A History of the Mahrattas v1.c17: Chapter X
A History of the Mahrattas v1.c17
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Chapter X
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A.D. 1680.—SUMBHAJEE’S conduct from the time of his father’s death until he entered his capital, discovered a vigour and method the more satisfactory from being unexpected; and had he taken advantage of the general submission and published a declaration of amnesty, the address and energy he had shown would have suppressed all recollection of his early faults; but the barbarity of his disposition was displayed from the moment he passed the gate of Raigurh. Annajee Dutto was put in irons, thrown into prison, and his property confiscated. Raja Ram was also confined; Soyera Bye was seized, and when brought before Sumbhajee, he insulted her in the grossest manner, accused her of having poisoned Sivajee, loaded her with every epithet of abuse, and ordered her to be put to a cruel and lingering death. The Mahratta officers attached to her cause were beheaded; and one, particularly obnoxious, was precipitated from the top of the rock of Raigurh. This severity, justly deemed unnecessary and cruel, besides causing an inveterate enmity in the minds of Soyera Bye’s relations, was considered a most inauspicious commencement, and on the occasion of his being seated on the throne, in the early part of August, many unfavourable auguries were reported in the country.¹
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¹ Mahratta MSS.
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The armistice which Sivajee effected with the Moghul viceroy, Khan Jehan Buhadur, when quitting his own territory on the Carnatic expedition, produced no compromise with the Abyssinians of Jinjeera; a petty warfare was constantly maintained in the Concan between the Seedee and the Mahrattas; but hostilities became more rancorous after the accession of Sumbhajee.
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The island or rock of Henery, near the entrance of the harbour of Bombay, was fortified by Sivajee in 1679, which being resented by the English, an attempt by them, in conjunction with the Seedee, was unsuccessfully made to dispossess him of it; but Kenery, another island of the same description, which stands by the side of Henery, having been in the same surreptitious manner occupied by the Seedee during the ensuing season, Sumbhajee’s first efforts were spent in endeavouring to drive out the Seedee, and with no better success than had attended the attempt on Henery. The English as little relished the occupation by the one party as by the other.¹
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¹ Orme. Mahratta MSS. English Records. [The correct names of these islands are Underi and Khānderi. Underi lies in 18° 42′ N. and 72° 51′ E. due south of the Prongs lighthouse and 1,200 yards from the mainland (Kolāba District). Khānderi lies two and a half miles from the mainland, to the south-west of Underi, and is furnished with a lighthouse built in 1867. Concerning the struggle for the two islands, confusion has arisen from the fact that they are indiscriminately referred to in the documents of the period as ‘Hendry-Kendry.’ Grant Duff’s statement that Sivājī occupied Henery (Underi) and the Sīdī Kenery (Khānderi) is incorrect. Orme, who puts the position correctly in one place, inverts it in another. The facts are that Sivājī occupied Khānderi in 1679, and the Sīdī retaliated by occupying Underi in January 1680. ‘Both islands,’ remark the Stracheys, ‘were claimed by the English, but had not hitherto been considered of sufficient importance to demand a guard-house or any other attention.’ (Keigwin’s Rebellion, pp. 37–41; B.C.G., ii. 82; Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times, pp. 355–62.)]
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A.D. 1681.—Sumbhajee, whilst his fleet and troops were thus employed, proceeded to Panalla, for what purpose is not clearly ascertained, though perhaps it may have been to conduct some negotiations with the Beejapoor government. He remained there until recalled to Raigurh by the appearance of an illustrious fugitive who sought an asylum in his territory. This personage was Sultan Mohummud Akber, the fourth son of the Emperor Aurungzebe, who, having been won over by the Rajpoots, consented to head a rebellion against his father, but the scheme was frustrated by the Emperor’s address, and the prince fled towards Sumbhajee’s country, which he was fortunate enough to reach, though he was hotly pursued and the strictest orders issued to all the imperial officers of the districts in his route to intercept him.²
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² Orme. Scott’s Deccan. Khafee Khan. Mahratta MSS., and copy of an original letter from Mohummud Akber to Sumbhajee.
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Sumbhajee sent an officer to welcome his arrival, appointed the village of Dodsay for his residence, the name of which, in compliment to his guest, was changed to Padshapoor; but some affair, of which Mahratta manuscripts take no notice, detained him at Panalla and prevented his visiting the prince on his first arrival. In the meantime the restless faction of Annajee Dutto, in order to forward their own views and procure his enlargement, took advantage of Sumbhajee’s absence to propose some overtures to Sultan Mohummud Akber in favour of Raja Ram. The news of this fresh conspiracy was first communicated to Sumbhajee by Dadajee Rugonath Deshpandya of Mhar, and excited suspicions towards his guest, until the prince himself communicated the circumstances, which entirely dispelled his doubts; and Sumbhajee visited and welcomed him with much cordiality.
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The intrigue on the part of the friends of Annajee Dutto was said to have been supported by the whole of the Sirkay family in the Concan, whose motive was revenge for the death of Soyera Bye. Ballajee Aujee Chitnees, a man of the Purbhoo cast who had stood high in Sivajee’s favour,¹ and had been employed by Sumbhajee himself on a confidential mission to Bombay, was accused of being a principal instigator in the meditated treachery. This person, together with his eldest son, one of his relations named Samjee Aujee, Heerajee Furzund, such of the Sirkays as could be apprehended, and lastly Annajee Dutto himself, were at once led out to execution, tied to the feet of elephants, and trampled to death. The principal members of the Sirkay family fled in consternation, and several of them entered the Moghul service. Sumbhajee’s severity, even if just towards Ballajee Aujee, which is doubtful, was extremely impolitic in regard to Annajee Dutto. To put a Bramin to death is always looked upon with horror,² and the fate of the gallant Punt Suchew, who had performed such important services during the rise of Sivajee, was viewed by every one capable of appreciating his worth as a violent and harsh measure, calculated rather to create fear and dissension than to ensure obedience and unanimity.
