History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c76.s5: § 9. Matabar Khan's new campaigns.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c76.s5
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§ 9. Matabar Khan's new campaigns.
v5.c76.s5.1
Sidhgarh (11 miles s. e. of Murbad and 29 miles s. e. of Mahuli) was the refuge of the Marathas of that quarter. Matabar gave an assurance of imperial favours under the grand wazir's seal to Lomanji [or Gomaji] and other Mavle leaders and incited them to capture this fort. After six months of watching for a suitable opportunity, they gained the fort by escalade on 20th October 1693. On hearing of this loss, Khandoji Kadam and Damaji Narayan, two generals of the Maratha king, issued in force from Rajmachi and blockaded Lomanji in Sidhgarh, by occupying the village (machi) below the fort. Reinforcements hurried up by Matabar under Kakaji and Rawat Mal Jhala, stormed the village and expelled the enemy after a bloody fight.
v5.c76.s5.2
But the situation was now complicated by the entrance of a new actor on the scene. The local Portuguese governor was bribed by the Marathas to give them shelter and to supply provisions to their forts and villages. Matabar Khan sums up the offences of the Portuguese Government thus:—"I have been here for four years. In the first, I reassured and conciliated the ryots who had fled to Jawhar and Ramnagar owing to the former Maratha disturbances, and induced them to return to their original homes, thus repeopling 600 villages in Konkan. In the second year, the Portuguese gave shelter to the families of the Maratha officers of Rajaram and helped them in attacking our fort Vaikunthgarh (?). In the third year they surprised fort Karnala from us, and constantly sent supplies and reinforcements to the forts belonging to Rajaram. Hence, all our ryots have fled and taken refuge in Portuguese territory. The recovery of Patta by the Marathas emboldened the Feringis still further, and Tristan de Melo,* their general of Salsette, summoned Shyamji Moro-dev, an officer of Rajaram, from the island of Khanderi and harboured him and his 1,500 infantry in the Portuguese village of Thana, agreeing to co-operate with him in attacking the fort of Mahuli and the village of Bhivandi held by the Mughals."
v5.c76.s5.3
∗ Gemelli Careri speaks of him as "General of the North," resident at Bassein, who murdered admiral Antonio Machado de Brito on 30th December 1694. (Churchill's *Voyages*, iv. 199.)
v5.c76.s5.4
§ 10. *Mughals attack Portuguese of Bassein.*
v5.c76.s5.5
Matabar Khan, as we might have expected from his character, forestalled the enemy and struck the first blow. A strong detachment of his troops invaded Portuguese Konkan, drove the peasants to the Mughal side of the border, and made prisoners of the enemy's families wherever found. The Portuguese offered fight, but were routed after a severe contest. The Mughals chased them up to the fort of Bassein, set fire to their church outside it, and then halted at Bahadurpura,* appearing to the Emperor for some large pieces of artillery and reinforcements to aid them in attacking Bassein and other forts, as "the Feringis were the source of the mischief, and unless they were expelled the idolators (Marathas) could not be entirely rooted out." Siddi Yaqut, the governor of Danda-Rajpuri and Mughal admiral of the Western Ocean, co-operated with him by sea.
v5.c76.s5.6
The domestic enemies of the Portuguese took advantage of their distress. The inhabitants of Uran (a small island, due south of Elephanta) betrayed to the Mughal general the existence of three pearl beds there which the Portuguese had jealously guarded by sentries and whose very existence they had carefully kept concealed from the great Muslim kings of the Deccan. "Through many years' abstention from fishing, countless pearls have accumulated in these beds. Only on dark nights some men have stealthily fished some small pearls on this coast."
v5.c76.s5.7
∗ Khafi Khan (ii. 402—403) briefly describes the campaign thus: "Matabar Khan made a surprise attack and took two of the small forts of the Feringis. Most of them fled to Daman and Bassein, because they are weak in fighting on the plain and use no weapon except the musket and a short sword looking like a spit, and do not ride chargers. Many Feringis with their women were captured. At this a great terror seized them."
v5.c76.s5.8
The defeat of the Portuguese was complete. The viceroy of Goa now sent a most submissive letter to the Emperor with presents for his ministers and servants. He worked so well on the Emperor's feelings, possibly with the assistance of Christian priests and Armenian traders in the imperial camp and Matabar's jealous rivals among the courtiers, that Aurangzib peremptorily ordered the cessation of the war and the restitution of the prisoners and booty carried off from the Portuguese villages, as a quarrel with the Europeans hindered trade and diminished his customs revenue. Matabar tried in vain to explain his conduct and clear his enemies misrepresentations at Court. The captives had to be released*