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History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c63: Chapter XLIII. § 1. Rupture with the Mughals : its causes.

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c63

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Chapter XLIII. § 1. Rupture with the Mughals : its causes.

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In terms of the new agreement with the Mughals, Shambhuji was sent to the viceroy's Court at Aurangabad. He interviewed Prince Muazzam on 4th November 1667 and was next day permitted to return home. On 5th August next year a Maratha contingent was sent to Aurangabad under Pratap Rao and Niraji Raoji. [Jedhe.] Shambhuji was created a Commander of Five Thousand again and presented with an elephant and a jewelled sword. Jagirs were assigned to him in Berar. Half his contingent attended at Aurangabad, while the other half was sent to the new jagir to help in collecting the revenue. (Dil. 70.) For a year and a half the Maratha contingent lived in the jagir, "feeding themselves at the expense of the Mughal dominion," as Sabhasad frankly puts it.

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During 1667, 1668 and 1669, Shivaji lived at peace with the Mughal Government. The English factory letters at the close of 1668 and in 1669 describe him as "very quiet" and as "Aurangzib's vassal, (bound) to do whatsoever is commanded by the Prince." His relations with Bijapur also were pacific.

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In fact, during these three years (1667-69), he was busy framing a set of very wise regulations, which laid the foundations of his Government broad and deep, and have remained an object of admiration to after ages. (Sabh. 27-33, 58.)

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But the peace was essentially a hollow truce on both sides. Shivaji's sole aim in making it was to save himself from the possibility of a combined attack by three great Powers and to recover his strength during this respite from war. Aurangzib, ever suspicious of his sons, looked upon Muazzam's friendship with Shivaji as a possible menace to his throne, and he secretly planned to entrap Shivaji a second time, or at least to seize his son and general as hostages. (Sabh. 62.)

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Sabhasad tells us that Aurangzib wrote to his son to arrest Pratap Rao and Niraji Pant, the Maratha agents at Aurangabad, and attach the horses of their troops, and that the Prince, who had learnt of the order beforehand from his Court agent, revealed it to Niraji and instigated the Marathas to escape, while the imperial order arrived a week afterwards, when it was too late to carry it out. (Sabh. 61-62.)

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The rupture, inevitable in any case, was precipitated by financial causes. Retrenchment of expenditure had now become a pressing necessity to Aurangzib, and he ordered the Mughal army in the Deccan to be greatly reduced. The disbanded soldiery took service with Shivaji, who had to find employment for them. Another ill-judged measure of imperial parsimony was to attach a part of Shivaji's new jagir in Berar in order to recover the lakh of Rupees advanced to him in 1666 for his journey to the Court. The news of it reached Shivaji when he had completed his military preparations.* He sent a secret message to Pratap Rao to slip away from Aurangabad with his men. The other half of the contingent fled from Berar at the same time, plundering the villages on the way! (Dil 71.)

§ 2. War with the Mughals renewed, 1670.

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This breach with the Mughals occurred at the beginning of January 1670, or a fortnight earlier. On 11th Dec. 1669, the Emperor received a despatch from the Deccan reporting the desertion of four Maratha captains of Shivaji's clan (biradari) from the imperial service. Aurangzib soon set to strengthening his forces in the Deccan. On 26th January 1670 an order was sent to Dilir to leave Deogarh in the Gond country and hasten to Aurangabad. Daud Khan was ordered to arrange for the defence of his province of Khandesh and then go to Prince Muazzam's assistance. Many other officers were transferred from North India to the Deccan. (*Akhbarat*, year 12.)

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Shivaji opened his offensive with great vigour and immediate success. His roving bands looted Mughal territory, and he attacked several of the forts which he had ceded to Aurangzib by the Treaty of Purandar. "The imperial officers in command of most of these forts fell after fighting heroically. Every day the Emperor got news of such loss of forts. But some of these places defied capture by reason of the strength of their fortifications and abundant supply of war material." (*Dil.* 64.)

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His most conspicuous success was the capture of Kondana from Udai-bhan, its Rajput *qiladar*, (4th Feb. 1670). Assisted by some Koli guides who knew the place well, one dark night Tanaji Malusaré, with 300 picked Mavlé infantry men, scaled the less abrupt hill-side near the Kalian gate by means of rope-ladders and advanced into the fort, slaying the sentinels. The alarm was given; the Rajputs, stupefied with opium, took some time to arm and come out; but in the meantime the Marathas had made their footing secure. The garrison fought desperately, but the Mavles with their war cry of *Hara! Hara! Mahadev!* carried havoc into their ranks. The two chiefs challenged each other and both fell down dead, after a single combat. The Marathas, disheartened by the fall of their leader, were rallied by his brother Suryaji Malusaré, opened the Kalian gate to their supporting columns, and took complete possession of the fort. The rest was butchery. Twelve hundred Rajputs were slain, and many others perished in trying to escape down the hill-side. The victors set fire to the thatched huts of the cavalry lines and the signal blaze informed Shivaji at Rajgarh, nine miles southwards, that the fort had been taken. He mourned the death of Tanaji as too high a price for the fort, and named it *Singh-garh* after the lion-heart that had won it.