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¹ By an original Sunnud, it appears that Sivajee had offered to make him one of the Purdhans, which he declined accepting. The reader will recognize, in Ballajee Aujee, the person in whose hand-writing many of those papers are preserved, to which this history is much indebted.
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² [The institutes of Manu—' the moral text-book of the orthodox Hindu'—declare that to slay a Brahman is a mortal sin; whoever threatens a Brahman with physical violence will wander for a hundred years in Hell; the man who seizes his property will feed in another world on the leavings of vultures. (Risley, People of India, p. 147.)]
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Of this number was Moro Punt Pingley, Peishwa, who, as his jealousy was extinct in his rival’s death, did not fail to inveigh with honest boldness against the impiety and impolicy of his execution. A Kanoja Bramin¹ from Hindostan, named Kuloo-sha, who had by some means insinuated himself into Sumbhajee’s favour, and who was the secret adviser of his actions, recommended the imprisonment of Moro Punt. The Peishwa was accordingly thrown into confinement, and Sumbhajee with the aid of this inexperienced man, equally presumptuous with himself, undertook the conduct of all state affairs.
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¹ [i.e. a Brahman of Kanyakubja or Kanauj, now in the Farrukhābād District, United Provinces, an ancient town on the Ganges which has given its name to one of the most exclusive sects of Brahmans in India. Risley (People of India, p. 153) quotes a proverb implying that the Kanaujia (Kanoja) Brahmans’ notions on the subject of ceremonial impurity are so extreme that they will hardly eat with their nearest relations.]
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Ramdass Swamy, the friend and spiritual director of Sivajee, whose life and conduct seem to have merited the universal encomiums of his countrymen, a few days previous to his death wrote Sumbhajee an excellent and judicious letter, advising him for the future rather than upbraiding him for the past, and pointing out the example of his father, yet carefully abstaining from personal comparison.
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About the same time Rugonath Narrain Hunwuntay undertook a journey from the Carnatic, having left Hurjee Raja Mahareek in charge of the government during his absence. On his arrival at Raigurh, as he brought with him a considerable treasure, the balance saved from the revenue of the districts, he was well received, and as was due to one of the Purdhans and so distinguished an officer, a full durbar was assembled on the occasion. Rugonath Narrain took this unusual opportunity² of entering on public affairs, and represented all the evils likely to result from the disregard shown to experienced servants and to the forms of government instituted by Sivajee; he pointed out what ought to be done, and whilst maintaining his arguments, boldly censured Sumbhajee’s proceedings and predicted his fall.
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² State affairs are seldom discussed in full durbar, and no business is entered upon at a first visit.
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It would seem difficult to account for the temerity of Rugonath Narrain, especially as his brother Jenardin Punt was still in confinement; but Sumbhajee was probably sensible that any violence towards Rugonath Narrain might at once place the Carnatic at his uncle’s disposal; and it is remarkable that decided language from a man whom he respects generally overawes the most ungovernable Mahratta. Sumbhajee promised to release Moro Punt and Jenardin Punt, and Rugonath Punt himself was civilly dismissed to his government. He died, however, before he reached Ginjee, and Sumbhajee not only fulfilled his promise of releasing Moro Punt and Jenardin Punt, but advanced the latter to the rank of Amat, vacant by his brother’s death, confirmed Hurjee Raja in the government of the Carnatic, and Neeloo Punt Moreishwur the son of Moro Punt, Peishwa, was appointed under him as Mootaliq or chief agent of affairs. But this amendment was but temporary, and the favourite Kuloosha obtained a complete ascendancy over his mind.¹
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¹ Mahratta MSS.
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On the occasion of Sumbhajee’s meeting with Prince Akber, it was rumoured abroad that the Mahrattas and Rajpoots were about to unite for the purpose of dethroning Aurungzebe and placing Sultan Akber on the throne.² But vanity and anger are more active stimulants to common minds than ambition or glory; no speculation of that kind diverted Sumbhajee from the more humble design of reducing Jinjeera; to possess himself of a place which his father had failed in taking, to avenge the pillage of several of his villages, and the daily insults experienced from the Seedee, were the causes which combined to make this an object of paramount interest.
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² Orme.
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He in the first place directed Khundoojee Furzund, one of his creatures, to desert to Jinjeera and endeavour, by corrupting some of the Seedee’s people, to blow up the magazine when the attack was about to commence. A large body of troops were assembled, and the command of the expedition given to Dadajee Rugonath Deshpandya, with the promise, in case of success, of being made one of the eight Purdhans.³
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³ Mahratta MSS.
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The plot of Khundoojee Furzund was discovered by means of a female slave, before the attack commenced, and he with many of his accomplices was put to death.¹
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¹ Mahratta MS.
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A.D. 1682.—Sumbhajee, accompanied by Sultan Akber, proceeded to Dhunda Rajepoor for the purpose of stimulating the exertions of his troops. He proposed filling up the channel by an immense mound of earth and stones, and thus advancing to the assault. The work was actually in progress, when he was suddenly called upon to oppose a body of Moghul horse under the command of Hoossein Ali Khan, which advanced from Ahmednugur by the route of Joonere, descended the Ghauts, and ravaged the Kallian district north of Panwell. Sumbhajee attacked them in front, prevented their penetrating to the southward, and having stopped their supplies on all sides, the Moghul general retired before the rains.
