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Chapter 6 – Aurungzebe, 1658–1707

Accession of Aurungzebe; his conduct towards his three brothers, 1658

Aurungzebe having thus obtained possession of the capital and the treasury, threw off the mask. He no longer talked of a pilgrimage to Mecca, but at once assumed all the powers of government, and took the title of Alumgeer, the Lord of the

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World. His father was placed in captivity in his own palace, yet treated with the highest respect; but though he survived this event seven years, his reign ended with his confinement. Aurungzebe did not, however, consider himself secure while there was a single relative left, who might disturb his tranquillity. As he had now no further use for Morad, he invited him to an entertainment, and allowed him to drink himself into a state of helplessness, when he was taken up and conveyed to the fortress of Agra. Dara, after his defeat near Agra, had escaped to the Punjab, where, with the resources of that province and of Afghanistan, he might possibly have made a stand had not Aurungzebe pursued him with promptitude, and obliged him to retreat to Mooltan, and thence to Guzerat. The emperor then quitted the pursuit, and hastened to encounter his brother Soojah, who was advancing a second time from Bengal to contest the throne. The battle between the brothers was fought near Allahabad, when Aurungzebe was for a time placed in extreme peril, by the treachery of raja Jesswunt Sing, who, in a fit of disappointment, had come to an accommodation with Soojah, and suddenly fell on the emperor’s baggage. The constancy and valour of Aurungzebe, however, restored the day. At one period of the engagement his elephant became unmanageable from its wounds, and the emperor was on the point of descending from his seat, when Meer Joomla, who was by his side, exclaimed, “you descend from the throne,” on which the legs of the animal were bound, and Aurungzebe continued to animate his troops by his presence. Soojah was completely defeated, and the emperor returned to Delhi, leaving his own son Mahomed, and Meer Joomla, to follow up the victory. They pursued the prince to Monghir, and from thence to Rajmahal, which he had made his capital, and adorned with noble edifices; but his pursuers gave him no respite and hunted him down to Dacca, and then out of Bengal. He took refuge, at length, with the King of Arracan, by whom he and his whole family were barbarously murdered.

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Dara is captured and put to death, with his son, 1669

Meanwhile, Dara having obtained aid from the governor of Guzerat was enabled to assemble an army and move up to join raja Jesswunt Sing, who was prepared to make common cause with him against the emperor. Aurungzebe, who dreaded this junction, employed all his devices to detach the raja from the alliance. Dissembling the resentment which his recent treachery at the battle of Allahabad had naturally excited, he wrote him a complimentary letter with his own hand, and conceded all the honours, the refusal of which had driven him into rebellion. Under the influence of these flatteries Jesswunt Sing deserted the cause of Dara, who was defeated, and driven to seek refuge with the raja of Jun, whom he had formerly laid under the greatest obligations. By that ungrateful chief he was received with apparent cordiality, and then betrayed into the hands of his vindictive brother, who ordered him to be paraded, with every token of indignity, through the streets of Delhi, where he had recently been beloved as a master. A conclave of Mahomedan doctors was then convened, who gratified the Emperor’s wishes by condemning him to death as an apostate from the creed of the Prophet. His son Soliman, who had taken shelter with the raja of Sreenugur, by whom he was basely betrayed, was, like his father, exhibited in the streets of the capital, but in fetters of gold, and his noble bearing and deep calamity are said to have moved the spectators to tears. He and his younger brother, together with a son of Morad, were consigned to death in the dungeons of Gwalior.

Aurungzebe’s dangerous illness, 1662

It only remained now to dispose of Morad himself, who had lain in confinement for three years. To add insult to injury, he was subjected to a mock trial for some execution which he had ordered while viceroy of Guzerat, and condemned and executed. Thus, in the course of three years, had Aurungzebe, by a series of atrocious murders, secured, to all appearance, the stability of his throne, when his own life was threatened by an alarming

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illness; and the edifice of his greatness, reared by so many crimes, was threatened with sudden destruction. While he lay helpless on his couch the court began to be filled with intrigues. One party espoused the cause of his son, Muazzim, another that of Akbar. Jesswunt Sing was advancing from Joudhpore, and Mohabet from Cabul, to liberate and restore Shah Jehan; but Aurungzebe, having passed the crisis of his disease, caused himself to be propped up in his bed, and summoned the officers of his court to renew their homage to him. His recovery dissolved the various projects to which his illness had given birth; and Muazzim had to wait forty-five years for the crown.

