History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c84.s4.t3: § 22. Later history of Chanda, 1667-1701.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c84.s4.t3
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§ 22. Later history of Chanda, 1667-1701.
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We now resume the history of Chanda from 1667. Bir Shah, the Rajah who had made peace with Dilir Khan in 1667, was killed by a Rajput retainer in a private brawl, probably in 1680, as we find his successor Ram Singh visiting the Emperor on 30 Nov. 1681. This Ram Singh was deposed in October 1683 and the throne given to Kishan Singh. But the old Rajah refused to yield possession to his rival. So, a Mughal force under Itiqad Khan invaded Chanda, and defeated Ram Singh, who fled to the hills with 200 horsemen, leaving his family behind. The Mughals entered his capital on 2nd Nov. 1684, and installed Kishan Singh. On 19th November Ram Singh returned with three men and tried to force his way into the palace, but was killed by the guards. [M.A. 216, 239, 250.]*
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∗ Chaukigarh henceforth continued in the hands of Muslim Gond chieftains, e.g., on 9 July 1694, Talamand (originally named Nawal Gond) succeeded his brother Daulatmand on its gadi. His brother, Husain, is reported on 27 May 1695 as raiding villages in Hushangabad. [*Akhbarat.*]
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Rajah Kishan Singh continued to serve in the imperial army with his contingent for many years, and loyally assisted the Mughal forces in their operations against the rebel chief of Deogarh. [Akh. 12 Jan. 1693, 12 May 1695, 9 April 1696.] He died in July 1696, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Bir Singh, then 20 years old, on the same annual tribute as before. [Akh. 22 Aug. 1696.] In August 1700 Bir Singh was summoned to the Emperor's camp as his tribute had fallen into arrears. A civil officer named Brindaban, who was sent to Chanda to realise the imperial dues, took bribes from the Rajah and neglected his duty. So, Aurangzib ordered Bir Singh to be arrested (27 Nov. 1700) and sent to him. The arrest was effected by the governor of Berar in January or February 1701. [Akh. 16 Mar. 1701.] He reached the Emperor's camp on 27 April 1701 and paid one lakh into the Berar treasury.
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∗ Hari Singh, the brother of Chhatra Singh, the zamindar of Garha-Mandla, visited the Emperor on 9 May 1683, and a robe was sent to him on 3rd Dec. 1684, when he is designated as zamindar of the place, evidently in succession to his brother.
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§ 23. Bakht Buland of Deogarh asserts his independence.
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In June 1691, Bakht Buland was deposed by the Emperor, and the throne of Deogarh was given to another Muslim Gond named Dindar, who was in the imperial camp at the time (M. A. 340). For some years after, Bakht Buland was kept under surveillance, first in charge of the imperial Paymaster (1693), and later in that of the provost (kotwal) of the camp, on a daily allowance of two Rupees (1694). On 25th August 1695, he had audience of the Emperor and recovered his freedom by giving security for his future conduct, though the Emperor remarked "He will run away; keep a watch on him." The guard round his tent was removed and we find him serving in the Emperor's army in the Deccan as late as April 1696. His son, Muhammad Ali, came from Deogarh, and was presented to the Emperor on 23rd March of that year.
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At this time trouble began again in Deogarh. Dindar proved defiant, and a Mughal force under Sadr-ud-din (the faujdar of Punar, 42 m. s. w. of Nagpur) with the help of the Chanda Rajah Kishan Singh, captured Deogarh and drove Dindar into flight (March 1696). Kan Singh, the second son of Kishan Singh, secured the throne of Deogarh by turning Muslim (under the name of Rajah Neknam) and promising to pay up Dindar's arrears of tribute, besides a present of 17 lakhs of Rupees. [Akh. 15 April 1696.] We find Neknam welcomed at the imperial Court in November 1700 and married to a captive daughter of Rajaram, the late Maratha king, in January, 1704, [*Akh.*] by order of Aurangzib.
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Bakht Buland now lost all hope of his restoration. The time was opportune for a bold stroke, to test fortune by a throw of the dice, as Deogarh and Chanda had both changed their rulers in the same year (1696), and their new Rajahs were mere lads. Besides, the old Gond nobility of Deogarh were not likely to take kindly to the junior prince of the rival house of Chanda placed by the Emperor on their throne.
