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History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c81: Chapter LVIII. The War in Rajputana, 1681—1707.

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c81

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Contents

Chapter LVIII. The War in Rajputana, 1681—1707.

§ I. How Aurangzib began war with the Rathors.

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In chapter 36 of volume III. I have told the story of how Durgadas Rathor had rescued Maharajah Jaswant's heir Ajit Singh from the clutches of Aurangzib at Delhi, taken him to a safe refuge on Mount Abu, and, with the help of other devoted clansmen, had for two years fought against the Mughal occupation of Marwar. Then, as his ally Udaipur grew fainter in its efforts under the new Maharana Jai Singh, Durgadas had (December 1680) instigated the Emperor's son, Muhammad Akbar, to rebel and make an attempt to seize the Mughal crown. When that attempt signally failed (16th January, 1681), Durgadas had most chivalrously escorted the unhappy prince through every danger to the Court of the Maratha king Shambhuji, who alone in India could dare to harbour the Emperor's enemy (1st June, 1681). As long as Akbar remained in India (up to October 1686), Durgadas stayed with him, promoting his interests, reconciling his occasional differences with the Maratha Government, and acting in all matters as his guardian and chief minister.[*]

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∗ See vol. iv. ch. 44 and 48.

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This junction between Shambhuji and the rebellious Akbar alarmed the Emperor, and he made haste to go to the Deccan in person after patching up a peace with the Maharana (June 1681). This peace ended the war so far as Mewar was concerned, but not in respect of Marwar. True, one of the conditions of the treaty was that when Ajit Singh would come of age, the Emperor would recognise him as a vassal rajah and imperial mansabdar, as his father and grandfather had been. But Ajit Singh was then an infant of two years only, and his suzerain occupied the kingdom of Marwar for the present. The new Maharana of Udaipur was too weak to insist on Marwar being placed in the hands of a Council of Regency of its native nobles. So, the Emperor's troops continued to hold the chief towns and strategic points of the State and its legal government was that exercised by the Mughal officers posted there.

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For Marwar, therefore, there was no peace, and the Rathor patriots remained in a state of war with the alien rule imposed on their country. They occupied the hills and deserts and every now and then swooped down upon the plains, cutting off convoys and trade caravans, capturing weakly held Mughal outposts, and rendering the cultivation of the fields and traffic on the roads impossible except under the protection of the imperial garrisons. No wonder that famine was constantly present in Jodhpur, and that the Rathor bard records of certain years that "the sword and pestilence united to clear the land."

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A generation of time passed in Marwar in ceaseless conflict, captures and recaptures. But the resources of the empire were far superior to those of a small desert province ravaged by perpetual warfare. The imperialists could draw their supplies from the other parts of India; the Rathors had no friend or supplier outside their own country. Being a clan only, they could not replenish their ranks thinned by the Mughal sword, famine and pestilence, while the Emperor had the manhood of half India to draw upon. The Rathor national opposition, therefore, would have gradually grown weaker and finally died out through attrition, if only the Emperor had not been plunged into a more serious conflict in the Deccan, which drained all his resources. The military situation in Maharashtra reacted on the situation in Jodhpur, and worked for the ultimate success of the Rathor patriots and the restoration of their chieftain to his hereditary throne immediately after Aurangzib's death.

§ 2. Thirty years of war in Marwar.

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The history of these 27 years (1681-1707) in Marwar falls into three well-defined periods. From 1681 to 1687 it was a people's war, because their king was a child and their national leader Durgadas was absent in the Deccan. The Rathor people fought under different captains, group by group, with no central authority and no common plan of action except to attack the Mughals wherever they could. This desultory warfare afforded many examples of Rathor bravery and devotion, but its military effect was nothing more than to keep the Mughal garrisons in constant alarm and to make their occupation of Marwar financially ruinous. The patriots might capture a post, but it would be immediately re-established by a fresh Mughal force, while the thinned Rathor bands had to flee to the hills and starve there. They, however, kept up the struggle, repeating their raids year after year.

