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History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4: Volume 4

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4

Language
English

Contents

Volume 4

Front matter

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The first of these nations that crossed the Danube was the *Goths*. They were divided into two great branches, the *Visigoths* or Western Goths, and the *Ostrogoths* or Eastern Goths. The Visigoths, under the conduct of Fritigern, implored the protection of the emperor Valens, and were permitted to settle in the province of Thrace. But the perfidy of the Roman governors, and the insolence of the Roman soldiers, soon provoked them to rebellion. They defeated the imperial armies, and Valens himself perished in the battle of Hadrianople.

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The death of Valens was followed by the accession of Theodosius, who, by his wisdom and valour, restored the discipline of the Roman legions, and compelled the Goths to accept a peace, which was rather a truce than a permanent settlement. The Goths, however, remained in the heart of the empire, and their presence was a constant source of danger and alarm. They were no longer the rude barbarians who had first crossed the Danube; they had learned the arts of war and the policy of the Romans, and they were ready to take advantage of any opportunity to assert their independence.

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The reign of Theodosius was the last period of the glory of the Roman empire. After his death, the empire was divided between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius. Arcadius reigned in the East, and Honorius in the West. The division was fatal to the interests of the state. The two brothers were weak and indolent, and they were governed by their ministers and favourites. The Goths, under the command of Alaric, took advantage of the weakness of the government, and invaded Italy. They besieged and took Rome, and the eternal city, which had for so many centuries been the mistress of the world, was plundered by the barbarians.

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The fall of Rome was a shock to the whole civilized world. It was the end of an era, and the beginning of a new and darker age. The Goths, after the death of Alaric, retired from Italy, and settled in Gaul and Spain, where they founded kingdoms which were destined to last for several centuries. The Vandals, under the command of Genseric, crossed into Africa, and established a powerful kingdom, which for a time threatened the security of the Mediterranean. The Franks, under the command of Clovis, conquered Gaul, and laid the foundations of the French monarchy. The Saxons, under the command of Hengist and Horsa, invaded Britain, and established the kingdoms of the Heptarchy.

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BASED ON ORIGINAL SOURCES

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SIR JADUNATH SARKAR, M.A., C.I.E. Honorary Member, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain.

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VOL IV Southern India, 1645—1689 Second edition, enlarged and re-written in part

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1930 LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., LONDON the *Goths*, the *Vandals*, the *Suevi*, the *Burgundians*, the *Alani*, the *Huns*, the *Franks*, the *Saxons*, the *Thuringians*, the *Rugians*, and the *Heruli*. The names of these tribes are familiar to the reader, but their origin, their migrations, and their settlements are involved in the deepest obscurity. The most probable opinion is that they were all of German or Scythian extraction, and that they had been driven from their native seats by the pressure of the Huns, a formidable nation of Tartars, who had crossed the Volga and the Tanais, and were advancing with rapid strides towards the frontiers of the Roman empire.

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The first of these nations that crossed the Danube was the *Goths*. They were divided into two great branches, the *Visigoths* or Western Goths, and the *Ostrogoths* or Eastern Goths. The Visigoths, under the conduct of Fritigern, implored the protection of the emperor Valens, and were permitted to settle in the province of Thrace. But the perfidy of the Roman governors, and the insolence of the Roman soldiers, soon provoked them to rebellion. They defeated the imperial armies, and Valens himself perished in the battle of Hadrianople.

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The death of Valens was followed by the accession of Theodosius, who, by his wisdom and valour, restored the discipline of the Roman legions, and compelled the Goths to accept a peace, which was rather a truce than a permanent settlement. The Goths, however, remained in the heart of the empire, and their presence was a constant source of danger and alarm. They were no longer the rude barbarians who had first crossed the Danube; they had learned the arts of war and the policy of the Romans, and they were ready to take advantage of any opportunity to assert their independence.

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The reign of Theodosius was the last period of the glory of the Roman empire. After his death, the empire was divided between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius. Arcadius reigned in the East, and Honorius in the West. The division was fatal to the interests of the state. The two brothers were weak and indolent, and they were governed by their ministers and favourites. The Goths, under the command of Alaric, took advantage of the weakness of the government, and invaded Italy. They besieged and took Rome, and the eternal city, which had for so many centuries been the mistress of the world, was plundered by the barbarians.

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The fall of Rome was a shock to the whole civilized world. It was the end of an era, and the beginning of a new and darker age. The Goths, after the death of Alaric, retired from Italy, and settled in Gaul and Spain, where they founded kingdoms which were destined to last for several centuries. The Vandals, under the command of Genseric, crossed into Africa, and established a powerful kingdom, which for a time threatened the security of the Mediterranean. The Franks, under the command of Clovis, conquered Gaul, and laid the foundations of the French monarchy. The Saxons, under the command of Hengist and Horsa, invaded Britain, and established the kingdoms of the Heptarchy.

Preface to the Second Edition (Nov. 1929)

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The first edition of this Fourth Volume was printed in November 1919, but a revision of it became soon necessary through the acquisition of new materials of great value and variety. Within a month of its publication, Senhor P. S. Pissurlencar, with ungrudging labour and liberality, commenced sending me transcripts from the Portuguese records of Goa, among which he has worked with such tireless industry, scholarly accuracy, and eminent success, and I have been thus supplied in advance with manuscript copies of the mass of papers subsequently published by him as *Portugueses e Maratas*, 2 Vols. These have put an altogether new complexion on the history of Akbar's exile and Shambhuji's activities on the western border. I also secured through the kindness of the India Office, London, the loan of six volumes of Orme MSS., *i.e.*, transcripts of Factory records made by the historian Orme the originals of which have in many cases been lost..

