The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c18.63

v4.c18.63

In the following year (1648) Shāh ‘Abbās II assumed full powers and at once prepared to recover Qandahār, to the loss of which the Persians had never been resigned.² His reply to Shāh Jahān’s crafty messages was a summons to give up that city and to restore Balkh to Nazr Muhammad. Balkh had been abandoned, but Qandahār might still be saved. When news arrived that the Shāh himself had marched into Khurāsān with an army it was too late to send reinforcements from Kābul and Multān across the mountains. By Christmas the Shāh had invested the city and Aurangzīb, who on his return from Balkh had been made governor of Multān, was appointed to command a large army. Extra allowances were sanctioned to encourage the troops in a campaign which would be fiercely contested and would extend to an inhospitable terrain. All these efforts failed, however, to save Qandahār. A detachment of the Persian army invested the fortress of Bist while the main body commanded by the Shāh marched on to Qandahār. Bist surrendered after a siege of two months and some of its garrison were treacherously murdered. Daulat Khān, the governor of Qandahār, when making his dispositions to guard the citadel overlooked a vital point, which was soon occupied by the Persians. Dispirited by the belief that reinforcements could not arrive, and by the energy of the invaders, the garrison soon lost heart. An Uzbeg captain began to correspond with the Persians and the Mughal officials began to think that their own lives and the safety of their families from enslavement might best be ensured by surrender. Daulat Khān tried to suppress the weakness by mere advice instead of the use of strong measures. The traitors received letters from the Shāh which were accepted also by Daulat Khān. They were followed by an envoy, who was also admitted and promised a safe conduct. The Uzbeg hastened to give up the gate in his charge and Daulat Khān soon marched out of the citadel in February, 1649, a month before Aurangzīb, who had been unable to cross the mountains by the shorter route from Kohāt, was able to reach Kābul through Peshāwar.