The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.311

v4.c20.311

In the same region a power was rising which was destined, at no distant date, to overthrow both Muslim and Hindu rule. With all these disputes between the competitors the emperor had no concern, save when a prince who deigned to describe himself as lieutenant found it convenient to appeal for aid. The viceroyalty of Bengal contributed not an officer or a man to the defence of the empire during the invasions of Nādir Shāh and Ahmad Shāh Abdālī. West of this state lay the viceroyalty of Oudh, already virtually independent under a hereditary ruler and destined soon to absorb the provinces of Allahābād and Rohilkhand, as Katehr soon began to be called from its new masters. The rich province of Mālwa formed part of the dominions of that Hindu power which was contesting supremacy with Muslim princes in the Deccan and Bengal, and the same may be said of the still richer province of Gujarāt. Rājputāna stood sullenly aloof from the empire, ruled by the descendants of her princesses, and the Punjab, Multān and Sind lay at the feet of the Afghān king. All that remained to Delhi were the northern half of the Gangetic Dūāb, a region of about twice the area of that tract on the west of the Jumna, the southern portion of which, however, was occupied by the rebellious Jāts, and a strip of territory which only at one point attained a width of a hundred miles, extending eastward from about the seventieth degree of east longitude, along the southern banks of the Indus, Panjnad and Sutlej rivers. Within this limited area the emperor of India exercised such authority as his ministers were pleased to leave in his hands.