A History of the Mahrattas v1.c19.34

v1.c19.34

At the opening of the fair season it was intended to prosecute the war, but about that time an agreement was entered into with the Moghuls, which waived the grand question of hereditary claim, and rendered the reduction of Tara Bye a point of less pressing personal interest to Shao. Zoolfikar Khan, who attended the court of Sultan Mauzum on his return to Hindoostan, left Daood Khan Punnee as his deputy in the six Soobehs of the Deccan, and obtained for him the government of Burhanpoor in addition to his other appointment. Daood Khan settled with such Mahratta chiefs as acknowledged Shao’s authority, to allow them, with certain reservations, one fourth of the revenue, but reserved the right of collecting and paying it through his own agents. Daood Khan’s intimacy with most of the Mahratta chiefs, his connection with Zoolfikar Khan, and the terms of friendship between the latter and Shao, not only preserved Shao’s ascendancy, but, except in instances where independent plundering bands occasionally appeared, procured a tolerably correct observance of the terms mentioned.²