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It was rather an advantage to the Rathors that at this stage they had no common leader, because a pitched battle of all the forces of the tribe with the better armed and better organised imperialists would have led to their decisive defeat and prevented them from raising their heads for a generation to come, whereas by adopting guerilla tactics they wore out the Mughals and minimised the disadvantage of their own inferior numbers and equipment. The numerous eponymous septs into which the Rathor clan was sub-divided, each supplied a ready-made battalion of soldiers, self-contained and organised from birth.

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The second stage of the war began in 1687 when Durgadas returned from the Deccan, and Ajit Singh came out of the concealment in which his infancy had been protected and nurtured. The success of the Rathors was at first brilliant.

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Reinforced by the Hadas of Bundi, they cleared the plains of Marwar and, sweeping onwards beyond the limits of their own country, raided Malpura and Pur-Mandal (1687), and even defeated the subahdar of Ajmir (1690), and carried their ravages into Mewat and the west of Delhi. But they could not recover their country. The Emperor had, by the year 1687, conquered the last of the independent kingdoms of the Deccan, and two years later slew the Maratha king and took his capital. During 1689, 1690 and 1691 the Marathas could not recover from these blows, and the Emperor had a free hand. Moreover, in the very year 1687 in which Ajit Singh and Durgadas appeared together at the head of the national forces, an exceptionally able and enterprising officer named Shujaet Khan became governor of Jodhpur on behalf of the Emperor, and held that office for 14 years, during which he succeeded in maintaining the Mughal hold on Marwar though Aurangzib's increasing entanglement in the Deccan made it "impossible for him to send a single soldier to reinforce"* his agent in Jodhpur.

§ 3. Shujaet Khan's government of Marwar, 1687—1701.

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Up to the year 1687, the faujdari of Marwar† had been added to the subahdari of Ajmir. But Ajmir was a small province, governed by a third-rate noble with a poor income and small army. Hence, the Ajmir subahdar (Inayet Khan) had not been able to cope with the Rathors with his normal resources. But now Shujaet Khan, in addition to the faujdari of Marwar, held the subahdari of Gujrat, —one of the three great frontier provinces of the Mughal empire and famous in those days as a recruiting ground of brave soldiers (*lashkar-khez*). Shujaet Khan's contingent and income were much larger than those of the Ajmir subahdar, and he also knew how to put them to the best use. He always kept his retainers to their full number and was prompt and quick in his movements. He used to spend six months (sometimes eight) every year in Marwar and the other six in Gujrat. Thus, he succeeded in checking the Rathors when it came to fighting, while he made an understanding with them, paying them one-fourth of the imperial custom duties on all merchandise if they spared the traders on the roads (1688). This was another form of the *chauth*, which a few years afterwards many Mughal officers in the Deccan, conscious of their own helplessness and the hopelessness of succour from the Emperor, were glad to pay to the Maratha roving bands as a yearly blackmail.

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∗ Aurangzib's reply to an appeal for aid from Shujaet Khan (Mirat-i-Ahmadi, 334.)

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† Inayet Khan, who had been appointed faujdar of Jodh-

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But from the year 1692 onwards the imperial

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pur in March 1681, became in addition subahdar of Ajmir in Dec. 1683. On his death in 1687, Marwar was joined to Gujrat.

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forces in the Deccan began to feel the increasing pressure of the revived Maratha power under their able regent Ramchandra and their brilliant generals Dhanaji Jadav and Santaji Ghorpare, and the Emperor began to look out wistfully for some means of ensuring peace in his rear in Rajputana. There was another and a stronger motive working with him: he must recover his grand-daughter who had been left with the Rathors by her father Akbar in his flight soon after her birth. This girl was now thirteen and Aurangzib's family honour required that she should come to his house before attaining the age of marriage, which for a Mughal princess was usually fourteen. He could have made an honourable and lasting peace and turned the Rathors again into devoted allies, by restoring Ajit Singh to all his father's territory and rank. But a strange obsession, or more probably religious bigotry,* made Aurangzib cling blindly to the soil of Jodhpur. He higgled like a Jew and waited for some turn in the die of war which would enable him to keep the bulk of Marwar and especially its capital in his own hands and delude Ajit with a small tract as jagir. Negotiations inspired by such a motive were bound to fail, though a truce was secured to his weary during the year (1692) through which they protracted. But this fanatical obstinacy or obse born of unlimited power and old age, was re by wiser counsels, and at last in 1696 he agree restore a portion of Marwar to Ajit Singh in ret for the delivery of Akbar's children.