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I also critically examined and corrected (from other sources) the *Jedhe Shakavali*, so as to utilize its dates with confidence. The old Persian records of Jaipur, (especially a mass of *Akhbarat*, beginning with 1681 and being the residue of what Col. James Tod had sent to the R.A.S., London), were also copied for me in 1924. The second part of the Portuguese account of the Luso-Maratha War of 1683, copied from the English translation preserved in the India Office, London, reached me just a month too late for use in the first edition, though I gave it to the public shortly afterwards in the Haidarabad Archæological Society's Journal.

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As the result of this accumulation of new materials and the recasting of my Shivaji for its third edition (in 1928), a thorough rewriting of the five chapters on Shivaji and Shambhuji,—forming two-thirds of the present volume,—had to be undertaken. The Mughal chapters have stood the shock of time better, and the changes in them are comparatively fewer, consisting of additions and corrections only.

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All the dates in this edition are given in the Old Style or unreformed calendar, and the dates taken from the Portuguese and Dutch records (which are in the New Style in the original) have been reduced to the Old Style for my book. (This was not done in the first edition, thus leaving some room for confusion.) An unfortunately large number of misprints—often due to slips in the copy prepared for the press,—were present in the first edition; these have been now detected and removed.

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182 pages of this book are taken bodily from my Shivaji and His Times, 3rd edition, to which the reader is referred for the authorities on the chapters relating to Shivaji (viz., 39, 40, and 43.) A larger type has been used in this edition and the size of the book increased by one-fifth.

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J. SARKAR

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Chapter XXXVIII.—The Keynote of Deccan History in the Seventeenth Century ... 1—13

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Bahmani kingdom extends Muslim dominion in the Deccan, 1—Adil Shah aspires to suzerainty of the Deccan, 2—Mughal ambition, 2—Partition treaty of 1636, 3—decline of Adil Shahi monarchy, 4—Maratha influence on Indian history, 5—Aurangzib's Deccan policy criticized, 5—Bijapur's foreign policy, 7—causes of Shivaji's success, 9—Mughal viceroys of the Deccan, 10—causes of Mughal ill success, 11—Akbar's rebellion changes Deccan history, 12

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Chapter XXXIX.—Rise of the Maratha Power 14—51

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Maharashtra its natural features, boundaries, and crops, 14—character of the Maratha people, 16—simplicity and uniformity of their society, 17—their love of independence, 18—Maratha soldier castes, 19—the Bhonslé family, 21—Shahji's career, 21—birth of Shivaji, 23—his early training, 24—religious influence on him, 25—early conquest of Bijapuri forts, 27—Shahji imprisoned at Bijapur, 28—how released, 30—the Morés of Javli, 30—murder of the Morés, 31—Shivaji's earliest dominions, 32—Shiva raids Ahmadnagar and Junnar (1657), 35—submits to Aurangzib, 39—his conquests in N. Konkan, 41—early officers, 43—Afzal Khan sent to crush Shivaji, 44—his message to Shivaji, 45—interview arranged, 47—Afzal slain, 49—his army routed, 50

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Chapter XL.—Shivaji, 1660—1669 . . 52—117

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Siddi Jauhar besieges Shivaji in Panhala, 52—escape of Shivaji, 53—Shaista Khan's advance on Puna, 54—capture of Chakan, 56—desultory fighting for two years, 58—Shivaji's night-attack on Shaista Khan, 61—Shaista Khan disgraced and recalled, 66—Surat described, 67—Marathas loot Surat, 69—attempt to murder Shivaji, 72—Jai Singh sent against Shivaji 75—his character, 75—his plan of war, 77—scene of war described, 79—march to Purandar, 81—Purandar forts described, 82—Vajragarh captured, 85—Maratha efforts, 87—towers of Purandar stormed, 89—death of Murar Baji Prabhu, 91—Shivaji interviews Jai Singh, 93—Treaty of Purandar, 94—forts ceded by Shivaji, 97—Shivaji's objections to a visit to Aurangzib, 98—his expectations, 99—his journey to Agra, 100—interview with Aurangzib, 101—is placed under guard, 106—Shivaji's clever escape from Agra, 108—track of his flight, 111—Muazzam replaces Jai Singh as viceroy, 113—his quarrel with Dilir Khan, 113—Shivaji makes peace with the Emperor (1668), 116.

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Chapter XLI.—Jai Singh's Invasion of Bijapur 118—150

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How Adil Shah provoked the Emperor, 118—the real aim of the Mughals, 120—Jai Singh corrupts Adil-Shahi officers and feudatories, 122—Mulla Ahmad joins the Mughals, 123—Adil Shah deceived by Jai Singh, 125—campaign opened, 129—first battle, 131—Mughal advance to near Bijapur, 133—siege impossible, 134—Jai Singh begins to retreat, 135—Shivaji fails at Panhala, 137—Netaji's treason, 137—Jai Singh fights many battles, 139—his movements in the Bhima-Manjira duab, 141—his loss and disappointment, 144—Emperor's wrath, 146—death of Jai Singh, 148—Udairaj turns Muslim, 150.

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Chapter XLII.—Decline of the Adil-Shahis ... 151—197

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The dominant military chiefs of Bijapur, 151—weakness of this form of government, 153—extent and revenue of Bijapur kingdom, 155—Ali II's reign, 156—succession of Sikandar and rule of wazirs, 157—Khawas Khan's regency, 158—his troubles with the Afghan soldiery and the imperial viceroy, 160—regency of Bahlol Khan, 162—Mughal invasion (1676), Islam Khan slain, 165—Bahadur Khan captures Naldurg and Kulbarga, 167—state of Mughal Deccan in 1677, 168—Dilir and Bahlol invade Golkonda, 170—battles near Malkhed, 170—disastrous Mughal retreat, 172—peace, 173—Siddi Masaud becomes regent, 174—misery of the Government, 174—Dilir invades Bijapur, 176—Marathas as allies of Bijapur, 177—civil war among the Bijapuri nobles, 179—Masaud submits to Mughals, 181—Dilir invades Bijapur again, 182—Shivaji assists Masaud, 184—raids Mughal territory, 185—Dilir's troubles, 185 and 187—he ravages villages round Bijapur, 188 and 192—sack of Athni, 188—his bombardment of Bijapur, 189—is censured by Emperor, 191—invades the Berad country. 193—is repulsed at Shahpur. 194—retires in disgrace, is recalled from the Deccan, 196

