Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c51: Chapter XXXVII. The Rebellion of Prince Akbar and the End of the Rajput War, 1681-1709

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c51

Language
English

Contents

Chapter XXXVII. The Rebellion of Prince Akbar and the End of the Rajput War, 1681-1709

§1. History of Prince Akbar.

v3.c51.s1.1

Sultan Muhammad Akbar, the fourth son of Aurangzib, was only 23 years of age at this time. Having lost his mother a month after his birth, he had been brought up by his father with special tenderness. Early in youth he had received the practical education of Mughal princes by being entrusted with the viceroyalty of provinces and the command of armies in the field, generally under the tutelage of some high minister of State. In the present Rajput war he had commanded in chief, both in Marwar and Mewar. The first Mughal invasion of Marwar had swept everything before it, as the Rathors had no time to organize a national defence. But his campaign in Mewar had been of a different character. There the Maharana had dealt some heavy blows at his force, and paralysed its movements by creating a terror. For these signal proofs of slackness and incapacity, the Emperor had sharply censured Akbar, and the prince had abjectly apologized (2nd June 1680), pleading, "I am merely learning the alphabet in the school of practical wisdom. Language can describe but a part of the shame and pain I feel at the cursed infidel's astonishing exploit. I have erred grievously through inexperience and human frailty. I beg your Majesty's pardon for these heavy faults, and promise that in future I shall not be the least remiss in caution and vigilance." (*Adab*, No. 655.) But two days later the Rajputs plundered a large caravan of grain, while the Mughal army "did not stir through fear."

v3.c51.s1.2

This was too much for Aurangzib. He at once removed Akbar from the Chitor command (14th June) and sent him off to Marwar. The prince, smarting under the disgrace, stopped writing to the Emperor for some days, which called forth further reprimands. In Marwar, too, he failed either to crush the roving Rathor bands or to penetrate into Mewar by the Deosuri Pass as planned by the Emperor. Indeed, his six months' stay there (July-December, 1680) was unrelieved by a single decisive military success, if we except the forcing of the Jhilwara Pass which was effected by a commissioner specially sent from Court for the purpose.

§2. Akbar's treasonable conspiracy with the Rajputs.

v3.c51.s2.1

From an early period in the campaign emissaries of the Rajputs had been tempting Akbar to rebel against his father. Tahawwur Khan, the second in command of the imperial forces in Marwar, was the intermediary of these treasonable negotiations. The Maharana Raj Singh and Durgadas, the Rathor leader, told Akbar how his father's bigoted attempt to root out the Rajputs was threatening the stability of the Mughal empire, and urged him to seize the throne and restore the wise policy of his forefathers if he wished to save his heritage from destruction. In this attempt to place a truly national king on the throne of Delhi, they promised to back him with the armed strength of the two greatest Rajput clans, the Sisodias and the Rathors.*

v3.c51.s2.2

The negotiations were protracted. First Akbar sent a confidential servant to the Maharana to communicate his secret designs orally. The Rana in return despatched one of his trusted agents to the prince's Court. Everything had been arranged for a march against Aurangzib at Ajmir, when the Maharana died, (22nd October, 1680), and during the month of mourning that followed, his successor Jai Singh naturally remained inactive. Thereafter the negotiations were resumed. Tahawwur Khan having reached the Jhilwara Pass, not far from the Rajput head-quarters at Kamalmir, the new Maharana repeated the demands of his father through the Khan, praying to the prince, "If you wish that the honour of Hindustan should not be totally lost, we clasp the skirt of your robe and hope for deliverance and happiness at your hands." He also sent a secret agent, Rao Keshari Singh, to the prince, who ratified the agreement, promised to treat the Rajputs with honour and justice like the former emperors, and admitted the Rana's claim to certain villages as part of his State. The Rana agreed to send half his army, both foot and horse, under his son or brother to fight the prince's battles. The 2nd of January 1681 was fixed as the day when Akbar would begin his march on Ajmir to contest the imperial throne.*

v3.c51.s2.3

∗ Akbar's letter to Shambhuji in Khatut-i-Shivaji.

