History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v1.c9.15

v1.c9.15

The Hot tribe. A large Baluch tribe name Hot had migrated into Sindh and the Panjab under Mir Chakar Rind of Sibi, and split up into branches. One section held the upper Derajat for two centuries with Dera Ismail Khan as their capital. Their chiefs bore the title of Ismail Khan from generation to generation and stretched their lordship over Darya Khan and Bhakkar east of the Indus. In the Sind Sagar Doab stood Mankera, another Hot stronghold, and the capital of a principality which in the beginning of the 17th century stretched from Bhakkar to Leiah on the Indus. In course of time the Hots have become assimilated to their Jat and Rajput neighbours, and their power and number have declined.* But the seventeenth century was the period of their greatness. Their chief, Ismail Hot, sent presents to Shah Jahan and secured a patron in Dara Shukoh. Taking advantage of his position on the boundary between the two provinces, he now claimed to be subject to the Governor of Lahore and refused to admit the jurisdiction of the Subahdar of Multan. Aurangzib was prepared for this subterfuge. He had mentioned the case in an audience with the Emperor and got his answer that Ismail Hot was in future to be subject to Multan. The Hot chief, on the strength of a letter of Dara's, refused to wait upon the new Governor of Multan, and continued in his career of aggression. He took three forts from Mubarak of Babri, another Baluch chief.