Meer Joomla’s expedition to Assam, and his death, 1662

A short time previous to the illness of the emperor, Meer Joomla, who had been appointed viceroy of Bengal, on the expulsion of Soojah, entered upon his unfortunate expedition to Assam, in the hope of adding that kingdom to the Mogul dominions. He assembled a large army and conveyed it up the Berhampooter in boats. The capital of the province having been mastered without difficulty, he sent a pompous despatch to the emperor with a report of his success, promising in the following year to plant the Mogul standard in the rich empire of China. The emperor was delighted with the prospect of treading in the footsteps of his renowned ancestor, Jenghis Khan, and ordered large reinforcements to Bengal. But a sad reverse was impending. The rains set in with extraordinary violence; the Berhampooter rose beyond its usual level, and the whole of the country was flooded; the supplies of the army were cut off; a pestilence, probably the Asiatic cholera, broke out in the camp; and Meer Joomla was obliged to retreat in haste and disgrace from the country, pursued by the exasperated Assamese. On his return to Bengal, he expired at Dacca, leaving behind him the reputation of one of the ablest statesmen, and of the greatest generals of that stirring period. Aurungzebe conferred all his titles on his son, Mahomed Amin, the youth who had been disgraced by the king of Golconda; and in the

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letter of condolence sent to him, remarked “You have lost a father, and I have lost the greatest and most dangerous of my friends.” Soon after the recovery of the emperor he was obliged to send an army to check the devastations committed by the Mahrattas in the Mogul provinces of the Deccan; and it becomes necessary, therefore, to pause and trace the origin and progress of this power, which rose to dominion on the ruins of the Mogul empire, and for more than a century governed the destinies of India.

Rise and progress of the Mahrattas

The country inhabited by the Mahrattas, designated Maharastra in the Hindoo shastrus, is considered to extend from the Wurda on the east to the sea on the west; from the Satpoora range on the north to a line in the south drawn due east from Goa. The great feature of the country is the Syhadree mountains, more commonly called the Ghauts, which traverse it from north to south at a distance of from thirty to fifty miles from the sea, and rise to the height of four or five thousand feet above its level. The strip of land lying along the coast, at the foot of the mountains, is called the Concan. The inhabitants are of diminutive stature and vulgar in appearance, presenting a strong contrast to the noble figure of the Rajpoot; but they are sturdy, laborious, and persevering, and distinguished for cunning. This mountainous region was exceedingly difficult of access, and the strongest points had been improved by fortifications. For centuries the Mahrattas had been known chiefly as plodding accountants and village officers; and it was not before the sixteenth century that they were deemed worthy of notice by the Mahomedan historians. Their country was comprised in the dominions of the kings of Beejapore and Ahmednugur; and the noblest Mahratta families trace their distinction to the civil and military employments which they held under these two dynasties.

The Mahrattas trained to war

These sovereigns were incessantly at war with each other, or with their neighbours; and they were happy to employ the Mahratta chieftains in raising

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levies among their own hardy countrymen, each one commanding his own muster of free lances. Jaygeers, or lands given for maintaining a body of troops, were frequently granted for their support. Titles were likewise conferred upon many of the Mahratta chieftains, but they were generally ancient Hindoo appellations. Towards the close of the sixteenth century, seven Mahratta chiefs are enumerated as being ranged under the banner of Beejapore, and two – but of superior importance – under that of Ahmednugur. It was the wars which raged for a century in the Deccan, between the Kistna and the Taptee, that first taught the Mahrattas their own importance, and paved the. way for their future predominance; but it was chiefly under Malik Amber that they made the most rapid strides towards political influence. A community of village clerks and husbandmen was thus transformed into a nation of warriors, and only required the appearance of some master spirit to raise it to empire. That spirit appeared in Sevajee.