§3. Akbar marches against Aurangzib.

v3.c51.s3.1

Two days before this date he wrote a false letter to his father to disarm his suspicion. "The brother and son of the new Rana, under the guidance of Tahawwur Khan, have descended from the hills and come to me. The Rathor leaders also have come here to make terms through the mediation of the Khan. They urge that unless I myself conduct them to your Majesty and personally beg pardon on their behalf, they cannot compose their minds for coming over to our side. In making this demand they appeal to the precedent of Shah Jahan, when Crown Prince, having personally presented the then Maharana's son to the Emperor Jahangir, [and thus made a lasting peace with the Rajputs]. If this condition is not fulfilled, they decline to come. I am therefore, starting [with them] for your Presence." (Adab, No. 676.)

v3.c51.s3.2

∗ Adab, Nos. 756, 762; and Akbar's letter to Shambhuji cited above.

v3.c51.s3.3

After this last attempt to dupe his father, Akbar threw off the mask. Four theologians in his pay issued a decree over their seals, declaring that Aurangzib had forfeited the throne by his violation of the Islamic Canon Law. Akbar crowned himself Emperor (1st January), and conferred high titles on his adherents,—the chief of them, Tahawwur Khan, being created Premier Noble (Amir-ul-umara) and a Commander of 7,000 Horse. Of the imperial officers with him, some willingly joined him; but most others were powerless to resist or to escape, and feigned adhesion to his cause. A few were thrown into prison for refusing to share the prince's treason. Shihab-ud-din Khan, who had been detached to a distance, boldly rode away from the rebel emissary, made a forced march to Aurangzib's side, and was highly rewarded for this timely service.*

v3.c51.s3.4

For, the Emperor's situation at Ajmir was critical. The two main divisions of his army which were untainted by treason, were quartered far away, —near Chitor and the Rajsamudra lake. Even the imperial body-guard was absent on a distant service. His immediate retinue consisted merely of unserviceable soldiers, who, with his personal attendants, clerks and eunuchs, formed a total of less than ten thousand, while rumour swelled the rebel army to 70,000 men, including the best blades of Rajputana mounted on the famous horses of Marwar.

v3.c51.s3.5

∗ Akbar's rebellion: M.A., 197-204; Ishwardas, 80a-83b; K. K. ii. 265-276; Storia, ii. 243-251; Dilkasha, 170 (meagre); Basatin-i-salatin, 439 (very brief).

v3.c51.s3.6

Aurangzib had trusted his favourite son too long. Prince Muazzam had given him early warning of Akbar's treasonable intrigues, but his only reward had been a rebuff for raising false suspicion against a younger brother! At last the rebellious movement of Akbar became the common talk of the Emperor's camp, and he could not resist the evidence of spies, official news-writers and other well-informed persons. The scales dropped from the eyes of the doting father, and in the bitterness of disillusionment he cried out, "I am now defenceless. The young hero has got a fine opportunity. Why, then, is he delaying his attack?"

v3.c51.s3.7

Every one expected a rapid advance of Akbar's troops, the rout of the small imperial body-guard, and a change of sovereigns. The Mughal camp at Ajmir was in the extremity of terror, but not the Emperor. Every day's delay lessened the chances of Akbar's success, and Akbar was not the man to take time by the forelock. He had never been an active or calculating leader; he had never achieved a victory by his own efforts; and now, in the pride of youth and newly acquired sovereignty, he began to spend his days and nights in indolence and pleasure. The dash on Ajmir and the decisive conflict with his father fell into delay. He took a fortnight (2-15 January) in covering the 120 miles which separated him from his father, when every hour's delay told in Aurangzib's favour.

§4. Aurangzib's defensive measures.

v3.c51.s4.1

For, meantime, couriers had galloped off on all sides to recall the scattered Mughal detachments to the Presence. Loyal captains were straining every nerve and marching day and night to join the Emperor in time. Shihab-ud-din Khan, the father of the first Nizam, did the second notable service of his long and glorious career by reaching Ajmir (9th January) with his troops after a forced march from Sirohi, in which he covered 120 miles in two days. Next Hamid Khan hurried up with the imperial guards, raising the strength of the defence to 16,000 men. And the good news also arrived that Prince Muazzam was rapidly approaching with his division which would nearly double the imperial army.

v3.c51.s4.2

The acute stage of the crisis was over. The palace at Ajmir was put in a posture of defence; entrenchments were dug around the camp; the passes leading to the city were held in force; the neighbouring hills were crowned with batteries; every suspected officer was thrown into prison; reconnaissances were pushed on towards the lake of Pushkar. But the Emperor refused to shut himself up in the fort and thereby lose the initiative. On 14th January, he issued forth into the open, and encamped six miles south of Ajmir on the historic field of Deorai, where he had vanquished Dara. The enemy's Van was located at Kurki,* and the imperial army was marshalled for battle. But despair and defection raged in the camp of Akbar. As he came nearer, increasing numbers of Mughal officers began to desert him and escape to the imperial camp. The thirty thousand Rajputs, however, remained true to him.