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The siege of Jinjeera was continued by Dadajee Rugonath, and in the month of August, the defences having been battered down, an assault was attempted by means of boats, but the slippery rock and beating of the surf prevented the assailants from keeping their footing. They were repulsed with the loss of two hundred men, and the attempt on the island was abandoned.²
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² Mahratta MSS. Orme.
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After the siege was raised and the besieging army withdrawn, the Seedees made constant inroads, destroying cows, carrying off the women, and burning the villages. They even penetrated to Mhar, and seized the wife of Dadajee Rugonath, the officer so lately employed against them.³
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³ Mahratta MSS.
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These insults greatly enraged Sumbhajee; he threatened to punish the English and Portuguese for maintaining a neutrality towards Jinjeera, and during the remainder of the monsoon he made preparations for an attack on the Seedee’s fleet. In the month of October, the principal commanders of his armed vessels sailed out of the Nagotna river in quest of the Seedee, whose fleet was at anchor off Mazagon⁴ in Bombay harbour. On perceiving the approach of the Mahrattas, the Seedee immediately got under way and stood up towards the Tannah river, when having chosen his position he lay to and waited for the Mahrattas. Seedee Missree, the relation of Seedee Sumbhole, who had deserted to Sumbhajee, led the attack, and was well supported by the other officers. But Yakoot Khan in person commanded the Jinjeera fleet; and although he had only fifteen vessels to twice that number of Sumbhajee’s which attacked him, he gained a complete victory. Seedee Missree was mortally wounded and taken prisoner in his own vessel, which with three others was captured by the Seedee.¹ Some of the Mahratta fleet were sunk, defending themselves to the last.²
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⁴ [Mazagon, now a municipal ward of Bombay City, has grown up around the original village of the Portuguese and early British epochs, and in its present form is largely the result of extensive reclamation from the sea. The name is possibly a corruption of *Matsyagrāma*, ‘fish-village,’ in allusion to the colony of Kolī fishermen which settled there in early ages; but is more plausibly held to mean ‘the central village’ by analogy with the Marāthī *mazaghar*, ‘the central portion of a house.’ Mazagon is frequently mentioned in Portuguese and early English records. (*B.C.G.*, vols. i, ii, iii.)]
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¹ Orme and Mahratta MSS.
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² Mahratta MS.
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Sumbhajee, exasperated by this defeat, began to carry his threats against the Europeans into effect; he commenced with the Portuguese, by plundering some of their villages, and was preparing to fortify the island of Elephanta³ in Bombay harbour, for the purpose of annoying the English and preventing the Seedee’s vessels from anchoring at Mazagon during the monsoon; but he was diverted from this latter scheme, and suddenly resolved on endeavouring to form an alliance with the English against the Moghuls and the Seedee. His inducement to this plan was intelligence of great preparations on the part of Aurungzebe, and the arrival at Aurangabad of Sultan Mauzum; whom the Emperor had sent forward, appointed for the fourth time to the government of the four Soobehs of the Deccan.
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³ [Elephanta island (or Ghārāpuri) lies about six miles from Bombay, and four from the shore of the mainland. It is famous for the great Shaiva cave-temples, which are variously assigned to the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries. The island is to-day an important feature of the external defences of Bombay. (B.G., xiv.; Burgess's Rock Temples of Elephanta; Fergusson's Rock-cut Temples of India; I.G. Bom., ii. 129-32.)]
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According to his projected change of politics, Sumbhajee sent an ambassador to Bombay, who pretended to inform the council of a scheme which the Moghuls had laid for reducing the island, and proposed an alliance against them and the Seedees. The council listened to these overtures, with a view of procuring an exemption from certain duties which were levied by Sumbhajee’s officers on the trade of the factories on the Coromandel coast;
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but although the negotiation was protracted to some length, neither party at this time obtained its desire.¹
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¹ Orme. [After the return of Sambhājī’s ambassador, John Child, Governor of Surat, decided to send an envoy to Sambhājī from Bombay, with the object of obtaining from the Marāthā Government a permit for the Company’s agents in Madras to trade in his southern possessions. The envoy chosen was Henry Smith, second member of the Bombay Council. A sudden attack by the Sīdī brought the envoy’s journey to a premature and undignified conclusion. (Strachey, Keigwin’s Rebellion, 66, 67.)]
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A.D. 1683.—Sumbhajee was again called to repel an inroad into the Concan by a detachment under Runmust Khan, supported by another Moghul officer, named Roh Oolah Khan, whom the prince had detached against him. These troops advanced to Kallian Bheemree, ravaged the country, as had been done the preceding season, but returned to Ahmednugur before the rains, without having effected anything worthy of notice.²
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² Mahratta MSS. Orme. Scott’s Deccan.
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In prosecution of the war against the Portuguese, Sumbhajee attacked Choule³ in the month of June, but he could make no impression on a regular European fortification. The viceroy of Goa did not confine his operations to defensive warfare. He took the field in the month of October and invaded Sumbhajee’s territory with a considerable army, twelve hundred of whom were Europeans. The Portuguese in their warfare exhibited greater barbarity than Mahratta free-booters. They not only carried fire and sword into the defenceless villages, but destroyed the temples, and attempted to convert their prisoners by force.⁴
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³ [Chaul (Choule), now a town in Alībāg tāluka, Kolāba District, about thirty miles south of Bombay, is a place of great antiquity and historic importance, containing Muhammadan and Portuguese architectural remains and, in the neighbouring hills, ancient Buddhist caves. The fort was built by the Portuguese in 1682. (I.G. Bom., 1909, ii. 127–9; B.G., xi. 269 f.; Yule, Hobson-Jobson (1903), 210 f.)]
