The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c10.51

c10.51

Soon after this the Mughal princes of Delhi began to invade the Dakhan, and in A.D. 1600 Ahmadnagar fell. The country was however only temporarily subdued, and was speedily recovered by Malek Ambar, an Abyssinian chief, who made Aurangabad, then called Kharki, the capital of the Nizam Shah kings. In A.D. 1616, Shah Jahan again conquered the greater part of the Ahmadnagar territory; but in A.D. 1629 the country was given up by the Mughal governor Khan Jahan Lodi. A war ensued, and in A.D. 1633 Daulatabad was taken and the king made prisoner; but Shahji Bhonsla, one of the leading Maratha chiefs, set up another member of the royal family, overran the Gangthari and Poona districts, and with the help of the Bijapur troops drove back the Mughals from Purenda. Shah Jahan now marched into the Dakhan in person, besieged Bijapur, and forced the king to come to terms (A.D. 1636). The country seized by Shahji was then easily recovered; that chief surrendered in A.D. 1637, and the Nizam Shah dynasty came to an end. The country north of the Bhima, including Junnar, was annexed to the Mughal territory; and that south of it was made over to Bijapur. Shahji took service under the king of Bijapur, and received the jahgir of Poona and Supa, to which Indapur Baramati and the Mawal country near Poona were added.