v3.c51.s4.3

The crisis came on the 15th of January. The Emperor advanced four miles further south and waited at Do-rahah, where the road parts, one arm going westwards to Beawar and Marwar and the other turning east towards Agra. News came in quick succession that the enemy were approaching;

v3.c51.s4.4

∗ Kurki 24 m. s. w. of Ajmir, and 9 m. n. w. of Pisangan. (Ind. At., Sh. 34 N. W.) Do-rahah was seemingly close to the Sardhana station on the railway running from Ajmir to Gujrat. Ishwardas says that Aurangzib encamped at "the village of Begampur, 9 kos from Ajmir." (81 b.)

v3.c51.s4.5

but the Emperor wisely decided to play a waiting game and refused to precipitate an action; "More men were joining him every hour." In the evening, Prince Muazzam after a forced march through rain and wind and the bitter cold of midwinter, joined the Emperor and brought to him a large and very necessary accession of strength. On the other side, Akbar arrived three miles from his father's camp, halted there for the night, and fixed the next morning for the decisive battle.

§5. Murder of Tahawwur Khan.

v3.c51.s5.1

But during the night Aurangzib's diplomacy, as so often before, triumphed over the heaviest odds and secured the completest victory without resort to arms. The near approach of the rebels to his camp had made the escape of the waverers and enforced adherents in the prince's ranks easy and safe. There had been large defections during the last few days; and now Aurangzib's letters completed the work. Tahawwur Khan, the right-hand man of Akbar, had married a daughter of Inayet Khan, a high officer then in the imperial camp. Aurangzib made Inayet write to Tahawwur Khan urging him to come to the Emperor, with a promise of pardon for the past, and a threat that if he declined "his women would be publicly outraged and his sons sold into slavery at the price of dogs."

v3.c51.s5.2

The letter bewildered Tahawwur Khan. He felt that he had sinned beyond hope of pardon; but his family was held as hostages in the hands of the enemy, and Akbar's chances of success had by this time dwindled away to almost nothing. After putting on a coat of scale armour under his robe, as a precaution against treachery, he secretly left his tent without informing Akbar or Durgadas, arrived at the imperial camp a little before midnight, and demanded audience. He was ordered to be admitted after being disarmed; but he refused to take off his arms, pleading that as a high officer of State he had never been put to the indignity of being ushered into the Presence unarmed like a captive. The more they urged him to lay his sword and daggers aside the more did his suspicion of treachery grow. The dispute became loud. Some courtiers whispered to the Emperor that Tahawwur had really come there in concert with Akbar to assassinate him. At this Aurangzib in high wrath dropped his rosary, drew his sword and cried out defiantly, "Let him enter with his arms on!" The guards took the hint; one of them gave the Khan a rude shove on the breast; Tahawwur retorted by slapping the insolent fellow on the face, and then tried to run away. But a tent-rope caught his feet, he stumbled on the ground, and the crowd of royal attendants attracted to the spot by the noise rained down blows on him with their maces. The hidden cuirass saved him for a time, but at last some one cut his throat and "silenced his uproar."*

§6. Rajputs deceived, abandon Akbar.

v3.c51.s6.1

Meantime, Aurangzib had written a false letter to Akbar. In it the prince was praised for the success he had hitherto gained in carrying out his father's stratagem of luring all the Rajput fighters into a snare and bringing them within easy reach of the Emperor; and he was now instructed to crown his achievement by placing them in his Van in next morning's battle, so that they might be crushed when attacked by Aurangzib from the front and Akbar from the rear. As contrived by Aurangzib, the letter fell into Durgadas's hands,† who read it and went to Akbar's tent for an explanation. It was a little after midnight; the prince was asleep and his eunuchs had strict orders not to wake him. Durgadas returned in anxious uncertainty to his own tent and sent men to call Tahawwur Khan. Then the Rajputs discovered that the soul of the whole enterprise had stolen away to the imperial camp some hours ago. Akbar's sleep was at once taken to be a politic pretence; the intercepted letter was believed to have been verified by facts. No time was to be lost if the Rajputs were to escape from the treacherous plot they had discovered by good luck. Three hours before dawn they took horse, robbed what they could of Akbar's property, and galloped off to Marwar. Profiting by this chance, the imperial troopers whom Akbar had forced to march under his banners and the loyal captains whom he had placed under arrest, escaped towards the camp of Aurangzib. In fact, the flight of Tahawwur Khan was the ruin of Akbar's cause. He had been the connecting link between the Rajputs and Akbar; he had been the new Emperor's Commander-in-Chief and prime minister in one, and his absence dissolved the confederacy.*