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Chapter XLIII.—Shivaji, 1670—1680 ... 198—269

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Causes of Shivaji's rupture with the Mughals, 198—storming of Singh garh, 201—recovers other forts, 202—Daud Khan's vigorous campaign, 203—Dilir disobeys Muazzam, 205—Iftikhar Khan's mission fails, 207—Dilir flees, Muazzam pursues, 208—second sack of Surat (1670), 212—loss suffered by the city, 215—Shivaji intercepted near Dindori, defeats Daud Khan, 217—Maratha raid into Berar, sack of Karinja, 219—capture of Salhir, 222—Mahabat and Daud's campaign in Chandor range, 223—Dilir Khan sacks Puna, 225—disastrous defeat of Ikhlas Khan, 225—Mughals retire, 226—Marathas annex Jawhar and Ramnagar, 227—Surat threatened for chauth, 228—raid into Khandesh and Berar (Dec 1672), 231—expulsion of Marathas, 232—Pedgaon (Mughal advanced post), its strategic importance, 233—first attack on Shivner fails, 234—Shivaji's gains in South Maharashtra and Kanara, 235—defeats Dilir Khan on the Ghats, 237—Bahadur's camp at Pedgaon looted, 238—more Maratha successes, 239—Shivaji befools Bahadur Khan with false proposals of peace, 240—raids in 1676, 242—Shivaji's diplomatic preparations for the Karnatak expedition, 244—bribes Bahadur Khan, 245—treaty of Haidarabad, 246—his gains in the Karnatak, 247—conquests on return from Madras, 248—Maratha activity in 1678, 249—Golkonda and Bijapur against Shivaji, 251—Shambhuji joins Dilir Khan, 252—they capture Bhupalgarh, 253—Dilir invades Bijapur (1679), 255—Shivaji assists Bijapur, 256—sacks Jalna, 257—narrowly escapes capture, 258—Shivaji's domestic troubles and death, 260—extent of his kingdom, 261—chauth, 263—policy of plunder, 264—Shivaji's character, 266—his influence on history, 268

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Chapter XLIV.—Reign of Shambhuji ... 270—361

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Shambhuji confined in Panhala, 270—Rajaram crowned, 271—desertions to Shambhuji, 273—he enters Raigarh, 276—is crowned, 277—sack of suburbs of Burhanpur, 279—Khan i-Jahan's failure, 280—raid on Aurangabad defeated, 282—other Maratha activities (1681), 283—Prince Akbar flees to Maharashtra, 285—Annaji Datto's plot to murder Shambhuji, 287—punished, 288—Kavi-kalash his favourite minister, 290—Akbar's relations with Shambhuji, 292—Aurangzib's defensive arrangements, Mughal attack developed (1682), 294—siege of Ramsej, fails, 295—Mughal efforts (winter of 1682—83), 298—bravery of Jani Begam, 301—struggle in Kalian, 303—Emperor suspects his sons, capricious changes of his mind, 305—Marathas and English, 308—Shambhuji's naval strength, 310—Siddi atrocities, 311—Shambhuji bombards Janjira (Jan. 1682), 312—assault (July) fails, 313—naval defeat (Oct.) 313—Portuguese provoke war with Shambhuji, 315—he sacks towns in Thana district, 317—besieges Chaul, 318—viceroy of Goa attacks Phonda, 321—forced to make disastrous retreat, 323—Shambhuji occupies Santo Estevao, 325—crushing defeat of viceroy, 326—Marathas overrun Salsette and Bardes, 327—Maratha gains from Portuguese in N. Konkan, 331—peace terms, 332—war renewed, 333—impolicy of this war, 334—Akbar's aims, 335—Akbar's disappointment and disgust with Maratha Court, 336—tries to sail to Persia, 339—dissuaded by Kavi-kalash, 341—desertions and rebellions against Shambhuji, 343—Mughal offensive opened (winter of 1683-84), 346—Shah Alam invades S. Konkan by Ram-ghat pass, 347—his dealings with Goa, 349—burns and sacks Ratnagiri and Savant-vadi towns, 349—famine in his army, 350—disastrous retreat, pestilence, 352—minor operations (1684), 353, 356—Shambhuji's vice and indolence, 355—raid into Khandesh (Feb. 1685), 357—Shambhuji makes treaty with English : terms, 359.

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Chapter XLV.—Fall of Bijapur ... ... 362—394

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Aurangzib's policy towards Bijapur from 1680 to 1683, 362—Bijapuris fail to help in crushing Marathas, 364—Mughal expeditions against Bijapur frontier, 365—miserable condition of Adil-Shahi Court, 367—angry correspondence with Aurangzib, 368—defensive measures against Mughal invasion, 369—city of Bijapur described, 372—fortifications and guns, 373—siege of Bijapur begins, 374—slow progress, difficulties of besiegers, 376—famine in Azam's army, 379—reinforced by Firuz Jang, 381—Aurangzib arrives, 383—Shah Alam's secret diplomacy, 384—sufferings of the besieged, 385—vigorous Mughal efforts, 386—Sikandar Adil Shah capitulates, 388—his audience with Aurangzib, 389—Aurangzib's grand entry into Bijapur, 391—the city in ruin, 392—captivity and death of Sikandar, 393.