Origin of Shahjee, the father of Sevajee

Mallojee Bhonslay, an active captain of horse, was employed about the year 1600 in the service of the king of Ahmednugur. His wife, who had long been childless, offered her prayers and vows at the Mahomedan shrine of Shah Seffer; and the child to whom she gave birth was named Shahjee in gratitude to the saint. He was born in 1594, and his father sought an alliance in the patrician family of Jadow Rao. In after times, when the Mahrattas had become the arbitrers of India, the national historians endeavoured to trace the family of Mallojee from the rajas of Chittore, who claimed to be the lineal descendants of the great deified hero, Ramu; but at this period Jadow Rao spurned the alliance of so plebeian a family. Soon after Mallojee suddenly came into possession of a large treasure, acquired, doubtless, in the Mahratta mode; and he obtained from the venal court of Ahmednugur the jaygeers of Poona, Sopa, and several other places. No further objection was raised to the alliance, and the nuptials are said to have been graced by the presence of the

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king of Ahmednugur. On the death of his father, in 1620, Shahjee succeeded to the jaygeer, and augmented his military force and importance, and entered into a close connection with Malik Amber. Nine years after, we find him espousing the cause of Jehan Lodi; but when the fortunes of that Afghan chief appeared to be on the wane, he deserted his cause and joined the Moguls, for which he was rewarded with the nominal honour of a commander of 5,000, and the substantial boon of a confirmation of his jaygeer. But Shahjee was speedily disgusted with the shuffling policy of the Mogul commanders, and again changed sides.

Places a prince on the throne of Ahmednugur, 1634

On the capture of the young prince of Ahmednugur, in 1634, he considered himself strong enough to aspire to the regency, and raised another prince to the throne as the lawful heir of Nizam Shah. For three years he appears to have maintained a desultory warfare with the imperial generals, but was at length driven out of the country and obliged to seek refuge in the court of Beejapore, where his ability was known and appreciated; and he was entrusted with the command of an expedition to the Carnatic. His zeal and success were rewarded with the grant of extensive jaygeers in Bangalore, and the neighbouring districts where he conceived the design of establishing an independent Hindoo sovereignty, and resigned the petty jaygeer of Poona to his son Sevajee.

Birth and early life of Sevajee, 1627

Sevajee, the founder of the Mahratta empire, was born in 1627, and was sent, three years after, to reside with his mother at Poona, under the tutelage of Dadajee Punt – his father having taken a second wife. Dadajee managed the estate with the strictest economy as well as fidelity, and remitted the revenue with punctuality to Shahjee, but contrived to reserve a small sum annually at Poona. He watched over his youthful charge with assiduity, and is said to have given an education suited to his station and prospects. Sevajee, however, was never able to read or write; but he was skilled in the use of

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the bow and the sword, and the weapons employed in the hills; he was expert in all manly exercises, and, like his countrymen, an accomplished horseman. His tutor did not neglect his religious instruction, and Sevajee grew up a devout and rigid Hindoo, with a profound veneration for brahmins, and a hearty hatred of Mahomedans. His imagination was excited in youth by the perusal of the great epic poems of India, and he longed to emulate the exploits which are immortalized in them. At the -age of sixteen he formed an association with youths of wild and lawless habits, and engaged in hunting or marauding expeditions, which made him familiar with all the paths and defiles of the tract which became the cradle of his power.

Sevajee begins his career by capturing Torna, 1646

Having trained the inhabitants of his native glens – the Mawullees – to arms and discipline, he began his career of ambition at the age of nineteen, by capturing Torna, a hill fort of very difficult access. In the succeeding year he erected a new fortress, to which he gave the name of Raigur. These proceedings did not fail to excite observation at Beejapore, and letters were sent to Shahjee in the Carnatic calling him to account for the doings of his son, but he replied that he had not been consulted by him, though he could not doubt that they were intended to improve the jaygeer. At the same time he remonstrated with Dadajee on the conduct of Sevajee, and the tutor failed not to reprimand his pupil; but, finding that he was bent on pursuing a course which appeared likely to injure the prospects of the family, fell a prey to anxiety. As his end approached he is said to have called Sevajee to his death bed, and urged him to continue the career on which he had entered; to protect brahmins, kine, and cultivators, and preserve the temples of the gods from violation.