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⁴ Orme says, they were burnt by the Inquisition; but although many barbarities are alleged against the Portuguese by the Mahrattas, they nowhere assert this. [The Inquisition was established in Goa in 1560, and held seventy-one autos-da-fé, at which 4,046 Indians perished. The provincial council of the Court of Inquisition at Goa issued the most stringent decrees throughout Portuguese India against infidels and heathen. The Christians in Bassein were forbidden to employ them, lend them money, or give them shelter under pain of transportation. (Da Cunha, J.B.B.R.A.S., x.) This is corroborated by Ovington (Voyage to Surat), who writes that the Portuguese ‘proselyte the children of all persons deceased among them, whether their parents are Moors or Pagans, and seize their estates into the Church.’]
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The viceroy neglected no means of hostility, he had anticipated Sumbhajee’s intention of fortifying the island of Aujee Dewa,¹ and now gave orders to some armed vessels stationed there to cruise against Sumbhajee’s fleet and distress the trade of Carwar. The viceroy advanced in person with the army and laid siege to Ponda. Sumbhajee, who possessed all the ardent bravery of his father, though without his prudence or his talents, immediately marched at the head of an inconsiderable force to raise the siege, and on coming in sight of Ponda, although his numbers were inferior to the Portuguese, he commenced an attack on their rear.
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¹ [Anjidiv (Aujee Dewa), which is still a Portuguese possession, lies five miles south-west of Kārwār, north Kanara District. Once garrisoned by troops of the Vijayanagar kingdom, and subsequently possessed by Arab traders, it was visited by Vasco da Gama in 1498, and seized by the Portuguese in 1505. Vide p. 401, infra. (I.G. Bom., 1909, ii. 581–2.) The name is probably derived from Mal. *āñjudīvu*, ‘five islands.’ (Yule, *Hobson-Jobson*, 1903, p. 28.) See also *B.G.*, xv, pt. ii. 249 ff.]
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The fort was at this time breached and might have been stormed, but the viceroy with the ideas of a European unused to Indian warfare, alarmed lest his retreat should be cut off and Goa exposed to danger, immediately resolved on retiring. He effected his retreat; but at the expense of the whole of his camp equipage, stores, guns, and equipments: twelve hundred of his men were slain, of whom two hundred were Europeans.
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On arriving at the backwater which separates the island of Goa or Pangin² from the mainland, Sumbhajee, who had headed
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² [Goa comprises three cities, viz. an old Hindu city built by the Kadambas (A.D. 1007–1246); old Goa, the first Portuguese capital; and Panjim (Pangin), the present seat of the Portuguese administration. Panjim, which lies near the mouth of the Mandāvi river, was selected as the residence of the Portuguese Viceroy in 1759, and was formally declared the capital of Portuguese India by Royal Decree in 1843. (I.G. Bom., 1909, ii. 587 ff.)]
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Orme also states that the Marāthā demand for *chauth* in 1674 was the outcome of enmity towards the Portuguese who had lately inflicted great severities on many families of the Marāthā religion within their districts, because they refused to become Christians. Crooke (Fryer’s *Travels*, Hakluyt, ii. 25 n.) remarks: ‘Accounts of the atrocities, possibly in some degree exaggerated, reached Europe on the publication of *Relation de l’Inquisition de Goa*, by the Physician Dellon (Leyden, 1687, Paris and London, 1688). For early accounts see Pyrard de Laval, ii. 52, 92 ff.; Linschoten, i. 182; Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 201 f. For a good modern account see Fonseca, 210 ff. (*Hist. and Arch. Sketch of Goa*, Bombay, 1878).’
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repeated charges, again led on the horse, intending to have dashed across with the fugitives, but the Portuguese, from a better knowledge of the ford, and from having stationed boats and lined the opposite banks with troops, repulsed the attempt. Sumbhajee rallied his men and again tried to ford, but although he headed the troops himself and persevered until his horse was swimming, he was at last obliged to desist owing to the flood-tide.¹
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¹ Mahratta MSS.
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Sumbhajee on this occasion particularly signalized himself, and Bhowanee, the sword of his father, which he used, could not have been better wielded; but with his usual obstinacy, he persisted in his rash design of crossing over into the island, and ordered boats to be brought for the purpose. Two hundred of his men were embarked and transported, when the Portuguese boats coming round intercepted the return of the Mahrattas, and the enraged and defeated troops of the viceroy fell upon the two hundred men thus exposed to their fury and destroyed most of them.²
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² Orme.
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The siege of Choule was continued without success; but Caranja was taken possession of and retained for nearly a year. Several places belonging to the Portuguese between Bassein and Damaun were attacked and destroyed, and the viceroy made overtures for peace, but as Sumbhajee demanded five crores of pagodas as a preliminary, they were at once broken off.
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The Mahratta horse, a part only of which were required on these services in the Concan, were as usual let loose to plunder and subsist in the upper country during the fair season, and this year they were fruitlessly pursued by a force from Aurungabad.³
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³ Mahratta MSS. Scott’s Deccan.
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To follow them in all cases, or to trace their incursions with precision from about the period at which we have arrived, is scarcely possible. Nor is it necessary. If we can account for the growth of their predatory power amidst the general warfare and confusion throughout the Deccan, and connect the principal incidents by which their empire was extended, it is all that can prove interesting or instructive in their history.