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Chapter XLVI — Decline of the Qutb-Shahis 395—422

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Abdullah's character and government, 395—quarrel among his sons-in law, 396—Abul Hasan married to his third daughter, 397—Sayyid Ahmad defeated, Abul Hasan crowned, 398—Madanna becomes wazir, 399—his alliance with the Marathas for defence against Mughals, 400—Emperor fleeces and insults Qutb Shah, 402—Abul Hasan's sensuality, love of art, 403—offences of Qutb Shah in Aurangzib's eyes, 405—Aurangzib sends Shah Alam to seize Haidarabad (1685) 408—Mughal progress arrested battles near Malkhed, 410—dissensions among Qutb Shahi generals, their resistance suddenly ends, 412—second Mughal capture of Haidarabad, 414—skirmish with a Mughal detachment at Munagal, 416—Madanna murdered, 417 Appendix Madanna The history of his family, 420—his nephew, Gopanna a saint, 421

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Chapter XLVII — Fall of Golkonda 423—456

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Aurangzib marches to Golkonda, 423—Haidarabad described, 424—fort of Golkonda described, 424—siege begins, Qalich Khan mortally wounded, 429—Shah Alam's secret intrigue with Qutb Shah, 430—is imprisoned with his sons, 432—Emperor's distrust of Shias, 434—changes in the post of Mir Atish, 435—skirmishes 436—Firuz Jang's night attack fails 437—rain and famine 440—sortie by the garrison (15th June) many Mughal officers captured 441—Abul Hasan offers terms and food, 442—Mughals fire mines (20th June) heavy loss from explosion, sortie by garrison, 444—rain and storm, severe battle, 447—Mughal failure 448—havoc caused by famine, 449—Aurangzib's vigorous efforts, 450—Golkonda betrayed by Sardar Khan, 451—heroic resistance of Abdur Razzaq Lari, 452—Abul Hasan arrested 454—his calmness in danger, 455—the spoils of Golkonda 456

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Chapter XLVIII — Downfall of the Maratha Kingdom 457—484

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Mughals conquer Bijapuri provinces, 457—Sagar capitulates, death of Pam Nayak 458—Adoni surrenders, 460—Azam captures Belgaum, 460—Emperor at Bijapur, 460—bubonic plague its mortality, 461—Akbar's plans and movements, 463—his effort to break through fails, 465—embarks for Persia, 466—Shambhuji's loss of good officers, 468—Maratha activity 1685—1687, 470—risings against Shambhuji, 471—economic decay of Maratha dominion, 472—Shambhuji captured, 475—paraded through camp, 478—executed, 480—Rajaram crowned, 481—escapes, 481—Raigarh surrenders, 483. Appendix : Ishwardas Nagar's narrative of events 1685-1689, 485—Shambhuji's navy, 488.

Chapter XXXVIII. The Keynote of Deccan History in the Seventeenth Century.

§ 1. Muslim Powers in the Deccan.

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In the middle of the Fourteenth century the foundation of the Bahmani kingdom created an independent centre of Muslim power in Southern India. The conquest of the western coast-strip (Konkan) by the kings of this line also put them in possession of sea-ports like Dabhol, Chaul, Rajapur and Goa, through which they established direct intercourse with Persia, Arabia, Africa and the Malay Peninsula. Thus, the stream of recruits could flow into the Deccan from the outer Muhammadan world without being intercepted by the rulers of Delhi. At a time when the force of the first Islamic penetration of Northern India was spent, the Muslim advance there was arrested by impact on the northern and eastern natural barriers of our country, and the Delhi monarchy was seized with decay and dissolution,—Indian Islam started on a new career of expansion in the south and crushed out the great Hindu kingdoms of the Deccan which had hitherto retained their independence.

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This process went on throughout the Fifteenth century. Even when, at the end of the first quarter of the next century, the great house of Bahmani fell almost in the same year that Babur sowed the seed of a new and mightier growth of Islamic power in Northern India,—there was no eclipse of Muhammadanism in the South. The heritage of the Bahmanis passed into the worthy hands of Nizam Shah and Adil Shah. Ahmadnagar and Bijapur now became centres which fully kept up the traditions of Islamic dominion and Islamic culture founded by the Sultans of Kulbarga. The greatness of Ahmadnagar filled the 16th century; but the first quarter of the 17th century saw its final extinction. Bijapur, which had begun the race for empire in the Deccan a little later and hitherto stood second, now rushed in to fill the leadership vacated by Ahmadnagar.

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But with the commencement of the Seventeenth century a new combatant had entered the southern arena. Forty years of vigorous and successful rule by one undisputed sovereign having settled and strengthened the realm of Northern India from Bengal to Gujrat and Kashmir to Sind, the Mughal Emperor was now free to conquer the Deccan, and this fact dominated the whole history of Southern India throughout the 17th century. Adil Shah found a rival he had not reckoned with. Long and desolating wars waged against him by Shah Jahan both during his father's lifetime and in his own reign, at last convinced the ruler of Bijapur that he must give up the dream of winning the hegemony of the Deccan, as the heir of the Bahmanis and the Nizam-Shahis, and that he must find an outlet for his ambition eastwards and southwards only, so as not to cross the path of the dreaded Mughals of the north. The last of these wars for deciding the claim to supremacy in the Deccan had been fought in 1636, as we have seen in Chapter 3. By the partition-treaty of 1636, the southern boundary of Mughal Deccan had been clearly marked out, and during the following twenty years Bijapur had risen to the pinnacle of her greatness by stretching her sway from sea to sea across the Indian peninsula, while the capital city had become the mother of arts and letters, of theology and science. But the warrior-kings of an earlier poorer and ruder generation were now followed by successors who preferred the harem and the darbar to the tented field and the saddle. The great conquests of the middle Seventeenth century were all achieved by servants of the State and not by its supreme lord and master. The climax of the Adil-Shahi power was also the beginning of its rapid decline and dismemberment.

