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History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c62: Chapter XLII. Decline of the Adil-Shahis, 1667—1684.

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c62

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Contents

Chapter XLII. Decline of the Adil-Shahis, 1667—1684.

§ 1. Military aristocracy governing Bijapur provinces.

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Military revolt was the curse of the Bijapur sultanate. It had itself originated in the assertion of independence by a foreign general of the decadent Bahmani empire, and the decline of its own royal power was attended by the same dismemberment of the kingdom into a number of military fiefs. The State was not national; it did not try to strike its roots in the soil. The government was a pure military occupation and its power was upheld by a number of mercenary generals among whom all offices of power and trust were divided. The chief races who formed the dominant aristocracy were the Afghans (with their fiefs in the western parts, from Kopal to Bankapur), the Abyssinians (ruling over the eastern province, viz., the Karnul district and a part of the Raichur Doab), the Sayyids who headed the Mahdavi sect, and the Arab Mullas of the Navaiyat clan of Konkan. The Hindus, both public servants and vassal Rajahs, were a depressed class, and the highest among them, such as Shahji Bhonslé and Venkatadri, had no secure standing or protection from outrage when oppressed by the Muslim nobles.

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The official body that had made the State its own* was, therefore, alien in origin; but it had settled in the soil with no idea of returning to its original homes, and it had practically converted itself into a hereditary feudal baronage. Each of these races mainly married within its own tribe and thus could not become assimilated to the native population. The disintegration of the Bijapur monarchy, therefore, presented a scene different from the disruption of the Roman empire, when, in the words of Vinogradoff, "The disruptive forces of local interests and local separation came to assert themselves; society fell back to a great extent on the lines of local life and of aristocratic organization." (*Cambridge Med. Hist.*, i. 563.)

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In the Deccan there were provincial separation and aristocratic organization of society; but the line of cleavage was personal, not territorial; its root-cause was not an assertion of local life and local aspirations, but the ambition of the local viceroy. The people played no part in the change; they obeyed the independent rebel Nawab as their fathers had obeyed the Nawab's predecessor, viz., the viceroy loyal to the central Government. Nor did the independent provincial Government take a peculiar colour from the locality; it merely bore the stamp of the race of its new ruler. There is no reason to suppose that, if Siddi Masaud had made himself Nawab of Ikkeri in Kanara instead of Karnul in Telugu-land, his form of administration and Court-life would have been different. It was essentially a foreign product planted in the soil without any regard for the past history and present character of the natives of the locality.

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∗ Dr. Fryer noticed it as early as 1675: "So miserable is that State where the other members grow too powerful for the head, as in this constituted government of Deccan [i.e., Bijapur], where the king's munificence to the grandees has instated them in absolute authority over their provinces, that they are potent enough to engage one another, and countermand the king's commands unless suitable to their humours." (ii. 46—47.)

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This alien aristocracy of office naturally formed no integral part of the State. Its aim was purely personal gain, and so long as the pay and pension of its members were secure they did not care who was the sovereign of the country of which they were nominally a part. No doubt, the different members of this dominant class occasionally united under the banners of the central Government; but it was always from hope of personal gain or fear of personal loss, as, for instance, when a rich neighbouring Hindu principality was to be raided, or when a Mughal invasion which threatened them all with removal from office had to be resisted. But such men could always be bought by the enemy for a price; they had no patriotism because they had no *patria*; they were truly political Bedouins, "orphans of the heart,"* nomads who lived in India but were not of it.

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The State founded on the loyalty of such public servants is an edifice built on sand. At each foreign conquest the people merely changed masters. The old rulers had contented themselves with discharging police functions, preserving internal peace when they could, and the newcomers did the same thing on being settled in the conquered land. The life of the people was untouched by the political change, and they, therefore, could not be expected to rally round the crown in its hour of need, as the citizens of a national State are sure to do.

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The decline of the Adil-Shahi monarchy merely illustrates this well-known principle of political philosophy, and it is now the historian's mournful duty to depict the sickening scenes which attended the dissolution of a State that had once been the queen of Southern India.

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∗ "In pure knowledge, there can be neither native nor foreign. Emotion, on the other hand, is entirely a matter of locality......... Every man's heart has its own country.........The unity of Humanity is never even dimly perceived by...the seeker after foreign ways and foreign thoughts, whose shame is his own mother,—the man who has no native land." (Sister Nivedita in *Mod. Rev.* Aug. 1911.)

§ 2. The greatness of Bijapur under Muhammad Adil Shah.

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We have seen how the treaty of 1636 (Vol. I., Ch. 3 § 3) had settled all causes of dispute between the Mughals and the Bijapuri king, and, by clearly defining his northern boundary, had left Adil Shah free to extend his dominions, east and south and west. We have seen, how in the next 20 years the kingdom of Bijapur reached its greatest expansion, and stretched from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, across the entire Indian peninsula. (Vol. I., Ch. 11 § 1.) At Muhammad Adil Shah's death, in November 1656, his realm had an annual revenue of 7 *krores* and 84 *lakhs* of Rupees, besides 5¼ *krores* of tribute due from vassal Rajahs and zamindars. The strength of the army establishment was 80,000 cavalry and 250,000 infantry, besides 530 war elephants. The exact extent of the kingdom can be judged from the fringe of dependent and tributary States around it, covering the Kanara and Dharwar districts of Bombay, the Bellary and Karnul districts of Madras, and much of the kingdom of Mysore.*

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∗ B S 346—348 Ishwardas (106a) gives the revenue of Bijapur as 1,32,00,000 *hun*, excluding Konkan, which was then in Maratha possession. *Dilkasha* (203) puts the armed strength of the kingdom under Muhammad Adil Shah at 1,20,000 cavalry; under Ali II. at 80,000; and at the fall of the capital 2,000 only

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§ 3. Reign of Ali Adil Shah II., 1656-1672.

