History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c73.s7: § 7. Bidar Bakht against Panhala, 1694-95.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c73.s7
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§ 7. Bidar Bakht against Panhala, 1694-95.
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But it was of no use. Already, about 8th March, the prince availing himself of the Emperor's permission, had begun to march away from Panhala, while Lutfullah Khan and many other officers, who had positive orders to stay below the fort, joined him in the retreat. The Emperor, on hearing of this (13th March), sent an officer to turn the prince back from Vadgaon (14 m. e. of Panhala) and take him back to that fort to make a decision about it on the spot by either securing it for a price or renewing siege operations against it. Four days later the Emperor changed his mind and wrote to the prince to come to Court, while his officers were to be forced to go back to Panhala under Lutfullah's command, to continue the siege. Muizz-ud-din was received in audience by his grandfather on the 29th of the month. His cousin Bidar Bakht (the eldest son of Prince Md. Azam) had been selected to undertake the task from which he had returned unsuccessful. Bidar Bakht, with a nominal muster-roll of 25,000 men and artillery, was given formal leave on 27th March and began his journey from the Court at Galgala on 5th April. "The officers who had come with Muiz to Court without orders, were now driven by force back to Panhala."
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But the Emperor seems to have changed his plan again, as we find Bidar Bakht campaigning in the Bombay Kanara (Belgaon and Dharwar) during the second half of 1694, and his siege of Panhala began a year later, in April 1695. His first acts were marked by vigour. Opening his approaches and planting his artillery, he seized the village at the foot of the hill and demolished one bastion of the fort. [Akhbarat, 11 May, 1695.] But the promise of these opening operations was not fulfilled. A desultory siege was continued by him till the end of January 1696, when the disasters to Qasim Khan and Himmat Khan further south induced the Emperor to send the prince to Basavapatan, and to entrust the siege of Panhala to Firuz Jang, who, too, could effect nothing. In fact the capture of Panhala was quite beyond the power of any divisional army, as Aurangzib was to realise during his own siege of it in 1707.*
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§ 8. Campaigns of Lutfullah near Satara, 1690.
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Having brought the story of Panhala down to the end of the century, we shall now go back to the year 1690 and take a survey of the Mughal and Maratha activities in other parts of Western India.
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After the disaster to Rustam Khan (May 1690), the Emperor found it necessary to occupy the North Satara district in force. Lutfullah Khan was detached from the Court as thanadar of Khatau (25 m. e. of Satara), with orders to make that town his head-quarters and set up a chain of outposts in the surrounding country. After arriving at Khatau on 6th July, the Mughal troopers dismounted and rested as best they could, but on account of the incessant rain they could not immediately form a regular camp and entrench it round. Towards the end of the night, Santa Ghorparé at the head of ten thousand horse and numberless infantry surprised them. The tired soldiers, awakened with difficulty, began to put on their armour and saddle their horses, while Lutfullah's son, Md. Khalil, gained time for them by hastening on foot to encounter the enemy with some musketeers of the guard and the armed menials of the general. Thus the camp was saved from plunder. By firing from a distance he turned the enemy out of the lanes and bazar, and then, being reinforced by troops who had arrived in the meantime, he took horse and attacked the enemy at close quarters. After a severe fight for three hours, Santa fled to Wardhangarh (8 m. n. w.), and his followers dispersed to their homes through the passes. The victorious Mughals returned to their camp, having lost 67 killed and 170 wounded. The Marathas were reported to have lost nearly 500 in killed alone. A hundred of them were captured alive and put to the sword. The spoils taken by the victors were 300 mares, 400 spears, 200 muskets, besides some kettledrums and flags. Thereafter Mughal outposts were easily set up in that district.
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∗ The entire narrative from Dhana's attack on Muiz to this point has been reconstructed from the Akhbarat or daily news-letters of Aurangzib's camp preserved in MS. in London.