Sevajee’s progress; his father seized as a hostage, 1646

Sevajee immediately took possession of the jaygeer, in his father’s name, but employed the treasure which Dadajee had husbanded, as well as the resources of the district in augmenting his little army,

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and in the course of two years extended his authority over thirty miles of territory. He attacked a convoy of treasure proceeding to Beejapore, and carried off three lacs of pagodas to his eyry in the mountains. In quick succession it was announced that he had captured seven other forts, and had, moreover, surprised the governor of Callian, and extorted the surrender of all his fortresses. The audacity of these proceedings raised the indignation of the Beejapore court and Shahjee, who managed all their recent acquisitions in the Carnatic, was held responsible for the proceedings of his son, though he pleaded, and with truth, that he had long ceased to possess any influence over his movements. Shahjee was treacherously seized by the Mahratta chief of Ghorepuray, and brought a prisoner to the capital, where he was threatened with a cruel death. To procure his release, Sevajee, then only twenty-two, memorialized the emperor, and offered to enter the imperial service, and it is not improbable that Shahjee owed his life to the representations made by the court of Delhi. He was, however, detained for four years as a hostage, until the increasing disorders in the Carnatic conquests constrained the king of Beejapore to restore the government of them to him. During his father’s detention, Sevajee discreetly suspended his incursions, but on hearing of his release resumed his predatory and ambitious course, and, by an act of base treachery murdered the brother chieftains of Jaolee, and appropriated their lands to himself.

Sevajee’s intercourse with Aurungzebe, 1657

While Aurungzebe was engaged in the war with Beejapore, in 1657, Sevajee entered into correspondence with him, and professed himself a devoted servant of the throne of Delhi. He was thus enabled to obtain a confirmation of the territory he had wrested from Beejapore, and was encouraged to farther encroachments. But no sooner had Aurungzebe marched towards Delhi than Sevajee began to ravage the Mogul territories, and carried off three lacs of pagodas from the town of Joonere. For the more distant enterprizes to which

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he aspired, he felt the necessity of an efficient, body of horse, and he now began to make the most vigorous efforts to organize that light cavalry, which subsequently became the scourge of Hindostan. About the same time he enlisted his first body of Mahomedan troops, taking into his pay 700 Patans who had been unwisely discharged from the service of Beejapore; but he took the precaution of placing them under the command of a Mahratta officer. The success of Aurungzebe’s efforts to obtain the throne gave just alarm to Sevajee, who sent an envoy to Delhi to express his deep regret for what had occurred, and his attachment to the throne; and he had the effrontery to offer to protect the imperial territories during the emperor’s absence, asking only for the transfer of the Concan to himself.

The Concan ceded to him; his first reverse, 1659

Aurungzebe, conceiving that the security of the Mogul districts would be promoted by giving encouragement to Sevajee, consented to his taking possession of the Concan. He lost no time in sending an army to occupy the province, but his troops were defeated with great slaughter, and he experienced the first reverse he had sustained since the beginning of his career.

Afzul Khan is sent against him, and murdered, 1659

The court of Beejapore was at length roused to a sense of the danger arising from the incessant encroachments of this aspiring chief, and Afzul Khan was sent against him with 12,000 horse and foot, and a powerful artillery, consisting of swivels mounted on camels, rockets, and other ordnance. He was a vain, conceited noble, and manifested the greatest contempt for his antagonist. Sevajee determined to defeat the object of the expedition by treachery. He professed the humblest submission to the king of Beejapore, and offered to surrender all his territories, if he might but be allowed to hope for pardon and acceptance. Afzul Khan was thrown off his guard by these artifices, and agreed to meet the Mahratta chief with only a single attendant. The Mahomedan army was stationed at a distance; but Sevajee, acquainted as he was with the

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mountain defiles, placed a select body of Mahrattas in ambuscade. Having performed his religious devotions with great fervour, he advanced to the interview with all humility, and while in the act of embracing Afzul Khan, plunged a concealed weapon in his bowels, and despatched him with his dagger. The troops of the murdered general, thus taken by surprise, were surrounded and defeated, and the whole of the camp equipage, including 4,000 horses, fell to the victor. The success of this stratagem, notwithstanding the atrocity of the deed, served to exalt the character of Sevajee in the opinion of his countrymen, and greatly improved his position. He followed up this victory by the capture of numerous forts, and plundered the country up to the very gates of Beejapore.

