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History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c74: Chapter LI.

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c74

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English

Contents

Chapter LI.

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THE CONQUEST OF THE MADRAS KARNATAK, 1680-1698.

§ 1. The Eastern Karnatak and its divisions.

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The Eastern or Madras Karnatak, which we must distinguish from the Western Karnatak or the Kanarese-speaking division of the Bombay Presidency, extends from near the 15th degree of north latitude to the Kaveri river in the south. In the late 17th century it was divided into two halves by the Palar river, or an imaginary line in the southern part of the North Arcot district, slanting from Vellore to Sadras. These two parts were called Haidarabadi Karnatak and Bijapuri Karnatak respectively, and each of them was further sub-divided into uplands (*balaghat*, in Persian) and plains (*payinghat*). The upland of Haidarabadi Karnatak began south of Nandiyal (a frontier fort of Bijapur territory) and included Sidhout, Gandikota, Guti, Garamkonda and Kadapa,—the last-mentioned town being its seat of government. Bijapuri Balaghat lay west of Haidarabadi Karnatak and included the Sera and Bangalore districts of Mysore and their dependent zamindaris, Sera being the governor's head-quarters.

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Coming down to the lowlands, Haidarabadi Karnatak embraced the sea-coast from Gantur to Sadras.* Bijapuri Payinghat cannot be precisely demarcated, as it was in a disturbed state in 1689. It extended south and west of the Palar river, from Sadras (12·30 degree of north latitude) to Tanjore. The whole of this tract belonged to Bijapur in theory, having been conquered by Adil Shahi forces in the middle of the 17th century. But the conquests had not been consolidated, the authority of the central Government was feebly exerted in this most distant frontier province, much of the country was still in the hands of unsubdued poligars or petty local chieftains, and Adil Shah only held certain forts and their environs; but even in these his authority was exercised by his nobles, who were independent in all but the name. This situation was further complicated by Shivaji's invasion and conquest of the country (1677-78).† But even as the result of that conquest, the entire region did not pass into Maratha possession. Muslim and Hindu servants of the defeated Government maintained themselves here and there, though with diminished territory, and diversified the political geography of what was once Bijapuri Karnatak Payinghat. The new Maratha Government of the South Arcot district (capital, Jinji) wisely ensured a portion of its territorial acquisitions by a sort of armed truce with the Maharajah of Tanjore and the local poligars.

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∗ Wilkes, i. 134—136 (Madras reprint.) Kaep. 101. Manucci (Storia, iii. 242) says that the two Karnataks were separated by the Marakkanam river,—the Bijapuri extending to Porto Novo and the Haidarabadi to Sadras. As for Telingana (or the Gingerlee Country, as it is called in the Madras Factory Records), it stretched along the coast from the Krishna northwards to the frontier of Orissa and included Masulipatam (the capital), Vizagapatam, and Chicacole. It formed a separate province, under its own viceroy.

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† Described in my Shivaji, ch. 10.

§ 2. Harji Mahadik, the Maratha viceroy of the Eastern Karnatak.

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The great Shivaji in his expedition of 1677-78 had conquered the Bijapuri Karnatak from the Palar to the Kolerun river. Over this vast territory he placed Raghunath Narayan Hanumanté as viceroy, with Jinji for his seat of government and subordinate governors under him at Kunimedu (13 miles north of Pondicherry) and Mahmudi Bandar (or Porto Novo.)

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Shambhuji, soon after his accession, dismissed and imprisoned Raghunath* (early in January 1681), and sent his own sister's husband Harji Mahadik to govern Jinji with Shamji Nayak Pundé as his lieutenant or partner in power. The two arrived there with their troops in March 1681 and took charge of the government. Five months afterwards, Shamji was thrown into prison, evidently on suspicion of complicity in the plots formed against Shambhuji in Maharashtra by Annaji Datto and his party. Henceforth Harji Mahadik ruled the Eastern Karnatak with undivided power, and circumstances soon afterwards made him practically independent of his master. The Maratha king's absorption in vice, the baneful predominance of the favourite Kavi-kalas in his council, the consequent disorder in the kingdom, and the increasing Mughal pressure on Maharashtra under the personal direction of Aurangzib, all tended to extinguish Shambhuji's authority in the far-off province of Jinji and to make the local viceroy his own master. Harji extended his power over the neighbourhood,* gave himself the airs of a king, assumed (at least in popular speech) the title of Maharajah, and neglected to send the surplus revenue to his sovereign at Raigarh.

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∗ The Madras Diary, 8 January 1681, records the popular report that he was seized and put in irons by Santaji Bhonslé on hearing a (false) rumour that Shambhuji had been cut in pieces by one of his great commanders and that Rajaram was seated on the throne. In Dec. 1682 Raghunath returned to Maharashtra and was locally employed by Shambhuji as a majmuadar. He died at Balni on the 4th May following (Z. S.)

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∗ In March 1683 he went with his army to help the Nayak of Trichinopoly in defeating an invasion by the chief of Seringapatam, in which the Mysore general and 2000 horses were captured. (Z. S.) The ruler of Trichinopoly was driven into the arms of the Jinji Government by his eternal hostility to the king of Tanjore, while Shivaji's conquests in central and eastern Mysore made the chief of Seringapatam the ally of Shivaji's enemy, the Rajah of Tanjore. Vyankoji died in January 1685 and was succeeded on the throne of Tanjore by his son Shahji II. (Z. S.)

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The fall of Bijapur (12th Sep. 1686) and the impending siege of Golkonda (which actually began on 28th January 1687) roused Shambhuji to a full sense of the danger which now began to threaten his richest possession, the golden land of Karnatak, from the extension of Mughal dominion in that direction. In October 1686 he sent Kesho Trimbak Pinglé with 12,000 horse, outwardly to strengthen his garrisons in the Karnatak, but with secret instructions to seize and depose the refractory Harji Rajah and assume the government of Jinji in the king's name. There was even a popular belief that Harji was thinking of securing his position by disowning Shambhuji's authority and declaring himself a tributary vassal of the all-conquering Mughals on their arrival in the Karnatak. (Orme's Frag., 155.)