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But the Marathas were only baffled and not crushed. They rallied their forces and reappeared in the East Satara region in force. Lutfullah, urged by the Emperor, hastened to the scene. He halted at night in the village of Piliv (12 m.e. of Mhasvad, and 15 m. s. of Akluj.) Next morning, a Maratha army reputed to be 20,000 cavalry and unnumbered infantry, led by Santa, Dhana, Daflé, Moré and other generals, enveloped the small imperial detachment on its march. Lutfullah, placing his baggage in the centre, faced on all sides and engaged the enemy. Daflé had 10,000 Karnataki foot-musketeers, whose fire severely galled the Mughals. The battle raged from dawn to sunset, the imperialists beating back repeated attacks of the enemy. Finally, Santa and Dhana, at the head of 5,000 picked horsemen, charged the division of Lutfullah himself, but were repulsed. At sunset the Marathas withdrew, leaving a thousand dead on the field, besides many wounded. The Mughals lost 200 killed and above 300 wounded.*
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There was nothing further to note till the end of 1690, when some Maratha auxiliaries of the Mughals,—namely Nima Sindhia, Mankoji Pandhré and Nagoji Mané,—went over to Rajaram at Jinji with their contingent of 2000 men (November.) But next month Sharza Rao Zedhe, the deshmukh of Bhor, joined the imperialists and was given a robe of honour and a conciliatory letter. [Z. S.] The wazir Asad Khan was sent (November) to the Karnul and Kadapa districts across the Krishna, to wrest them from the officers of the late Adil Shahi and Qutb Shahi Governments and thereby secure the rear of the Mughal army fighting in the Madras Karnatak. Here he conquered many forts, including
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∗ *Insha-i-Madhuram*. The despatch is undated, but I conjecturally place the battle in 1690, as Santa and Dhana were absent in Kanara during Lutfullah's second thanadari of Akluj (16 Oct.—15 Dec. 1692.)
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If my conjecture be correct, and if we can take Lutfullah's two despatches as approximating to truth,—then we must conclude that the first Maratha attempt at revival was temporarily checked and Dhana and Santa were driven into hiding and comparative inactivity for six months (Oct. 1690—April 1691), and the Mughals retained their mastery in Maharashtra during that brief period.
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Nandiyal, the frontier-fortress between the Bijapuri and Haidarabadi Karnataks.
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§ 9. Operations during 1691 and 1692.
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In April-May 1691 the Emperor had to detach some generals against the Maratha bands whose activity had again begun to be reported. But his chief anxiety now was about Sagar, where the Berad chief Pidia Nayak was giving serious trouble. One large army after another, each under a first-rate general, had to be posted in the Berad country for a year and a half (June 1691-Dec. 1692.) While the Satara district in the north was probably quiet, the Raibagh-Hukri region in the south was subjected to Maratha raids (June 1691.)
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The year 1692 witnessed a renewal of Maratha activity* and their conspicuous success in many quarters, one of these being their recovery of Panhala from Mughal hands. The important post of Akluj, where the great southern highway from Ahmadnagar to Bijapur crossed the Puna-Haidarabad road, was infested by the enemy, and on 8th May Prince Muizz-ud-din was sent there. Santaji Ghorpare's base was the Mahadev hill to the north-east of Satara, and from this refuge he used to make rapid raids far to the east, over the rolling plains of Bijapur. Evidently the prince effected nothing decisive, as we read of Lutfullah Khan being sent to Akluj in the middle of October, to clear the country between Bijapur and the Bhima.
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∗ The whole of the remaining part of this chapter is based on the Akhbarat, except when other sources are cited.
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At the same time the Marathas were disturbing the Belgaon and Dharwar districts of the Western Karnatak. On 8th October, Dhana and Santa with 7,000 men were reported to have seized some forts near Belgaon and invested the latter town itself, and to be feeding their horses on the growing crops. By the 27th, these two generals had left Belgaon to attack Dharwar, and they finally retired to Nargund (30 m. n. e. of Dharwar.) At the same time, other Maratha bands were roving in the Akluj-Indi region in north Bijapur.