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Bakht Buland, therefore, slipped away from the imperial army, returned to Deogarh, and raised the standard of rebellion with remarkable pertinacity, resourcefulness and success. The Emperor, in impotent anger, ordered his name to be changed from Bakht Buland ('Fortunate') to Nagun Bakht ('Luckless'). [*K. K. ii. 461; Akhbarat.*]
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The rebel's activity spread over a wide area. In October 1698 we find him roving and levying blackmail in Berar, his nearest hunting ground,—and writing to the zamindars of Hushangabad (who were Mughal vassals) to pay him revenue, otherwise he would raid that district. In April 1699 he was reported to have captured a rival raider named Krishna Savant in Berar.
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Firuz Jang was ordered to move from Berar and punish the rebel. A detachment from his army under his brother Hamid Khan Bahadur defeated Bakht Buland and captured Deogarh (June). Rajah Bir Singh of Chanda was ordered to go to Deogarh with his retainers and re-establish his younger brother Neknam on the throne. [Akhbarat, 5 and 6 July, 1699, M.A. 404.] The rebel escaped from his doomed capital and entered Malwa with a vast force. Passing through the Dhamuni district, he marched to Garha, whose Rajah Narendra Shah (the great-grandson of the murdered Prem Narayan) had been dispossessed by his Afghan vassal Abdul Hadi. Bakht Buland routed Hadi's forces, slaying 500 of the Afghans, captured his son, occupied the kingdom, and restored Narendra Shah to his ancestral throne at Garha. [Akh. 2, 6, and 12 July, 5 Aug. 1699.]
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But the Mughals kept up the pursuit. [Akh. 5 Aug.] In July the governor of Khandesh seized the family of Bakht Buland's supporter, Sadat Afghan, and thus forced the last-named to submit. In November 3,700 of the Gond rebel's troopers came over to the Mughal service. [Akh. 5 Aug., 4 Dec. 1699.]
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Meantime Bakht Buland had been trying to repair his losses. In July he sent Rs. 30,000 to Chhatra Sal with a request to recruit a body of the famous Bundela musketeers for him. In October, he sent two envoys to Rajaram in Satara fort, to invite him to Deogarh, in order to create a diversion in Aurangzib's rear; but the Maratha king declined under the advice of his generals. [Akh. 18 Aug., 25 Oct.] In January 1701 Aladad, who is described as a deposed zamindar of Deogarh, fled from confinement in Punar and joined Bakht Buland, by whom he was lodged in his capital. [Akh. 12 Feb.] Early in the following March, Bakht Buland and his uncle Nawal Shah, the zamindar of Jāmgarh, in concert with the Marathas assembled a force of 4,000 troopers and 12,000 infantry, and attacked Ali Mardan Khan, the governor of Berar. They were defeated with great slaughter, Nawal Shah being killed and Bakht Buland wounded, while the Mughals lost 200 killed. [Akh. 16 March.] The subahdar took up the pursuit of the rebels by way of Kolapur (16 m. west of Amraoti), and fought another sharp battle defeating the Maratha allies of the enemy near Dariāpur, 28 miles west of Amraoti. [Akh. 5 May, 1701.] Risings by Bakht Buland's Muslim allies are reported in February 1703 (near Ujjain under Abbas) and January 1704 (under Sayyid Abdul Qadir).
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§ 24. Growth of Deogarh under Bakht Buland.
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"During Bakht Buland's reign the rich lands to the south of Deogarh, between the Wainganga and Kanhan rivers, were steadily developed. Hindu and Muhammadan cultivators were encouraged to settle in them on equal terms with Gonds, until this region became most prosperous." [Eyre Chatterton, Story of Gondwana, 46.] "He employed indiscriminately Muslims and Hindus of ability to introduce order and regularity into his immediate
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domain. Industrious settlers from all quarters were attracted to Gondwana, many towns and villages were founded, and agriculture, manufactures, and even commerce made considerable advances." [C. P. Gaz. lxxxiv. and 68.]
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Aurangzib could not subdue, him, and still less could that Emperor's degenerate successors. On the death of Aurangzib, the Deogarh chief extended his kingdom; the Seoni district was ceded to him by Narendra Shah as the price of his aid against the latter's cousins who had called the Marathas in. He also annexed the ancient historical Gond principality of Kherla. [C. P. Gaz. 284, 302.] The glory of Deogarh departed on the death of his successor Chand Sultan (1739), and the Maratha house of Nagpur secured the kingdom.