History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c49.s12.4

v3.c49.s12.4

Then, for more than a month and a half, we have a long spell of delay which is mysterious. As early as the end of May, the Maharana had proposed terms through Tahawwur Khan; Rathor envoys had been visiting the Khan's camp off and on since the beginning of August. Akbar had warned the Emperor not to take these overtures seriously, as they were clearly intended to delay the Mughal invasion.[†] Tahawwur Khan had, however, been instructed to win over to his side as many Rathor and Sisodia nobles as he could, and he was, therefore, constantly holding parley with them. How early he had yielded to Rajput seduction and decided to play the traitor, we do not know. But from September 1680 we notice a suspicious slackening of his activity. He is no longer the brave and dashing officer who, as commander of Akbar's Van in the first Jodhpur campaign and the war in eastern Mewar, had won the Emperor's praise and the title of Padishah Quli Khan. He will not advance unless a sergeant-at-arms is sent to compel him; he pleads the difficulty of the roads, the smallness of his own force, and the enemy's overwhelming numbers.