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A number of generals who had conquered kingdoms for their master with their own blood and sweat and had been long accustomed to giving the law to millions, were not likely to obey a child or a sluggard on the throne of a far off capital, nor a veiled woman or a man of their own class acting as the power behind the throne. A feudal State cannot be governed by a faineant king nor by a constitutional prime minister. When the king is no longer a hero, the military viceroys of the provinces will obey him as little as the major-generals obeyed Richard Cromwell. Only a superman,—a Henry V. or a Napoleon I.,—can control the feudal barons and hold together the military type* of State, such as all the Islamic monarchies in India were. Therefore, after the death of the last great Adil Shah (in November 1656), the dissolution of the remaining Muslim kingdoms of the Deccan and their absorption into the Mughal empire would have taken place as an inevitable, speedy and almost silent operation of Nature, but for the entrance of a new factor into Deccan politics.

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∗ The State founded by Akbar was an exception to this description to a limited extent only, as even the Mughal empire did not become a truly national and constitutional State, but remained subject to the influence of the Muslim priesthood and the personal discretion of the sovereign,—more in some reigns, less in others.

§ 2. Marathas in Deccan History.

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These were the Marathas. A small body, no doubt; but they leavened the entire mass of the Deccani population. They dominated Deccan history for the century and a half that followed the accession of Aurangzib and North Indian history for the last fifty years of the 18th century. The Maratha people had been there from time out of mind, but since the 13th century they had lived dispersed through many States, as the subjects of aliens in the land of their birth, without any political organization or status of their own. A genius was needed to unite these scattered units into a *nation* and drive them like a solid wedge into the Mughal empire, shivering it to bits. That genius was Shivaji, the contemporary and antagonist of Aurangzib.

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European historians like Elphinstone have charged Aurangzib with political blindness because he destroyed Bijapur and Golkonda first, instead of crushing the Maratha power with the help of these two States. (*Hist. of India*, 6th ed., p. 649.) But this criticism misses the cardinal fact of Deccan politics in the 17th century. From the day when the Emperor Akbar launched forth into a policy of conquest south of the Vindhyas to the day 94 years later, when Aurangzib rode in triumph into the fallen capital of the last of the Qutb-Shahis, the Sultans of Bijapur and Golkonda could never for a moment forget that the sleepless aim of the Mughal Emperor was their final extinction and the annexation of all their territories. They had at all times had Maratha auxiliaries,—Shahji Bhonslé was only the most eminent among many such,—and now they found in the genius of Shivaji and the reckless audacity of Shambhuji their only shield in the hour of supreme danger. A union of hearts between Bijapur or Golkonda and the Mughal empire was a psychological impossibility.

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These European historians further maintain that it would have been wiser for Aurangzib to have left Bijapur and Golkonda in independence to serve as the police of the Deccan against the growing Maratha lawlessness which finally proved too strong for the Mughals. This view also attaches too much importance to mere appearances and names and is based on ignorance of the true political condition of the Deccan during the period in question. By the time Shivaji had succeeded in forming a national State as a nucleus round which the Maratha chiefs hitherto in Muslim pay might cluster, the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golkonda had arrived at the last stage of decline. Their kings were mere puppets sunk in pleasure, their capitals ran blood during the frequent faction-fights for the office of wazir, the administration had utterly broken down, law and order had disappeared, the provincial governors had become independent, the generals were selling themselves to the highest bidder. In the touching words of the last historian of Bijapur, "No man from *sardar* down to *ryot* ate his bread for a single day in peace; none from the Sultan down to the pauper slept for a single night in happiness." (B. S. 523.) And such Governments were expected by Elphinstone to tame Shambhuji and chastise Shanta Ghorpare more effectually than Aurangzib himself could do!

§ 3. Relations among the Deccan Powers.

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Briefly put, the grouping of Powers in the Deccan was thus: The dread of Mughal aggression drove the Sultan of Golkonda whole-heartedly, and that of Bijapur distrustfully and intermittently, into the arms of Shivaji. But the Bijapuri ministers could never forget that Shivaji was their rebel subject; they always looked upon him with suspicion and took precautions lest by entering as their ally he should end by making himself their master. Hence, Bijapur's leagues with Shivaji were formed only when Mughal invasion was an insistent fact and the situation of Adil Shah was desperate; and these leagues were soon dissolved by the growing fear that Shivaji was trying to enrich himself by treacherously seizing its forts and lands. Occasionally the Adil-Shahi Government made a show of joining the Mughals in the war with Shiva, but the aid thus given was insincere and of no military value (except in 1660.) Golkonda’s friendship with the Maratha king was stronger and of longer duration, though its full extent remained a secret to the Mughals. It was finally cemented by the influence of the Brahman minister Madanna Pandit and the discovery of the earnest determination of the Mughal Emperor to annex the Deccani Sultanates.

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Of the three Deccani Powers, Qutb Shah may be left out of our account, as he never sought a rupture with the Mughals during this period, (his war in 1677 was purely defensive), nor refuse to pay tribute;—but his failure to clear the arrears of tribute, his attempt to retain possession of the Karnatak ceded to the Mughals in 1656, and the armed aid he gave to Bijapur during the Mughal invasion of 1666, were serious breaches of a vassal’s duty. Abdullah, who filled the throne of Golkonda from 1626, was a fool (as Aurangzib calls him in the *Adab*) and a voluptuary, and his successor, Abul Hasan, was as bad. Such a State hardly counted in the politics of the Deccan.

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The Bijapur Government fell into a hopeless decline[^ *] after 1666, when Ali Adil Shah II. gave

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[^ *]: The downward course had begun much earlier, in 1646, when Muhammad Adil Shah was prostrated by a severe and lingering illness.

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himself up entirely to wine, while rival nobles began to fight for the wazirship and the control over the capital and the *fainéant* king. Matters grew worse when the boy-king Sikandar succeeded in 1672, and the history of Bijapur became in effect the history of its regents. Great disorder prevailed in the administration, the country was eternally unsettled and impoverished, the State gradually became too weak to defend itself from foreign attack, or even to continue its sluggish normal course of existence. This was the opportunity which made Shivaji's rise to independent power possible, and once secure in the possession of a kingdom, a capital and an army, he was strong enough to defy all his enemies together.