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The accession of Ali Adil Shah II., a youth of 18, in November 1656, was followed by quarrels among his nobles for the division of power, and some rebellions in the frontier provinces, especially in the newly conquered Karnatak. The evil was aggravated by Aurangzib's wanton invasion of Bijapur (January 1657) and his seduction of its officers. But the kingdom, thus unfairly attacked, made a heroic defence, and the danger ceased altogether at the end of the year when the contest for the throne of Delhi suddenly recalled Aurangzib from the Deccan. The storm of foreign invasion having blown over, the Bijapur State next showed a revival of power for some time. Ali Adil Shah II. developed great capacity and enterprising spirit from 1661 to 1666. He took the field in person, curbed the growing power of Shivaji, forced the refractory Abyssinian officers of the N. E. province

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B.S. (347) names the dependent zamindars thus;—Srirangapatan, Sunda (in N. Kanara), Chitaldurg, Habri (? s.e. of Bankapur), Tarikhera (s. e. of Shimoga), Ratangiri (13·50 N. 77·10 E.), Sarhashi (?), Paogar (14·6 N. 77·20 E.), Manikpala (?), Chak-bala (? Chak Balapur), Kuntikhera (13·30 N. 76·30 E.), Manori (? north of Goa), Hagalwari (s. of Kuntikhera), Harpanhali (14·50 N. 76 E.), Anigundi (n. of Vijaynagar), Kapkuri (?), Kanakgiri (15·35 N. 76·26 E.), Ballary, Gudikota (14·50 N. 76·40 E.), Sagar-gar (the Berad capital.) Fryer (ii. 56-57) mentions only the ten chief grandees of Bijapur, including the Sunda Rajah and the Rajah of Kanara (? Bednur.)

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(Karnul) back into submission, humbled the rebel Rajah of Bednur, and finally rolled back the flood of Mughal invasion under Jai Singh. Thereafter the Sultan gave himself up to the pleasures of the harem and the wine-cup, for the rest of his life; but his able wazir, Abdul Muhammad, continued to carry on the administration with great success.

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With the death of Ali Adil Shah II. on 24th Nov. 1672, the glory of Bijapur departed. His son Sikandar, a boy of four, was placed on the throne, and the reign of selfish regents commenced which finally ruined the monarchy. The expert and successful wazir Abdul Muhammad, with his 12 years' experience in guiding the State, was ousted by Khawas Khan, the leader of the Deccani party. This man "held supreme power for three years, but during that period, owing to his indolence and incompetence, affairs went from bad to worse." (B.S. 447.) At last Abdul Karim Bahlol Khan, the head of the Afghan faction, imprisoned the drunken wazir (11th Nov. 1675), seized the regency and for two years governed in the king's name amidst constant fights with the Deccani party and a war with the Mughals, while the people groaned under the misery of Afghan rule. On his death, 23rd December, 1677, Siddi Masaud, the leader of the Abyssinians, succeeded to the wazir-ship and the control of the puppet king (21st Feb. 1678),

§ 3. Reign of Ali Adil Shah II., 1656-1672.

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The accession of Ali Adil Shah II., a youth of 18, in November 1656, was followed by quarrels among his nobles for the division of power, and some rebellions in the frontier provinces, especially in the newly conquered Karnatak. The evil was aggravated by Aurangzib's wanton invasion of Bijapur (January 1657) and his seduction of its officers. But the kingdom, thus unfairly attacked, made a heroic defence, and the danger ceased altogether at the end of the year when the contest for the throne of Delhi suddenly recalled Aurangzib from the Deccan. The storm of foreign invasion having blown over, the Bijapur State next showed a revival of power for some time. Ali Adil Shah II. developed great capacity and enterprising spirit from 1661 to 1666. He took the field in person, curbed the growing power of Shivaji, forced the refractory Abyssinian officers of the N. E. province

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B.S. (347) names the dependent zamindars thus;—Srirangapatan, Sunda (in N. Kanara), Chitaldurg, Habri (? s.e. of Bankapur), Tarikhera (s. e. of Shimoga), Ratangiri (13·50 N. 77·10 E.), Sarhashi (?), Paogar (14·6 N. 77·20 E.), Manikpala (?), Chak-bala (? Chak Balapur), Kuntikhera (13·30 N. 76·30 E.), Manori (? north of Goa), Hagalwari (s. of Kuntikhera), Harpanhali (14·50 N. 76 E.), Anigundi (n. of Vijaynagar), Kapkuri (?), Kanakgiri (15·35 N. 76·26 E.), Ballary, Gudikota (14·50 N. 76·40 E.), Sagar-gar (the Berad capital.) Fryer (ii. 56-57) mentions only the ten chief grandees of Bijapur, including the Sunda Rajah and the Rajah of Kanara (? Bednur.)

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(Karnul) back into submission, humbled the rebel Rajah of Bednur, and finally rolled back the flood of Mughal invasion under Jai Singh. Thereafter the Sultan gave himself up to the pleasures of the harem and the wine-cup, for the rest of his life; but his able wazir, Abdul Muhammad, continued to carry on the administration with great success.

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With the death of Ali Adil Shah II. on 24th Nov. 1672, the glory of Bijapur departed. His son Sikandar, a boy of four, was placed on the throne, and the reign of selfish regents commenced which finally ruined the monarchy. The expert and successful wazir Abdul Muhammad, with his 12 years' experience in guiding the State, was ousted by Khawas Khan, the leader of the Deccani party. This man "held supreme power for three years, but during that period, owing to his indolence and incompetence, affairs went from bad to worse." (B.S. 447.) At last Abdul Karim Bahlol Khan, the head of the Afghan faction, imprisoned the drunken wazir (11th Nov. 1675), seized the regency and for two years governed in the king's name amidst constant fights with the Deccani party and a war with the Mughals, while the people groaned under the misery of Afghan rule. On his death, 23rd December, 1677, Siddi Masaud, the leader of the Abyssinians, succeeded to the wazir-ship and the control of the puppet king (21st Feb. 1678), and for the next five years misgoverned the unhappy and disunited country, deserting his post only on the eve of the extinction of the dynasty by Aurangzib.