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∗ He wanted to dismember Marwar and thus prevent the possible opposition to his anti-Hindu measures which a great independent Hindu State in Northern India might have offered. There was to be no second high-spirited and strong Jaswant Singh to rally round himself and lead to victory the discontented Hindus of the empire.

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But on 9 July 1701* Shajaet Khan died, Prince Muhammad Azam succeeded him as governor of Marwar and renewed hostilities with Ajit, and the third stage of the Rajput war of independence began, which after much bloodshed and many reverses on both sides ended in the complete break-down of the imperial policy of greed and the final recovery of Marwar by its national ruling dynasty (1707). This was the just consequence of Mughal insincerity and unscrupulous opportunism.

§ 4. The struggle during 1681—1686.

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When the Emperor marched away from Rajputana to the Deccan (September, 1681), he left his wazir Asad Khan at Ajmir to control the occupation of Marwar. Mughal garrisons were posted in all the important positions (*thanas*) in the country, such as Sambhar and Didwana in the north, Mairta in the north-east, Jitaran Sojat Pali and Godwar along the eastern side, Jodhpur in the centre, Panchbhadra and Siwana in the west, and in the south,*-besides many smaller stations. After the Mughal occupation of their capital other cities, the Rathors took refuge in the hills out of the way nooks; but the plains lay exposed to the raids of their roving bands; and encounters frequently took place between them and the army of occupation near one or other of these outposts with varying success. The year 1682 is described as one of perpetual conflict, captures and recaptures of the Mughal thanas.

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∗ On 16 June 1701, according to *M.A.* p. 441, but *Mirat-i-Ahmadi* gives 9 July.

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The Rathor patriots suffered heavy losses in all these battles, even when they were victorious. But while, on the one hand, their ranks were thinned by the Mughal sword, they also received considerable additions to their strength. In 1681, Muhakam Singh of Mairta, the son of Rajah Kalyan Singh and a hereditary noble under Delhi, threw up the Mughal service and joined the national cause. Late in the same year, most of the Rathor chiefs who had escorted Akbar to Maharashtra returned home. In 1682 the Bhatti tribe of Jesalmir rose against the Mughals and joined the Rathors.

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The success of the Rajput patriots was often chequered by the death of notable leaders, and the annihilation of their invading force in a grand raid into Gujrat, in the hills of Rainpur, in 1682. In fact the situation of the country is best described in the words of the bard Karani-dan: "An hour before sunset every gate of Maru was shut. The Muslims held the strongholds, but the plains obeyed Ajit... The roads were now impassable."

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∗ Nagor in the extreme north of the State had long been a Mughal dependency, independent of Marwar, though ruled by a Rathor chieftain.

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§ 5. Durgadas again in Marwar, 1687-1696.

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We now turn to the history of the second stage of the contest. Durgadas's return from Maharashtra (1687) greatly stimulated Rathor activity, and happily just then they gained a valuable ally. Durjan Sal Hada, the leading vassal of Bundi, on being insulted by his chieftain Anurudh Singh (a loyal feudatory and general of Aurangzib) armed his kinsmen and retainers and seized the fort of Bundi by a sudden attack "falling on it like thunder and wind," as the Persian historian graphically describes it.* He then came over to Marwar, married a sister of Mukund Singh Champawat (a Rathor leader) and strengthened the Rathor national army with his thousand horsemen of the Hada clan.