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Kesho Trimbak arrived near Jinji on 11th February 1687. (Z.S.) Aurangzib, on hearing of the march of this large enemy force eastwards across the peninsula, could not at first divine its exact destination, but regarded Mysore as its objective. In order to forestall them in the occupation of the Bijapuri territories in that quarter, of which he now considered himself the lawful heir, he quickly detached Qasim Khan from his siege-camp before Golkonda. The Khan by rapid marches and vigorous attacks forced Bangalore* to surrender in June 1687, and on 27th September next gained by bribery the important fort of Penukunda (75 miles north of Bangalore and once the capital of the fallen Vijaynagar kingdom).

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∗ The Z. S. is confused here, and I suggest that the text should be rearranged to mean that the Mughal general was

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The Marathas in the Karnatak were too much divided by internal quarrels to hinder his progress. Kesho Trimbak naturally wished to assume immediately the high post to which he had been nominated by the king, and it was probably his impatience that caused his secret orders to leak out. We find that in March it was publicly known at Cuddalore that Harji Rajah had been dismissed and that Kesho was to be the new viceroy (Madras Diary, 26 March). But his hopes were doomed to disappointment. Harji having learnt the real object of Kesho's mission from his friends at Court, had effectually secured Jinji fort in his own hands and made the local army absolutely devoted to himself. Kesho, finding the game lost, pretended that he had never had any such hostile aim, and began to obey Harji's authority openly. Then, with a view to exacting tribute from the petty local chiefs and checking the progress of the Mughals, he marched into Mysore at the head of 18,000 horse, after getting Harji's contingent to reinforce his own. But here

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aided by the chief of house. The date of the or 10th July, as that ye month.

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he could effect nothing, and soon returned to the neighbourhood of Jinji, reaching Trinomali (23 miles west of that fort) about 10th November.

§ 3. Mughal penetration into the Eastern Karnatak, 1687.

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In the meantime Golkonda had fallen (7th Sep. 1687) and a Mughal penetration of the Karnatak plains was imminent. Even before the surrender of the Qutb Shahi king and citadel, Aurangzib had been sending out his officers to take possession of its provinces. In July Kondapilla, the second strongest fort in Telingana and the king's chief treasury and arsenal, had been gained by bribery, and several scattered parties of the Mughal army were robbing the country within three days' march of Masulipatam (Madras Diary, 29 July).

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After the conquest, Aurangzib wisely retained the former Qutb Shahi officers at their respective posts for some time. Muhammad Ibrahim (created by him Mahabat Khan), the highest Golkonda noble to desert to him, was appointed subahdar of Haidarabad and the Khan's confidant, Muhammad Ali Beg (now entitled Ali Askar Khan), was nominated faujdar (or sar-i-lashkar, in Golkonda official designation) of the Karnatak,* with Kadapa for his head-quarters and subordinate qiladars and magistrates under him, such as Fath Khan at Chinglepat, Madana Ananta Pantulu at Conjeveram and another Hindu at Punamali. These officers submissively proclaimed Aurangzib as their sovereign and planted the Mughal flag upon their forts (October 1687).*

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∗ "A farman was sent to Muhammad Ali, a Haidarabadi officer, who had been in supreme control of the Karnatak, creating him a Mughal mansabdar with the title of Askar Khan and directing him not to let the sehbandi (militia) troops of

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But the Emperor changed his mind soon afterwards. It was deemed unwise to leave the newly-conquered country in the hands of the servants of the fallen dynasty. They were now replaced by Mughal officers ;—Mahabat Khan was sent away to far-off Lahore, Ruhullah Khan getting the subahdari of Haidarabad ; Qasim Khan supplanted Ali Askar and was directed to march to the Karnatak and conduct a vigorous war against the Maratha forces there (January, 1688).†

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† A Mughal force, evidently a small advanced corps, reached the Jinji country about the middle of November 1687 (Madras Diary, 22 Nov.)

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that province disperse [on the downfall of their old master, Qutb Shah]. Ismail [Khan Maka], Yachapa Nair and other jamadars of the sehbandi and zamindars of the place, without any cause fell upon Askar Khan and plundered [him]. Then an imperial force under Mukaram Khan arrived and the lawless men dispersed on all sides." [Dilkasha, ii. 95a.] But the revolt of Ismail and Yachapa against the Mughal Government took place later, in Jan. 1690, as we learn from Z. S. and the Madras Diary.

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∗ "The governor of Punamali said, that the world turned round like a wheel, he had beaten his drums, and fired his guns, for the victory which the mighty Alamgir had gained over his old master." [Orme's Frag. 157.]

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§ 4. Indecisive struggle 1688; both sides plunder the country.

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On Kesho Trimbak's return from Mysore, he openly quarrelled with Harji and demanded the delivery of Jinji in obedience to their master's order. A civil war between the partisans of the two rivals for the viceroyalty was expected. Harji, in preparation for the worst, secured a retreat for himself in the fort of Tevenapatam (near Cuddalore). Then he sent out a detachment of his army under Gopal Pandit and Vital Pillai (Vital Pildev Garud?), to plunder and conquer on his own account the late territory of Golkonda north of the Palar river, which had recently submitted to Mughal ownership without having as yet received adequate Mughal garrisons. Marching with 2,000 horse, 5,000 foot, and great numbers of pioneers and scaling ladders, these two officers took easy possession of several forts and a hundred towns in this region. On 24th December Arcot was captured by assault and its governor with most of his infantry killed. The Marathas spread over the country plundering and torturing without regard for sex or creed. Several great Brahmans of Conjeveram with their wives and children took refuge in Madras (27th Dec. 1687—10th Jan. 1688), to save their persons and property from Maratha outrage. On 10th January, Madana Ananta, the governor of that holy city, himself fled to Madras. On the 11th the Marathas burst into Conjeveram plundering the city, killing about 500 men, destroying the houses, and putting the terror-stricken inhabitants to flight. Kesho Trimbak took to the same profitable business with his own contingent: after capturing Chitpat and Kaveripak, he established his camp at Conjeveram and plundered the country around (January 1688). (Madras Diary).

