History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c58.s4.4

v4.c58.s4.4

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 And the monarchy built up by Shivaji's genius would have naturally fallen down when that master-mind was withdrawn, if Bijapur and Golkonda had not been driven by a common danger into the arms of Shambhuji.