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On 8th March, Nilo Pant recovered Purandar, capturing its *qiladar* Razi-ud-nin Khan. (*M. A.* 99.) A few days later the Marathas looted the village of Chandor, seizing an elephant, 12 horses and Rs. 40,000 belonging to the imperial treasury, then entered the town and plundered it, while the imperial *qiladar* was shut up in the fort. At one place, however, he met with repulse. The fort of Mahuli (in North Konkan, 50 miles n. e. of Bombay) was held for the Emperor by a gallant and able Rajput named Manohar Das Gaur, the nephew of Rajah Bithal Das of Shah Jahan’s time. Shivaji invested it in February 1670 and attempted a surprise at night. He sent up 500 of his men to the ramparts by means of rope-ladders. But Manohar Das, who "used to be on the alert day and night," fell on the party, slew most of the men and hurled the rest down the precipice. Shivaji then raised the siege, turned to Kalian-Bhivandi and recovered it after slaying its *thanahdar* Uzbak Khan and driving out the Mughal outpost there. (*Dil.* 65; *O. C.* 3415, Surat to Co., 30 March 1670.) Ludi Khan, the *faujdar* of Konkan, was wounded in a battle with the Maratha forces, defeated in a second encounter, and expelled from his district. The Mughal *faujdar* of Nander (?) fled away, deserting his post.

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The only officer who made an attempt to uphold the imperial prestige in the Deccan was Daud Khan Qureshi, who had been second only to Dilir Khan during Jai Singh's Maratha campaign of 1665. Leaving the province of Khandesh in charge of his son, Daud Khan arrived at Ahmadnagar on 28th March 1670. Six days afterwards he set out with 7,000 cavalry to expel Shivaji's men who were roving near Parnir, Junnar, and Mahuli. They evacuated Parnir and Junnar and retired before him, while he occupied these two posts. Meantime, Shivaji had invested three Mughal forts in that region, and Daud Khan left Junnar to relieve them. But at the approach of his Van (under his gallant son Hamid and Ludi Khan) the Marathas raised the siege and fled away, and the Mughal advanced division fell back on their main body.

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Soon afterwards, these two officers went with a detachment and destroyed an old fort which the Marathas were repairing on the frontier, 20 miles from Mahuli. Towards the end of April, Daud Khan himself marched to Mahuli, and after throwing provisions into the fort, returned to Junnar. The Emperor in open Court highly praised Daud Khan for his spirit in invading the enemy's country, regardless of the smallness of his own force, and thereby creating a useful diversion of Shivaji's attention. (*Akhbarat*, year 13.)

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On 16th June Mahuli too was lost to the Emperor. Manohar Das, conscious of the inadequacy of the garrison and provisions in the fort to repel another attack of the superior Maratha forces, resigned his post in despair of getting reinforcements. Shivaji seized the opportunity, and captured Mahuli, slaying its new commandant Alawardi Beg and his garrison of 200 men. (*Dil.* 65.) By the end of April 1670 he had looted 51 villages near Ahmadnagar, Junnar and Parenda.

§ 3. Quarrel between Muazzam and Dilir.

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But the Mughal administration of the Deccan was in no condition to make a stand against Shivaji. For half of the year 1670 it was passing through a civil war of its own. In obedience to the Emperor's anxious and repeated orders, Dilir Khan left the Gond country, where he had been profitably employed in squeezing the local chieftains, and set off for the Deccan. Starting from Nagpur on 19th March 1670, he expected to reach Aurangabad and wait on the Prince on 12th April. But at his near approach the old quarrel* between the viceroy and his general broke out afresh. We have seen how they had disagreed in 1667. So, now too, when Dilir, after pursuing some enemy raiders, reached Pathri near Aurangabad (about 8th April) and received an order from the Prince to wait on him, he feared to go to the interview lest he should be treacherously imprisoned or killed by the Prince. "Twice or thrice he took horse for the purpose of visiting the Prince, but returned from the way, and spent some days on the plea of illness."

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At this act of insubordination, Muazzam and Jaswant wrote to the Emperor accusing Dilir Khan of rebellion. The Khan had already denounced the Prince to the Emperor, saying that he was in collusion with Shivaji and had done nothing to defend the imperial dominions, and offering to crush the Maratha chief if the command of the army in the Deccan were left in his (Dilir’s) hands for two years with an adequate supply of artillery and siege material.

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∗ Quarrel between Muazzam and Dilir Khan in 1670: Dil 73-75, 80-82 (main source), Ishwardas (important) 59a-62a, Storia, ii 161-166; while M.A. 101, Akhbarat, year 13, and English records give dates and a few details O.C. 3415, F.R. Surat Vol. 3, Vol 105 (Bombay to Surat, 5 Sep), &c. Mirat-i-Ahmadi, 290, merely copies Ishwardas.

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Aurangzib was at this time filled with serious anxiety at Muazzam’s wilful conduct, neglect of the imperial business, and failure to carry out orders. Popular voice in the Deccan could account for the open audacity and easy success of Shivaji’s raids and the Prince’s inactivity, only by ascribing to Muazzam a treasonable design to attempt his father’s throne in alliance with the Marathas.

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So, at the end of March 1670 the Emperor had sent his Chamberlain (Khan-i-saman), Iftikhar Khan, to Aurangabad to investigate how matters really stood,—whether Muazzam was really bent on treason and what his relations with Shivaji were. This officer was now instructed to inquire into the Prince’s charges against Dilir Khan, and, if the Pathan general was found to be really guilty, to bring him by any means to the Prince’s presence and there “do to him what the exigencies of the State required.” (Dil. 74.) Iftikhar’s brother, a high officer of the imperial Court, learning of this order, wrote secretly to Dilir to be vigilant when visiting the Prince. This message only deepened the alarm and suspicion of Dilir Khan.

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Iftikhar, after his arrival at Aurangabad, went out to visit Dilir, and listen to his explanations of his conduct. When he tried to dispel the alarm of the general and swore that no disgrace would be done to him in the Prince's presence, Dilir put him to shame and silence by showing him the letter of his brother at Court, reporting the Emperor's instructions. Iftikhar, therefore, could only advise Dilir to keep away from the Prince longer by pretending illness and then march away without seeking an interview or permission from the viceroy.