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But the Maratha occupation was short-lived. Aurangzib had been roused to the danger, and already in the middle of December he had issued urgent orders to four high generals of the late Golkonda Government—Ismail Khan Maka, Yachapa Nayak, Rustam Khan, and Muhammad Sadiq,—to hasten to the Karnatak plains and succour the Emperor's partisans there. These officers arrived at Conjeveram on 25th February 1688, with 4,000 horse and 7,000 foot. (Madras Diary; Z. S.; Orme is inaccurate; Kaep. 260.)

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The Marathas evacuated that town at their approach and retired beyond Uttramalore, plundering the towns of the cows, cattle, etc. as they went. The Mughal vanguard pursued them, and fought them at Wandiwash in a battle where both sides suffered equal loss (8th March); but on being reinforced they seized Wandiwash and made it their camp, while the Marathas encamped at Chitpat, a day's march southwards. The main armies on the two sides remained in this position for a year, merely watching each other,[*] but they daily sent out detachments and foraging parties who plundered the country indiscriminately. The hapless people, who had not yet recovered from the effects of the desolating famine of 1686,* had now to endure two sets of robbers instead of one. No regular battle was fought for many months afterwards, but skirmishes and alarms were frequent, the trade of the district was ruined, industry ceased, grain and oil-seeds became very scarce from the constant plunder and ravage, and multitudes flocked to the fortified European settlements on the coast as their only refuge.

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∗ The French agent, Mons. Germain, who left Pondicherry on 17th October 1688, reports that on his arrival at Jiuji he

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Ibrahim Khan Lodi, son of Sher Khan the late Bijapuri governor of Valikandapuram, now formed a plan for taking advantage of the disorder, wresting Cuddalore from the Marathas, and making himself its governor (March 1688.) But nothing came of it. Ramji Krishna was appointed by Harji Rajah with a large force to raid the borders of the Golkonda country, but instead of going there he robbed the

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found there a great confusion at the news of the approach of the Muhammadans. Harji, for a consideration of Rs. 11,760, allowed the French to raise walls and four high towers at Pondicherry; the actual farman was granted on 9th Jan. 1689, the month of December having been wasted by the Maratha Court. [Kaep. 261.]

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∗ When 2,000 famished beggars crowded into Madras town, many of them dying daily in the streets, till at last the English raised subscriptions and opened a relief kitchen under their chief dubash. [Madras Diary, 19 Aug. 1686.]

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country adjacent to Pondicherry, though it was loyal Maratha territory, and in this way he amassed 20,000 hun in a short time. (Dec. 1688.)

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During 1688 Aurangzib made frequent changes in the governorship of Haidarabadi Karnatak, first Yettamato Ráo Timapa (? Yachapa Nair) was retained in office; then soon afterwards (April) he was turned out and Jan Nisar Khan appointed as his successor. In October Askar Ali replaced Jan Nisar, but, pending the arrival of this new governor, Muhammad Sadiq, the deputy, continued to act for him. Askar Ali took charge in January 1689 and Muhammad Sadiq lost his employment. [Mad. Diary, 25 Oct. 1688, 1 May 1690.]

§ 5. Confusion and disorder continue in 1689.

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The year 1689 continued to be as bad for the Karnatak as the year before. The roads were unsafe; Mughal and Maratha armies daily plundered the country. Country-made cotton and other goods could not be brought to the English factory at Kunimedu for export, by reason of the constant warfare and robbery in the region from there to Porto Novo and the deepening scarcity. In July the English factory at Porto Novo was withdrawn for these troubles. The situation in the Karnatak was adversely reacted upon by the situation in the Telingana coast immediately north of it, where "a great famine" was raging in the Vizagapatam district and frequent wars were going on between the new Mughal faujdar and the local rajahs. (*Madras Diary*, 25 March 1689).

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In the February of this year, Shambhuji was captured by the Mughals. When the news of the disaster reached Harji, he imprisoned Kesho Trimbak and his adherents at Trinomali, and made himself free from the chance of his rivalry. But later the reports of Mughal progress and Maratha reverses in the homeland and Rajaram's disappearance into obscurity alarmed him and for a time he seems to have thought of submitting to the Mughals and paying them tribute. (*Madras Diary*, 2 Aug. 1689.) But he wisely decided, instead, to strengthen his army, improve the defences of Jinji, and defy the Mughals from its impregnable shelter. He released Kesho Trimbak on 19th August, but himself died a month afterwards (c. 19th Sep.)* His wife Ambika Bai, (Shivaji's daughter), continued to govern the fort and province on behalf of her minor sons. But the situation at Jinji was unexpectedly reversed by the arrival of Rajaram there on the 1st or 2nd of November, 1689.

§ 6. Rajaram at Jinji.

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The arrival of Rajaram was followed by a peaceful revolution at Jinji. Harji's widow and her Brahman advisers were reluctant to part with the usurped authority and local independence they had enjoyed for over eight years. [Memoirs of F. Martin.] But Rajaram's right could not be disputed; the government of Jinji passed into his hands. Kesho Trimbak became his chief favourite, took his revenge by placing Harji's son under confinement (15th Nov.), and squeezed money out of the late viceroy's widow by calling upon her to render accounts for her husband's long years of administration of the province. She had to make her peace by paying three lakhs of hun, and Santaji Bhonsle one lakh. (Madras Diary, 6 Dec. 1689.)

