The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c11.64

c11.64

Muhammad Ádil Sháh then made some attempts at negotiation which were not favourably received. Some time after an ambassador was sent from Sháh Jahán calling on the Bijápur king to give up forts belonging to Ahmadnagar which had fallen into his hands, to surrender his guns and military stores, and to cease affording countenance to the famous partizan leader, Sháhji Bhonsle,² who had done so much to avert the ruin of the Ahmadnagar kingdom. The rejection of these demands brought on war. Sháhji, driven out of the Ahmadnagar territory, fled into that of Bijápur, in consequence of which the country about Kolhápur, Miraj, and Ráybág was utterly wasted by the Mughals. Another force attacked the capital of Bijápur, but found that in anticipation of its arrival all the forage and grain within a circuit of twenty miles round the fort had been destroyed and the wells filled up. As a regular siege was impracticable, the invading forces marched through the country in two bodies, plundering and devastating. In these operations they met with some loss from attacks by the Bijápur troops; but Muhammad Ádil Sháh was at last compelled to sue for peace. He received more favourable terms than might have been expected, the harshest condition being the imposition of a tribute of twenty lákhs a year. Peace was concluded in A.D. 1636. In the following year, on the complete subversion of the Ahmadnagar kingdom, Sháhji Bhonsle entered the service of Bijápur.