The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.108

v4.c20.108

Early in 1706, during the interval between the departure of prince A‘zam from Ahmadābād and the arrival of Bīdār Bakht there as governor, the Marāthās took advantage of the unguarded condition of the province. Dhana Jādav entered at the head of a vast force, and at Ratanpur (in Rājpiplā) signally defeated the two divisions of the imperial army, one after another (26 March, 1706). Two Mughul generals, Safdar Khān Bābī and Nazr ‘Alī Khān, were captured and held to ransom; their camps were looted, and vast numbers of Musalmans perished or were taken captive. When ‘Abdul-Hamīd Khān, the deputy-governor of the province, arrived with another army, he was hemmed round by the victorious enemy near the Bābā Piārā ford, and himself and his chief officers were made prisoners and all their camp and baggage plundered. Then the Marāthās levied *chauth* on the surrounding country and retired after plundering the places that failed to pay blackmail. During these disorders, the Kolīs rose and sacked Barodā. Aurangzīb tried to put down by violence the Isma‘īlia heretics, called *Bohrās*, who flourished, and still continue to flourish by trade, in this province. Their teachers were arrested, their funds confiscated, and Sunnī teaching was enforced upon them. Another branch of these sectaries, called *Khojās* or *Mūmins*, consisting mostly of converts from Hinduism, were roused to frenzy by the arrest of their spiritual head, killed the commandant of Broach, captured that city (October, 1685), and held out for a time, until it was reconquered and the fanatics within it massacred.