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The history of Bijapur from 1672 to 1686 is really the history of its wazirs. It was a period marked by chronic civil war among the factious nobles, independence of the provincial governors, paralysis of the central administration in the capital itself, occasional but indecisive Mughal invasions, and a secret alliance but pretended hostility with the Marathas.

§ 4. Khawas Khan's regency, 1672—1675.

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On 20th June 1672, Ali Adil Shah II. had a stroke of lateral paralysis, as the effect of excessive drinking. For five months he lingered in bed, and at last, losing all hope of recovery, proposed to crown his son Sikandar, a boy of four, and entrust the regency to his old wazir Abdul Muhammad. The latter declined the task and proposed that Khawas Khan, the Abyssinian chief of the Deccani Muhammadans, should be regent instead, and the kingdom should be divided among the four leading nobles: he himself becoming warden of the north-eastern side (to oppose the Mughals), Bahlol Khan that of the western side (to watch Shivaji), and Muzaffar Khan the viceroy of the southern side (to control the newly conquered Hindus of Mysore), while the regent would hold the capital and the country round it. (B.S. 434-436.)

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Even before the sick king had closed his eyes, quarrels broke out among the nobles for the division of his territory. Abdul Muhammad alone remaining true to the interests of the State. Ali Adil Shah II. died on 24th Nov. 1672, and immediately afterwards Khawas seized the supreme power with the help of the late king's favourite body-servant Mirza Yusuf, and crowned the boy Sikandar, the last of the Adil-Shahis, destined to reign as the captive of his ministers and to die as the captive of the Mughals. The new prime minister broke his word to the other nobles and refused to yield to them the forts he had promised. At this, the able and experienced ex-wazir Abdul Muhammad left the Court in disgust. "The infancy of the king and the incapacity of the regent threw the monarchy into a decline. Disturbances broke out on all sides." First Shivaji, "the enemy at the elbow," made large conquests at the expense of Bijapur. As for the Mughal Emperor, the Bijapur Government tried to propitiate him by offering him presents worth 4 lakhs of Rupees, as a sort of succession fee, (11th January, 1673.) But, "though all Mughal invasions had hitherto been defeated, now with a boy-king on the throne, weak counsels at Court, and and for the next five years misgoverned the unhappy and disunited country, deserting his post only on the eve of the extinction of the dynasty by Aurangzib.

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The history of Bijapur from 1672 to 1686 is really the history of its wazirs. It was a period marked by chronic civil war among the factious nobles, independence of the provincial governors, paralysis of the central administration in the capital itself, occasional but indecisive Mughal invasions, and a secret alliance but pretended hostility with the Marathas.

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On 20th June 1672, Ali Adil Shah II. had a stroke of lateral paralysis, as the effect of excessive drinking. For five months he lingered in bed, and at last, losing all hope of recovery, proposed to crown his son Sikandar, a boy of four, and entrust the regency to his old wazir Abdul Muhammad. The latter declined the task and proposed that Khawas Khan, the Abyssinian chief of the Deccani Muhammadans, should be regent instead, and the kingdom should be divided among the four leading nobles: he himself becoming warden of the north-eastern side (to oppose the Mughals), Bahlol Khan that of the western side (to watch Shivaji), and Muzaffar Khan the viceroy of the southern side (to control the newly conquered Hindus of Mysore, while the regent would hold the capital and the country round it. (B.S. 434-436.)

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Even before the sick King had closed his eyes, quarrels broke out among the nobles for the division of his territory. Abdul Muhammad alone remaining true to the interests of the State. Ali Adil Shah II. died on 24th Nov. 1672, and immediately afterwards Khawas seized the supreme power with the help of the late King's favourite body-servant Mirza Yusuf, and crowned the boy Sikandar, the last of the Adil-Shahis, destined to reign as the captive of his ministers and to die as the captive of the Mughals. The new prime minister broke his word to the other nobles and refused to yield to them the forts he had promised. At this, the able and experienced ex-wazir Abdul Muhammad left the Court in disgust. "The infancy of the king and the incapacity of the regent threw the monarchy into a decline. Disturbances broke out on all sides." First Shivaji, "the enemy at the elbow," made large conquests at the expense of Bijapur. As for the Mughal Emperor, the Bijapur Government tried to propitiate him by offering him presents worth 4 lakhs of Rupees, as a sort of succession fee, (11th January, 1673.) But, "though all Mughal invasions had hitherto been defeated, now with a boy-king on the throne, weak counsels at Court, and worthless nobles [in office], came the Mughal's opportunity." (B.S. 442.) Aurangzib appointed the energetic and successful general Bahadur Khan (surnamed Khan-i-Jahan Bahadur Kokaltash) as viceroy. The mild and supine administration of Prince Muazzam was to be replaced by a forward policy in the Deccan. (M.A. 123-'4.)

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"The Emperor began to send Bahadur Khan repeated orders for invading Bijapur." But the task was obviously impossible. With the ordinary contingent of a provincial governor, Bahadur Khan was expected to curb the overgrown power of Shivaji,—then at the height of his greatness,—and at the same time conquer Bijapur, though in the last-named enterprise Jai Singh with much larger forces and the co-operation of Shivaji had failed. What Bahadur Khan did was to advance from the seat of his government to Pedgaon (afterwards named by him Bahadur-garh), a strategic point on the Bhima river 55 miles due east of Puna and nearly midway between Aurangabad and Bijapur. His aim was to direct his main forces against Shivaji and win territory from Bijapur by corrupting its nobles and threatening war, rather than by actual invasion. "Malik Barkhurdar, the Mughal envoy at the Adil-Shahi Court, began to seduce the Bijapuri nobles from their loyalty day and night."

