The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c10.239

c10.239

The Nizám Sháh dynasty did not become extinct on the fall of the capital. Malik Ambar, an Abyssinian, set up Mortiza as king, retired across the Godávari, and founded a city at Kharki near Daulatábád, to which Aurangzíb afterwards gave the name of Aurangábád. He defeated the Khán-i-Khánán the Mughal leader, and re-took Ahmadnagar and Berar. In A.D. 1612 he drove back another army and forced it to retire into Báglán, and it was not till A.D. 1617 that he was defeated by Sháh Jahán and forced to surrender Ahmadnagar, which thenceforward remained in the hands of the Mughals. He died in A.D. 1626. Malik Ambar was not more famous for his skill as a general than for his revenue administration; and the settlement made by him was preserved in Sháhji's jáhgir round Poona, though in many districts it was supplanted by Todar Mal's settlement. It was under him that the Marátha chiefs became important. The greatest family was that of the Jádhaves of Sindkhed, whose chief went over to the Mughals in A.D. 1621. The Jádhaves were descendants of the rájás of Devgad; and the villages of Hatnur, Bansendra, and Bokangaon not far from Ellora, are still held by the family. The Bhonslás of Verola or Ellora, from whom came Shiváji, were another important family.