Later Mughals v2.c13.s2: Sec. 2.—Terms Made with Jai Singh.
Later Mughals v2.c13.s2
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Sec. 2.—Terms Made with Jai Singh.
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It was now given out that the Emperor, after worshipping at the tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti, in Fathpur, would march on to Ajmer and visit the shrine of Muin-ud-din Chishti. The hidden motive was to overawe Rajah Jai Singh who, since the removal of Farrukh-siyar, had been at little pains to conceal his hostile intentions. He had received some aid in money from the Rana of Udepur, as is shown by his letter to that Prince's minister, dated the 4th Bhadon Sambat 1776 (9th August, 1719), wherein he asserts that Nizam-ul-mulk had started from Ujjain and Chabela Ram had crossed the Jamuna at Kalpi, both of which statements were false.‡ When he learnt of the rising at Agra, he came out from his capital, Amber, with much ostentation. Following the Rajput custom when resolved on death or victory, he and his men had clothed themselves in saffron raiment and sprinkled their heads with green grass.* He announced publicly that he had bestowed the city of Amber on the Brahmans as a sacred gift (*dan and arthan*). He had marched as far as pargana Toda Tank, about eighty miles south-west of Agra, and there waited to see which way events would turn. He was watched by a force under Sayyid Dilawar Ali Khan, which barred his further advance northwards. [Qasim 294, Tod i. 380.]
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∗ Tarikh-i-Muzaffari, 166. But Ghulam Ali Khan, Muqaddama-i-Shah Alam-nama, 45a, states that on the 3rd Jamadi II. 1134 H. (20th March, 1722), the style was changed from "Abul Fath" to "Abul Muzaffar."
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‡ He was further encouraged in his hostility by Tahavvar Khan Turani, Salabat Khan, the late Mir Atash, Ruhullah Khan, and the other refugees from Dihli already referred to.
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Maharajah Ajit Singh had offered himself as mediator, but his leisurely procedure, protracted in the way usual to him and his fellow-rajahs, did not accord with the fiery temperament of Husain Ali Khan. It was with a view to bring this matter to a head that an advance from Fathpur Sikri towards Ajmer was proposed. A few marches were made to places in the neighbourhood, but no real start was attempted. The camp was between Malikpur and Muminabad on the 24th Zul Qada (7th October, 1719) and here Husain Ali Khan came in from Fathpur to pay his respects. Another stage was travelled on the 26th (9th October).†
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† Qasim, 294. There is a Malikpur about five miles east of Fathpur, Indian Atlas, sheet 50; Muminabad, I am unable to trace.
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On the 1st Zul Hijja (14th October, 1719) the Emperor's mother, now styled Nawab Qudsiya, and other women of the harem, who had been sent for from Dihli arrived in camp. The Begam had acted most warily, avoiding everything that could arouse the suspicions of the Sayyids. When the messengers of the Sayyids came to Dihli to fetch her son, she bestowed on them, on the men who were to accompany him, and on all office-holders at Dihli, the customary dresses of honour. But learning that this assumption of authority had displeased the Sayyids, she sent away all subsequent applicants. In the same manner, when she arrived in camp, she warned all persons who had any connection with her late husband, Jahan Shah, to abstain from appearing on the road to greet or escort her. She studied the susceptibilities of the Sayyids in every particular. A sum of fifteen thousand Rupees monthly was set apart for her expenses and those of the other women. [Kamwar 214, K. K. 841.]
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∗ I read gyahe, "grass," in Muhammad Qasim, but Tod, i. 506, speaks of their wearing on such occasions the maur or bridal crown, which is probably much the same thing in other words—John Christian, Behar Proverbs, p. 197, No. 426, tells us that the bridegroom's head-dress "is made of talipot leaves and in some places of date (palm) leaves." That it is sometimes actually made of grass may be inferred from W. Crooke's Tribes and Castes of the N. W. Provinces, ii. 62.
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As the negotiations with Jai Singh were still in progress and no satisfactory terms could be arranged, Ajit Singh, who was extremely anxious to return home, offered to visit Jai Singh in person on his way to Jodhpur. Accordingly he was dismissed to his home, and on the 2nd Zul Hijja (15th October, 1719) the report came in that three days before (12th October), Jai Singh had quitted Toda on his return to Amber. The fugitive nobles, Tahavvar Khan, Salabat Khan, and Ruhullah Khan, were at his request pardoned and left with him unmolested. The great persuasive in his withdrawal was the large sum of money that he received. Some say the amount was as much as twenty lakhs of Rupees. This money was paid to him on the plea that it was required to buy back Amber from the Brahmans. To the public it was announced as a gift on his marriage with the daughter of Ajit Singh, to whom he had long been betrothed. As part of these negotiations Rajah Jai Singh obtained the government of *sarkar* Sorath (*subah* Ahmadabad). But the rest of Ahmadabad remained under Ajit Singh, with the addition of the whole of Ajmer. That Rajah's formal appointment to the latter *subah* was announced on the 23rd Zul Hijja (5th November, 1719). In this way the country from a point sixty miles south of Dihli to the shores of the ocean at Surat was in the hands of these two rajahs, very untrustworthy sentinels for the Mughals on this exposed frontier.*
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∗ Kamwar, 214, 216; Khafi Khan, 838; Qasim, 297; Shiu Das, 32a.