The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.22

v4.c21.22

After suppressing his son's rebellion, Āsaf Jāh engaged himself for some time in exacting tribute from refractory dependents, and then his attention was drawn to the Carnatic. This rich province, with its capital at Arcot, was governed by an Arab family of the Navāit clan, which had offended the Marāthās and the Nizām alike by neglecting to pay to the former the annual compensation agreed upon for the relinquishment of Shivājī’s forts and territories in that region, and to the latter the homage and surplus revenue (1,200,000 rupees a year) due to him as the supreme representative of the emperor in the south. Besides, in 1737 Chanda Sāhib, the son-in-law of the ruling Nawāb of Arcot, had seized Trichinopoly and many other places in the Marāthā kingdom of Tanjore by treachery, with the Nawāb’s support. But a Marāthā army, 10,000 strong, led by Fath Singh and Raghūjī Bhonsle, started from Sātārā on 17 January, 1740, invaded Arcot, defeated and slew its Nawāb Dost ‘Alī (31 May), and took from his successor Safdar ‘Alī a promise of ten million rupees as indemnity. On 6 April, 1741, they captured Trichinopoly, made Chanda Sāhib prisoner, and left Murārī Rāo Ghorpare as their governor there. On 13 October, 1742, Safdar ‘Alī was murdered by his cousin Murtazā ‘Alī and the whole province fell into anarchy.