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From the time of Moro Punt’s confinement, Kuloosha was entrusted with the entire management of public affairs; nor did the partial enlargement of the Peishwa, for the short time he afterwards lived, produce in this respect any change. Sumbhajee, when not actually employed in the field, gave himself up to idleness or to vice; none could have access but Kuloosha, and if anyone ventured to approach without the favourite’s permission, Sumbhajee flew into a passion and punished the intruder. Kuloosha, as possessing a religious character, could not consistently be admitted to any other rank among the Purdhans than that of Pundit Rao; in addition to that honour, he was dignified with the title of Chundagau-Matya Kuvee-Kulus.¹ Although in the Mahratta manuscripts Kuloosha is loaded with many epithets of abuse, he is seldom accused of having been the pander of Sumbhajee’s vices; it is even admitted that he was a learned and courtly man and that he excelled in poetry, but his total incapacity for his high station, and the ruinous consequences, both of his neglect and his measures, may be very clearly gleaned from the Mahratta writings: in these the ascendancy gained over the mind of Sumbhajee is ascribed to magic, in which Kuloosha is believed to have been a perfect adept.
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¹ Which may be rendered into English, ‘Expounder of the Vedas and illustrious poet.’ It is from the second title Kuvee-Kulus that he derived his name Kub Kulus, or occasionally Kablis Kawn, amongst Mahomedans and Europeans, and his nickname of Kubjee amongst the Mahratta soldiery.
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The system which Sivajee introduced soon fell into decay, wherever the efficiency of the establishments depended upon the vigilance or care of the executive authority. This was first perceivable in the army, where the discipline and strict orders of Sivajee were neglected. When the horse took the field, stragglers were allowed to join, plunder was secreted, women followers who had been prohibited on pain of death, were not only permitted, but women were brought off from the enemy’s country as an established article of plunder and either retained as concubines, or sold as slaves.
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The small returns brought back by the commanders of the horse were insufficient for the pay of the troops; they took the field in arrears, and a permission to keep a portion of their plunder was an ample and desirable compensation for the regular pay allowed by Sivajee.
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Sumbhajee was prodigal in his expenses, and as he considered his father’s treasure inexhaustible, even the favourite minister was unwilling to rouse his dangerous temper by touching on that theme. No revenue was received from the Carnatic after the death of Rugonath Punt; the districts in that quarter maintained themselves, but as loss rather than advantage was now the result of most of the expeditions, by which in the time of Sivajee so much was amassed, Kuloosha conceived he had discovered an easy mode of replenishing the treasury by raising the land-rent, through the addition of various assessments; but when he came to collect the revenue, he found that the receipts were as much diminished from what they had been in the time of Sivajee as the assessments were nominally increased.
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The managers of districts were in consequence removed for what appeared to him evident peculation. The revenue was farmed, many of the ryots fled from their villages, and speedy ruin threatened the territory of Sumbhajee, without the approach of Aurungzebe, who this year advanced to Burhanpoor with a vast army, for the purpose of carrying his designs on the Deccan into execution.
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The ostensible impediments to the Emperor’s plans were, in comparison to his apparent means, very inconsiderable. The state of Hyderabad was the most formidable as to men and money, and the king, Abou Hoossein, was possessed of great private riches in jewels. His administration, conducted principally under Mahdhuna Punt, was popular amongst a large proportion of his Hindoo subjects, but many of the principal Mahomedan officers were disgusted at the sway exercised by a Bramin over both their prince and country. Their jealousy was fomented by the secret emissaries of Aurungzebe; but Abou Hoossein, sensible of the minister’s value, did not withdraw his confidence or support.
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Mullik Berkhordar, the envoy of Aurungzebe residing at the capital of Beejapoor, not only succeeded in drawing over many of the principal officers who were pensioned or employed by the Emperor, but to his influence may be ascribed the decay of Musaood Khan’s power. The faction opposed to the regent was headed by Syud Mukhtoom, an Oomrah of no distinction, but he was supported by Shirzee Khan, the best officer then left in the Beejapoor army. Shirzee Khan’s enmity towards Musaood Khan originated in the preference shown by the latter for infantry, which was contrary both to the interest and judgment of the former: many of the best horse under Shirzee Khan had been discharged, and Musaood Khan had been obliged to call in the aid of Sivajee, at the expense of ceding some of the finest districts in the kingdom. This faction forced Musaood Khan to quit Beejapoor and retire to Adonee, probably about a year¹ after Sivajee’s death. By whom the new administration was conducted is uncertain; but as the envoy of Aurungzebe had always represented the treaty with the Mahrattas as a great source of displeasure to the Emperor, one of its first acts, after the removal of Musaood Khan, was an injudicious attempt to recover some of the fertile territory near the banks of the Kistna, of which Sivajee had acquired possession. Merich was retaken, and the breach which this occasioned between Sumbhajee and the Beejapoor government seems to have been irreparable. It was the interest of Sumbhajee to unite with the Mahomedan states on this occasion, and Mahdhuna Punt made some endeavours to effect a confederacy, but there were so many parties and interests, such jealousy and imbecility, that no state could call forth its own resources, still less could all combine in one grand effort. For whilst Aurungzebe’s emissaries pretended at each of the courts of Beejapoor and Hyderabad that the Emperor meant to extend to it particular favour and protection, some of the members of the state were weak enough to be lulled by such palpable illusions, and many of the nobles were traitors; so that the ostensible authorities in each government, distrusting all around them, were careful not to suggest proceedings which might ensure their own assassination or precipitate the hostility of the Emperor. When Musaood Khan was obliged to reduce the army, he maintained but a small number of cavalry in addition to the Mahratta Munsubdars, who, in fear of losing their Jagheers, Enams, and hereditary rights, still acknowledged themselves the servants of the Beejapoor state. Some of the members of the different families had, however, enrolled themselves with Sivajee and continued under the standard of Sumbhajee.