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The united Rathors and Hadas, having slaughtered or driven away most of the Mughal outposts in Marwar, made a daring raid into the imperial dominions in the north. With a vast force of horsemen, Durgadas and Durjan Sal plundered Mohan, Rohtak, and Rewari, collecting a rich booty, and even menaced the capital Delhi. But hearing that a force of 4000 regular cavalry had been sent out against them from that city and had arrived within 20 miles of them, they declined an encounter, swerved away towards Sarhind, and finally returned to Marwar. Meantime, Inayet Khan, the faujdar of Jodhpur, had issued with his own troops to chase them. Durjan Sal evaded him and marched to Mandal, intending to sack it. "A party of banjaras (travelling grain dealers) had dismounted in the vicinity. They attacked him and a battle with bows and muskets began. Just then Dindar Khan, the faujdar of Mandal, and Raghunath Singh, the agent of Anurudh Hada, arrived there and joined in the battle. Durjan Sal was killed by a bullet in the front rank of the fight." [Ishwardas, 121a, 122b-123a.] Tod, however, adds that the Rathors succeeded in massacring the garrisons of Malpura, Pur and Mandal and in imposing a contribution on those parts.

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∗ M.A. says that 21 April 1683 the Emperor learnt that Durjan Singh Hada had taken Bundi by siege, and that on 13 Aug. he received a despatch from Mughal Khan reporting that he had assaulted Bundi like lightning and after a nine hours' fight put Durjan to flight, when Anurudh entered the city with the imperialists (226 and 235). I have followed Ishwardas, as he was a friend of Durgadas and had actually served in Jodhpur.

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In 1690 Durgadas gained a conspicuous success; he routed and drove back on Ajmir Safi Khan, the new governor of that province, who had taken post on the Marwar frontier. He kept up plundering and disturbing the parts of Marwar in Mughal occupation and rendered the roads unsafe for travellers. This alarming situation called Shujaet Khan,* the new governor, to the scene. He very tactfully won over many of the Rajput headmen (thakurs and pattawats) by granting them pattas (written land grants) on the terms enjoyed by their forefathers, while others were recommended for mansab and jagir on the condition of their serving under his deputy Kazim Beg in Marwar. By his friendly policy and polite dealings he turned many of the Rathors into allies and inspired them with ardour for the Emperor's cause. Kamal Khan defended Jhalor against the Rathor raiders in the south, Kazim Beg with a strong force was detached towards Mairta to suppress Durgadas's roving bands in that quarter, while Shujaet Khan himself took post at Jodhpur for some time. For the protection of trade, he bound down the carters and hired porters (such as owners of transport camels and ponies) of Mairta in security that in future they would transport goods to Gujrat through loyal Udaipur and not by way of disturbed Marwar.† (Mirat-i-Ahmadi, 343.)

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∗ Shujaet Khan was primarily subahdar of Gujrat and, in addition, faujdar of Marwar. In the latter country he usually governed by means of a deputy,—Kazim Beg (d. 1693), Firuz Miwati (d. 1699), Shaikh Muhammad Zahid [or Fazil?] (up to 1701), Jafar Quli, Yusuf (1704), Murshid Quli, and Jafar Khan. The fort of Jodhpur was held by another officer, called the qiladar.

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† It was probably at this time that he promised the Rathors one-fourth of the custom duties on all goods that they spared during passage through Marwar, as Tod tells us.

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Thus the year 1690 ended without any disaster. During the next year the Mughals enjoyed respite as the Rathor national army was diverted to Mewar in order to assist Maharana Jai Singh in suppressing the rebellion of his heir Amar Singh and all the leading nobles of that State. In 1692, also, there was truce in Marwar, as Safi Khan, the governor of Ajmir, opened negotiations with the Rathors for the surrender of Akbar's daughter, whom they had been nourishing since her father's flight in 1681. But nothing came of these overtures as the Emperor was not yet prepared to make any real concession to Ajit Singh. So, the war was renewed in 1693. Ajit Singh, guided by Durgadas, took post at Bhilara* and caused trouble. But Shujaet Khan soon hastened to Marwar, and a concerned movement by the faujdars of Jodhpur, Jhalor and Siwana forced Ajit Singh to flee back to the hills, after Akho Balla, who met the Mughal attack, had been defeated. [Mirat, 346 ; Tod.]

