History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c66.s5: § 6. Rupture with the Mughals, 1685.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c66.s5
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§ 6. Rupture with the Mughals, 1685.
v4.c66.s5.1
The active help that he gave to Bijapur during its last siege brought his quarrel with the Mughals to a head and sealed his fate. Aurangzib had begun his attack on that fort (in March 1685) by warning Abul Hasan not to assist Sikandar Adil Shah in any way. Next, as a precaution he had, immediately after his arrival at Sholapur (24th May), detached Bahramand Khan to watch the Haidarabad frontier. In the imperial camp at Sholapur the two Golkonda envoys were kept under watch and their correspondence was opened by the Mughal police. At the end of June, a letter from Abul Hasan to these agents was intercepted, in which he had written, "The Emperor is a great man, and has acted magnanimously up to this time, but now, finding Sikandar a helpless orphan, he has laid siege to Bijapur and pressed him hard. It is, therefore, necessary that while the Bijapur army and Shambhu with his countless hordes are offering resistance from one side, I should, from this side, send 40,000 men under Khalilullah Khan to enter into the war. We shall then see on which front the Emperor can meet and repel his enemies." (B.S. 533; M.A. 259-260.)
v4.c66.s5.2
∗ As the Emperor wrote to his envoy at the Golkonda Court 'This luckless wretch (meaning Abul Hasan Qutb Shah) has given the supreme power in his State to a *kafir* and made Sayyids Shaikhs and scholars subject to that man He has publicly allowed (in his realm) all kinds of sin and vice (viz, taverns brothels and gambling houses) He himself is day and night sunk in the deadly sins through the intoxication of kingship and fails to distinguish between Islam and infidelity, justice and oppression sin and piety By refusing to respect God s commands and prohibitions, by sending aid to infidel Powers and by recently paying one lakh of hun to the *kafir* Shambhu he has made himself accursed before God and man ' (K K ii 328)
v4.c66.s5.3
At this clear proof of Qutb Shah's disloyalty, Aurangzib's anger boiled over. He at once (28 June, 1685), detached Prince Shah Alam with a vast army to march on Haidarabad, and ordered Khan-i-Jahan to advance from his outpost of Indi and join the Prince on the way, though he knew that this diversion of his forces would delay and hinder the success of the undertaking against Bijapur.
v4.c66.s5.4
This Mughal force marched south-eastwards along the north bank of the Bhima river. The 70 miles between Sholapur and Kulbarga were easily passed, as this country was imperial territory. Then Khan-i-Jahan, in charge of the advanced division, reached Malkhed, 25 miles further east, while the Prince kept 3 or 4 marches behind. But when the Mughal vanguard under Jan Nisar Khan approached Serum, 8 miles east of Malkhed, he found his path barred by a Golkonda army, variously estimated from 40,000 to 70,000 men, under Mir Muhammad Ibrahim, the premier peer, Shaikh Minhaj, and Madanna's gallant nephew Rustam Rao. The enveloping movement of the Deccani cavalry was defeated after hard fighting; but the Mughal advance was stopped and Jan Nisar Khan fell back on Malkhed. Every day there were skirmishes with the enemy, who hovered round the imperial army and tried to assail it at a disadvantage. In view of the enemy's superior numbers, Khan-i-Jahan ran up walls round his camp at Malkhed and practically stood a siege there. As Bhimsen writes, "He fought on the defensive, because it was difficult for him to advance one step." (Dil. 187.) After some time the Prince arrived on the scene* with the rest of the army. Some days were passed in negotiations, but the Deccani generals insolently rejected the Prince's offer to secure a pardon for Abul Hasan on condition of his submitting to the Emperor.