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The Emperor stiffened the defence of Kanara, by sending Hamid-ud-din Khan to Belgaon and Matlab Khan to Dharwar, while Qasim Khan, the faujdar of Bijapuri Karnatak or north-west Mysore, was reinforced and ordered to guard Bankapur and other places near it in addition, (16 Oct.) A little later, Matlab Khan defeated the enemy near Dharwar and captured a son and a daughter of one of the Maratha generals.*
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Soon afterwards (in the beginning of November 1692) the siege of Panhala began, and the Mughal forces had to be concentrated there. Early next month both Santa and Dhana were sent to Madras.
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∗ His name cannot be read in the transcript of the Persian MS. made for me.
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with large armies to relieve Jinji, and therefore Maharashtra was for a time denuded of the best national leaders and troops, and the Mughals in the western theatre enjoyed peace for a time.
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§ 10. Struggle with Santaji Ghorparé and Dhana Jadav, 1693-94.
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Late in 1693 Maratha activities revived in the west. Their general Amrit Rao* had entered Mughal service after Shambhuji's downfall and been posted to the Phaltan thana, but in October 1693 he came back to the national side, and crossed the Bhima to raid Mughal territory. Himmat Khan set out in pursuit of him, but could not catch the elusive Maratha horsemen. At the same time Dhana, Shankaraji and other leaders were attacking the Mughal force before Panhala, as we have already seen. And a more active enemy was making his presence felt by the Mughals.
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Santa Ghorparé had come back from Jinji in May 1693 after triumphantly raising its siege. As soon as the campaigning season opened in October, he resumed his raids in the homeland. His bands spread near Bhupal-garh (65 m. n. w. of Bijapur and 76 m. s. e. of Satara), while Dhana was attacking the besiegers of Panhala. Himmat Khan went out in pursuit of Santa and overtook him about 22nd October. The Maratha general, at the head of a vastly superior force, turned at bay at Mändgaon (? Mandavgaon) and attacked Himmat, whose small column took refuge at the foot of the village, "the enemy occupying three sides and the Khan one." Evidently at this stage reinforcements under Hamid-ud-din and Khwaja Khan joined Himmat, and the Mughals resumed the chase of the raiders. They gained a signal victory over Santa and his Berad allies (about 14th Nov.) at the village of Vikramhalli. Two hundred of the Berads and 300 of Santa's own men were slain, and 300 mares and some flags and kettledrums captured by the Mughals, though they too suffered heavy casualties. [Akh. 19 Nov.]
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∗ Called "Palkar, a general of Shivaji's son" in the Akh. of 24 Oct. 1693. Should be Nimbalkar.
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Then the Mughal generals quarrelled. Hamid-ud-din and Khwaja Khan, taking offence, left Himmat Khan, gave up the pursuit and returned towards Kulbarga. Himmat alone followed the enemy. Santa now safely divided his force, detaching 4000 troopers under Amrit Rao to raid Berar, while he himself marched with 6,000 horsemen towards Ma'khed, sending in advance threatening letters to the deshmukh of that place to this effect, "For a long time past you have not paid the chauth. Send me immediately 7,000 hun." The couriers who brought these letters were arrested by the Mughals and put to death.
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Foiled in his object, Santa turned aside to the hills of Targul (?) in the Berad country, while Himmat Khan halted at Malkhed, not daring to venture into that wild and broken region. In a day or two the elusive Maratha leader was out again and reported to be marching upon Haidarabad. Himmat Khan, now joined by Sayyid Abdullah, was immediately on his track and drove him into the small fort of Alur (14 miles s.w. of Malkhed). This happened about 21st Nov. 1693. Then for three months the records have been lost.
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On 6th March 1694, a report was received from Himmat Khan that he had followed Santa to village Bahram (in taluqa Kāngrati), and repulsed his counter-attack. We soon afterwards hear of Santa making an attempt to cut off two big guns at Maklur (? or Mahkur), on the way from Aurangabad to Galgala ; but Matlab Khan defeated him and drove him back to the Mahadev hills, where he lay quiet for some months after.