History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c62.s7: § 10. Dilir invades Bijapur; Shivaji assists Masaud, 1678.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c62.s7
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§ 10. Dilir invades Bijapur; Shivaji assists Masaud, 1678.
v4.c62.s7.1
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.*
v4.c62.s7.2
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.)
v4.c62.s7.3
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).
v4.c62.s7.4
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.
v4.c62.s7.5
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).