History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c64.s13: § 19. Prince Akbar's designs and disappointments at the Maratha Court.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c64.s13
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§ 19. Prince Akbar's designs and disappointments at the Maratha Court.
v4.c64.s13.1
We must here turn to the history of Prince Akbar since January 1682, when he returned with Shambhuji leaving the siege of Janjira unfinished. Eight months had passed away since he had sought asylum with the Maratha king; but no grand expedition against the Mughals had been yet undertaken; on the other hand, strong enemy forces had in the meantime arrived and barred his way north, east and south-east. Unless they could be signally defeated he had no hope of making a dash to Northern India. And yet, Shambhuji was frittering away his strength in small predatory incursions here and there, or engaging in fruitless wars with the Siddis and the Portuguese, having "too many irons in the fire" to do anything effective, as the Surat factors rightly remarked in December 1683. The proper strategy for him should have been to concentrate all his forces against his chief enemy and deal a crushing blow at any of the main Mughal divisions, —at Ahmadnagar, Aurangabad, Junnar or Burhanpur—and thus clear the way for an invasion of the imperial dominions that would produce an important political effect. Akbar constantly urged such a policy on Shambhuji and asked him to a conference for elaborating the plan of such a campaign, but in vain. His host could not look at things from his point of view.
v4.c64.s13.2
Akbar's one thought was, how to gain the throne of Delhi. He valued Shambhuji only as an instrument of this design,—to lend him money and men, escort him to Rajputana, and thus enable him to join the Rathors and Sisodias, invade Upper India, rally all malcontents against Aurangzib's rule, overpower the imperial forces, and enter the Mughal capital in triumph, as his own father had done in 1658. Every day that he spent in Maharashtra was a day more of hope deferred. It was also a day more of unwonted suffering to him. A pampered youth of only 25, the favourite son of the greatest monarch in Asia; he was now living in a thatched cottage whose straw-plaited walls were barely concealed by cloth hangings and mud floor by coarse carpets. Accustomed to the richest dishes of a luxurious race, he had to be content with such poor fare as the Konkan villages yielded to a people of primitive simplicity. His wives and children were captives in Aurangzib's forts or exiles in the impenetrable nooks of Marwar. His present neighbours were people worshipping strange gods, speaking a strange language, wearing a strange dress, and leading a strange mode of life. There was no polished society, populous city, or customary instrument of pleasure within his reach. He felt like being a prisoner in a desert, in addition to being a disappointed claimant. Only by leaving Maharashtra could he get back to civilization.
v4.c64.s13.3
Kavi-kalash naturally drew close to the exiled Mughal prince.[*] He, too, felt himself as living among a strange people and a strange tongue, and under hostile glances. The North Indian Brahman could speak to Akbar in his own language and readily understand his way of life. Moreover, it is easily conceivable that surrounded as he was by the ill-suppressed enmity of his Dakshini colleagues, with his position property and even personal safety depending upon the life or caprice of his master, Kavi-kalash should be anxious to go to a securer haven. It was not an impossible dream that, if he could help to put Akbar on the throne of Delhi, he would govern the royal Court, or at least his native district, as the favourite of a grateful Emperor.
v4.c64.s13.4
∗ As Akbar wrote to Shambhuji, "Kavi kalash is an excellent and faithful servant of yours May none destroy him out of jealousy ! It is proper that you should consider it your duty to protect him " (18 Jan 1685)
v4.c64.s13.5
But Shambhuji’s interests did not exactly coincide with Akbar’s. Why should he go out of the safety of the Deccan hills and jungles into the broad plains of North India where his troops would lose their natural advantage? Why should he denude his country of its defenders by accompanying Akbar in the wild project of invading Hindustan, and thus give Aurangzib an opportunity of conquering Maharashtra in his absence and cutting off his return home from North India, where a defeat would mean annihilation for the Maratha army? His work lay at home.
v4.c64.s13.6
Gradually Akbar became convinced of the insincerity of his host’s devotion to his cause.