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∗ Z. S. gives the date of his death as Ashwin Badi 11 (=29th Sep. 1689). But the *Madras Diary* records on 26th Sep. the receipt of the report of his death via Kunimedu, so that he must have died about ten days earlier.

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"Rajaram, on his arrival, sent a summons to all in any considerable employment in the Government to make their appearance before him." His aim was reported to be "to divert the Mughal army from his kingdom of Puna and join with several Hindu Nayaks and raise a considerable army to retake the Golkonda and Bijapur kingdoms." (Madras Diary, 6 Dec. and 14 Nov. 1689). For Prahlad Niraji, his supreme agent, a new post, that of Pratinidhi or Regent, was created, while Nilo Moreshwar Pingle continued to hold the title of Peshwa or nominal prime minister. In the French records Krishnaji Anant, the historian of Shivaji, is called his second minister, but the Marathi histories—all of a much later date—are silent about him. Timaji, the son of Kesho Trimbak Pinglé, was appointed subahdar of the Jinji district and Sundar Balaji that of Kunimedu.

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The Regent, Prahlad Niraji, "threw Rajaram into a life of debauchery" [Martin] and kept "the young king constantly intoxicated by the habitual use of ganja and opium" [Wilkes, i. 133.] Then "seizing the reality of power, he caused the Brahmans who had enriched themselves under Harji to disgorge their money and goods by the stroke of confiscation." [Kaep.]

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§ 7. Rapacity of Maratha Government of Jinji; its dealings with the European traders.

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But this squeezing of its former officials could not fill the gaping void of the Maratha Government's financial distress. The ministers at Jinji looked round to raise money from the European settlements on the East Coast,—all persons living outside these strong places having been already plundered and ruined. Early in December the subahdar of Jinji demanded 3,000 hun as an advance or loan from the English factory at Kunimedu, and a like amount from the French and Dutch factories lying within his jurisdiction; the richer merchants were urged to lend 5000 or even 1000 hun each. Before the end of the month, the pressure was increased; in addition to the loan of 3,000 hun to the king, 5000 more were demanded as a fine for the buildings and fortifications of each European Company. "They will have no reason or equity, saying that they are in great want of money, having given the king (Rajaram) their estates to continue themselves in their employments, which they must seek to retrieve." [Madras Diary, 4 Jan. 1690]. At the same time the Marathas asked the governor of Madras for 100 barrels of gunpowder and 2500 weight of small shot, to carry on their war against the Mughals; but the English, not wishing to give offence to Aurangzib, managed to evade the request. In March, Rajaram visited the coast to bathe in the sea on the occasion of the lunar eclipse (on the 14th of the month.) The opportunity was taken to extort money gifts from the Indian merchants and European Companies of the region, the French at Pondicherry having to pay 200 hun. [Kaep. 274].

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But this source brought in very little. In their extreme penury, the Maratha Government offered to sell the fort of Tevenapatam (afterwards St. David) with a gunshot of land round it, to the European Companies, who began to bid for it. The French were given the refusal of it at 50,000 hun, but they were too poor and their able agent Francois Martin wisely declined the offer. [Kaep. 274]. The English were more eager; after some skilful haggling they beat down the Marathas to 51,500 *chakram*,* or Rs. 1,08,150. Early in August 1690, Rajaram signed a *farman* selling the fort and a "random shot" of land round it to the English, for that amount. The English governor cunningly wrote to his agent at Kunimedu to contrive to delay taking possession of Tevenapatam till their best brass gun had arrived from Madras, so that the "random shot" might range over the greatest possible width of territory! But alas for the vanity of human wishes, in their greed of territory they had reckoned without Maratha perfidy. M. Martin had found out to his cost that "the Marathas need money so badly that they do not respect old promises and written *farmans*." [Kaep. 273.] The English president Elihu Yale now discovered the same truth. As he wrote in his bitterness, "the mercenary Marathas may be induced by bribes to resell the fort ten times over to the same or several persons. Nay, they will sell their honour and conscience, too, to any that will buy it." [*Madras Diary*, 21 July.] Manji-kupam, one of the villages included within the "random shot," remained a subject of dispute, the Dutch claiming it by virtue of an old *farman* and the Marathas supporting their claim in order to get more money out of the English.

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∗ A *chakram* is a small gold coin worth two Rupees and one-tenth, while the value of the hun varied from 3½ to 4½ Rupees.

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The Dutch, as the mortal enemies of the French, intrigued hard at Rajaram's Court to destroy the infant French settlement rising at Pondicherry, close to their factory at Cuddalore. In view of the approaching war between the Mughals and the Marathas on the East Coast, which he had clearly foreseen as early as February 1688, Martin had fortified the landward side of Pondicherry and secured through his agent, M. Germain, permission for these defensive works by paying 5,000 *chakram* to Harji Rajah (9 Jan. 1689).

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On Rajaram's arrival in the Karnatak, Martin hastened to send the same Germain to Jinji to be one of the first to welcome him. "The young prince showed himself amiable and gave the French a *farman* confirming its predecessors." [Kaep. 269]. Even before the death of Harji Rajah, Martin had been negotiating with the Jinji Court to counteract the effect of the pecuniary offers made by the Dutch to the Marathas in order to secure an order expelling the French factory. After Rajaram's coming, the French and Dutch agents continued to intrigue against each other among the Maratha ministers,—the Dutch offering a large bribe for a proclamation condemning the French. The Jinji ministers encouraged the game, "thinking only how to get the maximum amount of money out of the one or the other." In June 1690, the Dutch retired with failure, the French having lent Rajaram 6,000 *chakram* at 18 per cent interest. The turn of the Dutch, however, came in 1693, when they at last secured Rajaram's permission and seized Pondicherry.

§ 8. Campaign of 1690.