v3.c51.s6.2

∗ Murder of Tahawwur Khan : Manucci says that Tahawwur went to the Emperor's camp to assassinate him (Storia, ii. 247). Some of the courtiers suspected that he had come with this murderous intention in concert with Akbar (K. K. ii. 268; M.A. 201). The best account of the affair is given by Khafi Khan, whom I follow and who absolves Tahawwur of blame. Ishwardas (82b) holds the same view. That Tahawwur wore cuirass under his coat is no proof that he meant treachery; it was only an act of precaution in a solitary night-ride in that troubled time. It is clear to me that he wanted to desert Akbar, and his reluctance to submit to the humiliation of entering the imperial Presence unarmed like a captive of war, was due to his resentment at the Emperor undervaluing the importance of the defection of Akbar's right-hand man. See also Tod, ii. 891.

v3.c51.s6.3

† Khafi Khan (ii. 269) discredits the story of such a letter having been written. Letter quoted by K. K., Ishwardas (82 a), and Manucci (ii. 247). The story was current in the camp, as Khafi Khan admits.

§7. Akbar's flight.

v3.c51.s7.1

In the morning Akbar woke to find himself deserted by all. His vast army had melted away in a single night, as by magic, and only his faithful old retainers, a band of 350 horse, were left with him. The dream of contesting the throne of Delhi had vanished with the night, and only the speediest flight could save him from his father's vengeance. Mounting his ladies on horses and loading what treasure he could on camels, he rode away for dear life in the track of the Rajputs.

v3.c51.s7.2

∗ Akbar's own words in his letter to Shambhuji.

v3.c51.s7.3

Early on the 16th of January the news of his flight reached Aurangzib. There was rejoicing in the imperial camp at this providential escape; the band played as for a glorious victory; the courtiers offered congratulations and presents to the Emperor. The remnant of Akbar's property which had escaped plunder was seized, and his deserted family,—consisting of one wife, two sons, and three daughters,—was brought away to the Emperor's camp. Relentless punishment was meted out to his followers: many were thrown into dungeons; many others were flogged in addition; and the four luckless Canon lawyers who had signed the decree of deposition against Aurangzib were stretched at full length on planks of wood and severely whipped. The Princess Zeb-un-nisa, whose secret correspondence with Akbar was discovered, was deprived of her allowance of four lakhs of Rupees and her landed property, and confined in the Salimgarh fortress. Akbar's name was ordered to be entered in all official records in future as Akbar the Rebel, and Akbar the Worse (*Akbar-i-abtar*).

v3.c51.s7.4

The very day of Akbar’s flight, Shihab-ud-din Khan had gone out in pursuit and killed many stragglers of the rebel force. A well-appointed army under Prince Muazzam was next sent into Marwar to hunt Akbar down, while orders were hurried off to the provincial governors, commandants of outposts, and zamindars on all sides, to watch the roads and prevent the prince’s escape from Rajputana.

