History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c61.s2: § 2. Jai Singh's diplomacy and intrigues before war: desertions from Bijapur.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c61.s2
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§ 2. Jai Singh's diplomacy and intrigues before war: desertions from Bijapur.
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Jai Singh's clever diplomacy prepared the ground in advance of the coming struggle. His first task was to detach Shivaji from Bijapur and, indeed, to throw a bone of perpetual contention between the two. With this view, in the treaty of Purandar he offered to Shivaji the Bijapuri coast-strip and uplands of the Western Ghats for a price of 40 lakhs of hun (or 2 *krores* of Rupees). Shivaji was to wrest these tracts from the control of Bijapur, and the Emperor agreed to confirm him in possession of them for ever. A threefold gain was expected by Jai Singh from this shrewd stroke of policy: first the acquisition of two *krores* of Rupees, secondly the alienation of Shiva from Bijapur, and thirdly, relieving the imperial army of the arduous task of campaigning in these two broken and jungly regions by throwing that work on Shivaji's shoulders. In return, the Maratha chief promised to assist the Mughals in the coming war by furnishing 2,000 cavalry of his son Shambhuji's contingent and 7,000 expert infantry under his personal command.*
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Jai Singh also intrigued with many other zamindars of Bijapur and sent to them letters for seducing them from loyalty to their legitimate sovereign and offering them service under the Mughal Emperor. When Adil Shah protested against this conduct, Jai Singh replied that it had always been the practice of Mughal viceroys to grant letters of conciliation to all who solicited their favour. The zamindars of the Karnatak and the Abyssinian mercenaries who had established themselves in the Karnul district (south of the Raichur Doab) in almost open independence of the king of Bijapur,—were invited with tempting offers of reward to join Jai Singh. He also wrote to the Abyssinians of Janjira to unite with him, promising them enrolment in the Mughal peerage and other benefits, though he secretly plotted with his master to contrive their destruction and the annexation of their territory to the empire. (H.A. 77b, 79a.)
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∗ H.A. 70 a, 81 a. This shrewd deal in (as yet unconquered) land is thus described by the Bijapur historian: "Shiva, despairing of help from Bijapur (against the Mughals), made peace with Jai Singh. The two infidels agreed together to invade Adil-Shahi territory. This nimak-haram hereditary servant, the worst of base-born traitors, undertook the work...Adil Shah was perplexed at the union of his neighbouring enemy with his external foe, because a thief who knows the secrets of the house can do a harm, the hundredth part of which no thief from outside can commit." (B.S. 404.)
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The old policy of seducing the ministers and generals of Bijapur was followed vigorously and with a lavish disregard of expenditure. As he wrote to prepare his master for the financial drain of the war, "As soon as our army enters the kingdom, many Deccanis will have to be enlisted in our service and every one of them will have to be supplied with money according to his rank, to enable him to arm and equip [his followers]. Expenditure of money will be necessary till the conquest of Bijapur, when our costs will be recovered, as I hope." (H.A. 74 b.)
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§ 3. Bijapur King deceived by Jai Singh: Mulla Ahmad joins the Mughals.
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Mulla Yahia, an Arab of the Navaiyat clan settled in Konkan, and now an officer in the Emperor's service, was the intermediary in corrupting Bijapuri officers like Randaula (surnamed Rustam-i-Zaman), Abbas, &c. But the most eminent of these deserters was his elder brother Mulla Ahmad, who had held the second place at the Bijapur Court, being next to the prime minister, Abdul Muhammad. The whole of Konkan had been given to him as jagir. Jai Singh set a very high value on Mulla Ahmad's adhesion to the Mughal cause, because, as he wrote to Aurangzib, "During our recent war with Shiva, the Mulla had signally helped us by influencing Adil Shah to break off his friendship with Shiva, expel Shiva's agent from his Court, and send an army into Konkan to fight the Marathas. All other Bijapuri ministers had refused to urge this pro-Mughal policy on their master." The Mulla had secretly offered to quit Adil Shah's service and guide the Mughal operations against Bijapur, if the Emperor gave him a high post. Indeed, his ambition was to imitate the successful career of another foreign traitor in the Deccan, Mir Jumla of Golkonda, and for this he had been coquetting with the Mughal viceroy of the Deccan since 1661. (H.A. 82 a, 65 a.)
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Aurangzib agreed to create him a commander of Six Thousand and summoned him to the Presence. The problem now was, how could Mulla Ahmad leave Bijapur with his family without exciting the suspicion and incurring the vengeance of his master. Jai Singh, therefore, cunningly wrote to Adil Shah that as he had been ordered by the Emperor to investigate and settle the questions at issue between the Mughal and Bijapur Governments, the Sultan should send Mulla Ahmad, the chief of his nobles, to him to explain matters personally; and the refusal to send him would be regarded as a proof of Adil Shah's contumacy and provoke an invasion of his country. (H.A. 65 b—66 a.)
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Ali Adil Shah II., sincerely desirous of peace, sent Mulla Ahmad to Jai Singh to negotiate and remove all sources of difference between the two Powers. The Mulla thus got with his family beyond the reach of his master, interviewed Jai Singh near Purandar on 29th September, 1665, and was received with high honours. He was at once created a 6-hazari in the Mughal peerage, given two and a half lakhs of Rupees for his expenses, and two months later sent to Delhi. But he fell ill on the way and died at Ahmadnagar in the third week of December 1665. (A.N. 925; H.A. 72a, 76b, 80a.)
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Before opening the campaign, Jai Singh employed diplomatic trickery, of which he was a passed master, to throw Adil Shah into a sense of false security. To the Bijapuri envoy in his camp he pretended that he had received no order to invade Bijapur but only to settle the long-standing question of tribute unpaid. Besides making this false declaration, he "sent Rama (a man of Mulla Ahmad) and Govind Pandit (Muazzam Khani) to lull Adil Shah to sleep by means of smooth words and false stories of peace. If Adil Shah sends envoys to me, I shall demand an exorbitant tribute in one payment, the cession of fort Sholapur and other Nizam-Shahi mahals, Chincholi and other villages in the Bidar district, together with other hard terms which he cannot possibly accept." (H.A. 65 b—66 a.) Indeed, Jai Singh's secret correspondence fully bears out the Bijapur historian's statement.
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that "Adil Shah sent envoys to Jai Singh soliciting peace, but the Rajah, proud of his 70,000 troopers and numerous infantry, did not listen to his request, and invaded Bijapur." (B.S. 405.)
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In the meantime Jai Singh made himself secure on the Golkonda side. As he wrote to his master, "It is highly expedient to show imperial favours to Qutb Shah now, and to induce him to give up the idea of joining the Bijapuris. Therefore, I have made friendly and conciliatory overtures to him...... If the veil is withdrawn [from our real intention about him] and he despairs of peace with us, then he will be driven to ally himself with Adil Shah." (H.A. 72a.)