The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.48

v4.c20.48

By April, 1695, Aurangzib came to realise that his work in the Deccan was not finished with the conquest of Bījāpur, Golconda and the Marāthā capital; it was only beginning; for him there was no going back to Delhi, as he could see no end to the people's war in which he was entangled. Therefore, in May, 1695, he sent his eldest surviving son Shāh 'Ālam to govern the Punjāb, Sind and afterwards Afghānistān and guard the north-western gateway of India, while he himself took post at Brahmapurī for the next four and a half years in the very heart of the enemy country. During this period (1695–99), the Marāthā danger came nearer home and drove the Mughuls into the defensive in Mahārāshtra and Kanara. The movements of their roving bands were bewilderingly rapid and unexpected, and the Mughul pursuing columns toiled in vain after them. Local representatives of the emperor were often driven to make unauthorised terms with the Marāthās by agreeing to pay *chauth*. Worse than that, some imperialists made a concert with the enemy for sharing the plunder of the emperor's own subjects. The Mughul administration had really dissolved and only the presence of the emperor held it together, but merely as a phantom rule.