History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c79.s2.1

v5.c79.s2.1

Pidia Nayak, the nephew and adopted heir of Pam Nayak,* had waited on Aurangzib as early as 1683 and been given a post in the imperial army. After the Mughal conquest of Sagar and the death of his uncle, he rendered useful service at Ruhullah Khan's siege of Raichur (1689). On the fall of that fort, he went to his home on a week's leave to replenish his equipment and quota of troops. But instead of returning to his post as promised, he busied himself in fortifying Wagingera and raising an army. After the loss of Sagar, the families of the Berad Nayak and his nobles had taken refuge in the village of Wagingera, twelve miles west of it. Their houses stood on a hill which Pidia now enclosed with fortifications and to which he added a walled village on a lower level. He collected twelve thousand excellent musketeers of his tribesmen and steadily increased his artillery and munitions of war. "While outwardly conducting himself as a loyal subject and paying revenue to the Emperor, he gradually collected money and men. By strengthening the defences of the town (Wagingera) and increasing cultivation in its neighbourhood, he acquired power and authority, became the chief ally of the Marathas in robbery and rebellion, and dispossessed Pam Nayak's own son Jagia. The latter appealed to the Emperor for his patrimony, and took from him a sanad of succession, but could not get possession of the zamindari. [M. A. 491-2, K. K. ii. 525-26.]