History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c53: Appendix IX

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c53

Language: English

Appendix IX

v3.c53.1

Tod's annals of the war (mostly derived from the poem *Raj-vilas*), criticised in the light of the information supplied by the Persian sources. My criticism is given within square brackets.

Aurangzib concentrates all the resources of the empire against the Rajputs. Calls up his sons and other leading officers. [Crit.—Akbar joined the Emperor at Delhi on 29th August, 1679. Md. Azam joined at Ajmir, 16 Dec. Shah Alam left the Deccan in May 1680, and reached Mewar (lake Rajsamudra) about October. Muhammad Amin Khan, governor of Gujrat, arrived about 26 Oct. 1679.]

v3.c53.4

Aurangzib subdues the low country; Rana withdraws to the hills. Mughals capture the strongholds,—Chitor, Mandalgarh, Mandesor, Jiran, and many others (canto x. 117.) Aurangzib stops at Deobari Pass [4 Jan. 1680], sends Akbar to occupy deserted Udaipur, [16 Jan.] Kumar Jai Singh surprises Akbar at Udaipur, while Rana cuts off his retreat eastwards to Deobari. Akbar marches towards Gogunda, which the hills block. Jai Singh releases Akbar on promise of ending the war, and escorts him to Chitor via Jhilwara. [Crit.—Incredible story. The bearings are wrong. Chitor is east of Gogunda, and one has not to go there via Jhilwara which is west, and the way to which involves the needless crossing of hills, while the natural route eastwards via Udaipur and Deobari could have been easily opened to Akbar. Equally incredible is Manucci's story, as given in Storia, ii. 241, that the Rana encircled the Emperor, cut his supplies off, and captured Udaipuri Begam. The Emperor was methodically guarded in full force during his stay in Mewar: when he stopped at Deobari, his Van occupied Udaipur; when he himself went to Udaipur, a strong force under Hasan Ali Khan advanced westwards pursuing the Rana to Gogunda. The Rana, who was at this time a fugitive, could not have attacked the Emperor who occupied the centre, without destroying the left or western wing of the Mughal army. On the contrary he was actually defeated by this wing on 22nd January. Twenty camel loads of tents and other property captured from the Rana, "who had fled leaving his camp and property behind," were brought (on 29th January) to the Emperor by the victorious Hasan Ali Khan, who also "seized so much grain during this campaign that it led to cheapness" in the camp bazar. (M.A. 189.) As the Mughal line from Deobari to Udaipur was unbroken, Aurangzib's communication with his rear could not have been cut off nor could his wife have been captured, unless she had ventured west of Udaipur with a slender escort, which is highly improbable. The envelopment of the Emperor is, I think, the garbled Rajput tradition of the envelopment of Hasan Ali Khan's force near Gogunda, which, however, did not end in a Mughal defeat. Akbar met with some defeats at the hands of the Rana's army, but that was later, *after* the Emperor's return to Ajmir and took place in the open country east of the Deobari Pass, as we learn from the *Adab*, which gives detailed and accurate dates.]

v3.c53.5

Dilir Khan enters by the Deosuri Pass to extricate Akbar; is cut off by Vikram Solanki and Gopinath Rathor. [Crit.—Both the man and place mentioned are improbable. Dilir Khan never served in Marwar nor under Akbar, whose task it was to advance from the *western* or Deosuri side. *Adab*, 649, dated 1 or 2 Sep. 1680, speaks of a plan for Dilir Khan penetrating into Mewar from the eastern side, which was in Azam's command. Dilir Khan was serving in the Deccan from June 1676 till after March 1680, and could not have taken any part in the Rajput war before July 1680. We find him with Azam's army near the Rajsamudra lake in June 1681. Tod is probably here writing about the attack made by Bhim Singh on Tahawwur Khan in the Deosuri Pass, on 27 Sep. 1680.]

v3.c53.6

In Falgun (February 1680) Rana with Rathor allies in full force defeats Aurangzib in the Deobari Pass, and drives him back to Chitor. Samaldas cuts off communication between Chitor and Ajmir. Emperor hurriedly retreats to Ajmir to save himself. Thence he sends Ruhullah Khan with 12,000 men to convoy food to his sons at Chitor, but the Khan is defeated at Pur-Mandal by the Rathors and forced back to Ajmir. [Crit.—This is diametrically opposed to the Persian accounts which represent Aurangzib's visit to Chitor on 22 Feb., his return to Udaipur immediately after, and march from Udaipur to Ajmir, 6-22 March, 1680, as triumphant movements. Mandal was sacked by the Rajputs a year later, 15 Jan, 1681. It is clear that the Udaipur valley was evacuated by the Mughals in March, 1680: if this was the result of a disaster, the Persian accounts are absolutely silent about it. Akbar's army was, no doubt, defeated and his communication with Ajmir occasionally cut off; but that was in April-June, after the Emperor's return to Ajmir. I suspect the Rajput bards have made a confusion of dates and persons. Any disastrous defeat of Aurangzib or Akbar seems to me unlikely, as it would certainly have been mentioned in the *M.A.* which does not conceal other imperial reverses.]

v3.c53.7

Bhim Singh invades Gujrat, captures Idar, and raids some towns. The Rana's *diwan* Dayal Shah ravages Malwa with a flying column, joins Kumar Jai Singh and defeats Azam near Chitor, the prince fleeing to Rantambhor.

v3.c53.8

Mughals expelled from Mewar. Bhim Singh carries off 500 heads of cattle from the Mughal camp by a night attack, defeats Akbar and Tahawwur Khan at Ganora, the chief town of Godwar.

v3.c53.9

[*Crit.*—Bhim's raid is described in Ishwardas, 80*a* and *Mirat-i-Ahmadi*, 311-12, and his success in causing scarcity in the Mughal camp evidently in Eastern Mewar before March 1680, in Ishwardas, 79*b*. Dayal's success in Ishwardas, 80*a*. But the short official history, *M.A.*, is silent about Bhim Singh's exploits and records only the defeat of Dayaldas by Dilawwar Khan, a lieutenant of Prince Azam, end of January 1681, (p. 205). Prince Akbar writes of Dayal as strengthening the Rajput outposts near Jhilwara (*Adab*, No. 640)].