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Iftikhar, no doubt moved by kindly intentions, thus became guilty of double-dealing. As an English gunner in Muazzam's service wrote, "He played the Jack on both sides, and told the Prince that Dilir Khan was his enemy, and went to Dilir Khan and told him that the Prince would seize on him if he came to Aurangabad." His unfortunate advice to Dilir only prolonged the tension.

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Iftikhar then returned to the Prince's Court and falsely testified to Dilir's illness, adding many imaginary details to it. Dilir marched southwards to attack a Maratha force (under Pratap Rao) that was raiding Mungi-Pattan (in May).

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Muazzam complained to the Emperor that Dilir Khan had openly defied his authority and that the Khan's Afghan troops used to rob the people and sack the villages along their line of march; and the latter charge was borne out by the reports of the news-writers. Then Dilir, finding his position in the Deccan intolerable, wanted to go back to the imperial Court without waiting for permission; but the Prince ascribed this course to a wicked desire of creating disorder in Northern India. Imperial orders reached him to force Dilir Khan back to the path of obedience. The Prince set himself to raise an army for a war with Dilir and called in the Mughal detachments from the outlying posts to his banners.

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Dilir Khan was pursuing a Maratha band across the Godavari river, when he heard of the arrival of a *farman* from the imperial Court, and divined its purport. His former suspicion and anxiety now deepened into alarm and perplexity. Though it was the height of the rainy season (August), the rivers swollen and the roads miry, he burnt his tents and stores and fled northwards with his army on horseback. Marching "in great fear of life, without distinguishing between night and day," he reached the ferry of Akbarpur on the Narmada and swam his horses across the raging stream, losing many men by drowning. Thence he proceeded to Ujjain, the capital of Malwa, to rest for a few days from the fatigues of this march.

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As soon as he started from the south, Prince Muazzam and Jaswant gave him chase with all the available Mughal troops, calling upon Shivaji to come to their aid! The Deccan was filled with wild rumours of a civil war among the imperialists, which were "so confused that we cannot write them for credible,"—as the English factors of Bombay report.

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In the pursuit of Dilir Khan, Prince Muazzam reached the pass of Changdev, six miles from the Tapti, intending to cross the river and enter Burhanpur, the capital of Khandesh, of which Daud Khan was subahdar. This governor refused to let him cross his frontier and prepared for armed resistance. The Prince distributed a month's pay to his soldiers to hearten them for the coming struggle. But this unexpected opposition brought him to a halt for some time, during which a letter came from the Emperor ordering Muazzam back to Aurangabad (September). The Prince's evil genius, Jaswant Singh, was separated from him and posted at Burhanpur until further orders.

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For, in the meantime, Bahadur Khan, the governor of Gujrat, had taken Dilir Khan under his protection and written to the Emperor praising Dilir's loyalty and past services, explaining how the unreasonable antipathy of Jaswant and the misrepresentations of backbiters had turned the Prince's mind against the Khan, and recommending that Dilir might be permitted to serve under him as faujdar of Kathiawad. The Emperor's suspicion and alarm had also been excited by Muazzam's approach to Hindustan; it looked so very like his own move in 1658! Indeed, his own position now was weaker than Shah Jahan's in that year, for, the war with Shivaji had drawn the greater part of the Mughal forces into the Deccan and Aurangzib had no army in Northern India large enough to confront his son's. It was the talk of the Prince's camp that "if he had marched forward, he would before this have been king of Hindustan." Muazzam promptly obeyed his father's order and returned to Aurangabad at the end of September, 1670.*

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These internal troubles paralysed the Mughal arms, and Shivaji made the most of this golden opportunity. We have seen how he had recovered several of his forts early in the year. His cavalry bands roamed over the country, plundering far and wide. In March the English factors at Surat wrote, "Shivaji marches now not [as] before as a thief, but in gross with an army of 30,000 men, conquering as he goes, and is not disturbed though the Prince lies near him."

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∗ We may here conclude this episode in the life of Muazzam. In April his mother, Nawab Bai, was sent from Delhi to visit him and bring him back to the right path by her influence. She returned from her mission in September. Iftikhar Khan, the imperial Chamberlain, had harshly reprimanded the Prince. But when the Emperor learnt that Muazzam's heart was loyal and that his motives had been misrepresented to him by his enemies, the imperial wrath fell upon Iftikhar Khan for having exceeded his instructions and been guilty of double-dealing at Aurangabad. His brother, Muftakhar Khan, too, was punished for communicating official secrets to Dilir Khan. Both brothers remained deprived of office for some months. (M. A., 101; Akhbarat, 13-3.)

§ 4. Second Loot of Surat.

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In April Bahadur Khan visited Surat with 5,000 horse, to guard the town against an apprehended attack by Shivaji. In August there were false rumours that Muazzam, then supposed to be in rebellion against his father, was coming to Surat, "to take possession of this town and castle." The Mughuls demanded from the Court of Bijapur a contingent of 12,000 horse for service against Shivaji, and some ammunition from the English at Bombay for the fort of Koridru (?) People were expectant as to what the imperialists would do when the rains would cease and campaigning again become possible. But Shivaji, as usual, struck the first blow. On 3rd October he plundered Surat for the second time.

