History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c81.s1: § I. How Aurangzib began war with the Rathors.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c81.s1
- Language
- English
§ I. How Aurangzib began war with the Rathors.
v5.c81.s1.1
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.[*]
v5.c81.s1.2
∗ See vol. iv. ch. 44 and 48.
v5.c81.s1.3
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.
v5.c81.s1.4
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."
v5.c81.s1.5
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.