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Shivaji could never for a moment be sure of the Delhi Government's pacific disposition or fidelity to treaty promises. Hence he lost no chance of robbing Mughal territory in the Deccan. With Bijapur his relations were somewhat different. He could raise his head or expand his dominion only at the expense of Bijapur. But when, about 1662, an understanding with him was effected by the Adil-Shahi ministers, he gave up molesting the heart of the Bijapur kingdom. With the Bijapuri nobles whose fiefs lay close to his dominions and across the path of his natural expansion (e.g., Kolhapur, Kanara and Kopal) he could not be at peace, though he did not wish to challenge the central Government of Bijapur. The death of Ali II. in 1672 and the faction-fights at the capital that ensued greatly stimulated his raiding and annexing activities at the expense of Adil Shah, though still along the fringe of that kingdom.

§ 4. Causes of Mughal weakness in the Deccan.

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From January 1658 when Aurangzib left the Deccan to contest his father's throne till March 1682 when he returned to the South to wear out the last quarter century of his life in ceaseless warfare, a period of 24 years intervened, during which there were five viceroys of the Mughal province of Deccan, among whom Prince Shah Alam held the office for 11 years, Bahadur Khan for 6 years, Shaista Khan for 4, Jai Singh for nearly two, and Dilir Khan for one year. During these twenty-four years the Mughals pursued a vigorous forward policy against Bijapur only under Jai Singh (1666), Bahadur Khan (1676—77), and Dilir Khan (1679—80). Military operations against the Marathas were actively carried on by Shaista Khan (1660—62), Jai Singh (1665), Mahabat Khan (1671—72), Bahadur Khan (1673—75), and by Dilir Khan for a short while in 1678—79. A state of war between Shivaji and the Mughals existed for a much longer period, but during most of it the imperial generals acted languidly, so as to hoodwink their distant master, while maintaining a secret understanding with Shivaji (and, later, with Shambhuji) and accepting bribes from him. From Shivaji's side the attacks on Mughal territory were more frequent, though twice or thrice varied by pretended submission to the Emperor, with a view to outwitting the Mughal viceroy of the Deccan and lulling him into inactivity or friendliness.

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Only a few clear successes but no decisive result was achieved by the Mughal arms in the Deccan during these 24 years. The cause of this failure was partly personal and partly political. Shah Alam was a timid unenterprising prince, inclined by nature to peace with his neighbours and the pleasures of the harem or the chase. But even if he had been made of sterner stuff, success would have been beyond his power, because his father suspected him of a design to rebel and often saddled him with a refractory lieutenant like Dilir Khan, whose open defiance of his authority made the viceregal camp in the Deccan as powerless as a country torn by civil war. Shah Alam and Dilir always worked at cross purposes and thus ensured Mughal failure in the Deccan.

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Secondly, the imperial officers were heartily sick of the ceaseless war with Shiva, the hardships of campaigning in the Mavals and Konkan or besieging Maratha hill-forts, and in constant dread of his deadly surprise attacks. The Hindu officers in Mughal pay secretly fraternized with the Deccani champion of Hinduism,—the defender of cows and Brahmans, of *tilak* and *tiki*, (as his laureate Bhushan called him); while several of the Muslim generals were glad to bribe him to let them live in peace. Above all, no Mughal governor of the Deccan was supplied with men and money even half adequate to the task of defeating Bijapur and the Marathas, as the vast military and financial resources that Aurangzib had to employ against these two monarchies during his final campaigns in 1685—89 clearly proved.

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The rebellion of Prince Akbar, though it was fostered by the Rajputs and originated, grew to fulness and expired in Northern India,—changed the history of the Deccan and hastened the fate of the Mughal empire as well. His flight to Shambhuji raised a danger to the throne of Delhi which could be met only by Aurangzib's personal appearance in the South. But for this alliance between the "Disturber of India" and "the infernal son of the infernal infidel,"—as Aurangzib called the two,—the Emperor would probably have let Deccan affairs follow their wonted course; he would have left Bijapur and Golkonda to be occasionally threatened and fleeced by his generals, who were open to bribes, and his sons, who lacked his own remorseless ambition and tireless energy. At all events, after Jai Singh's costly failure (in 1666), he could not have been easily induced to risk all the material resources and armed strength of the empire on the speculative Deccan adventure, and without such expenditure Bijapur and Golkonda could never have been forcibly annexed. The Maratha king would have been tolerated by Aurangzib as a necessary evil, or even encouraged as a thorn in the side of the Bijapuris and therefore really an ally of the Mughals, —which was the very policy towards Shiva advocated by the astute Jai Singh. And the monarchy built up by Shivaji's genius would have naturally fallen down when that master-mind was withdrawn, if Bijapur and Golkonda had not been driven by a common danger into the arms of Shambhuji.

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But Akbar's flight to the Deccan forced a complete change on the imperial policy in that quarter. The first task of Aurangzib now was to crush the power of Shambhuji and render Akbar impotent for mischief. For this he patched up a hurried peace with the Maharana (June 1681) and left for the Deccan to direct the operations of his armies there in person.

Chapter XXXIX. The Rise of the Maratha Power.

§ 1. Maharashtra: the land and its produce.

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The dominating feature of the Deccan land is the Western Ghat or Sahyadri range, forming a towering wall along the entire western edge of the peninsula. Between the Ghats and the Indian Ocean lies a long narrow strip of land of varying breadth, called Konkan (between Bombay and Goa) and Kanara (south of Goa.) It is an area of certain and heavy rainfall,—from 100 to 120 inches in the year,—with rice for the predominant crop, and dense mango-groves, plantain orchards and coconut-palms adding to the beauty of the landscape and the wealth of the inhabitants. Here the districts of Thana, Kolaba and Ratnagiri (with the State of Savant-vadi),—a total area of over 10,000 miles,—are now predominantly Marathi-speaking.