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Khawas Khan saw no other means of saving the monarchy than to propose peace with the Emperor by promising the hand of Sikandar's sister to one of Aurangzib's sons and active co-operation with the Mughals in a campaign for the extirpation of Shivaji. For this last object the Emperor was ready to concede very liberal terms. But these negotiations, when about to mature, were upset by an envious faction at Bijapur, who took advantage of the regent's incompetence and credulity, and by the lawless outbreak of the Afghan mercenaries.

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The Afghans formed "more than half the Bijapuri army" (H.A. 82 b.) Their leader was Abdul Karim, surnamed Bahlol Khan II., whose fief lay at Bankapur, and who had bravely fought against Jai Singh and recently against Shivaji. Their harsh demand for arrears of pay and open opposition to his administration had driven the regent to secretly beg the aid of the Mughal viceroy i. "pacifying the Afghans or extirpating them."

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Meantime, Bahadur Khan, too, was eager for a hearty alliance with the Bijapuris. He had recently been duped by Shiva's pretended offer of submission and had made himself an unconscious helper of the wily Maratha in his conquest of Phonda and other districts (April-May, 1675). Then Shivaji had thrown off the mask, and Bahadur Khan found that the only means of saving his credit with the Emperor was to make a vigorous attack on Shivaji in co-operation with the Adil-Shahi troops. So, he advanced to the bank of the Bhima river, met Khawas Khan (19th October), and arranged terms for suppressing the Afghan faction at Bijapur and making war on Shiva.

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§ 5. Regency of Bahlol Khan, 1675—1677.

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Sure of Mughal support, the regent formed plans for overthrowing Bahlol Khan, who was commander-in-chief and "used often to disobey and oppose Khawas Khan." (B.S. 446.) The Afghan chief, getting scent of the matter, forestalled the blow. Inviting Khawas to a dinner, he plied him with wine, seized him, (11th November), and sent him off as a prisoner to Bankapur. He then entered the citatdel of Bijapur and made himself wazir without a blow. "Khawas Khan had been prime minister and virtual king for three years, during which, owing to the Khan's indolence and incompetence, affairs went from bad to worse. His wife, Habiba Sultan, managed the revenue and the administration and used to look after public business with full power. With all her wisdom, she was a woman, and the Adil-Shahi officers were impatient of feminine rule. Khawas spent his days in pleasure and ease, not caring for anybody." (B.S. 447.)

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But bad as this Abyssinian's regency had been, the rule of Bahlol Khan and his Afghans was even worse. After seizing the regency he began to place his Afghan followers and relatives in power* and removed the Deccanis from office, one by one, and even expelled them from the city. Great disorder broke out throughout the kingdom. The Deccani party was up in arms and so also were the old servants of the king.

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Bahlol Khan's administration rested on the ability and vigour of one man, his chief counsellor Khizr Khan Pani. On 12th January 1676, this man was stabbed to death in his tent (between Sangula and Gherdi) by a Deccani named Shaikh Minhaj Junaidi, who wanted to put an end to Afghan rule. Bahlol immediately murdered the helpless captive Khawas Khan (18th Jan.) and then set out from Bijapur to punish Minhaj and other Deccanis. A civil war now openly broke out between the two factions.

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§ 6. War renewed by Bahadur Khan, 1676.

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On 21st March† a bloody battle was fought between the men of Sharza Khan and the army of the regent near Mokah, in which the Afghans triumphed. Sharza took refuge with Bahadur Khan at Sholapur, who now sided with the Deccani party and denounced Afghan rule at Bijapur. He assembled his own forces and those of his allies among the dispossessed Deccani nobles, and marched southwards from Sholapur, crossing the Bhima near Halsangi on 31st May. There was now no physical barrier between him and the walls of Bijapur,* and his cavalry began to ravage the environs of that city. On 13th June, on a plain between Aliabad and Indi (30 miles north-east of Bijapur), Bahlol Khan offered him battle. The brunt

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∗ "Abdul Karim on becoming wazir, gave his kinsmen the best jagirs It was Afghan rule at Court The Deccanis were dispossessed Even Sayyid Makhdum Sharza Khan was alienated " (B S 450)

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† This date, which is taken from the Persian Basatin, is probably wrong being a month too early Or another battle (not recorded in the Basatin) was fought in April which the English factors of Rajapur

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in a letter to Surat on 1 May 1676, thus describe, "The Nawab [Bahlol Khan] hath a bloody fight with the Deccans. They killed him about a thousand horse; many of his chiefest friends fell; himself much wounded. The Deccans are headed by Shaikh Minhaj and assisted by Siddi Mazhar and Sharza Khan &c. The Nawab hath none [that] sticks to him but the Pathans. Report speaks [of] him [as] in a great strait whilst these fight." (F.R. Surat, Vol. 89.) The place of battle is spelt as Mukah in both MSS. of B.S., but Dil. 138 says that it was "near fort Shah-dongar (? Shahdurg), 12 kos from Adoni." There is a Mokay, 11 m. n. e. of Bellary. (Ind. Atlas, Sh. 58.)

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∗ Dutch Records, Vol. 34, letter from Batavia, 28 Nov. 1676,—"Bahadur Khan approached within half a day's journey [of Bijapur], but having lost fully 4000 men, much baggage and four distinguished captains, retired to the town of Sholapur, where Bahlol Khan sent him a considerable embassy with rich presents and great promises, especially to the prejudice of Shivaji......The Golkonda militia is in motion to help the young Prince of Bijapur.

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of the Deccani attack fell on the Mughal Right under Islam Khan (governor of Malwa) and his Turks, who repelled two onsets. But their ammunition was exhausted, and when a fresh store of gunpowder was being distributed in the field in front of Islam Khan, it exploded; his elephant stampeded into the enemy's ranks, and Islam Khan and his son were slain. The exultant Bijapuris next attacked the Mughal Left and Extreme Right. Here the Rajputs offered an obstinate resistance, and lost many of their officers. The field was covered with the dead on both sides. The Mughals halted there and entrenched their position, which was invested and attacked by the Afghans ceaselessly for three days, "there being no respite even at night." The Mughal base camp on the other side of the Bhima was looted by the Afghans and its guards put to the sword, while the flooded river prevented Bahadur Khan from sending succour to it. The viceroy escaped from this perilous position only by making terms with the Afghans. (B.S. 450-451, M.A. 151, Dil. 141—143. Jedhe's date is 1 June.)

