The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c19.108

v4.c19.108

With Bījāpur Mughul relations were more complicated. Briefly put, the grouping of powers in the Deccan was this: the dread of imperial aggression drove the Sultān of Golconda whole-heartedly, and that of Bījāpur distrustfully and intermittently, into the arms of Shivājī. Bījāpur’s leagues with Shivājī were formed only when Mughul invasion was an insistent fact and the situation of ‘Ādil Shāh was hopeless, and these leagues were soon dissolved by the growing fear that the Marāthā coming in as a friend would treacherously seize ‘Ādil Shāhī forts and lands. During Shāyista Khān’s campaign against Shivājī (1660), the Bījāpurīs did, indeed, render useful co-operation to the Mughuls, but such aid to the imperial power ceased after the ministers of Bījāpur had formed a secret pact with Shivājī (about 1662) on condition of his sparing the heart of the kingdom, i.e. the royal territories proper, while he was left free to rob the semi-independent nobles whose grants lay in the outlying provinces.