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¹ The Beejapoor manuscripts and traditions afford nothing better than conjecture on this subject; nor could I ascertain if there was a regent after Musaood Khan retired.
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The Mahratta Munsubdars, formerly under the Nizam Shahee state, in like manner paid obedience to the Moghuls, whilst many of their relations were in the army of Sumbhajee. Wherever there were disputes regarding hereditary rights, which is generally the case amongst village and district officers as well as Enamdars, Jagheerdars, and all old Hindoo families, the party not in possession, as the country became more and more unsettled, always went over to the invading enemy, prompted by motives of self-interest, but more by feelings of spite and personal enmity, in hopes of finding some occasion for wreaking vengeance on the opponent. If the invader prevailed, the occupant was frequently ejected, and he took the same mode of being reinstated; or, if fortunate enough to make his peace by timely submission, the other party awaited another opportunity.
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Aurungzebe understood and took advantage of these feuds. The reader, at all acquainted with the Hindoo character, can conceive the bitter rancour with which they pursued these quarrels, when there are several instances of one party becoming a Mahomedan, in order to ruin his adversary and gratify revenge. The services of the Hindoo Munsubdars under the Mahomedan states became exactly in proportion to the measure of punishment or reward, which the government they acknowledged could inflict or bestow.
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This brief survey of the state of the Deccan must be understood to apply to that period which followed the first year of Sumbhajee’s accession, up to the fall of Beejapoor and Golcondah, when additional causes of disturbance and confusion will appear. But previously to entering upon the war which was directed by Aurungzebe in person, it is fit to notice an extraordinary event which occurred amongst our own countrymen, in their then small establishment on the west of India, of which Surat was at that time the residence of the governor, or president of the council, under whom the East India Company’s factories on the coast were managed.
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In December, 1683, the garrison of Bombay, at the head of which was Captain Keigwin,¹ confined the deputy of the governor of Surat, declared they held the island for the king, and that they would submit to no other authority. This act of rebellion being limited to a small insulated space, and Keigwin its instigator, a firm, resolute man, who maintained order amongst his inferiors, notwithstanding the pernicious example he had set, the ruinous consequences so much to be dreaded were happily obviated, and an amnesty having been promised by Sir Thomas Grantham, whom the president in council at Surat had named to act under a general commission obtained from the king, the whole island was surrendered and restored to the lawful authorities, 11th November, 1684.
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¹ [The story of Keigwin’s rebellion has been ably described by R. and O. Strachey (O.H. and L.S., 6, 1916). They explain the cause of it thus: ‘We shall see Josia Child determined to have a creature of his own in command in India, ruthlessly compassing the ruin of John Pettit, the senior and best qualified candidate for the Presidency of Surat, in favour of the unpopular but subservient John Child; we shall see him forcing on the reluctant Anglo-Indian community a policy of retrenchment and disarmament quite incompatible with what they knew to be necessary for the prestige and even the security of the English in India. And we shall see how the irritation caused by the former proceeding combined with the anger and alarm
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The state of parties in England had probably as great an effect in occasioning this proceeding as its immediate cause. The interests of commercial adventurers and the rival East India Company, which sprang up about this time, created a variety of reports and spread opinions in India prejudicial to the existing company. This no doubt tended to diminish that respect for them in the eyes of their own servants which was of so much importance to the preservation of their authority.
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The directors injudiciously chose this period for reducing their expenses by decreasing the allowances of their military. The president in council at Surat carried the orders into effect, in that ungracious and arbitrary manner which appears to have marked the government of Sir John Child,¹ and in the state of feeling which these various causes were likely to produce in high-spirited, rash men, the revolt which ensued, however inexcusable, is not surprising.
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¹ [He was appointed President of Surat in 1682, and in 1687 was given supreme control of all the Company's factories in the East. He was a son of one Theophilus Child, a clerk of the stock market in London. (Strachey, Keigwin's Rebellion, 20, 21.)]
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It was fortunate that the president had not the means of attempting to enforce immediate obedience, otherwise it is possible the rebels might have been driven to the infamous alternative caused by the latter to drive the garrison of Bombay to revolt. Keigwin's rebellion was due in part to the unpopularity of John Child, and in part to the instinct of self-preservation which forbade the English in Bombay to put themselves at the mercy of the Mogul and Mahratta forces that were threatening to swamp them; and on both counts it is Josia Child and his uninformed despotism that must bear the blame.'
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The correct date of the restoration of Bombay to Sir Thomas Grantham was November 19, 1684.]
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of making over the island to the Moghuls or the Mahrattas. Keigwin’s management, however, in several respects merited commendation, particularly in having obtained from Sumbhajee not only a confirmation of the articles agreed to by Sivajee, but a grant for the establishment of factories at Cuddalore and Thevenapatam, an exemption from duties in the Carnatic, and the balance of compensation for losses sustained by the English at different places formerly plundered by the Mahrattas.¹
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¹ Orme. [Keigwin’s ambassadors to Sambhājī were Henry Gary and Thomas Wilkins. For details of both men, see Keigwin’s Rebellion, by R. and O. Strachey. Wilkins eventually returned to England; Gary died at Surat in 1688. For Gary, see also Fryer’s New Account, ed. Crooke (1912), ii. 30 n.]