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The year 1690 opened very badly for the imperialists in the Karnatak. While the coming of Rajaram gave an impetus to Maratha activity in December 1689, next month the Mughal cause suffered a temporary eclipse from the rebellion of the old Haidarabadi local officers lately taken over into the Emperor's service. Muhammad Sadiq, the foremost among them, brooded over his removal from the local command; Yachapa Nayak and Ismail Maka, too, found out that the profuse promises made to them when the Emperor annexed Golkonda territory and sought their adhesion, were not intended to be kept and that they were sure to be replaced by former servants of the Emperor and doomed to unemployment or humbler offices. So they deserted their new master, made an alliance with Rajaram (through the mediation of Nilo Moreshwar Pinglé, the Peshwa) and began to usurp the country and collect the revenue. The imperial representatives, from Madras to Kunimedu, were hopelessly outnumbered and defeated and forced to flee to the European settlements on the coast. The governor Askar Ali Khan himself had to send his family and many of his followers to Madras for refuge (April). The rebellion was extinguished only at the approach of Zulfiqar Khan as the supreme Mughal commander a few months later. He had been detached from the imperial Court at Koregaon at the end of November 1689, marched by way of Raichur, Karnul, Nandiyal, Kadapa, and Garamkonda, and then descended into the Karnatak plain (about June 1690), fighting and capturing many forts on the way and reaching Conjeveram in August and the environs of Jinji at the beginning of September. [Dil. ii. 98b ; Madras Diary, 1 and 22 Sep. 1690]. Rajaram had sent his own troops with the contingents of his allies, Tanjore Trimbak Rao and Yachapa Nayak, north-westwards into the Karnatak plateau to prevent the Mughal general's descent into the eastern plains, but the terror of his name was too great and they returned "without doing anything." [Z. S.]

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The military situation was now* reversed; the Maratha raiding bands were driven back by the Mughals and "invasion threatened the dominions of Rajaram." [Kaep. 272]. The Maratha retreat to Jinji was precipitate, and the coming of Zulfiqar Khan, crowned with his great victory at Raigarh and the capture of Shambhuji's entire family, as well as his unbroken series of successes in the Kadapa and Arcot districts, at first created a consternation at Jinji. Rajaram left that fort and went to some safer refuge further south in the Karnatak, nearer his ally the Rajah of Tanjore, [Z. S.], and in October Zulfiqar wrote to the French to prevent his escape by the sea in an English ship. [Kaep. 279].

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The miserable country from Jinji to the sea-coast continued to be pillaged by the camp-followers and "couriers" of both sides. The local people fled with their families for safety far to the south in Tanjore territory, or to the European factories on the coast, and hence the population of Pondicherry doubled in the course of one year (rising to 60,000 souls.) [Kaep. 278.]

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∗ Kaeppelin says in March; but that is too early, as Zulfiqar arrived at Conjeveram in August and could not have reached Saddam, the southern frontier station of the Kadapa district and place of descent into the Karnatak plain, earlier than the preceding June or July.

§ 9. Fort of Jinji described.

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The rock-fortress of Jinji from its almost central position dominates the vast Karnatak plain from Arcot southwards to Trichinopoly, and from the Eastern Ghats to the Bay of Bengal. It consists not of one fort, but of three fortified hillocks connected together by strong lines of circumvallation, and forming a rough triangle nearly three miles in circumference.

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"These hills are steep, rocky and covered with such enormous boulders that they are almost unclimbable. Each of the three is fortified on all sides with line above line of stone walls, flanked with bastions, filled with embrasures for guns, loopholed for musketry and pierced only by narrow and strong gateways; and from each to the next, connected with these defences, runs a great stone-faced rampart nearly 60 feet thick with a ditch over 80 feet wide outside it. The triangular space thus enclosed (which is about three miles round) forms the lower fort, and the three hills are the citadels. Up each of the three citadels leads, from the lower fort, a steep flight of steps of hewn granite built on and among the great boulders with which the sides of the hills are strewn."

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The strongest and highest of the peaks is the western one, called *Rajgiri* (or Great Mountain in Orme's plan), its top standing 800 feet above the plain below and 400 feet in an almost sheer ascent above the rest of the ridge......The only path to Rajgiri, "a steep and narrow way, leads from the lower fort below, from the south-west, through gates in three lines of loopholed walls built one above another on the ridge across the road, and at length scales a mass of rock the top of which is nearly level with the summit of the citadel. But at this point, on the north side of the bluff, a great natural chasm, some 24 feet wide and 50 feet deep, separates this mass of rock from the topmost terrace of Rajgiri. This chasm, the former owners (agents of the Vijaynagar empire) had artificially lengthened and widened, and they had made the only entrance to the citadel pass across a narrow wooded bridge thrown over it, the further end of the bridge leading to a stone gate commanded by more embrasures and loopholes. Orme says that this point could be held by ten men against ten thousand." [S. Arcot Dist. Gazetteer, i. 347-348; also Manual, 413].

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The northernmost of the three hills is *Krishnagiri* ("English Mountain" in Orme's plan), and the southern one is *Chandrayandurg* ("St. George's Mountain" in Orme). The last is of much lower elevation.

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The gates are three: one in the northern wall, now called the Vellore or Arcot gate, but known in the 17th century as the ‘gate towards Trinomali’; a second in the eastern face, now called the Pondicherry gate, which was the principal entrance into the fort in the 17th century; and due west of this second gate, right across the lower enclosure, stands a small postern gate (in the wall connecting Chandrayan with Rajgiri), called by the Indians *Shaitan-dari* (or *Port du Diable* in French, as in Orme's plan).

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About half a mile south of Rajgiri is a fourth hill now called *Chakkili-durg* (and *Chamar-tikri* by Bhimsen), the summit of which is strongly fortified. But it is not connected with Jinji. [S. Arcot Manual, 418.]

§ 10. Mughal army begins siege of Jinji.

