History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c81.s5: § 8. Second revolt of Ajit and Durgadas, 1701.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c81.s5
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§ 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.