stimulated by the offer of help from Imām Qulī, the ruler of Samarqand, who sent an envoy suggesting the recapture of Qandahār and an expedition against Khurāsān. The project, however, was not immediately accepted by Shāh Jahān. He despatched part of his camp from Burhānpur at once, but did not advance beyond Māndū, where he proposed to stay during the rainy season, and he demanded that when he took over charge of the campaign he should be allowed to have the fort of Rantambhor¹ for the residence of his family and should be sole commander, and also governor of the Punjab. Jealousy of the power of his stepmother Nūr Jahān, and anticipations of her probable support of Shahryār's claim to the throne if the emperor died, were no doubt the cause of these requests, which were not granted. Jahāngīr sent orders that as Shāh Jahān did not wish to move till after the rains he should at once despatch the principal officers and the best of the troops including the Sayyids of Bārha and Bukhārā, the Shaikhzādas, the Afghāns and the Rājputs.