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After crossing the Ghats eastwards we have a belt of land, some 20 miles in breadth, called Dang or Maval in the north and Mallad in the south (i.e., Kanara.) "It is extremely rugged, a series of table-lands cut on every side by deep winding valleys. From the valleys, hills of various heights and forms arise, terrace above terrace, with steep sides often strewn with black basalt boulders......Here and there are patches of ancient evergreen forests." (Bomb. Gaz., xviii. pt. 1, pp. 2, 13.)

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The Western Ghats have thrown off a large number of short spurs eastwards, every two of which enclose a valley, the bed of some stream rolling east to add its waters to the mighty Godavari or Krishna. Towards the east the spurs sink, the valleys widen out and form Desh or the vast rolling black-soil plain of the Central Deccan.

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This land, almost locked among the hills and open only in the east, is the cradle of the Maratha kingdom. Originally Maharashtra was formed by the Nasik, Puna and Satara districts, parts of Ahmadnagar and Sholapur, and the western corner of Aurangabad,—a rough total of 28,000 square miles. East of the Ghats the rainfall decreases rapidly, and is uncertain and insufficient for agriculture, while the soil is naturally sterile and broken up by low ranges of bare rocky hills which neither store water for cultivation nor attract the rainfall. "The Deccan, generally speaking, yields to much labour a bare measure of subsistence."

§ 2. Character of the Marathas.

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The Maratha people had lost their great independent kingdoms, in the central richer and more level parts of the Deccan, early in the 14th century, and been gradually pushed into the western edge of the plateau by the pressure of Muslim expansion. Here in the small lonely valleys isolated by Nature, their petty chieftains retained a sort of rude local independence, usually forgotten by the kings of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur, or offering a nominal obedience when pressed hard. In their rugged and inhospitable nooks the natives found safety and peace, while the richer plains were the scenes of revolution and rapine.

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In such a country no one can afford to lead a sheltered idle life. Every man, and often every woman, in Maharashtra, has to work and work with the hand. Where Nature enforces a Spartan simplicity, there can be no luxury, no learned leisure (except among the priests), no aesthetic development, no polished manners even. But such a country and climate have their compensating advantages. They develop self-reliance, courage, perseverance, a stern simplicity, a rough straightforwardness, a sense of social equality and consequently pride in the dignity of man as man. In the 7th century, the Chinese pilgrim Yuan Chwang noted the Marathas for being "proud-spirited and warlike, grateful for favours and revengeful for wrongs." This racial character was somewhat modified in the course of the next ten centuries, and the remnant of the Maratha population at last became more cunning and less chivalrous. But the basis of their character remained the same,—activity, self-reliance, self-respect and love of equality. Indeed, in their combination of courage, cleverness and power of endurance,—in their ability to plan and execute surprises and night-attacks, in the skill of their soldiers to extricate themselves from a tight corner or to vary their tactics according to the changing phases of a battle without waiting for guidance from a superior,—the Marathas resemble the Afghans most among all Asiatic races.

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Social distinctions were fewer and much less sharp among the 16th century Marathas than among richer and more civilized communities. The rich man was not immeasurably above the poor in such a simple society; and even the poorest man had his value as a soldier or indispensable labourer; at least, he preserved his self-respect, because where few had anything to spare, none was tempted to lead the pampered life of the professional beggars and hangers-on of Delhi or Agra. The same sense of equality was fostered by religion. Their popular saints in the 15th and 16th centuries created a religious revival, which was truly a reformation in its spirit. It taught the sanctity of conduct rather than mere birth, the superiority of a living personal faith to mere ritual, and the oneness of all true believers before God. "This religious revival was level parts of the Deccan, early in the 14th century, and been gradually pushed into the western edge of the plateau by the pressure of Muslim expansion. Here in the small lonely valleys isolated by Nature, their petty chieftains retained a sort of rude local independence, usually forgotten by the kings of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur, or offering a nominal obedience when pressed hard. In their rugged and inhospitable nooks the natives found safety and peace, while the richer plains were the scenes of revolution and rapine.

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In such a country no one can afford to lead a sheltered idle life. Every man, and often every woman, in Maharashtra, has to work and work with the hand. Where Nature enforces a Spartan simplicity, there can be no luxury, no learned leisure (except among the priests), no aesthetic development, no polished manners even. But such a country and climate have their compensating advantages. They develop self-reliance, courage, perseverance, a stern simplicity, a rough straightforwardness, a sense of social equality and consequently pride in the dignity of man as man. In the 7th century, the Chinese pilgrim Yuan Chwang noted the Marathas for being "proud-spirited and warlike, grateful for favours and revengeful for wrongs." This racial character was somewhat modified in the course of the next ten centuries, and the remnant of the Maratha population at last became more cunning and less chivalrous. But the basis of their character remained the same,—activity, self-reliance, self-respect and love of equality. Indeed, in their combination of courage, cleverness and power of endurance,—in their ability to plan and execute surprises and night-attacks, in the skill of their soldiers to extricate themselves from a tight corner or to vary their tactics according to the changing phases of a battle without waiting for guidance from a superior,—the Marathas resemble the Afghans most among all Asiatic races.

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Social distinctions were fewer and much less sharp among the 16th century Marathas than among richer and more civilized communities. The rich man was not immeasurably above the poor in such a simple society; and even the poorest man had his value as a soldier or indispensable labourer; at least, he preserved his self-respect, because where few had anything to spare, none was tempted to lead the pampered life of the professional beggars and hangers-on of Delhi or Agra. The same sense of equality was fostered by religion. Their popular saints in the 15th and 16th centuries created a religious revival, which was truly a reformation in its spirit. It taught the sanctity of conduct rather than mere birth, the superiority of a living personal faith to mere ritual, and the oneness of all true believers before God. "This religious revival was the work of the people, of the masses, and not of the classes. At its head were saints and prophets, poets and philosophers, who sprang chiefly from the lower orders of society,—tailors, carpenters, potters, gardeners, shopkeepers, barbers, and even mahars (scavengers),—more often than Brahmans." (Ranade, 10.) They taught in the vernacular and not in the sacred tongue.

