History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c51.s7.5

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.*