The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c11.84

c11.84

After the capture of Bijápur Aurangzíb lost no time in securing possession of the territories that had thus become a portion of his empire. His armies marched to the furthest southern districts belonging to the extinct kingdom—those situated in what was termed the Bijápur Karnátak—driving the Maráthás everywhere into their forts. The Mughal tenure of the country, however, was purely military and did not last long. Abdul Ráuf Khán, son of the deceased Abdul Karim, who has often been referred to in these pages, entered the service of the emperor and received charge of a large portion of the Southern Marátha Country. He first made Bankápur his head-quarters, but eventually carved out for himself a principality the capital of which was Sávanur. Aurangzíb’s hands were too fully occupied elsewhere to enable him to look closely after his new acquisitions in the south, which soon ceased to belong to him even in name. In the northern part of the Southern Marátha Country his hold at first seemed to be firm. Miraj and Panhála were taken by the Mughals, but the latter place was almost immediately re-taken by the Maráthás. It fell again into Aurangzíb’s hands; but the emperor had to move towards the north, leaving behind an enemy whose power increased daily as that of the Mughal waned. The inevitable end was delayed by the dissensions among the Marátha leaders and the absence from the scene of action of their rája, but at Aurangzíb’s death his power in the south was very circumscribed. His son Kám Baksh was at Bijápur when his father died, and tried to revive the Mughal empire there, but was soon defeated and killed.