History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c41.s4: §7. Mughals conquer Kuch Bihar.

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c41.s4

Language: English

§7. Mughals conquer Kuch Bihar.

v3.c41.s4.1

Mir Jumla made his way into Kuch Bihar by an obscure and neglected highway. The advance was very slow, as the dense bamboo groves had to be cleared to make a way. In six days the Mughal army reached the capital (19th December), which had been deserted by the Rajah and his people in terror. The name of the town was changed to Alamgir-nagar; the Muslim call to prayer, so long forbidden in the city, was chanted from the lofty roof of the palace, and a mosque built by demolishing the principal temple. The whole kingdom was annexed to the Mughal empire, and an officer, Isfandiyar Beg, left to garrison the capital. The Rajah, an indolent voluptuary, had fled to Bhutan, but his eldest son joined the Muslims in the hope of the throne and even offered to arrest his father.

v3.c41.s4.2

∗ On reaching Lakhau (8th March, 1662) the Mughal fleet numbered 323 boats (*Fathiyah*, 43). A few had been lost in a tempest before (Gait, 131). For the European mariners and the doings of the fleet, see the Dutchmen's narrative in Glanius, *Relation of an unfortunate voyage to the Kingdom of Bengala*, (1682), 140-183. Mir Jumla's army is estimated in the *Buranji*s (Gait, 129) at 12,000 horse and 30,000 foot, and in *Fathiyah*, 89, at ten or twelve thousand horse and numerous infantry. Useful information from Dutch sources in *Storia*, iv. 430 (Mir Jumla's original force consisted of 12,000 cavalry.) Manucci (ii. 98) gives him 40,000 horsemen, but that was the full contingent kept under the governor of Dacca (ii. 430). *Riyaz-us-salatin* gives Mir Jumla 20,000 efficient cavalry and numerous infantry.

v3.c41.s4.3

From the opening of the campaign Mir Jumla, mounted on a hardy pony, had guided the march. He forbade plunder and outrage by the soldiers and camp-followers, and so strictly did he punish the first offenders that such crimes ceased in the Mughal camp, the people were reassured and came back to their homes and fields, and the imperialists were abundantly supplied with provisions locally.*

Linked texts (1)

Riyāẓ al-salāṭīn — Ghulām Ḥusain Salīm Zaidpūrī 1786, Persian