The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c18.60

v4.c18.60

Light is thrown on Shāh Jahān’s diplomatic methods by his letter to Shāh ‘Abbās II of Persia, which ostensibly was to congratulate him on his accession but was meant to secure his neutrality. And he wrote to Nazr Muhammad asserting that Murād had acted impetuously through youth and inexperience and his own object was merely to clear Balkh of dangerous people and hand it over to Nazr Muhammad. If this had indeed been his object he failed to secure it. The local Uzbegs were turbulent and the omission to guard the line of the Oxus left the north of Balkh and Badakhshān open to raids. No commander-in-chief had been appointed and the four generals could neither combine nor agree. In the spring of 1647 the prince Aurangzīb, who was summoned from Gujarāt to govern Balkh, found his march impeded by tribesmen. ‘Abdul-‘Azīz had consolidated his position and collected an army on the Oxus. He despatched a force across it to hold the country west of Balkh, and when Aurangzīb shortly after his arrival at the city marched out to meet it, news came of another force advancing direct on Balkh. Aurangzīb returned to meet this and defeated it in a pitched battle where ‘Abdul-‘Azīz was present. The Uzbeg forces, largely consisting of nomads, fierce in predatory attacks, but with little cohesion in face of a reverse, scattered after the losses of the day. They had been impressed by the calm bravery of Aurangzīb, who dismounted from his horse at sunset to repeat the obligatory prayer. ‘Abdul-‘Azīz offered to place his brother in charge of Bukhārā, while Nazr Muhammad, who had fled to Persia, offered to abdicate.