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He moved on to Akalkot and laid siege to Naldurg (about August, 1676), which was held by the sons of Khizr Khan Pani. A relieving army from Bijapur, led by Bahlol Khan, fought the Mughals six miles from the fort, inflicting heavy losses on the brave Rajputs, entered Naldurg and forced Bahadur Khan to raise the siege. The Mughals merely roamed round the fort for a few days more and then halted at Kambhgaon, 16 miles off.*

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Bahadur Khan’s position was further endangered by the arrival of a vast Golkonda army, under the premier Madanna Pandit, to reinforce the Bijapuris. But the new-comers were bribed by the Mughal general, and had also (as I suspect) some difference with Bahlol Khan, and therefore retreated without doing anything. Bahadur Khan marched on to Halsangi, where he assembled a vast force, consisting of his own troops, contingents sent by the faujdars of imperial territory and discontented Bijapuri nobles like Siddi Masaud and Sharza Khan, and the bribed forces of Golkonda. He even made friends with Shivaji to guard against any diversion in his rear.

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This huge demonstration of strength cowed Bahlol Khan, who then secured safety for himself by agreeing not to hinder the Mughal conquest of certain Bijapuri districts. Bahadur Khan now took easy possession of Naldurg (14th May 1677) and Kulbarga (7th July) by bribery. But these successes came too late to save him; he had fallen under the Emperor's suspicion* and displeasure by reason of his utter failure against Shivaji and severe reverses at the hands of the Bijapuris. The viceroy's position was rendered untenable by a conflict of policy between him and his second in command, Dilir Khan, (arrived in June 1676), who as an Afghan became the bosom friend of Bahlol Khan and the patron of the Afghan faction at Bijapur. Dilir and Bahlol wrote to the Emperor accusing Bahadur Khan of having formed a secret understanding with the three Deccani Powers and of being really hostile to the success of the imperial enterprises there. Bahlol Khan also offered to conquer Haidarabad if he were reinforced with imperial troops, and to crush Shivaji if the Mughals guaranteed the Afghan chief his position and property (Dil. 146—151.)

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∗ In my account of this campaign I have depended upon the narrative (Dilkasha) of "Eye-witness" Bhimsen, who served in the Mughal camp. The Bijapur official history, Basatin-i-salatin (p. 451) is much briefer, but gives some useful additional information. I have rejected it where it conflicts with Dilkasha (p. 144.) M.A. 155, 160. Bahadur's son Md. Muhsan was slain at Naldurg.

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∗ Bahadur Khan began his viceroyalty of the Deccan with great promise. In Sep 1673 he made a forced march of 120 miles and defeated Shivaji. In July 1675 he was rewarded by the Emperor for repeated victories over Shiva and success in collecting tribute from the Deccani kingdoms (M A 142). But now the Emperor suspected him of being in the pay of Adil Shah (Cf Ruqat No 127). M A 160 gives the date of the capture of Naldurg as 14 May. B.S 452 tells us that Kulbarga fell on 7 July and Shahdurg on 2 August. But Shahdurg seems to be only another name of Naldurg. Jedhe's dates (month only given) agree with B.S.

§ 7. Dilir Khan and Bahlol invade Golkonda, 1677.

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Aurangzib accepted this proposal, which was recommended by Dilir Khan. Bahadur was accordingly recalled, and left the province early in September 1677. The prime minister Asad Khan was then sent to Aurangabad with a large army to put matters straight and also to keep a vigilant watch, as the Emperor wanted to guard against the possibility of the establishment of an irresistible Afghan domination in the Deccan, at a time when the N. W. Frontier Pathans were imperfectly subdued. (Dil. 157.) But Asad Khan soon afterwards returned to the Emperor's side, and Dilir continued to officiate as viceroy of the Deccan till October 1678.

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The departure of Bahadur Khan is a convenient point at which we can pause and look collectively at the Mughal gains in the Deccan during the first twenty years of Aurangzib's reign. As we have already seen (Vol. I. Ch. 11), he had in 1657 annexed Kaliani and Bidar in the north-eastern corner of the kingdom of Bijapur. The fort and district of Parenda in the extreme north had been gained by bribery in November 1660. Sholapur had been acquired by treaty in July 1668. And now Naldurg and Kulbarga were annexed. Thus, the vast tract of land enclosed by the Bhima and the Manjira eastwards up to an imaginary line joining Kulbarga to Bidar (77° E. longitude) passed into Mughal hands, and the imperial boundary on the south reached the north bank of the Bhima, opposite Halsangi, within striking distance of Bijapur city,—while south-eastwards it touched Malkhed, the fortress of the western border of the kingdom of Golkonda. The various Mughal gains were thus linked together into a compact unit.

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But neither Bahadur's policy of war with the Afghan party at Bijapur, nor Dilir's opposite course of fraternizing with them, brought the Mughals any nearer success in getting possession of that kingdom. The former viceroy merely annexed a belt of land along its northern border, and the latter merely plundered its territory.

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Nor did the Mughals attain any better success in their attack on Golkonda which followed immediately afterwards. During their siege of Kulbarga (June 1677), Qutb Shah had massed his troops on his western frontier, under his commander-in-chief Muhammad Ibrahim, with orders to be watchful; but there was no conflict. After the Mughals had effected their conquests in this corner of Bijapur, they turned to settle accounts with Golkonda. They threatened (middle of August) Qutb Shah with invasion unless he seized and delivered up to them Shivaji and Shaikh Minhaj,—the last of whom had taken much money from the Mughal viceroy by promising to join him, but had ended by going over to Golkonda. A little later they demanded from the Sultan one *krore* of Rupees and 10,000 horse, as a fine for his having assisted Shivaji. He replied by offering to pay only five *lakhs*. Then Dilir and Bahlol tried to redeem their promise to the Emperor by setting out on an invasion of Golkonda (September.) From Kulbarga, the last Mughal outpost, they advanced to Malkhed, 24 miles eastwards, the first enemy fort on the Golkonda frontier, which they took in one day.