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The simplicity and uniformity of early Maratha society were also reflected in their language and literature, which were poor, undeveloped, and essentially popular. The spoken tongue of the country was a rough practical speech incapable of expressing the ceremonious courtesy indirectness and delicate shades of meaning of the highly polished Urdu language. The democratic temper of the Maratha people is shown by their having no respectful mode of address; all ranks are theed and thoued.

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The Maratha people's inborn love of independence and isolation was greatly helped by Nature, which provided them with many ready-made and easily defensible forts close at hand, where they could quickly flee for refuge and whence they could offer a tenacious resistance. "The whole of the Ghats often terminate towards the top in a wall of smooth rock, the highest points of which, as well as detached portions on isolated hills, form natural fortresses,......(with) a level space on the summit ......In many of them there are springs of the finest water."

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Thus a remarkable community of language, creed and life was attained in Maharashtra in the 17th century, even before political unity was conferred by Shivaji. What little was wanting to the solidarity of the people was supplied by his creation of a national State, the long struggle with the invader from Delhi, and the imperial expansion of the race in the 18th century under the Peshwas. Thus in the end a collection of castes and tribes was fused into a nation by their political history.

§ 3. Marathas as soldiers.

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The backbone of Shivaji's army was composed of the peasantry belonging to the *Maratha* and *Kunbi* castes. "As a class the Marathas [of today] are simple, frank, independent and liberal, courteous, and, when kindly treated, trusting. They are a manly and intelligent race......No caste supplies the Bombay army with so many recruits as the Ratnagiri Marathas. Others go into the police." "The Deccan Kunbis are steady and hard-working.........a very quiet and orderly class,......strong, hardy, enduring and muscular."

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The Marathas had been noted as soldiers as early as the 7th century, when their king Pulakesin II. repulsed Harsha-vardhan, the conqueror of Northern India. But with the Muslim conquest of the Deccan and the extinction of the last Hindu kingdom in Maharashtra in the 14th century, the fighting classes among the natives gathered round their own leaders in small bands and hired out their swords to the new rulers of the land. There were Maratha auxiliaries and mercenaries in the service of the Bahmani Sultans, the Nizam-Shahis and the Adil-Shahis from the very beginning. And with the disintegration of the Muhammadan power in the Deccan, the importance of these local troops greatly increased.

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The sterile soil of Maharashtra discouraged its sons from the thankless task of tilling it. Strong muscles and stout hearts found greater rewards and a higher position by serving in the armies of the many monarchies of the central plateau. An able partisan leader was sure of high pay, noble rank, and it might be the proud position of a king-maker, at any of these Courts, which were constantly at war with their neighbours, and prepared to bid high for the lances of useful *condottieri* from the Desh country.

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Many Maratha families rose to wealth, power and distinction as captains of mercenary troops in the service of the Muslim States in their neighbourhood. Some of them claimed to be Kshatriyas and bore names suggesting their descent from the royal .

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dynasties of ancient India,—such as the Mauryas (Marathi More), Yadavas (Marathi, Zadon), Yaudheyas (Marathi, Jedhe), Chalukyas, &c.

§ 4. Shahji Bhonslé: his career.

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One such family, bearing the name of Bhonslés, originally lived in the Patas sub-division of the Puna district, as the headmen (patil) of two villages. Towards the end of the 16th century they migrated to the village of Virul or Elur, within sight of the hill-fort of Daulatabad and the caves of Ellora. They followed agriculture and gained much local credit by their sober honest character and religious benefactions. Some buried treasure that they discovered in their fields enabled them to buy arms and horses and develop into captains of mercenaries. The decline of the Nizam-Shahi dynasty and the Mughal invasion of the Deccan at the close of the 16th century gave them the chance of rapid rise. Some of the Bhonslés were won over by the Mughals with high mansabs and salary, others changed masters frequently in quest of better pay, during the first quarter of the 17th century.

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Such was Shahji Bhonslé, the eldest son of Maloji. Born in 1594, he was married when a child to Jija Bai, the daughter of the high-born Lakhji Yadav Rao, baron of Sindhkhed and one of the greatest Hindu nobles of Ahmadnagar. Shahji first saw service probably as the commander of the small contingent of his family during the rule of Malik Ambar, the regent of Nizam Shah. On the death of Malik Ambar in May 1626, the State fell into rapid decay; there were frequent assassinations at Court, among the victims being Lakhji Yadav (1630) and the Sultan himself (1632). During these troubled times, Shahji first followed the Nizam-Shahi Government, then "fought for his own hand," joined the Mughals, deserted them, fought against the Bijapuris, went over to their side afterwards, and finally blossomed into a king-maker. After the loss of Daulatabad, the last capital of the dynasty, he set up a puppet Nizam Shah (1633) in one of the hill-forts of the Sahyadri range. He seized all the Nizam-Shahi dominion from Puna and Chakan to Balaghat and the neighbourhood of Junnar, Ahmadnagar, Sangamner, Trimbak and Nasik, and for three years (1633-36) carried on the government in the Sultan's name, occupying districts and forts and levying troops. During all this time the Bijapur Government backed him, as a very useful obstacle to Mughal progress. Treacherously seizing the fort of Junnar, he made it his capital and lived in great wealth and power, looting Mughal territory on his east and conquering Konkan on his west. But in 1636 a grand campaign was opened by the imperialists against Shahji and his patron of Bijapur, which we have described in detail in Chapter 3. In the end (Oct. 1636) Shahji had to own complete defeat and give up to the Mughals the shadowy Nizam Shah and eight of his forts (including Mahuli and Junnar). Even the name of the Nizam-Shahi State was now abolished, Adil Shah acknowledged the overlordship of the Emperor, and Shahji entered the service of Bijapur. By this Government he was recognized in possession of the jagirs in the Puna district.

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