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History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c84.s3.t1: § 15. Chhatra Sal Bundela's early life : as a Mughal captain.

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c84.s3.t1

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§ 15. Chhatra Sal Bundela's early life : as a Mughal captain.

v5.c84.s3.t1.1

When the rebel and general robber Champat Rao Bundela was hunted down by order of Aurangzib (1661), he left five sons behind him. The fourth of these, named Chhatra Sal,[*] was then a boy of eleven only, but he lived to defy the imperial Government with success for half a century, keep his own province in constant turmoil, invade Malwa, and finally to carve out an independent principality in Eastern Malwa, with its capital at Panna. His long life of 81 years ended in 1731 with the complete effacement of Mughal rule in Bundelkhand.

v5.c84.s3.t1.2

∗ Chhatra Sal : (*M.U.* ii. 510—512 useless and incorrect); service with Jai Singh (*H.A.* Paris MS. 111, Ben. MS. 64a, 73a); *Chhatraprakash*, cantos 10 (Deogarh expedition), 11 (interviews with Shivaji and Sujan Singh), 12 (meeting with Ratan Shah, 13 *et seq* (war against the Mughals.) In *M.U.*

v5.c84.s3.t1.3

For some years before his death, Champat had robbed the territories of other Bundela chiefs as freely as the Mughal dominion. His orphans were, therefore, left utterly friendless and found no honourable career open to them anywhere. Chhatra Sal and his elder brother Angad repeatedly entreated Mirza Rajah Jai Singh to befriend them and give them employment and the chance of distinction in the Emperor's service by taking them with him to the war against Shivaji (1665). Jai Singh moved cautiously and first employed the two brothers in his own contingent, promising to recommend them

v5.c84.s3.t1.4

Chhatra Sal Bundela has been confounded with Chhatra Sal Rathor (son of Ratan Singh), a loyal servant of Aurangzib and qiladar in the Deccan, who rose to be a commander of 1500 in 1703. The mistake originated in the news-writers of the imperial Court, in their hurry, giving the latter's title as Bundela in some places (and Rathor in others), though his father's name is given as Ratan Singh Rathor. M.A. using one such wrong Akhbarat called the qiladar C.S. Bundela; M.U. and Irvine's Later Mughals repeated the error, from M.A. It is only the study of the mass of original Akhbarat that has enabled me to detect and rectify this mistake. C.S. Bundela never served under Aurangzib between 1670 and 1704.

v5.c84.s3.t1.5

for enlistment in the imperial army only if they did good service. The two youths did distinguish themselves at the siege of Purandhar, and Jai Singh kept his promise by getting (3rd Aug. 1665) for Angad and Chhatra Sal the mansabs of hazari and 3-sadi respectively.

v5.c84.s3.t1.6

They also followed him in his invasion of Bijapur (Dec. 1665—Feb. 1666.) Chhatra Sal was next employed in the Mughal attack on Deogarh by Dilir Khan.* Here he fought heroically and was severely wounded, but we must reject his Court-poet's hyperbole that the Mughal victory was solely due to a charge made by Chhatra Sal single-handed, while the rest of the army hung back in fear! Whatever grain of truth the story may have contained, the young Bundela prince felt that he was not being rewarded as he deserved, and that a subaltern's career in the Mughal army did not offer full scope to his soaring ambition. He dreamt of taking to a life of adventure and independence in imitation of Shivaji, which meant a defiance of the Mughal Government.

v5.c84.s3.t1.7

∗ Here the Chhatraprakash (canto 10) presents several difficulties: (1) The Mughal general is called Bahadur Khan (Kokah or foster-brother of Aurangzib); but we know from official records that both in 1667 and 1669 it was Dilir Kh. who commanded the Mughal forces in Deogarh, (2) Chhatra Sal is said to have been detached to Deogarh by Jai Singh, though the latter died early in July 1667. (3) The Mughals are said to have fought a severe battle before the Deogarh Rajah was compelled to submit; but we know from the Alamgirnamah that the expedition of 1667 resulted in no fighting, as the Deogarh Rajah submitted in fear. In 1669 there was some fighting, but that was long after Jai Singh's death.

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