v3.c51.s7.5

Akbar fled for a day and a night and a day again, without finding a refuge. But by that time the Rajputs had discovered the fraud played on them and no longer doubted the prince’s sincerity. During the second night Durgadas with the Rajput army turned back and took Akbar under his protection. Rajput honour demanded that the refugee should be defended at all costs. Akbar with his protectors roamed through Marwar, never passing twenty-four hours at the same place so as to give his pursuers no chance of overtaking him. At this Muazzam changed his tactics; he divided his troops and set up a cordon of outposts in Marwar to arrest Akbar’s movements. Within a week of Akbar’s failure near Ajmir, we hear of his having fled to Sanchor, close to the border between Marwar and Gujrat, while the pursuers reached Jhalor, 70 miles north of it. But the Mughal officers in *Gujrat* were on the alert and headed the rebel off. The unhappy prince then entered Mewar, where Maharana Jai Singh welcomed him with presents and invited him to stay. But Udaipur was no more invulnerable to Mughal invasion than Jodhpur. Then Durgadas most chivalrously undertook to conduct Akbar to the Maratha Court, the only Power in India that had successfully defied Mughal arms. With a slender escort of 500 Rathor horse, he issued from Mewar, crossed the Dungarpur range, and set his face towards the Southern Land. Every known ferry and pass was guarded by imperial pickets; but the Rathor leader with the greatest skill evaded them and misled his pursuers as to his real objective. From Dungarpur he made a dash westwards for Ahmadabad; and when it failed, he turned south-east, passed through Banswara and S. Malwa, crossed the Narmada (9th May) near the ferry of Akbarpur, and appeared within a short distance of Burhanpur on the Tapti (15th May). But here, too, his path was barred by imperial officers, and he marched due west through Khandesh and Baglana, finally reaching Shambhuji's protection in Konkan (1st June). To contemporaries the success of this small band in evading capture during such a long and perilous journey seemed incredible except on the supposition that Khan-i-Jahan Bahadur, the viceroy of the Deccan, had connived at the prince's escape.*

§8. End of the war with Mewar.

v3.c51.s8.1

Akbar's rebellion failed to change the sovereign of Delhi, but it brought unhoped for relief to the Maharana. It disconcerted the Mughal plan of war at a time when their net was being drawn closer round his State and even his hill refuge had been proved to be not invulnerable. Akbar's defection broke the cordon, and, by diverting all the untainted imperial troops into Marwar, gave automatic relief to Mewar. It was probably at this time that the Sisodias seized the opportunity of making reprisals. One of their armies in charge of the gallant Prince Bhim Singh descended from the Aravalis and spread over Gujrat, raiding Wadnagar, Vishalnagar and some other places, while this disturbance enabled the deposed Rao of Idar to recover his capital from the Muslim usurpers with the help of a band of Rajput adventurers. Another division of the Maharana's army, led by his finance minister Dayaldas, a trader by caste, descended on the eastern plains, ravaging Malwa, sacking Dhar, and carrying off a herd of imperial elephants, camels, horses and cattle that had been sent there to graze.*

v3.c51.s8.2

∗ Akbar's movements after the failure of his rebellion : His letter to Shambhuji: M. A. 203-206, 211; Khafi Khan (the best account), ii. 275-277; Basatin-i-salatin, 439; Ishwardas, 83b; Tod, ii. 892-893. For Khan-i-Jahan's complicity, K. K. ii. 277: Dilkasha, 171. M. A. gives reports that Akbar passed to Sanchor, then over the hill of Dungar[pur]—by way of Berun-garh (? Bhairon-garh) and Rajpipli—into the Deccan.

v3.c51.s8.3

But both these exploits were of the nature of incursions, and they could not affect the broader issues of the war. Such temporary successes were more than neutralized by the signal incapacity of the new Maharana, Jai Singh, who had inherited neither the military skill nor the organizing genius of his great father, and ruled, besides, over a house divided against itself.

v3.c51.s8.4

The Rajput war was a drawn game so far as actual fighting was concerned, but its material consequences were disastrous to the Maharana's subjects. They retained their independence among the sterile crags of the Aravali, but their corn-fields in the plains below were ravaged by the enemy. They could stave off defeat but not starvation. The Mughals, on the other hand, might fail to penetrate into the hills of Kamalmir; their outposts might be surprised and convoys cut off occasionally; but they held the low country and received supplies from all parts of the empire.

v3.c51.s8.5

∗ Mirat-i-Ahmadi (311) and Ishwardas (80a); the latter authority places these events after Raj Singh's death, which took place on 22nd October, 1680. M. A. (205) distinctly states that late in January 1681, Dayaldas intended to make a night attack on Prince Azam's army near Chitor, but it was defeated with heavy loss to the Rajputs. Tod's authority, the Rajasthani poem Raj-vilas (cantos 15-17), places these raids in Jan.—Feb. 1680, and greatly magnifies the success of Bhim and Dayaldas (i. 400). I attach no weight to the chronology of the bard.

v3.c51.s8.6

§9. Peace with Maharana.

