The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.5

v4.c20.5

Prince Akbar, who had been sheltered by Shambhūjī in the village of Pālī (six miles east of Nāgothān), gathered a small force of 2000 men with the jewels he had brought away with himself, and kept up the pageant of an emperor, issuing letters in the royal style dated in his regnal years! Shambhūjī promised to support him with a Marāthā army in gaining the Delhi throne, but nothing came of these promises. Aurangzīb's wise strategy blocked all the paths out of Mahārāshtra. Early in 1682 he began a vigorous offensive against the Marāthās; one division under Sayyid Hasan ‘Alī Khān descended into the north Konkan and occupied Kalyān (*c.* 9 February), withdrawing in May next to avoid the heavy monsoon. Another, under Shihāb-ud-dīn Khān, invaded the Nāsik district and besieged Rāmsej, but after a six months' siege and the failure of three assaults the attempt was abandoned in October. Rūh-ullah Khān and Shāh ‘Ālam were sent to guard the Ahmadnagar district, while prince A‘zam was despatched towards Bījāpur to prevent aid coming to the Marāthās from that state. In fact, the emperor’s spirit was now up; as the Kārwār factors wrote: “He is so inveterate against the Rāja that he hath thrown off his *pagri* and sworn never to put it on again, till he hath either killed, taken, or routed him out of his country.” Khān Jahān gave the Marāthās a long and hot chase from Nānder and Bīdar to Chāndā and the Qutb Shāhī frontier. A‘zam campaigned for one year in the north Bījāpur territory, capturing Dhārūr. In his absence his camp was attacked by the Marāthās, but, inspired by his heroic wife Jahānzīb Bānū, the Hārā Rājput guards repulsed the enemy, though losing 900 of their own men.