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Throughout September he had been assembling a large body of cavalry at Kalian, evidently to invade Gujrat. The matter was so notorious that on 12th September the English factors at Surat had rightly concluded that "that town would be the first place he would take," and "foreseeing the ensuing danger, [we] had taken a convenient time to empty all our warehouses at Surat of what goods were ready baled and sent them down to Swally;" even their entire Council with the President (Gerald Aungier) were at Swally at the beginning of October. And yet the Mughal governor was so criminally negligent as to keep only 300 men for the defence of the city. On 2nd October came successive reports of Shivaji's arrival with 15,000 horse and foot within 20 miles of Surat. All the Indian merchants of the city and even the officers of Government fled away in the course of that day and night. On the 3rd, Shivaji attacked the city which had recently been walled round by order of Aurangzib. After a slight resistance the defenders fled to the fort, and the Marathas possessed themselves of the whole town except only the English, Dutch and French factories, the large *New Serai* of the Persian and Turkish merchants, and the *Tartar Serai* midway between the English and French houses, which was occupied by Abdullah Khan, ex-king of Kashghar, just returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca. The French bought off the raiders by means of "valuable presents." The English factory, though it was an open house, was defended by Streynsham Master with 50 sailors, and the Marathas were received with such a hot fire from it that they lost several men, and, leaving the English alone, assaulted the Kashghar king's serai from the advantageous position of some avenues next to the French factory, which they were suffered by the French to occupy. The Tartars made a stout resistance all the day, but finding the post untenable they fled with their king to the fort at night, giving up to plunder their house with its valuable property, including a gold palki and other costly presents from Aurangzib.

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From the safe shelter of the Tartar Serai the Marathas prepared to open fire on the English factory the next day, but the resolute attitude of the handful of Englishmen cowed them, and after an angry parley they came to an understanding and agreed not to molest the English. The Dutch warehouse was untouched. "A messenger came from the invader to assure us that no harm would befall us if we remained quiet.........and gave him our assurances that we would not interfere for or against him." The Turks in the New Serai successfully defended themselves, inflicting some loss on the raiders.

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The Marathas plundered the large houses of the city at leisure, taking immense quantities of treasure, cloth, and other valuable goods, and setting fire to several places, so that "nearly half the town" was burnt to the ground. They then approached the fortress of Surat, threatening to storm it; but it was a mere demonstration, as they were not prepared to conduct a siege, and did not venture close to the walls. The third day (5th Oct.) they again appeared before the English factory, threatening to burn it down. Shivaji and his soldiers were greatly enraged at the loss of their men in the first assault on this house, and they clamoured for vengeance. But the wiser among his captains knew that a second attack would result in further loss of life, and at their request two English agents waited on Shivaji in his tent outside the town, with some presents of scarlet cloth, sword blades and knives. The Maratha king "received them in a very kind manner, telling them that the English and he were good friends, and putting his hand into their hands he told them that he would do the English no wrong."

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§ 5. The total loss suffered by Surat.

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On 5th October, about noon Shivaji suddenly retreated from the town, though no Mughal army was near or even reported to be coming. "But he had got plunder enough and thought it prudent to secure himself. When he marched away he sent a letter to the officers and chief merchants, saying that if they did not pay him twelve lakhs of Rupees as yearly tribute, he would return the next year and burn down the remaining part of the town. No sooner Shivaji was gone than the poor people of Surat fell to plundering what was left, in so much that there was not a house, great or small, excepting those which stood on their guard, which were not ransacked." Even the English sailors under S. Master took to plundering.

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The fact that all the three European factories at Surat were untouched while every other shop and house was ransacked by the raiders, naturally excited suspicion. Both at Surat and the imperial Court people "talked of the three Christian nations having made a league with Shivaji when he was here." The foreign merchants therefore received no reward from the ruler of the land this time.

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An official inquiry ascertained that Shivaji had carried off 66 lakhs of Rupees' worth of booty from Surat,—viz., cash, pearls, and other articles worth 53 lakhs from the city itself and 13 lakhs worth from Nawal Sahu and Hari Sahu and a village near Surat.

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But the real loss of Surat was not to be estimated by the booty which the Marathas carried off. The trade of this, the richest port of India, was practically destroyed. For several years after Shivaji's withdrawal from it, the town used to throb with panic every now and then, whenever any Maratha force came within a few days' march of it, or even at false alarms of their coming. On every such occasion the merchants would quickly remove their goods to ships, the citizens would flee to the villages, and the Europeans would hasten to Swally. Business was effectually scared away from Surat, and inland producers hesitated to send their goods to this the greatest emporium of Western India.

§ 6. Shivaji defeats Daud Khan at Dindori, 17th October 1670.

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Prince Muazzam had just returned to Aurangabad after chasing Dilir Khan to the bank of the Tapti, when he heard of the plunder of Surat. He immediately summoned Daud Khan from Burhanpur and sent him off to attack the Maratha raiders. Meantime, Shivaji had left Surat, entered Baglana, and plundered the villages nestling at the foot of the fort of Mulhir. Daud Khan, after sending his baggage back to Aurangabad, marched westwards with light kit to Chandor, a town at which the road from Nasik to Baglana crosses the hill range. Spies brought him news that Shivaji had started from Mulhir, and intended to cross the Chandor range by the pass of Kanchana-Manchana, ten miles west of Chandor. Arriving at the hamlet of Chandor (below the fort) at about 9 P.M., Daud Khan waited to verify the news of the enemy's movements. At midnight his spies reported that Shivaji had already issued from the pass and was rapidly following the road to Nasik with half his forces, while the other half of his army was holding the pass to pick up stragglers. Daud Khan at once resumed his march. But the moon set about three o'clock in the morning, and in the darkness the Mughal soldiers were somewhat scattered.