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From Aurangzib's Court Zulfiqar Khan had reached Jinji early in September 1690, but he merely sat down before it. The investment of such a vast group of forts with the forces under him was out of the question, and he had no heavy guns nor enough munitions for a bombardment. About 19th September we find him asking for 200 maunds of powder and 500 soldiers from Madras, and the demand was soon increased to 500 maunds of powder, 500 great shot, 500 soldiers and 30 gunners. The English who owed him ground-rent for their settlement, sent him 200 maunds of powder and 300 iron shot. In November he demanded from the French agent in his camp, European munitions and gunners. Many European soldiers—of the English and other races—were tempted by offers of high pay to join his army, and he thus formed a corps of 100 white men.

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In April 1691, the Mughal army before Jinji had become so large and well-provisioned that the country around expected a speedy fall of the fort. [Madras Diary, 26 April.] But, in reality, the siege had made little progress in all these months. The Muhammadans could not prevent the victualling of the place, as a complete blockade was beyond their power; and "the Marathas recovering from their first consternation began to harass them incessantly." [Kaeppelin, 280.] In November 1690 three Maratha chiefs—Nimaji Sindhia, Mankoji Pandhré and Nagoji Mané—left the Mughal side in Western India, came to Rajaram with 2,000 horsemen, and took charge of the defence works at Chakra-kulam* in the lower fort. In the February following, Rajaram returned to Jinji. His first plan on coming to the Karnatak was to gain the help of the petty Hindu princes of the East Coast and lead a confederacy against the Mughal forces in Golkonda and Bijapur. But the mutual enmities of the local chieftains were so bitter that this proposal met with no support. Only his first cousin, the Rajah of Tanjore, aided him throughout the siege with men, partly from family affection and partly for cession of territory, money and provisions, and thus enabled him to defy the imperialists from within his stronghold for several years.

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∗ Z. S., which reads Chakra-puri. It is a tank (kulam) lying on the valley between Chandrayan and Rajgiri. [Gaz. i. 359.]

§ 11. Mughal besiegers hard pressed, 1691.

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The military superiority of the Mughals was rapidly lost after April, while the activity of the Maratha bands roving around stopped the supply of grain to Zulfiqar's camp. "Many Deccani mansabdars who had accompanied him now deserted to the enemy." Sayyid Lashkar Khan brought in a welcome supply of money from the Emperor and grain from the Kadapa district, which gave the besiegers some relief. "Zulfiqar reported to the Emperor that the enemy were hemming him round, stopping his supply of provisions, and that he needed reinforcements urgently." [Dil. ii. 99b, M. A. 352.]

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This general's father Asad Khan, the wazir, who had been sent from the Court in November 1690 into the country south of the Krishna, had after many successes encamped at Kadapa. He now received orders to hasten to his son's aid. Prince Kam Bakhsh, then at Wagingera,[*] was ordered by the Emperor (20th July, 1691) to proceed to the Karnatak and support the wazir from behind. But Asad Khan wasted months without moving. He had often expressed an eager desire to see his son, but now that the son was in sore straits he was in no hurry to go to his side. He had also frequently taunted the other imperial generals with failure against the Marathas and bragged of what he could have done, saying, "His Majesty has not charged me with any enterprise. When he does so, he will see what 'Turk' means." This speech had been reported to the Emperor, and now on hearing of Asad Khan's supine inactivity, Aurangzib turned to his librarian and said, "His Turkship is over. How runs the proverb?" And then they both recited it,—'Don't brag again, as your boast (Turki) has come to an end!' This verse was embodied in a despatch now sent to Asad Khan. [M. A. 353, letter in Ruqaat No. 153.]

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∗ M. A. 339 corrected by reference to 355 and 344; Dil. 103a.

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On receiving this stinging letter, Asad Khan made active preparations for an advance. The prince reached Kadapa on 4th October, and the two marched to Jinji, which was reached on 16th December, 1691.*

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In the meantime, Zulfiqar had abandoned his futile attacks on Jinji and turned to the more profitable work of levying contributions from the zamindars of South Karnatak. "The Khan Bahadur summoned to himself Ali Mardan Khan, the faujdar of Conjeveram, strengthened his camp, then started [with a mobile field force] against the kingdoms of Tanjore and Trichinopoly, and returned after collecting tributes from the zamindars of this tract. He fought many battles, but was victorious in them all." [Dil. 99b.] At the end of August we find him passing by way of Cuddalore towards Tanjore. [Madras Diary.] At the end of this year he captured Trinomali* (23 m. w. of Jinji), for which he was promoted on 16th Jan. 1692. He had asked the French in October to take Valdaur for him, but they had wisely declined. [Kaep. 292.] Thus the year 1691 passed without any decisive success for the imperialists.

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∗ M. A. 355. 344; his march from Wagingera described in Dil. 103a.—105b.

§ 12. Siege operations during 1692.

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The next year was equally barren of results for them, in spite of the great accession to their armed strength brought by the prince and the wazir. Ismail Khan Maka (a grandee of the late Qutb Shahi State) was induced to enter the Emperor's service and joined Zulfiqar's camp with his contingent; but Yachapa Nayak continued with the Marathas. [Dil. 100a.]

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With these additions to his forces, Zulfiqar renewed the siege of Jinji in 1692. He himself took post opposite the eastern (or Pondicherry) gate near a hillock called Ali Madad (evidently the 'Rock Battery' of Orme's plan), across one of the branches of the Jinji river. Asad Khan and the prince were encamped three miles away from him, beyond the northern gate, on the road leading from Krishnagiri to Singhavaram* hill. Ismail Khan and other local auxiliaries were stationed in an outpost north-west of the fort, "in the direction of Karnatak-garh",—evidently south of the channel which drains the pool at the northern foot of Rajgiri. Each Mughal camp was walled round for safety. The gate of Shaitan-dari could not be blockaded, and the garrison freely came and went out by it and brought in provisions whenever they liked. An outpost under Kakar Khan watched the path through the Vetavalam† wood by which supplies reached the fort, but the task was ineffectively done.