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A.D. 1684.—We now return to affairs of greater magnitude than those of the infant establishments of the East India Company, connected, however, not only with our subject, but intimately linked with the causes by which the British nation has obtained such vast power in that distant portion of the globe.
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Aurungzebe, whom we have mentioned as marching to Burhanpoor, remained there for some months regulating several departments in finance, and settling plans for the approaching grand arrangements he had in contemplation. He first ordered Sultan Mauzum, now dignified with the title of Shah Alum,² to proceed in advance from Ahmednugur with his whole army and reduce Sumbhajee’s southern territory, whilst Sultan Azim was directed to reduce his northern forts about Candeish, Buglana, and Sungumnere, and to commence by besieging the important fortress of Salheir, the acquisition of which by Moro Punt had afforded such facility for Mahratta inroads through Candeish. Accordingly, Sultan Mauzum descended into the Concan by the Ambadurray Ghaut near Nassuck, and passing the Kallian district, already devastated, advanced to the southward, where he plundered and burnt the country from Raigurh to Vingorla. Sultan Azim marched towards Salheir, where much resistance was expected, but Neknam Khan, the Moghul Killidar of Molheir, who joined the prince on his advance, had obtained a previous promise from his neighbour the Mahratta Havildar to surrender Salheir as soon as the army came before it. Such negotiations being always doubtful in their issue, Neknam Khan had prudently communicated the agreement to the Emperor only; the place, however, was evacuated, and the prince, with the feeling of a very young commander disappointed in the expected fame of the conquest, expressed great displeasure at being sent on such a service. He was shortly after recalled, the Emperor promising to employ him in the war against Beejapoor.¹ Shahabodeen Khan was therefore ordered to reduce the remainder of the forts, but met with an unexpected resistance from the Havildar of Ramseje, by whom his troops being repeatedly repulsed, Khan Jehan Buhadur was sent to repair the failure, but after many vaunting attempts equally unsuccessful as those of his predecessor, he was compelled to retire with disgrace.
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² I shall continue to use the name by which he is already known to the reader.
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Sultan Mauzum’s army, although they had overrun the greater part of the Concan, do not appear to have come prepared for sieges; the forts and places of strength still remained in the hands of Sumbhajee, who during this inroad sent his cavalry to subsist in the upper country, whilst he himself retired with Sultan Akber to Vishalgurh. The distresses occasioned by the ravages of the invading army soon recoiled upon themselves, and scarcity prevailed in their camp. Sumbhajee taking advantage of the improvident waste they had made, ordered down his horse and directed them, assisted by the different garrisons of the forts, to stop the roads, cut off supplies, harass them by desultory attacks, and destroy the foragers and stragglers. The Mahratta horse found subsistence from the grass and grain stored under the protection of the forts, but the Moghuls were soon in great distress, and thousands of followers, horses, and cattle, perished.
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The Emperor apprised of their situation, but unwilling to sanction what might seem a defeat, directed the force under Shahabodeen Khan to proceed for the purpose of opening the communication; and orders were sent to the Moghul governor at Surat to embark supplies for Dhunda Rajepoor and Vingorla. The demand being urgent, the vessels were sent off, as laden, without waiting for convoy, and Sumbhajee’s cruisers, apprised of their approach, took the greater part. Such a scanty supply arrived that it became impossible to exist in that situation, and Sultan Mauzum was obliged to retire towards the Ambah Ghaut, which he ascended, and afterwards cantoned his army during the monsoon near Walwa¹ on the banks of the Kistna.
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¹ [Vālva (Walwa) was captured by Sivājī in 1659, and was repopulated by the first Pant Pratinidhi, Rāmchandra Pant Amātya, in 1690. The village, which is now included in the Sātāra District, contains the mansion of the Thorāt family of Deshmukhs. (I.G. Bom., 1909, i. 563, 564.)]
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Shahabodeen Khan, when directed to march for the relief of the prince, advanced as far as Nizampoor near Raigurh, when he was opposed by Sumbhajee, whom he defeated, probably in a very partial action; but small advantages are always overestimated in unsuccessful campaigns; Shahabodeen, being a personal favourite with the Emperor and at the head of a body of Tooranee Moghuls, his countrymen, whom it was the Emperor’s desire to conciliate, was honoured with the title of Ghazee-ud-deen,² and the recollection of his failure at Ramseje purposely obliterated. Such, we may here observe, is the earliest account we have in the history of the Deccan of the ancestor of the family of Nizam Ool Moolk, afterwards so conspicuous in the annals of that country.
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² [Ghāzī means ‘slayer of an infidel.’ The title therefore signifies ‘Infidel-slayer of the Faith.’]
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The Emperor in the meantime had quitted Burhanpoor and arrived at Aurangabad. During his stay at the former city, amongst other arrangements he issued orders for the collection of the Jizeea,³ a poll-tax levied on all his subjects, not Mahomedans, which was to be as strictly exacted in the Deccan as in the northern part of the empire.
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³ The Jizeea was thirteen rupees per annum for every 2,000 rupees’ worth of property, possessed by Hindoos. Scott’s Deccan. [V. A. Smith (O.H.I. 438, 439 and footnote) gives a succinct account of the re-imposition of the jizya, which had been abolished by Akbar. The rates, according to Manucci (ii. 234), were: 13½ rupees on great merchants; 6¼ middle-class; poor 3½, per annum. See Elliot-Dowson, vii. 296; Tod, Annals, i. 426 f.; Yule, Hobson-Jobson (1903), 460. (Fryer’s Travels (Hakluyt), ed. Crooke, 1909, i. 275 n.)]