§ 8. Battles near Malkhed; Mughal retreat.

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But near Malkhed, 80 miles from the Qutb-Shahi capital, the tide of invasion was arrested. The Mughal Van, some 5,000 cavalry under Bahlol Khan, advanced, but were opposed by five times their number of Qutb-Shahi troops, who had been joined by several anti-Afghan nobles of Bijapur, such as Sharza and Masaud. After a long and severe battle, Bahlol was about to be routed, when Dilir Khan came to his aid and enabled him to make an orderly retreat. The Mughals lost 700 men and 5 or 6 great captains. The Qutb-Shahis claimed the victory, but retired to their own camp without attempting pursuit, (about 12th Sept.).

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The Sultan of Golkonda quickly sent large reinforcements from his capital under Yengana (the nephew of Madanna), Mirza Sanjar, Shaikh Minhaj and many other great generals. One day the Qutb-Shahi vanguard under "Hidolsha" (? Haidar Shah or Dula Shah), by an attack and pretended retreat, lured away the Mughal army with all its elephants one Gentu league from their camp to very near the place where the Golkonda forces were settled. The Mughal Van was reinforced by Ali Hasan Khan, who fought very bravely, which caused both armies to retire to their respective camps. The Qutb-Shahis were posted at Mangalgi, 7 m. north of Malkhed, the Mughal encampment (October). Three days after this engagement the newly arrived troops attacked the Mughals, who by a pretended flight drew the enemy into an ambush, where large numbers of them were slain. But Muhammad Ibrahim arrived to the rescue of his men, pressed the Mughals back and released the captives they had taken. For two months there was constant but indecisive fighting. The Qutb-Shahis penetrated far within Bijapuri and Mughal territories and cut off grain convoys coming to the invaders. The desperate Mughals fell on the Golkonda camp on 20th October, and "killed every man and woman and even the very children," looted the bazar of all its grain and other property, thoroughly broke up the camp, and scattered the Qutb-Shahi forces in headlong flight.

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But the triumph was momentary. The enemy soon rallied. The Afghans and Rajputs in the allied army suffered terrible hardships from excess of rain and the scarcity of grain caused by the enemy hovering around. Bahlol Khan was struck down by a mortal illness, and his retainers dispersed to save themselves from starvation. Then Dilir made a disastrous retreat to Kulbarga, the enemy hemming him round and making daily attacks. His baggage was looted and his men had to stand to arms from morning to night in self-defence and suffer heavy losses. It took them 12 days to retrace their steps over the 24 miles between Malkhed and Kulbarga, the enemy disputing every inch of the ground. The famished imperialists ate the seeds of the toddy-palm and the date-palm. For two days they had to seek shelter in a *nala* without any drinking water. It was only the unconquerable spirit of the Rajputs and their ready sacrifice of life that brought Dilir's army back to safety at last.

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There was nothing left for him but to solicit peace, especially as his only supporter, Bahlol Khan, was dying. Before this, Siddi Masaud and other nobles faithful to the house of Adil Shah, being disgusted with Afghan rule at the capital and the impending ruin of their sovereign, had appealed to Golkonda to mediate. Abul Hasan Qutb Shah brought the heads of the rival factions together and influenced them to agree to the following terms: (i) Bahlol should resign the regency in favour of Masaud; (ii) Masaud should pay six lakhs of Rupees, the arrears of pay due to the Afghan soldiers, who would then be disbanded and would quit Bijapur, while Bahlol would retire to his own fief; (iii) the kingdom was to be saved from further dismemberment; and (iv) a Resident from Golkonda would advise the administration of Bijapur, Akanna, the brother of Madanna, being chosen for this post.

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At Kulbarga Masaud met Dilir Khan and made peace with the Mughals: he was to act as wazir at Bijapur, but must obey the orders of Aurangzib, make no alliance with Shivaji, and always help the Mughals in wresting the Maratha chief's usurped territory; Adil Shah's sister, Shahar Banu Begam (popularly called Padishah Bibi) was to be sent to the Mughal Court to marry a son of the Emperor. Dilir then retired northwards to Parnir, s. w. of Ahmadnagar, to be nearer the capital of Mughal Deccan.*

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∗ Dilir's expedition against Golkonda in 1677 Dil 151-154, M A 165 (one sentence only) Factory Records, Fort St George, Vol 27, Letters from Vira Raghavaya, the English agent at Golkonda, 3 July, 26 Aug, 19 Sep, and 28 Oct 1677 (best) Peace with Masaud B.S 456

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§ 9. Masaud becomes Regent; Afghan mutiny; rebellions in provinces.

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Bahlol died on 23rd Dec. 1677. Masaud, escorted by a Golkonda army, was installed as Regent in February next. Soon afterwards, he sent 11 lakhs of Rupees as tribute to the Emperor, middle of 1678 (M.A. 167), and this drained his treasury dry. He had undertaken to pay up the arrears of the Afghan mercenaries, only on the strength of a promise from Qutb Shah to lend him six lakhs. But the latter delayed or refused payment, and then the exasperated Afghans broke out in lawless fury. They seized the houses of Bahlol Khan's orphans, widows and other relatives, publicly insulting them to compel payment of their dues, attached their very beds and cooking pots, and even tore away the ornaments from the persons of the ladies of the harem. "If they could treat their own clansmen thus, one can imagine how they oppressed other people." (Dil. 155.) All citizens believed to be rich were caught and tortured by them. Masaud sent a force to besiege the Afghan mutineers in possession of Bahlol's house. A free fight now deluged that suburb of Bijapur with blood. "Chintu Chimna, a Brahman robber, oppressed the people of the city, while the Afghans oppressed those outside the fort-walls......All the time Masaud sat down in helplessness, shutting the doors of his own house......Many people emigrated to the Karnatak in fear." (B.S. 462.)