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∗ *M. A. 345, (where the name is mis-spelt as Tirmal or Nirmal). Its importance in the siege of Jinji is clear from Br. Mus. Sloane MS. 3582, p. 24.

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† Vetavalam, 16 miles south-west of Jinji, and now in the Tiruvannamalai taluk. Here elephants used to roam. [S. A. Gaz. i. 82.]

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The Marathas made sorties from Krishnagiri, firing rockets and threatening the prince's camp. Zulfiqar strengthened the guards there. One night a Maratha force 5,000 strong sallied out of the north gate, but were defeated by the combined exertions of the entire Mughal army. The danger, however, was great and Zulfiqar removed the prince's camp to the side of his own and joined the two encampments together by the same enclosing walls. The position opposite the north gate, vacated by the prince, was assigned to Sayyid Lashkar Khan. Zulfiqar next selected Chandrayan-durg as his objective and ran trenches towards it. Then he began a bombardment of this hill as well as of the Pondicherry gate. [Dil. 105b—106a.] But all his exertions were a mere show, as the country around knew well.

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∗ Two miles north of Jinji. The name is mis-spelt by Bhimsen as Sholing-varam, but Sholinghur (also Sholing-puram) is another place, 60 miles northwards.

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The condition of the Mughal camp in 1692 is thus described by an eye-witness: "The rain fell with excessive severity. Grain was dear. The soldiers, having to spend days and nights together in the trenches, suffered great hardship. From a position in the hillside, where Muhammad Mumin (the chief of the imperial artillery) had constructed a yard and a strong portico with stages, 24 tanks could be seen in the Mughal camp. In the rainy season the entire tract looked like one lake."*

§ 13. Santa Ghorparé captures Governor of Conjeveram.

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Bad as the Mughal position had been during the rainy season, it became absolutely untenable in winter. Early in December, a vast Maratha force of more than 30,000 horse, raised in Western India by Ramchandra (the chief agent of Rajaram) arrived in the Eastern Karnatak under the celebrated generals Dhana Singh Jadav and Santa Ghorparé.

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∗ *Dil.* 106b. One night this battery on the hillside was attacked by the garrison and the defenders driven out of their trenches with slaughter. But Dalpat Rao recovered the lost position and restored the damaged trenches. (*Ibid.*)

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The deluge of the newly arrived Maratha cavalry first burst on the Conjeveram district. The terror inspired by these brigands caused a panic flight of the inhabitants far and near into Madras for refuge (11th to 13th Dec.). When the division under Santa arrived near Kaveripak, Ali Mardan Khan, the Mughal faujdar of Conjeveram, went out to encounter it, without knowing its vast numbers. He could not avoid a battle, in the course of which his corps of *bahelia* musketeers went over to the enemy. The Khan, finding resistance vain, tried to retreat to Conjeveram, but his small force was hemmed round and he was captured with 1,500 horses and six elephants. All the property and materials of his army were looted (13th Dec.). The Khan was taken to Jinji and held to ransom. Several of his officers and many other nobles on the Mughal side fled precipitately to Madras, where they were well treated and fed at the E. I. Company's expense. After some months Ali Mardan secured his release by paying the huge ransom of one lakh of *hun*, which his brother-in-law Ali Qadir had raised. [*Madras Diary*, 13, 17 and 23 Dec. 1692 and 4 Aug. 1693, *Dil.* 108*b*, *Z.S.*]

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§ 14. Dhana Jadav captures Ismail Khan Maka.

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The other division of the Maratha reinforcements, led by Dhana Jadav, attacked the siege-camps round Jinji. On the reported approach of Santa and Dhana, Zulfiqar saw himself hopelessly outnumbered, and wisely ordered his outposts to fall in on his main army, as these scattered positions were no longer tenable. Sayyid Lashkar Khan and Kakar Khan quickly carried out the order and joined their general. But Ismail Khan, posted west of the fort, had a longer distance to cross, and his soldiers, also, dispersed in trying to remove their property, so that when he at last began to withdraw it was too late. The Marathas helped by their brethren in the fort intercepted him. The Khan offered a brave opposition to tenfold odds, but was wounded and captured with 500 horses and two elephants, and carried off a prisoner to Jinji. [M.A. 357, Dil. 107a, Madras Diary, 9 Jan. 1693.]

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The victorious Marathas immediately proclaimed their authority over the Haidarabadi Karnatak,—the Conjeveram and Kadapa countries',—appointing Keshava Ramana as their subahdar at the head of 1,000 horse and 4,000 foot. (Jan. 1693.)

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§ 15. Prince Kam Bakhsh intrigues with Marathas.

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The revival of Maratha activity and predominance in the surrounding country put a stop to the free and plentiful supply of grain in the Mughal camp by way of Punamali and Madras, which had prevailed ever since the siege began. It also stopped the coming of letters from the Emperor's Court to the siege-camp, with calamitous results. The Mughal army outside Jinji was now besieged in its turn, and its condition became extremely dangerous.

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by reason of internal disputes. Prince Kam Bakhsh was a foolish young man, the spoilt child of his father's old age, untaught to bridle his passions, and ever swayed by his caprices and the counsels of young and worthless favourites. He contrived to offend his guardian, the aged and influential wazir, Asad Khan, by putting him to inconvenience in a childish spirit of mischief. As the Court historian writes, "The Prince, in the intoxication of youth and under the influence of evil counsellors, made the entire long journey [from Kadapa] to Jinji on horseback, prolonging it still further by hunting and sight-seeing on the way. Asad Khan, as bound by etiquette, had to ride on horseback alongside the prince, in spite of his great weakness and the infirmities of old age. It embittered his feelings towards the prince, and wicked men on both sides aggravated the quarrel by their intervention." [M. A. 355.]