Sevajee is reconciled to the king of Beejapore, 1662

The king now took the field in person, and succeeded in regaining many of the forts and much of the territory he had lost. The war was protracted with various success for two years; but the balance of benefit remained with the Mahratta. A reconciliation was soon after effected between the parties, chiefly, as historians conjecture, through the mediation of Shahjee, who had paid his son a visit. It will be remembered, that in 1649, Shahjee was betrayed to the king of Beejapore by the Mahratta chief, Ghorepuray. On that occasion, he wrote to Sevajee: – “If you are my son, you must punish Bajee Ghorepuray of Moodhole.” Thirteen years had elapsed since that act of treachery, but Sevajee had not forgotten his father’s injunction. During the war with Beejapore, he learned that his enemy had proceeded to Moodhole with a slender escort, and he resolved not to lose this opportunity of avenging his family wrongs. Ho appeared suddenly before the town, captured and burned it to the ground, and with one exception, slaughtered the whole of the family and adherents of Ghorepuray, even to the infants in the womb. Shahjee was delighted on hearing of this vindictive exploit, and resolved to visit his son, whom he had not seen for twenty years. He was received with the

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highest distinction, and Sevajee attended him on foot for twelve miles. Shahjee congratulated him on the progress he had made towards the establishment of a Hindoo power, and encouraged him to persevere. On his return, he was entrusted with presents for the king of Beejapore, which served as a peace offering and led to a treaty.

Extent of Sevajee’s possessions in 1662

At this period, Sevajee, in his thirty-fifth year, was in possession of the whole coast of the Concan, from Callian to Goa, extending about four degrees of latitude; and of the ghauts, from the Beema to the Wurda, about 130 miles in length, and 100 in breadth. His army, which consisted of 50,000 foot and 7,000 horse, was out of all proportion to the territory under his authority; but he was incessantly engaged in war, and he made war support itself by exactions.

Shaista Khan sent to repress Sevajee, 1662

Sevajee being now at peace with Beejapore, let loose his plundering hordes on the Mogul territories, in utter violation of his engagements with Aurungzebe, and swept the country up to the suburbs of Aurungabad. The emperor appointed Shaista Khan, his own maternal uncle, and the nephew of Noor Jehan, viceroy of the Deccan, with orders to chastise this aggression, and carry the war into the Mahratta domains. Shaista captured Poona, and took up his residence in the very house where Sevajee had passed his childhood; and Sevajee conceived the design of assassinating him in his bed. A Mahratta foot soldier in the imperial service whom he had gained, got up a marriage procession, which Sevajee joined in disguise, and was enabled to enter the town with thirty of his followers in the suite. After nightfall, when the town was dark and quiet, he proceeded unperceived to the palace, with every corner of which he was familiar, and suddenly fell on its inmates. The viceroy, awaking suddenly from sleep, escaped with the loss only of a finger, but his son, and most of his guards were cut down. Sevajee, foiled in his chief object, the destruction of the viceroy, retired before the troops could be assembled, and was seen returning to his encampment amidst a blaze of torches.

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This daring exploit, so congenial with the national character, was regarded with greater exultation by his own countrymen than his most splendid victories. Shaista Khan was soon after recalled and sent to govern Bengal, and the Rajpoot raja Jesswunt Sing, the governor of Guzerat, who was left in command was little disposed to push matters to extremity against men of his own faith.