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§ 6. The restoration of Aurangzib's grand-daughter by Durgadas, 1696.

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But here the Mughal success ended. The situation in the Deccan had now become so serious that the Emperor could not spare any troops for a decisive campaign in Rajputana. Moreover, with the growing youth of his captive grand-daughter, his anxiety to get her back increased. The negotiations for this purpose which had failed in 1692 were renewed in 1694, but this time they were entrusted to the able and wise Shujaet Khan, and though protracted through the Emperor's niggardliness they bore fruit in 1696.*

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∗ The Persian text reads *T h l h a*, which I take to be an error for either Bhilara or Bhinmal.

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Shujaet Khan employed as his intermediary in this affair the historian Ishwardas, a Nagar Brahman of Patan (now in the Gaikwar's territory), who had been employed as a revenue collector (shiqdar or amin) in Jodhpur and had made many friends among the Rathors. He has left a graphic account of the restoration of the son and daughter of Akbar, which we quote here, as the evidence of the chief actor in the scene.

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Akbar's infant son Buland Akhtar and daughter Safiyat-un-nissa had been left in Marwar with his Rathor allies, as the children were too tender to bear the hardships of his flight from the country in 1681. Durgadas placed them in charge of Girdhar Joshi in an obscure place difficult of access. They were brought up with every care not only for their health and morals, but also for her education in the Islamic religion.

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∗ On 11th June 1696 the Emperor sent a slave named Shah Beg from his Court to Shujaet Khan, to take charge of Akbar's daughter and bring her away. If this girl was named Safiyat-un-nissa (as Ishwardas says), then she was married to Prince Khujista Akhtar, and died of fever on 1 July 1699 and was buried at Mangalvire (north of Bijapur) in a tomb built for Rs. 420. [Akh.]

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After Ishwardas had repeatedly approached Durgadas, the latter, who had wearied of the long and desolating struggle, wished to make terms for his chieftain and himself. "So he sent a letter to the author (Ishwardas) stating that if Shujaet Khan gave him a safe-conduct and spared his home from ravage pending the coming of the Emperor's reply to his petition for forgiveness, he would send Safiyat-un-nissa Begam to the imperial Court. The Emperor at once consented. On the arrival of his reply, the author, under instructions from Shujaet Khan, visited Durgadas, who was living in a place extremely difficult of access, and induced him by wise counsels to agree finally to the restoration of the princess. Then, returning to the Khan, he took proper escort and conveyances with him, and going back to Durgadas brought the princess away with him. As she was well pleased with the author's serviceableness and excellent arrangements during the journey, she asked him to accompany her to the imperial Court. On their arrival there, Aurangzib immediately spoke of appointing a tutoress to give his grand-daughter that education in Islamic scriptures which she must have missed so long in that uncivilised and inaccessible Hindu State. But the Begam informed him that Durgadas had been so attentive to her welfare that he had secured for her a Muslim mistress from Ajmir under whose tuition she had already studied the Quran and committed it to her memory.

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This fact convinced the Emperor of Durgadas's devotion and induced him to forget all his past offences. In exuberance of royal grace he asked her, "Tell me what reward Durgadas wants." The Begam answered that Ishwardas knew it. His Majesty at once ordered the author to be brought before him in his private chamber. Durgadas was granted a *mansab* and money allowance,* while Ishwardas was created a commander of 200 horse, invested with a robe of honour, and sent back to Marwar to bring Durgadas and Buland Akhtar to the Court.

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But in effecting this there was nearly two years' delay, mainly because Durgadas demanded the restoration of Jodhpur to Ajit Singh, while Aurangzib wished to satisfy the heir of Jaswant with a small portion of Marwar only. Durgadas could not be bought even with the highest *mansab* for himself; he insisted on the whole of the State being released by the Mughals. He knew what a valuable political pawn he held in his hand in the person of Buland Akhtar, a full-blooded heir to the Mughal throne, whom any powerful rebel might use as a potent instrument by proclaiming him Emperor of Delhi and trying to subvert Aurangzib's throne under his nominal leadership. So, the negotiations dragged on.