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Ikhlas Khan Miana (son of Abdul Qadir Bahlol Khan, a former Pathan leader of Bijapur), commanded the Mughal vanguard. Ascending a hillock in the early morning, he beheld the enemy standing ready for battle in the plain below. While his men were putting on their armour, which was conveyed on camels, he himself with a handful of followers recklessly charged the enemy. The Maratha rearguard, which had faced about, was 10,000 strong and commanded by distinguished generals like Pratap Rao Gujar, the Master of the Horse, Vyankaji Datto and Makaji Anand Rao (a natural son of Shahji Bhonslé). Ikhlas Khan was very soon wounded and unhorsed. After a time Daud arrived on the scene and sent up Rai Makarand and some other officers to reinforce the Van, while he left his elephants, flags and drums at a ruined village on a height, surrounded by nalas, with orders to make his camp and rearguard halt there when they would come up.

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For hours together an obstinate and bloody battle raged. Sangram Khan Ghori and his kinsmen were wounded, and many were slain on the Mughal side. The Marathas, "like the Bargis of the Deccan, fought hovering round the imperialists." But the Bundela infantry of the Mughal army with their abundant fire-arms kept the enemy back. Daud Khan himself entered the fight, repulsed the enemy with his artillery, and rescued the wounded Ikhlas Khan.

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Meantime, in another part of the field, Mir Abdul Mabud, the *darogha* of the divisional artillery, who had been separated from the main army by a fold in the ground, was attacked. He was wounded with one of his sons and some followers, while another son and many soldiers were slain; and his flags and horses were carried off by the enemy. There was a lull in the fight at noon.

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At that time Daud Khan had less than 2,000 men with him, while the Marathas outnumbered him fivefold. In the evening they charged him again, but were driven back, evidently by the artillery. At night the Mughals bivouacked under the autumn sky, their camp was entrenched, and they engaged in burying the dead and tending the wounded. The Marathas retreated to Konkan without further opposition. This battle was fought near Dindori on the 17th of October, 1670. About a week later the Peshwa captured the fort of Trimbak (Nasik district.)

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This battle neutralized the Mughal power for more than a month afterwards. The day after the fight, Daud Khan marched with the broken remnant of his army to Nasik, and halted there for one month, evidently to recoup his strength and also to watch the route from Konkan (by the Tal pass?). The wounded were sent to Aurangabad. Late in November, he removed to Ahmadnagar, but at the end of December he was recalled to the scene of his last battle by the revival of Maratha activity in the Chandor range.

§ 7. Maratha raid into Berar and Baglana.

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We shall pass over Shivaji's activity at sea and in the western coast-strip during November and December 1670, after his return from Surat. Early in December a Maratha force under Pratap Rao made a raid into Khandesh, after capturing Ahivant and three other forts in Baglana on the way. Advancing by rapid marches, he plundered Bahadurpura, a village two miles from Burhanpur, (the capital of Khandesh), but did not come closer to the city, because of the warning of Jaswant Singh, who had been posted there since September last. Passing into Berar, he fell, when least expected, upon the rich and flourishing city of Karinja, and looted it completely. Four thousand oxen and donkeys were loaded with the booty—consisting of fine cloth, silver and gold, to the value of a *krore* of Rupees, captured here. All the rich men of the place were carried off for ransom. Only the most eminent one among them escaped in the disguise of a woman. The other towns also yielded vast sums of money. That rich province, with its accumulated wealth of more than half a century of peace and prosperity, afforded a virgin soil to the plunderers in this their first raid. A force, reported to be 20,000 strong, looted the neighbourhood of Ausa and collected *chauth*, but they rode away without attacking the fort. In the neighbourhood of Karinja and Nandurbar the Marathas took from the affrighted people written promises to pay them one-fourth of the revenue (*chauth*) in the future.

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No resistance was made by the Mughals. Khan-i-Zaman, the governor of Berar, moved too slowly to intercept the raiders, and he stopped on reaching Deogarh. Daud Khan, the governor of Khandesh, was absent campaigning near Ahmadnagar, while his son Ahmad Khan, who officiated as his deputy at Burhanpur, was at open war with Maharajah Jaswant Singh, who was trying to raise money for the Prince's expenses and had demanded five lakhs from the treasury of Khandesh. Daud Khan's son replied that if the Maharajah could procure Aurangzib's order, he would pay him even 20 lakhs, or else not a pice, at which message Jaswant threatened to sack the town.

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Daud Khan from his camp near Ankai Tankai hastened towards Burhanpur. Arriving near the pass of Fardapur he heard that the Marathas returning from Berar had turned aside from Burhanpur and taken the road to Baglana. The situation at the capital of Khandesh was also saved by the arrival there on 1st January 1671 of a new supreme commander, Mahabat Khan, who took Jaswant away with himself when leaving the town.

§ 8. Shiva takes Salhir.

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From Fardapur, Daud Khan swerved to the west and entered Baglana on the heels of the Marathas. While Pratap Rao had been sacking Karinja in Berar, another Maratha band under Moro Trimbak Pinglé had been looting West Khandesh and Baglana, and now these two divisions had united in the neighbourhood of Salhir. They had plundered the village under the hill-fort of Mulhir and laid siege to Salhir. Daud Khan arrived near Mulhir at about 8 P.M., but could advance no further as most of his camp and army were lagging behind.

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The Khan urged his troops to start next morning in order to raise the siege of Salhir. He himself set out before sunrise. But most of his men had not yet arrived, and the few that had come with him were scattered. They busied themselves in cooking food or taking rest in the camp, instead of resuming the march with their chief. Daud Khan heard on the way that Salhir had already been captured by the Marathas, and so he returned in disappointment to Mulhir, and after a short halt there fell back on his new base near Kanchana-Manchana in the Chandor range.

