The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.75

v4.c20.75

In 1687, Durjan Sāl Hārā, the leading vassal of Būndī, being insulted by his chieftain Anurudh Singh, rose and seized the capital, and coming over to Mārwār joined the Rāthors with a thousand horsemen of his own. The two united clans drove away most of the Mughul outposts in Mārwār, and raided the imperial dominions in the north, causing alarm even in Delhi. In 1690 Durgā Dās routed the new governor of Ajmer and continued to plunder and disturb the parts of Mārwār in Mughul occupation. But Shujā'at Khān restored the situation by tactfully winning many of the Rājput headmen over. Aurangzīb was naturally anxious to get back his rebel son Akbar's daughter Safiyat-un-Nisā and son Buland Akhtar, who had been left in the hands of the Rāthors on the failure of his rebellion in 1681. The negotiations for this purpose were happily concluded by Shujā‘at Khān in 1694, when Durgā Dās was induced by the historian Ishwar Dās Nāgar to make terms for his raja and himself by giving up Akbar’s daughter to the emperor. Aurangzīb was highly pleased with Durgā Dās on learning from his grand-daughter that the Rāthor leader had carefully educated her in Islāmic theology by engaging a Muhammadan tutoress for her in the wilds of Mārwār. In 1698 Buland Akhtar, the last pawn in the hands of the Rāthors, was delivered to Aurangzīb. In return, the emperor pardoned Ajīt Singh and gave him rank and the *parganas* of Jhālor, Sānchod and Siwānā as his *jāgīr* but did not restore the kingdom of Mārwār. Durgā Dās was rewarded by being taken into imperial service with the command of 3000 and appointment as commandant of Pātan in Gujarāt.