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∗ Durgadas was granted Mairta (afterwards Dhanduqa) pargana as *jagir*, but he was posted to Patan as *faujdar*. [Mirat, 351, 357, 368.]

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§ 7. Surrender of Akbar's son and submission of Durgadas, 1698.

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But Ajit Singh's position was now one of distress and despair. He was weary of roving in the wilderness, hunted by Mughal columns and subjected to every hardship. And his recent marriage to the daughter of Gaj Singh, the brother of the Maharana, made him eager for a settled home and income. So, in 1698, Durgadas abated his demands. Ajit was pardoned by the Emperor and given a *mansab* in the imperial army, with the parganas of Jhalor, Sanchod and Siwana as his jagir, of which he was also appointed faujdar.*

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Ishwardas thus describes his second embassy:—"After my return from the Emperor's Court (in 1696), I paid repeated visits to Durgadas, took solemn oaths of fidelity on behalf of Shujaet Khan, and reassured his mind by my promises. Durgadas, on getting letters-patent (*parwanas*) conferring jagirs on himself, and being put in actual possession of the lands assigned to him, came with the prince in my company to Ahmadabad and then to Surat. At the latter city many officers deputed by the Emperor met the prince in advance, both to welcome him on the way and also to teach him Court-etiquette. But the prince remained obstinately silent, and the Court doctors failed to remedy this defect."

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∗ *Mirat*, 359. Tod adds incorrectly that Ajit was also given Jodhpur. There is no support of the Rajput bard's assertion that in 1700 Ajit gained possession of the city of Jodhpur, "Prince Azam leading the way." The latter statement is impossible, as Azam became faujdar of Jodhpur (by deputy) late in 1701.

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Poor Buland Akhtar! We can well sympathise with him in his distress. He had been brought up ever since his birth among the rude Rajput peasantry, without seeing any city or Court, or talking with any cultured person. He did not even know the polished Hindustani language. Aurangzib was shocked and his Court was amused to find a grandson of the Emperor who could speak only the Rajput patois (*Rajasthani boli*)! Buland Akhtar felt overcome with shyness like a country youth suddenly brought to a large and polished city. Moreover, he had been taught by his life among the Rathor nationalists to regard Aurangzib as a sort of demon and the relentless enemy of Akbar and Akbar's family; and now he was being torn away from the protectors of his boyhood and the comrades of his youth and delivered over to this very Aurangzib. He thought the wisest course under the circumstances not to open his lips at all but to pretend dumbness, like the clownish new son-in-law of the Bengali folktale.

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[He was, however, gradually educated and polished, and lived to be employed in the Court, close to the Emperor's person, in charge of one of the royal seals].

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When, after surrendering Buland Akhtar, Durgadas arrived at the portico of the Audience Hall, in the camp at Islampuri on the Bhima, he was ordered to be ushered in unarmed, like a prisoner. Without a moment's hesitation or protest, he took off his sword. Hearing of it, His Majesty ordered him to enter with his arms on. As he entered the imperial tent, the finance minister Ruhullah Khan advanced to him, tied his wrists together with a handkerchief and conducted him to the Emperor. [This was a theatrical action by which, in Mughal times, the offender had to beg the royal pardon and soothe the royal dignity.] His Majesty now graciously ordered Durgadas's arms to be untied, appointed him a commander of 3,000 horse (nominal rank), presented him with a jewelled dagger, a gold pendant (*padak*), and a string of pearls, and advanced him one lakh of Rupees from the imperial treasury. (Ishwardas, 167a—168b, M. A. 395.)

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In October 1700 the Emperor received a letter from Ajit offering to come to Court with a contingent of 4,000 horse, and asking for some cash or jagir to maintain his retainers. The Emperor ordered a sum of money to be given to him from the Ajmir treasury and promised him a jagir on his arrival at Court. [Akhbarat, 16 Nov.]

§ 8. Second revolt of Ajit and Durgadas, 1701.