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Shivaji had invested Salhir with a force of 20,000 horse and foot, and one day finding the garrison off their guard he had scaled the wall by means of rope-ladders. The *qiladar* Fathullah Khan fell fighting, and his wife's brother then gave up the fort to the enemy. This happened about 5th January 1671. The success of the Marathas continued. They threatened other forts in the province, such as Mulhir, Chauragarh and Hulgarh. Their roving bands cut off the grain supply of Neknam Khan, the *faujdar* of Baglana (whose headquarters were at Mulhir.) They also laid siege to Dhodap, the loftiest hill-fort in the Chandor range.

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§ 9. Campaigns of Mahabat and Daud Khan, 1671.

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The second sack of Surat and the Maratha ravages in Baglana roused Aurangzib to a sense of the gravity of the situation in the Deccan. As early as 28th November, 1670, he had appointed Mahabat Khan to the supreme command in the Deccan. The events of December only deepened the Emperor's anxiety. On 9th January 1671, he sent orders to Bahadur Khan to leave his province of Gujrat and take the command of one of the imperial army corps in the Deccan, Dilir Khan being directed to accompany him. The Emperor also repeatedly talked of going to the Deccan and conducting the war against Shivaji in person, but the idea was ultimately dropped. Daud Khan was instructed to attack Shivaji wherever he was reported. Amar Singh Chandawat and many other Rajput officers with their clansmen were posted to the Deccan. Reinforcements, money and provisions were poured into Baglana in January, 1671.

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Mahabat Khan left Burhanpur on 3rd January 1671 with Jaswant Singh, reached Aurangabad on the 10th, paid his respects to the viceroy, Prince Muazzam, and set out to join the army near Chandor. Daud Khan had been appointed his chief lieutenant and the commander of his vanguard; but he despised this office as below his rank, and begged the Emperor to recall him.

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We shall now trace the history of the war in the Chandor range. Late in December 1670 Shivaji's men had laid siege to Dhodap, and Daud Khan had started on the 28th of that month to relieve the fort. But the qiladar, Muhammad Zaman, successfully repelled the attack unaided. Daud Khan had next advanced to the relief of Salhir, but had been too late to save it, as we have already seen. In January 1671, he held a fortified base near the Kanchana pass from which he sallied forth in every direction in which the Marathas were heard of as roving. From the Emperor's letters it appears that Daud Khan was under a general order to right everything that might go wrong in Baglana! Once after a night-march he fell on a body of the enemy near Hatgarh and slew 700 of them.

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Late in January 1671, Mahabat Khan joined Daud Khan near Chandor and the two laid siege to Ahivant, which Shivaji had recently taken. After a month had been wasted in a fruitless exchange of fire, the fort was entered from the trenches of Daud Khan and the garrison capitulated to him. Mahabat Khan became furiously angry at losing the credit of this success. He had been previously treating Daud Khan, a 5-hazari, with discourtesy, and now the relations between them became strained to the utmost. Leaving a garrison to hold Ahivant, Mahabat spent three months at Nasik and then went to Parnir (20 miles west of Ahmadnagar) to pass the rainy season (June to September) there, while Daud Khan was recalled to Court (about June).

§ 10. Campaign of Bahadur and Dilir, 1671-72; defeat of Ikhlas Khan at Salhir.

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The Emperor was dissatisfied with Mahabat Khan for the poor result of his campaign in the first quarter of 1671 and his long spell of inactivity afterwards, and suspected him of having formed a secret understanding with Shivaji. So, he sent Bahadur Khan and Dilir Khan to the Deccan next winter. They marched from Gujrat into Baglana, laid siege to Salhir (now in Maratha hands), and leaving Ikhlas Khan Miana, Rao Amar Singh Chandawat and some other officers to continue the siege, proceeded towards Ahmadnagar.

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From the environs of Ahmadnagar, Bahadur Khan advanced to Supa (in the Puna district), while Dilir Khan with a flying column recovered Puna, massacring all the inhabitants above the age of 9 years, (end of December 1671). Early in January 1672, Shivaji was at Mahad, draining his forts of men to raise a vast army for expelling the invaders from the home of his childhood. But the pressure on Puna was immediately afterwards removed and Bahadur Khan was recalled from this region by a severe disaster to the Mughal arms in Baglana. There, the division left to besiege Salhir was attacked by a large force of Marathas under Pratap Rao, Anand Rao and the Peshwa. After an obstinate battle, Ikhlas Khan and Muhakam Singh (the son of Rao Amar Singh Chandawat) were wounded and captured, with 30 of their principal officers,* while Rao Amar Singh and many other commanders as well as several thousand common soldiers were slain, and the entire siege-camp was taken by the enemy. Shortly afterwards Moro Pant captured Mulhir, and then putting fresh men, munitions and provisions in the two forts, he hurried back to Konkan unmolested. This took place at the end of January and the first week of February, 1672. Shivaji's prestige and confidence in his own power were immensely increased by these successes. Surat was now in constant terror of him, as he entirely dominated Baglana.

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From the English records we learn that Shivaji now "forced the two generals (viz., Bahadur and Dilir), who with their armies had entered into his country, to retreat with shame and loss." But the Persian accounts are silent about it. We can, however, be sure that the Satnami rising in March and the rebellion of the Khaibar Afghans in April next, made it impossible for the Emperor to attempt the recovery of his prestige in the Deccan, and Shivaji was therefore left the master of the situation throughout the year 1672.

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Bahadur Khan returned from Baglana with failure, encamped for some time on the bank of the Bhima, and then went back to Ahmadnagar to canton for the rains. About May 1672 Mahabat left the Deccan for Hindustan, and a month later Muazzam did the same. Bahadur Khan was appointed commander-in-chief and acting viceroy of the Deccan, in the place of these two, becoming substantive subahdar in January 1673 and holding that office till August 1677.

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∗ They were released after a time and returned to Ahmadnagar (Dil. 115). On the Maratha side also many soldiers were slain and only one chief of note, Surya Rao Kakre, a comrade of Shivaji's youth.

