The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.199

v4.c20.199

Ajīt Singh of Jodhpur, who had been a partisan of the Sayyids and still held the government of Ajmer and Gujarāt, refused to recognise the new government and assumed the state of an independent sovereign. Complaints of his tyranny and, above all, of his bigotry and intolerance, reached the court and orders were issued dismissing him from the government of both provinces. So strong was the sentiment aroused in Gujarāt by the raja’s misgovernment that his deputy was attacked and expelled from the province, and the Mughul deputy had no difficulty in taking his place. In the province of Ajmer, contiguous to the contumacious raja’s own state, it was less easy to provide, as none of the nobles at court was willing to undertake the task. Ajīt Singh invaded Ajmer with 30,000 horse, and news of this checked a Mughal officer who started. Sa‘ādat Khān was summoned from Āgra to punish the rebel, but when he reached Delhi he could find nobody to accompany him and the emperor either could not or would not supply him with the funds for his troops. Intelligence was now received that the officer who had first advanced had entered the province of Ajmer and had plundered some of its villages, but all the plunder had been retained by his starving troops, who were in arrears of pay, and he had fled to Amber, to Jay Singh, and returned his commission as governor of Ajmer. While the courtiers wavered as to the order to be taken with Ajīt Singh, Nizām-ul-Mulk started from the Deccan, and the news brought Ajīt Singh to his senses. On entering Ajmer he rebuilt mosques which had been destroyed by his orders, allowed the butchers to kill cattle for food, and withdrew his former prohibition of the Muslim call to prayer. He then wrote to court a humble petition promising that, if he were allowed to retain Ajmer, he would be loyal and submissive in future, and this was granted.