A History of the Mahrattas v1.c9.110

v1.c9.110

The Moghul invasions, for the purpose of reducing the kingdoms of Ahmednugur, Beejapoor, and Golcondah, had a great influence on the rise of the Mahrattas. The revolutions which took place in Hindoostan, and which placed the descendants of Timour on the imperial throne, gave the princes of the Bahminee dynasty an opportunity of firmly establishing their power; and had the Moghul Emperors been in a condition to attempt the conquest of the Deccan, whilst the united kingdom existed, it probably would have been the means of preserving two rival Mahomedan empires in India for a much longer period than either of them endured. When the great but ambitious Akber projected the subversion of the Deccan monarchies, they were not only in a state of warfare with each other, but internal dissensions paralyzed their individual efforts. The kingdom of Ahmednugur, in particular, was a prey to disorder, occasioned by the contests of two parties; the one headed by a Hindoo,² the other by Abyssinian nobles.³ The Hindoo faction, though they soon repented of the measure, were the first to invite the interference of the Moghuls; and the Emperor Akber, at his death in 1605, was not only in possession of Candeish, which he had wrested from the independent Mahomedan princes who had long governed it, but of a portion of the territory belonging to Nizam Shah, comprehending a great part of Berar and the fort of Ahmednugur.⁴ with some districts in its immediate vicinity. Ahmednugur fell to the Moghuls during the minority of Buhadur Nizam Shah, whom they sent into perpetual confinement in Gwalior. But the Nizam Shahee state, though its capital was reduced and its lawful prince imprisoned, was still far from being subdued. The Abyssinian faction, headed by a man of uncommon genius named Mullik Umber, attained the chief control; set up a new king, by the title of Mortiza Nizam Shah II, hoisted the Byheree standard on the impregnable rock of Doulutabad, and soon became equally formidable and respectable.