History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c61.s7.6

v4.c61.s7.6

Aurangzib refused to forgive Jai Singh the one failure of his life. But the Rajah had never a fair chance in this war. His army was hopelessly inadequate for the conquest of so large and rich a kingdom; his war material and food supply were sufficient for a month or two only, and he had no siege-guns. At the same time the power of the Bijapur State was unimpaired in contrast with its exhausted condition when Aurangzib himself captured its capital 19 years later. Its king was still able and energetic; its nobility laid aside their factious quarrels for the time being; and, in addition, Qutb Shah and many neighbouring zamindars joined Adil Shah against Jai Singh, as they "knew that the Mughal conquest of Bijapur would be the prelude to the conquest of all Deccan and Karnatak." (H.A. 90 a.) As Jai Singh rightly observed to Aurangzib, "Your Majesty knows how small Shivaji's territory is and yet how very long our troops had to fight against him (before achieving success.) Surely, a war against such a kingdom as Bijapur requires very great effort and organization (of resources.)"