v3.c51.s8.7

So, both sides desired peace. A mutual friend was found in Shyam Singh of Bikaner, who informally proposed peace to the Maharana and offered his own services as mediator. The Maharana grasped the hand extended to him, and personally visited Prince Muhammad Azam (14 June, 1681). Through this prince as intermediary a definite treaty was now made between Mewar and the empire on the following terms:

v3.c51.s8.8

1. The Rana ceded to the empire the parganas of Mandal, Pur and Bednor in lieu of the jaziya demanded from his kingdom.

v3.c51.s8.9

2. The Mughals withdrew from Mewar, which was restored to Jai Singh with the title of Rana and the rank of a Commander of Five Thousand.*

v3.c51.s8.10

The long interrupted friendly relations between suzerain and vassal were renewed. Maharana Raj Singh had died in a state of war; now, eight months after the event, peace having been made, the paternal overlord sent to the new Maharana the customary robe of condolence for his father's death. Two months after the treaty the heroic Bhim Singh paid his respects to the Emperor and was taken into Mughal service with his son.*

v3.c51.s8.11

∗ M.A., 208; Tod, i. p. 403. I cannot understand Tod, i. 408 on this treaty. The Mughals were not really so utterly crushed as the bards imagine. The authentic diplomatic papers are given in Viravinod, ii. 654-662.

v3.c51.s8.12

§10. Long and desultory war in Marwar.

v3.c51.s8.13

Thus Mewar at last recovered peace and freedom. Not so Marwar. That unhappy theatre of war was turned into a wilderness during the truceless conflict which constitutes Jodhpur history for the next thirty years. "The sword and pestilence united to clear the land."

v3.c51.s8.14

Time was in favour of the imperialists, and economic pressure would have worn out Rathor endurance if only the Mughals could have held on long enough. But Akbar's junction with Shambhuji raised a more formidable danger to the empire, and Aurangzib had to concentrate all his forces in the Deccan and even to be present there in person. The Mughal hold on Marwar was consequently relaxed, the garrisons were depleted, and the higher commanders withdrawn. This was the salvation of the Rathors. Throughout the succeeding generation we find the Mughal hold on Marwar pulsating with the military situation in the Deccan. When a great enterprise or a heavy reverse forced the Mughals to

v3.c51.s8.15

*M. A. 212. Bhim Singh was created a Rajah and posted at Ajmir for the war with the Rathors.

v3.c51.s8.16

draft more troops to the South, the Rajput nationalists sallied from their dens and struck heavy blows at the thinned Mughal outposts.* When the pressure in the Deccan was relieved, reinforcements were pushed up into Rajasthan and the Mughals recovered their lost positions. The Rathor system of warfare, under Durgadas's able guidance, anticipated the Maratha method and its success by harassing and exhausting the imperialists and even by driving the helpless Mughal commanders to buy a secret forbearance by paying *chauth* to the Rathors. Thus the war went on with varying fortunes, but without cessation for 30 years, till August 1709, when Ajit Singh entered Jodhpur in triumph for the last time and his lordship of Marwar was formally and finally acknowledged by the Emperor of Delhi. [Post Ch. 44.]

v3.c51.s8.17

The loss caused to Aurangzib by his Rajput policy cannot be measured solely by the men and money he poured on that desert soil. He had concentrated all the resources of the empire against two small States† and had failed to achieve decisive success. Damaging as this result was to imperial prestige, its material consequences were worse still. In the height of political unwisdom, he wantonly provoked rebellion in Rajputana, while the Afghans on the frontier were still far from being pacified. With the two leading Rajput clans openly hostile to him, his army lost its finest and most loyal recruits. Nor was the trouble confined to Marwar and Mewar. It spread by sympathy among the Hada and Gaur clans. The elements of lawlessness thus set moving overflowed fitfully into Malwa and endangered the vitally important Mughal road through Malwa to the Deccan. In the incessant wars which fill the remainder of his reign, the Bundela clan and a few Hada and Kachhwa families supplied the only Rajput soldiers he could secure for fighting his battles. This was the harvest that Jalal-ud-din Akbar's great-grandson reaped from sowing the whirlwind of religious persecution and suppression of nationalities.

v3.c51.s8.18

∗ In 1099 A. H. the faujdar of Jodhpur died; no troops could be spared from the Deccan; the faujdari of Jodhpur was made part of the duties of the subahdar of Gujrat; Durgadas returned from the Deccan; the deputy faujdari of Jodhpur went abegging among Aurangzib's officers. (Mirat, 334-335).

v3.c51.s8.19

† "For this campaign [1680], Aurangzib put in pledge the whole of his kingdom." Storia, ii. 240.