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To reconcile such a measure with that character for wisdom which has been assigned to Aurungzebe is impossible; it would even be inexplicable in a person of ordinary capacity, but the workings of fanaticism always warp the understanding, and Aurungzebe may have supposed that his undertaking merited divine favour, by giving the people about to be conquered the alternative of conversion or taxation. There could be no political reason for such an edict, although his apologists may point out the mean one of gratifying the Mahomedan vulgar, and affording an earnest of what his emissaries professed at Beejapoor and Golcondah, that he was coming to the Deccan for the purpose of suppressing idolatry and placing Mahomedan power on such a footing as would in future uphold the dignity of the faith of Islam.
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The imperial service sustained considerable loss this year by the death of Dilere Khan. He had great experience in Deccan warfare, had seen more service than most officers of his time, and had signalized himself on many occasions. He was always suspected, and in his old age neglected, by the Emperor after having fought his battles for twenty-six years. A just retribution, when we know that in joining the crafty Aurungzebe he became a traitor to the cause of the generous, confiding and unfortunate Dara.
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Sumbhajee was still at war with the Portuguese, and the latter had instigated the chief of Soonda and the Dessayes of Carwar to throw off their allegiance; Sumbhajee, about the end of the rains, sent some of his troops into the northern Concan, and again plundered the exposed parts of the Portuguese possessions in that quarter; he himself came to Panalla to watch the motions of Sultan Mauzum's army.
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The Emperor, at the opening of the fair season, leaving Khan Jehan at Aurungabad, moved with the grand camp in more than ordinary magnificence towards Ahmednugur.
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The number of his forces is not specified by any Moghul historian, and the estimate formed by the Mahrattas is quite incredible. The display of power, however, presented by Aurungzebe's march into the Deccan was grand and imposing to a degree which has seldom been surpassed. Besides foreigners, his cavalry assembled from Cabul, Candahar, Mooltan, Lahore, Rajpootana, and the extended provinces of his vast empire, was the flower of his army, and presented an array of gigantic men and horses completely armed and accoutred, whom it might be imagined the more slender and lighter armed natives of the Deccan could hardly venture to oppose. His infantry was also numerous, and was composed of musketeers, matchlockmen and archers, well equipped; besides bodies of hardy Boondelas and Mewattees accustomed to predatory contests among the mountains, and the better able to cope with the Mahratta Mawulees. To these were afterwards added many thousands of infantry raised in the Carnatic. Besides a number of field-pieces, which accompanied the royal tents, there were several hundred pieces of cannon manned by natives of Hindoostan and directed by European gunners, and a great number of miners were attached to the park of artillery, with artisans of every description.
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A long train of war elephants was followed by a number of the same animals on the Emperor's private establishment, employed to carry the ladies of his seraglio, or to convey such of his tents as were too large to be borne on camels. Numerous led horses, magnificently caparisoned, formed a stud for the Emperor's riding; a menagerie accompanied the camp, from which the rarest animals in the world were frequently brought forth and exhibited by their keepers before the Emperor and his court;—whilst hawks, hounds, hunting tigers, trained elephants, and every accompaniment used for field sport, swelled the pomp of this prodigious retinue. The canvas walls which encompassed the royal tents formed a circumference of 1,200 yards, and contained every description of apartment to be found in the most spacious palace. Halls of audience for public assemblies and privy councils, with all the courts and cabinets attached to them, each hall magnificently adorned, and having within it a raised seat or throne for the Emperor, surrounded by gilded pillars with canopies of velvet, richly fringed and superbly embroidered; separate tents as mosques and oratories; baths and galleries for archery and gymnastic exercises; a seraglio as remarkable for luxury and privacy as that of Delhi; Persian carpets, damasks, and tapestries; European velvets, satins, and broad-cloths;
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Chinese silks of every description, and Indian muslins and cloth of gold, were employed in all the tents with the utmost profusion and effect. Gilded balls and cupolas surmounted the tops of the royal tents; the outside of which and the canvas walls were of a variety of lively colours, disposed in a manner which heightened the general splendour. The entrance into the royal enclosure was through a spacious portal flanked by two elegant pavilions, from which extended on each side rows of cannon forming an avenue, at the extremity of which was an immense tent containing the great state drums, and imperial band;—a little farther in front was the post of the grand guard on duty, commanded by a nobleman who mounted with it daily. On the other sides, surrounding the great enclosure just mentioned, were separate tents for the Emperor’s armoury, harness, &c., a tent for water, kept cool with saltpetre, another for fruit, a third for sweetmeats, a fourth for betel and so on, with numerous kitchens, stables, &c. &c. Such luxury in a camp is scarcely to be conceived; but besides what has been described, every tent had its exact duplicate which was sent on in advance to be prepared against the Emperor’s arrival. His march was a procession, and when he entered his pavilions a salvo from fifty or sixty pieces of ordnance announced the event; and he assumed and maintained every form and ceremony observed at the established residences of the imperial court.
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The magnificence of such a spectacle, which formed a remarkable contrast with the plain and even austere personal habits of the Emperor, was intended to strengthen his power by the awe with which it impressed his subjects; but as his state was imitated by his nobles, it proved a serious encumbrance to the movements of his army, while the devouring expense of such establishments pressed hard on his finances, and soon crippled even the most necessary of his military and political arrangements.
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