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This reconciliation with Durgadas took place in May 1698, but within three years of it there was another rupture. Durgadas had been employed as faujdar of Patan (in Gujrat) to keep him out of Marwar. But in 1701-2 he was driven into rebellion a second time. In fact both he and Ajit Singh had continued to distrust the Mughal Government and kept themselves at a suspicious distance from the Court. Early in 1701, Ajit Singh, though repeatedly summoned to pay his respects in person to the Emperor, like other high nobles, put off going there under various pretexts. [*Mirat*, 363.] After the death of Shujaet Khan (9 July 1701), a rupture could no longer be averted. The new governor, Prince Muhammad Azam Shah, was haughty and imperious. He was ordered by the Emperor to send Durgadas to the imperial camp if he could, otherwise to kill him there, so that Durga might no more instigate Ajit Singh and the other Rathors.*

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Muhammad Azam summoned Durgadas to wait on him at Ahmadabad, the seat of his government. One of his officers, Safdar Khan Babi, undertook to arrest or murder Durgadas at the prince's *darbar*. From his faujdari of Patan Durgadas arrived with his retainers and dismounted near the village of Karij, on the Sabarmati river, close to Ahmadabad.†

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∗ *Mirat*, 366-367; *Kalimat-i-T.* 149; Inayetullah's *Ahkam* 4 b. The concert between the two is thus described in a letter of the Emperor, "The hellish Durga shoots arrows from the same bow as Ajit" [I. O. L. MS. 1344, No. 28]. According to the Rajput bard, Ajit was expelled from Jodhpur by Prince Azam in 1702 (wrong).

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† The local tradition is that he halted in the imperial *sarai* (Kare ka Sarai), 3 miles north of Ahmadabad, and looted it when retreating. Kari is 25 m. n. w. of Ahmadabad, Unjha is 35 m. further north (and 17 m. e. of Patan), Unauwa is 3½ m. s. w. of Unjha.

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On the day fixed for his interview, the prince's troops were drawn up in readiness on the pretext of his going out on a hunting excursion. All the mansabdars posted there and Safdar Khan with his sons and retainers, fully armed, attended the *darbar*. The prince arrived there and issued orders for Durgadas to be brought to him. As the preceding day had been a day of fast (*ekadashi*) with him, Durgadas wanted to eat his meal before going to the *darbar*. But the arrival of couriers in succession to hasten his visit excited his suspicion, which passed into alarm when he heard reports about the prince's troops having been drawn up armed. Therefore, without breaking his fast, Durgadas set fire to his tents and baggage and immediately rode away towards Marwar with all his followers.

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A Mughal force gave him chase. The best mounted among them, including Safdar Khan's contingent, overtook the fugitives on the road to Patan. Durgadas's grandson, then in the first bloom of youth, said to him, "It is a shame to leave a battle-field without a wound. Let me bar the enemy's path, while you escape." The gallant youth did so and was killed with the Rathor rear-guard in resisting the Mughals, while on the other side Safdar Khan's son and Muhammad Ashraf Ghurni (another Gujrati officer) were wounded. Durgadas made use of the respite thus gained, to reach Unjha-Unauwa, 60 miles off, while the tired pursuers halted. At the end of the night he made another forced march, reached Patan, and taking his family out of that city set off for Therad in Marwar. The imperialists on coming to Patan killed Durgadas's kotwal who had stayed behind, and then gave up the pursuit. [*Mirat*, 368-369.]*

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§ 9. Failure and second submission of Ajit and Durgadas, 1704—5.

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When Durgadas was back again in Marwar as an enemy of the empire, Ajit Singh joined him in open rebellion (1702) and made some attacks on the Mughals. [*Mirat*, 373.] But the two could effect nothing. Owing to incessant war and spoliation, frequent famines and drought,† and many years' plague in Gujrat and the neighbouring districts of Rajputana, the economic exhaustion of Marwar was complete, and war-weariness seized the Rathor clansmen after a quarter century of continuous guerilla fighting. As the bard Karani-dan writes of the year 1702, "Ajit retired to Jhalor. Some Rathor chiefs took service with the Maharana and some with the Mughals. Muslim oppression reached its climax."

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† In 1696, "from Patan to Jodhpur no water and not a blade of grass could be seen." [*Mirat* 354.]

