History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c42.s6.19

v3.c42.s6.19

At first sight, Shaista Khan's task seemed to be utterly hopeless. The Arrakanese were supreme at sea and had a long and unbroken record of success in keeping foreign invaders out of their land. "Their cannon are beyond computation and their war-vessels exceed the waves of the sea in number." On the other hand, the Mughal flotilla stationed in the eastern waters had now ceased to exist. "During the vice-royalty of Prince Shuja, great administrative confusion was produced by his slackness, and the rent-collectors by their extortion and violence ruined the estates which yielded the maintenance charge of the Bengal navy, 14 lakhs of Rupees a year. Mir Jumla abolished the old system of management and naval organization, but before he could set a new one afoot, he succumbed to disease. Many naval officers and men, too, perished in the Assam expedition, so that at the time of Mir Jumla’s death the Bengal navy (nawwara) was utterly ruined.* Early in 1664 the pirates came to Bagadia, in the Dacca district and defeated Munawwar Khan, a zamindar, who bore the high title of the cruising admiral. The few war-vessels that still belonged to the nawwara were thus lost, and its name alone was left in Bengal.” (Continuation, 112b—122.)