§ 11. Maratha occupation of the Koli country and demand of chauth from Surat, 1672.

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So greatly was the spirit of the Marathas roused by their victory over Ikhlas Khan, capture of Mulhir, and expulsion of Bahadur and Dilir from Puna, that their activity continued unabated even during the hot weather and the rainy season of this year. On 5th June, a large Maratha army under Moro Trimbak Pinglé captured Jawhar from its Koli Rajah, Vikram Shah, and seized there treasure amounting to 17 lakhs of Rupees. The place is only 100 miles from Surat, and adjoins the Nasik district, from which it is separated by the Western Ghats. Advancing further north, he threatened the other Koli State of Ramnagar which is only sixty miles south of Surat. Heavy rain stopped the activity of the Marathas for a few days. But soon afterwards Moro Pant, with his army raised to 15,000 men, returned to the attack, and took Ramnagar in the first week of July.

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The old capital, Ramnagar, now called Nagar, is 24 m. s. w. of Dharampur, the new capital, whose name is now borne by this petty State.

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The annexation of Jawhar and Ramnagar gave the Marathas a short, safe and easy route from Kalian up Northern Konkan to Surat, and laid that port helplessly open to invasion from the south. The city became subject to chronic alarm, whenever any Marathas were heard of even 60 miles off, at Ramnagar.

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From the neighbourhood of Ramnagar, Moro Trimbak Pinglé sent three successive letters on behalf of his master to the governor and leading traders of Surat demanding four *lakhs* of Rupees as blackmail, and threatening a visit to the city in the event of their refusal. The third of these epistles was very peremptory in tone; in it Shivaji wrote, "I demand for the third time, which I declare shall be the last, the *chauth* or quarter part of the king's revenue under your government. As your Emperor has forced me to keep an army for the defence of my people and country, that army must be paid by his subjects. If you do not send me the money speedily, then make ready a large house for me, for I shall go and sit down there and receive the revenue and custom duties, as there is none now to stop my passage."

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At the first news of the arrival of the Maratha army in Ramnagar, the governor of Surat summoned all the leading Hindu and Muhammadan merchants and proposed that they should subscribe Rs. 45,000 for engaging 500 horse and 3,000 foot to guard the town for two months. Officers were immediately sent to make a list of all the Hindu houses in the town for assessing this contribution. But no soldiers were enlisted, and the governor pocketed whatever money was actually raised for the defence.

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On the receipt of the third letter from Shivaji, the helpless citizens were seized with a panic. The rich went to the governor that very night and wanted permission to remove their families to Broach and other towns for safety. He kept them waiting till after midnight, gave them the permission, but retracted it next morning, when he held a second conference with the townsmen, asking them to raise the blackmail demanded,—the merchants paying one lakh and the desais raising two lakhs from the cultivators of the villages around. After a discussion lasting a day and a night, in which he reduced his demand to Rs. 60,000, the people finally refused to pay anything, as they knew too well that he would appropriate the money instead of buying the enemy off with it. Thereafter, every time that there was an alarm of the approach of Shivaji's troops, the citizens of Surat hastened to flee from the town, but the governor shut the gates to keep them in!

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§ 12. Further Maratha successes in 1672, but raid into Khandesh and Berar, Dec. 1672, defeated.

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From their base in the Koli country of Jawhar and Ramnagar, a Maratha force under Moro Trimbak easily crossed the Ghats into the Nasik district, in the middle of July 1672, and plundered and occupied it. Jadav Rao Deccani, a great-grandson of Lakhji Jadav (the maternal grandfather of Shivaji) with 4,000 men, was the Mughal thanahdar of Nasik-Trimbak. He was defeated and captured after losing many of his troops in battle. Siddi Halal, the thanahdar of Vani-Dindori (or North Nasik), was also defeated and his charge looted by the Marathas. For this failure, both the officers were sharply reprimanded by Bahadur Khan, and in anger they deserted to the Marathas, with two other officers and all the men of their "four great regiments of horse" (October). Other desertions were apprehended, and Dilir Khan was left in great danger with a weakened army to defend the province of Gujrat against the exultant enemy.

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On 25th October, a large Maratha army appeared at Ramnagar again, and Surat trembled in alarm, especially as a party of Shivaji's horse advanced to Chickli. But that city was not Shivaji's objective now. He made a lightning raid into a different corner of the Mughal empire.

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He sent his light cavalry to plunder Berar and Telingana. The viceroy Bahadur Khan, on hearing of it, set out from Ahmadnagar due eastwards, left his heavy baggage at Bir (70 miles to the east) and Qandahar, and arrived as fast as he could near the fort of Ramgir (18.35 N. 79.35 E.) in pursuit of the raiders. But they had been two days beforehand with him, looted the village at the foot of the fort, and carried off the families of most of the inhabitants for ransom. So the baffled Mughal general returned by way of Indur (modern Nizamabad), 95 miles due west. Entering the Qutb-Shahi territory, he ravaged the land at the instigation of Dilir Khan. The Marathas in their retreat divided into two bodies; one escaping south into the Golkonda State and the other turning northwards to Chanda, and thence westwards into Berar proper. Dilir Khan was sent off to pursue the first division, while Bahadur Khan tried to cut off the retreat of the second

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Sending his heavy baggage back to Aurangabad from the neighbourhood of the village of Khair (?), the viceroy hastened by way of Partur, Shellode and Peedola, and arrived near the pass of Antur (38 miles north of Aurangabad). Here the Marathas turned at bay, and attacked the Mughal Van under Sujan Singh Bundela. But they were repulsed and pursued till evening, many of the horses of traders and other kinds of booty were recovered from the enemy and restored to their owners. Next day the Mughals crossed the pass and encamped at Durgapur, four miles from the fort of Antur.