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After reaching Jinji, the prince acted still more foolishly. Through the medium of "some reckless and mad men" he opened a secret correspondence with Rajaram. The Marathas were greatly elated by their securing such an ally in the enemy's camp; they flattered the prince's humour and mischievously instigated him in new evil projects. Zulfiqar Khan, who "kept watch in every direction and daily paid a thousand rupees to his spies within the fort" for intelligence, soon learnt the prince's secret, and secured the Emperor's permission to keep him under careful surveillance. Dalpat Rao, the general's bravest and most devoted lieutenant, was posted at the prince's camp in constant attendance on him.* Kam Bakhsh could not ride out, hold Court, admit or send out any one from his encampment without Asad Khan's permission. In fact, he found himself a powerless prisoner of State, and the quarrel in the Mughal camp became a matter of public notoriety. [M. A. 356.]

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While the unhappy prince was thus fretting in his camp and forming with his wretched servants vain projects for escape, the horizon grew totally dark for the Mughals, as the result of the arrival of Santa and Dhana in December, 1692. The grain supply of the siege-camp was entirely cut off, famine began to rage among the vast multitude, and for some weeks communication with the Emperor's Court and the Mughal base ceased altogether, as no courier could make his way through the cordon of Maratha cavalry drawn round Zulfiqar's force. Alarming rumours arose immediately, which the Marathas spread and exaggerated,—even if they did not originate them as Khafi Khan asserts. It was said that Aurangzib was dead and that Shah Alam had succeeded to the throne. Kam Bakhsh considered himself in a most perilous position. Asad and Zulfiqar were his enemies; they would naturally try to win the favour of the new Emperor by sending Kam Bakhsh in chains to him, to be imprisoned, blinded or even put to death. It was impossible for him, even if all the imperial forces before Jinji had been under his absolute control, to defeat the Marathas, assert his supremacy, and proclaim himself Emperor. His only hope of safety, so his servants assured him, lay in his making terms with Rajaram, escaping to the fort with his family on a dark night, and then trying with Maratha aid to win the throne of Delhi, as his brother Akbar had once tried to do. So, one night he got his elephants and palkis ready for himself and his women; but on receiving a warning from Asad Khan and hearing that the latter too had assembled his men and was standing ready to offer armed opposition, the prince dismissed his retinue and postponed the execution of his plan to another day. [Dil. 107a, M. A. 357.]

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∗ The reason publicly given out for this step was the necessity of guarding the prince from the nightly fire and hostile threats of the garrison of the fort. "The enemy's audacity being reported to the Emperor, he ordered Rao Dalpat to keep watch day and night, armed and ready, in front of the prince's tent." [Dil. 105b.]

§ 16. Zulfiqar abandons the siege trenches.

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But every project and every step of Kam Bakhsh was reported to Asad Khan by his spies. In extreme alarm and distraction at this division in their own ranks and the immense preponderance of the enemy outside, Asad Khan and Zulfiqar consulted the leading officers of the imperial army; they urged with one voice that the prince should be strictly guarded, the trenches abandoned, and the entire army concentrated in the rear lines round Asad Khan and the prince.

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But the withdrawal from the siege lines was not to be effected without a severe fight. Zulfiqar burst his big guns* by firing excessive charges of powder and abandoned them where they stood. Then, as he started from the trenches with his men drawn up in compact order and carrying away whatever materials he could, the exultant Marathas fell upon him. The base-camp was four miles in his rear and the fort-walls only half a mile in front; the garrison made a sortie, joined their brethren outside under Dhana Jadav, and hemmed the Mughal army on all sides. "The audacity of the infidels passed all bounds, and death stared the Muslims in the face." (M. A. 357.) The Khan had only 2,000 troopers with him, but they cut their way through "a hundred thousand (!) enemy horsemen and infantry." Zulfiqar and his lieutenants fought, as men fight for dear life. He made a counter-attack, urging his elephant up to the fort-gate and driving away the Marathas on that side. They fled within and shut the gate, losing about a thousand infantry in killed and abandoning in their flight about a thousand mares as spoils to the Mughals. In the whole battle 3000 foot and 300 cavalry are said to have fallen on the Maratha side. The imperialists lost 400 troopers, 400 horses and 8 elephants, mostly killed by artillery fire; and "few of them remained unwounded." At the close of the day they reached Asad Khan's camp. [M. A. 358, Dil. 107 b.]

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∗ Including some brass artillery purchased at Madras. They were burst, according to Bhimsen and the English soldier Lewis Terrill who had gone six months earlier to serve Zulfiqar. [Madras Diary, 30 Jan. 1693.] But M. A. 357 says that nails were driven into their touch-holes.

§ 17. Prince Kam Bakhsh arrested.

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Here the prince had been exulting as danger thickened round Zulfiqar and Asad. He had even plotted with his silly courtiers to arrest these two generals at their next visit to him and then grasp the supreme power. But this plot, like all others, had leaked out. Zulfiqar Khan, worn out with his daylong fighting and anxieties, reached his father's side at night, learnt of the new plot, and then the two leaders quickly decided that the safety of the entire army and the preservation of the Emperor's prestige alike demanded that the prince should be deprived of the power of creating mischief. They immediately rode to Kam Bakhsh's quarters, unceremoniously entered within the outer canvas-wall (jali) seated on their elephants and knocked down the screens of his audience hall. The other nobles stood by as idle spectators, leaving the odium of arresting their master's son to rest solely on these two leaders. The servants of the prince foolishly discharged some bullets and arrows and raised a vain uproar and tumult. But Asad Khan's force was overwhelming and his movements quick. Kam Bakhsh lost heart, and in utter distraction came out of his harem by the main gate. He had advanced only a few steps when the Khan's musketeers (bahelias) seized both his arms and dragged him bare-footed to Asad. Rao Dalpat, seeing it, promptly drove his elephant forward, and with great agility lifted the prince up on his hawda, sat behind him as his keeper, and brought him to Asad Khan.*

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