History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c44.s12.15

v3.c44.s12.15

Ruinous as the Afghan war was to imperial finances, its political effect was even more harmful. It made the employment of Afghans in the ensuing Rajput war impossible, though Afghans were just the class of soldiers who could have won victory for the imperialists in that rugged and barren country. Moreover, it relieved the pressure on Shivaji by draining the Deccan of the best Mughal troops for service on the n.w. frontier. (*Storia*, ii. 203.) The Maratha chief took advantage of this diversion of his enemy's strength to sweep in a dazzling succession of triumphs through Golkonda to the Karnatak and back again through Mysore and Bijapur to Raigarh, during the fifteen months following December 1676. It was the climax of his career; but the Afridis and Khataks made its unbroken success possible.