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Nor was the new regent better obeyed in the provinces. When his family was coming from Adoni to join him at Bijapur, the commandant of Raichur slew his son and imprisoned the rest of his family. It was only the intercession of the universally loved princess Padishah Bibi that secured the release of the captives. To crown his misfortunes, he provoked the wrath of the Mughals by trying to strengthen himself by a secret alliance with Shivaji. "The Bijapuri ryots lived in extreme misery, owing to the universal disorder which Masaud utterly failed to put down. He wanted to buy off Shiva whose violence and encroachment had passed all bounds. Dilir Khan forbade him to do so, saying that the Mughal army was ready to co-operate with him in fighting the Marathas. But Masaud, distracted by the lawlessness rampant throughout the kingdom, appealed to Shivaji, as an old subject of Bijapur, to help him in arresting the ruin of the monarchy and expelling the alien Mughals." (B.S. 468.)

§ 10. Dilir invades Bijapur; Shivaji assists Masaud, 1678.

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This breach of faith on the part of Masaud absolved Dilir Khan from the treaty of Kulbarga, "respect for which alone had so long kept him back from the invasion of Bijapur." Besides, the Emperor ordered an attack at this time, as Bahlol was dead, the Afghan soldiery dispersed, and the Deccani nobles divided in a civil war. Dilir Khan began his task in the approved Mughal fashion by seducing the Bijapuri officers with promises of mansab and jagir under the Emperor. The deserting chiefs were granted six annas daily as cash salary for every trooper under them, pending the granting of jagirs. In this way a force of 20,000 Bijapuris was enlisted by Dilir Khan. (Dil. 158.) The chief among them were the kinsmen of Bahlol, who had recently been starving through unemployment.*

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At the end of the rainy season (October 1678) Dilir Khan moved out of Pedgaon and halted at Akluj to complete his preparations for the invasion. At this time Shambhuji ran away from his father to the camp of the Mughal general, (13 Dec.)

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Meantime, Shivaji, according to treaty, sent six thousand steel-clad troopers to guard Bijapur and reinforce Masaud. But hearty co-operation between the two allies was impossible: Masaud could never shake off the suspicion that Shiva would take the first opportunity of seizing Bijapur by treachery, as he had done in the case of so many other Adil-Shahi forts. When Shivaji's men asked to be put in charge of one gate and bastion of the city, it only confirmed Masaud's fear, They encamped near the city wall in Zuhrapur, while Masaud urged them to remain at a distance at the village of Itangihal (6 m. n. w.) The Marathas were detected in trying to smuggle arms into the fort, concealed in sacks of grain, while they themselves were disguised as drivers of the pack-oxen. So, the two allies stood on guard against each other. The ill-feeling between them daily increased and finally broke out in open quarrel. Then Shivaji resumed plundering the Bijapur territory. The Maratha troops approached the city, and looted the suburbs of Daulatpur (i.e., Khawaspur), Khusraupur, and Zuhrapur, took the rich merchants prisoner and slew some Muhammadan officers. But a cannon-ball from the fort-walls killed the Maratha commander near the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah, and they retired. (B.S. 472—474).

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Masaud, in greater fear of his pretended ally than of his open enemy, sought the protection of Dilir Khan. A Mughal force was invited to Bijapur and royally welcomed, and then sent with Bijapuri auxiliaries against the Marathas. Shivaji himself arrived with 7 or 8 thousand more men to strengthen his first detachment. But the Bijapuri cause was weakened by an angry quarrel between the regent and Sharza Khan, whom the death of Bahlol had left as the best general of Adil Shah.

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In the meantime, Dilir Khan made a successful diversion in favour of Bijapur by capturing and destroying Shivaji's stronghold of Bhupal-garh and defeating the relieving army of 16,000 Marathas with heavy slaughter. But Masaud's duplicity at last wore out his patience, and he wrote to the Bijapur regent, "Your words and acts are all deceitful. Your real aim is to remain united to Shiva at heart and profess lip-friendship for us. Otherwise, why have you failed to keep your promises?" (B.S. 477).

§ 11. Civil war between Masaud and Sharza Khan.

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The Mughal general followed this message by crossing the Bhima at Dhulkhed (40 m.n. of Bijapur) with his artillery and marching to Halsangi, only 35 miles north of Bijapur. The Adil-Shahi Government was in no position to offer resistance. Indeed, the Government had been dissolved and there was utter anarchy in the country and capital in consequence of the feud between Masaud and Sharza Khan.

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“All the works of Masaud came to a standstill through the opposition of Sharza. Great disorder prevailed. Every day Sharza Khan sat armed and ready for battle in his own quarters, while his soldiers kept their horses saddled day and night in the Bahlolpura and Mahdavipura wards.” The regent sent a force of his own with a body of Mughal horse and artillery to destroy Sharza Khan, and issued a proclamation inviting the ruffians of the city to plunder Sharza’s property with impunity. Even the guns on the fort walls were trained on his house. But the grim and silent determination of this hereditary warrior to sell his life dear cowed Masaud’s party and they shrank back without venturing to deliver an attack. (B.S. 479-480.)

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Sharza Khan, knowing Masaud to be his deadly enemy, appealed to Dilir Khan to do justice between them, and offered to enter the Mughal service. Dilir seized this opportunity of getting control over the bravest living general of Bijapur. By a shameful breach of faith he arrested Sharza’s wife and children who had come to his camp at Dhulkhed under his solemn promise of protection and then sent them to Aurangabad to be held as hostages for the blind obedience of Sharza Khan.