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The following day, when they were marching to Aurangabad in rather straggling groups, before the time fixed for the starting of the general, one division of 10,000 imperialists was charged by 750 picked Maratha cavalry on the left of the pass of Bakapur, six miles off. After an obstinate battle, in which the Mughals were reinforced by their general, the Marathas retreated, leaving 400 of their number dead in the field. The credit of this victory belongs to the Bundelas under Subh-Karn, whose gallant son Dalpat Rao was wounded in the fight.

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The division under Dilir Khan headed the other Maratha band off into Bijapur territory, capturing much booty and rejoining Bahadur Khan. That general cantoned his troops at Pathri, 76 miles s. e. of Aurangabad. This Maratha raid into Khandesh and Berar, unlike their first incursion in December 1670, was completely foiled, and the Mughal troops showed commendable mobility and enterprise. (Nov.-Dec., 1672.)*

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∗ It is probably this campaign that is referred to in M.A. 128, among Court news of 1673, in the following terms: "Bahadur Khan had defeated Shiva after a forced march of 120 miles, made large

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To guard against a repetition of these two Maratha penetrations into Khandesh from Balaghat, Bahadur Khan set up gates across the tops of the chief passes and posted troops with artillery at each of them. Bajaji Nayak Nimbalkar, "a great Deccani zamindar" and father of Shivaji's son-in-law Mahadji, with his family, was now won over by the Mughals.

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§ 13. Desultory fighting in Desh, 1673.

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Maratha activity, thus shut out of Khandesh and Berar, burst forth in another quarter (Jan. 1673.) They next raided the Puna district. Bahadur Khan left his baggage at Chamargunda, hastened to meet the invaders, and defeated them after a severe battle. Then he encamped at Pedgaon, on the north bank of the Bhima, eight miles due south of Chamargunda. This place became the residence of his army for many years afterwards, and here a fort and town grew up from their cantonment, which the Emperor permitted him to name Bahadur-garh. (Dil. 126).

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Pedgaon occupies a position of great strategic importance. It stands on the plain just clear of the long mountain spur running eastwards from Puna. From this place the Mughal general could at will move westwards along the north of the range to

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captures of spoils and sent them with Dalpat to the Emperor, who viewed them on 22 Oct"

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protect the valleys of the Mula and the Bhima (the North Puna district), or along the south of it to guard the valleys of the Nira and the Baramati (the southern portion of the district). Northwards he could communicate with his great depot of arms and provisions at Ahmadnagar, without having to cross any river (except at the foot of that fort); and southwards he could easily invade Bijapur through the Sholapur district. In short, the cantonment at Pedgaon served as the Mughal advanced base for some years after this time, exactly as Aurangzib’s camp at Brahmapuri, 90 miles s. e. e. of it, did twenty-two years later, when the Mughal empire had extended further south.

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It was most probably in this year (1673)* that Shivaji met with a sore disappointment. The fort of Shivner, a mile west of Junnar, was no doubt of strategic importance, as it guarded the Mughal frontier in the north of the Puna district and blocked the shortest route by which he could sally out of North Konkan to overrun Mughal Deccan. But what gave it the greatest value in Shivaji’s eyes was that it was his birth-place. The Mughal governor of Shivner was Abdul Aziz Khan, a Brahman convert to Islam and one of the most faithful and valued servants of Aurangzib. Shivaji promised him "mountains of gold" for surrendering the fort into Maratha hands; and he, pretending consent, received the money, appointed a day for the delivery, and asked Shivaji to send 7,000 cavalry to take the fort over. But Abdul Aziz at the same time secretly informed Bahadur Khan of the plot; the Maratha army fell into an ambuscade planned by the Mughals, and retired in disappointment with heavy loss. (Fryer, i. 339-340.)

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∗ But J. S. asserts that he besieged Junnar (i.e., Shivner) in Sept. 1670.

§ 14. Gains from Bijapur and raids into Kanara, 1673.

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In another direction, however, a wide door of conquest was now opened to the Marathas. Ali Adil Shah II. died on 24th Nov., 1672, and in a few months the government of Bijapur (with a boy of four on the throne) fell into disorder and weakness. This was Shivaji's opportunity. On 6th March 1673, he got possession of Panhala a second time, by bribery, and on 27th July he secured the hill-fort of Satara by the same means. In May his men under Pratap Rao Gujar burst into the inland parts of Bijapuri Kanara, looting Hubli and many other rich cities. But they received a great check from the Bijapuri general Bahlol Khan, who (in June 1673) took post near Kolhapur, repeatedly defeated the Maratha rovers, and expelled them from Kanara.

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Maratha activity in this region was checked, but for a time only.

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As Mr. Gerald Aungier, the English President of Bombay, wrote on 16th Sep. 1673, "Shivaji bears himself up manfully against all his enemies ......and though it is probable that the Mughal's army may fall into his country this year and Bahlol Khan on the other side, yet neither of them can stay long for want of provisions, and his flying army will constantly keep them in alarm, nor is it either their design to destroy Shivaji totally, for the Umarahs maintain a politic war to their own profit at the king's charge, and never intend to prosecute it violently so as to end it."

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Shivaji took full advantage of his enemies' moral and political weakness. Early in October 1673, he was reported to have made 20,000 sacks "ready to convey what plunder he can get, having also a considerable flying army ready for that action." On the 10th of October, this army, 25,000 strong, led by Shivaji in person, burst into west Bijapur territory, plundering many rich towns, and then passed into Kanara for more plunder. This work occupied him till the middle of December.

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