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To aggravate the evil, disagreements now broke out between Ajit and Durgadas,‡ of which the Emperor was not slow to take advantage. Ajit Singh lacked his father's ability and power of command. He seems to have been capricious and self-indulgent and incapable of thinking out or following any deeply-laid scheme of concerted action. He was impatient of advice, imperious in temper, and jealous of Durgadas's well-merited influence in the royal council and popularity among his clansmen. It speaks very ill of the character and intelligence of Ajit that for this supremely devoted and unselfish servant of his house and saviour of his own infancy, he could find no place in his Government but at last drove him out to seek Mughal service or take refuge in Udaipur territory. This internal discord among the Rathor leaders helped Aurangzib's designs just when all seemed to be going against him, and it enabled him to keep Ajit Singh out of his kingdom and capital for five years more. With Durgadas and Ajit working together, the recovery of Marwar from the Mughals would have been completed in 1702, instead of 1707.

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∗ A garbled version of this fight is given by Manucci (iv. 243) with the wrong date 1705. His account is absurd and utterly inconsistent with known facts.

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‡ Aurangzib's letter in *Kalimat-i-T.* 74 a, 30 a.

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In 1704 Aurangzib, at last admitting his growing helplessness against a sea of enemies, made a sort of peace with Ajit by giving him Mairta as jagir. As this place was put by Ajit in charge of Khush-hal Singh, Muhakam Singh (son of Indra Singh of Nagor), who had fought for Ajit throughout his minority at great sacrifice of his own interests, felt offended at his just claim to the governorship of Mairta being overlooked by Ajit, and he immediately went over to Aurangzib (1705) and attacked his own clansmen! In November 1705, Durgadas,* too, unable to maintain himself in barren independence, made his submission to the Emperor through Prince Azam, and was restored to his old mansab and post in Gujrat. [M.A. 498, Mirat 377, Kalimat-i-T. 50b, 104a.]

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§ 10. Renewal of struggle and final success of the Rathors.

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Next year, the last of Aurangzib's reign, a Maratha incursion into Gujrat was followed by a crushing disaster† to the Mughal army posted there, which encouraged all the enemies of the empire. Ajit Singh raised his head in rebellion for the third time. Durgadas again fled the Mughal camp and began to act in concert with him, causing risings in Therad and other places. But Prince Bidar Bakht, the gallant son of Azam Shah, was in charge of Gujrat. He sent a force against Durgadas, who now fled to the broken Koli country, south of Surat. [Mirat 390 and 394.]

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† Dhana Jadav's victory at Ratanpur, 15 March 1706. [Mirat, 378—383.]

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Ajit Singh had now been in open rebellion for some time. He fought Muhakam Singh (now on the Emperor's side again) at Drunera, and by defeating him gained an increase of prestige and strength. [Mirat 397.] Just after this, on 4th March 1707, the news of Aurangzib's death at Ahmadnagar arrived, and three days afterwards (when the happy news had been placed beyond doubt), Ajit took horse for Jodhpur, expelled Jafar Quli (the deputy faujdar of the city), and took possession of his father's capital. As Ajit entered Jodhpur, the Mughals fled, leaving their property behind; they were slain or made captive. Many of them fled in the disguise of Hindus, to escape the merciless retribution of the Rajputs smarting under 26 years of oppression. Mairta was evacuated by Muhakam Singh, who fled wounded to Nagor. Sojat and Pali were regained. The fort of Jodhpur was purified with Ganges water and *tulsi* leaves. Ajit Singh was crowned Maharajah of Marwar. [Mirat, 397 ; Tod, ii. ch. 8.]

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∗ We read in the Court bulletins that in May 1704 Aurangzib dismissed from his service Khem-Karna the brother and Dev-Karna and Dal-Karna the nephews of Durgadas, evidently to punish that rebel. Orders had been sent to drag Durgadas from Ahmadabad to the imperial Court, but these were cancelled in June 1704.

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Durgadas's life's task was thus crowned with success. Marwar was freed from alien rule and placed under her own kings once more.

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