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The Mughal viceroy of the Deccan had now become the sole arbiter among the warring factions of Bijapur. Even Masaud sent his son and 5,000 troopers,—all the force left at Bijapur,—to his side at Dhulkhed. Finding all the Bijapuri nobles assembled in his camp, Dilir planned to arrest them by treachery and then swoop down upon the city of Bijapur and capture it without a blow as it was now utterly denuded of its troops and leaders. But the Afghan was a bungler in conspiracy; the secret leaked out, the Deccani chiefs became alert, Sharza Khan got ready for battle and sent him a challenge. Dilir was covered with shame; he abandoned his infamous plan and begged Sharza’s pardon. He then paid large bribes to Sharza and Venkatadri (the chief adviser and agent of Masaud), and through them seduced many of the Bijapuri nobles. "About 10,000 troopers of Adil Shah, consisting of Deccani Muslims, Afghans and Marathas, entered the Mughal service and gathered round Dilir, while only three or four thousand starving men remained with Masaud in Bijapur, and even these hankered for Mughal pay." (B.S. 481—486.)

§ 12. Masaud makes abject surrender to the Mughals: Sultan’s sister married to Prince Azam.

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Such a kingdom was in no position to refuse any Mughal demand. Aurangzib wrote censuring Dilir Khan for not having exacted the terms of the treaty of Kulbarga. The most painful of these, to the Bijapuris, was that the Sultan's sister Shahar Banu, surnamed Padishah Bibi, should be sent to the Mughal harem. This princess was truly the guardian deity of the dynasty and the beloved idol of the royal family and the citizens alike. Though a girl of sixteen years only, she was very wise and expert in counsel and management of affairs. All the eunuchs and maids of the palace used to obey her cheerfully and all the old servants of the State stood by her side. The wretched Masaud feared this one true soul in a corrupt self-seeking Court, and knew that his power could not be absolute while she was there. She also knew it and refused to desert her young brother Sikandar, go to Delhi, and marry the son of a bigoted Sunni who hated her for a heretic Shia. Masaud, however, influenced her through her dear nurse Taush Ma and convinced her that the safety of the State and the permanence of her brother's throne required that she should enter the Mughal family. This noble Iphigenia of an Eastern clime agreed to sacrifice herself. On 1st July 1679 she left the city of her birth,* amidst the tears and wailings of the Court and the populace. The citizens,—men, women and children,—lined the streets, to have a last look at the living palladium of their city departing for ever. (B.S. 487).

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∗ She reached the Emperor's Court at Udaipur on 4th March 1680 and after receiving training in the harem was married to Prince Azam on 26 July, 1681 (M A 190 and 210)

§ 13. Dilir Khan invades Bijapur; Shivaji assists Adil Shah, 1679.

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But the sacrifice of the royal maiden was of no avail to the doomed dynasty. Mughal greed was insatiable, and Mughal statecraft knew no generosity or fidelity to plighted word. Dilir Khan now demanded that Masaud should resign the regency and retire to his own fief, while the Bijapur government would be carried on by a creature of the Mughals (Hakim Shams-ud-din) supported by a Mughal garrison, and the Bijapuri army would be sent away to fight Shivaji. Masaud wisely rejected the proposal as "a stratagem of the Mughals for putting an end to the Adil-Shahi dynasty." (B.S. 490.) He imprisoned Venkatadri, his right-hand man, who had entered into collusion with Dilir Khan to effect this change of wazirs, (12 Aug. 1679.) At the same time, Masaud's son slipped away from the Mughal camp with his troops and returned to Bijapur.

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The Mughal general, being thus openly defied, at once declared war against Bijapur. On 18th August he crossed the river and halted near Dhulkhed to assemble his full force. Masaud sent envoys to avert the blow, but his new overtures were scornfully rejected. This was the last and greatest Mughal invasion of Bijapur before the final attack by Aurangzib in 1685, and we shall describe it in detail.

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Dilir Khan had passed from diplomatic pressure into war in a fit of anger. But his own position was really weak, though he trusted to achieve much by his former seduction of most of the Bijapuri nobles. For one thing, he lacked the chief sinews of war; his treasure-chest was empty, while his soldiers' pay was in arrears. Secondly, the new viceroy of the Deccan, Prince Shah Alam, was his sworn enemy, and tried his best to foil his undertakings and cover him with discredit. The viceroy refused to supply the general with siege artillery and even the necessary money, saying that Dilir was merely wasting the resources of the empire and would be paid his expenses only if he succeeded in capturing Bijapur. (Ishwardas, 59 a; B.S. 492.)

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Dilir Khan was thus brought to a halt at the very outset of the campaign, and wrote entreating the Prince for money. Masaud utilized the delay in strengthening the defences of Bijapur, provisioning the fort, and mustering troops from all the provinces. Above all, he sent an envoy to Shivaji appealing to him to come to the rescue of Adil Shah in his supreme need. (B.S. 493.)

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Shivaji's response was prompt, effectual and highly creditable to his wisdom and sense of honour. He told off 10,000 Maratha cavalry to aid Masaud, despatched 2,000 ox-loads of provisions to Bijapur, and proclaimed to his subjects that they should send grain and other necessaries to that city for sale to save it from scarcity. Urging Masaud to confine himself to the defence of the capital with the 10,000 Marathas placed under his orders, Shivaji himself undertook to go with the rest of his army and punish Dilir Khan.

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The Mughals took possession of Mangalvide (52 miles north of Bijapur) and the country between the Bhima and the former fort, in September 1679. They also raided Salotgi, Kasigaon, and Almala, and besieged Akluj, but without success. Dilir Khan, after receiving money and building some redoubts to guard his communications, advanced from Dhulkhed (15th Sept.) and coming to Halsangi halted there for three weeks, fortifying his position. On 6th October he reached Bahman-halli and next day Baratgi (6 m. n. e. of the capital), setting up a line of outposts all the way. Here he was met by the agents of Masaud with offers of peace. But the repeated palaver between the two parties only resulted in much loss of time.

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