Sevajee attacks Surat, 1664

The operations of Sevajee, which had hitherto been limited to the neighbourhood of the ghauts, were now extended to a more remote and a bolder enterprize. The city of Surat, a hundred and fifty miles distant from Poona, was at that period the greatest emporium of the western coast of India. The annual importation of gold and silver from Arabia and Persia alone amounted to fifty lacs of rupees, and two families in the town were accounted the richest mercantile houses in the world. It was, moreover, considered pre-eminently the port of the Mogul empire, where all the devout Mahomedans, official and private, from the various provinces which yielded a revenue of thirty millions a year, embarked on pilgrimage for Mecca. Sevajee is said to have visited the city in disguise, and during four days marked the houses of the most opulent for plunder. Taking with him 4,000 of his newly raised horse, he appeared suddenly before the town, which was ill fortified, and having deliberately plundered it for six days, returned leisurely to his capital at Raigur. He met with no resistance except from the European factories. Sir George Oxenden, the English chief at Surat, defended the property of his masters, and also that of the natives, with such valour and success as to obtain the applause of Aurungzebe, as well as a perpetual exemption from some of the duties exacted of other merchants. This was the first occasion on which English and native troops came into contact with each other, and the result filled both Mahomedans and Hindoos with astonishment.

Death of Shahjee, 1664

On his return from this expedition, Sevajee heard of the death of his father, at the age of seventy, and immediately assumed the

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title of raja, and began to strike the coin in his own name. At the period of his death Shahjee was in possession, not only of the extensive jaygeers around Bangalore which he had received from the raja of Beejapore, but of Arnee, Porto Novo, and Tanjore, in the south of the peninsula, which he had subjugated, and, in consideration of his fidelity to the state, had been permitted to retain.

Sevajee plunders Barcelore, 1664

Sevajee, finding that his power would not be complete unless he could command the sea as well as the land, had been engaged for some time in creating a fleet. While his troops were employed in ravaging the Mogul territories up to the walls of Ahmednugur, his ships were capturing Mogul vessels bound to Mecca, and exacting heavy ransoms from the rich pilgrims embarked on them. In February, 1665, he secretly drew a large fleet together at Malwan, consisting of eighty-eight vessels, of which three were large ships of three masts and the remainder of from 30 to 150 tons burden. Having embarked with 4,000 troops, he proceeded to Barcelore, a hundred and thirty miles south of Goa, which had long been considered one of the greatest marts of commerce on the western coast, but has now disappeared even from the map. There he obtained immense booty and returned to his capital before it was known that he had embarked. This was the first expedition at sea which he headed in person; it was also his last, for a violent gale drove his vessel down the bay; he suffered seriously from sea-sickness, and his spiritual guide assured him that this was the mode in which his tutelar deity had manifested his displeasure at such a heterodox enterprise.

Sevajee submits to Aurungzebe, 1665

On his return from this voyage Sevajee found that a powerful Mogul army, commanded by the renowned raja Jey Sing and Dilere Khan, the Afghan general, had entered his territories. Aurungzebe, who was an intense bigot, felt greater indignation at the interruption of the holy pilgrims proceeding to the Prophet’s tomb

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than at the assumption of the title of raja, the plunder of Surat, the coinage of money, or any other aggression of Sevajee. On this occasion Sevajee was attacked with the greatest impetuosity by the imperial generals, and felt his inability to cope with an army so greatly superior to his own. He was, therefore, induced to call a council of his officers, at which he appeared the most irresolute of all; and it was resolved to enter into negotiations with the enemy. They ended in the Convention of Poorunder, by which he engaged to restore all the forts and districts he had taken from the Moguls, with the exception of twelve, which, with the territory around them, yielding a revenue of a lac of pagodas a year, he was to hold as a jaygeer dependent on the emperor. But he dexterously inserted a clause which would have overbalanced all his losses. In lieu of some pretended claims on the old Nizam Shahee state, he asked for certain assignments which he termed the chout, and the sur-desh-mookhee on some of the Beejapore districts above the ghauts, the charge of collecting which he offered to take on himself.

The origin of the chout

This is the first mention in history of the celebrated claim of the chout, or fourth of the revenue, which the Mahrattas subsequently marched over India to enforce. So anxious was Sevajee to get the principle of these exactions admitted, that he offered a peshcush or donative of forty lacs of pagodas – nearly a million sterling – to be paid by annual instalments, and engaged to maintain an additional body of troops for the emperor’s service. In the letter which Aurungzebe wrote to him on this occasion he confirmed all the stipulations of the convention, but made no allusion to the chout or sur-desh-mookhee, probably because he did not comprehend the insidious tendency or even the import of these barbarous terms. But Sevajee chose to consider the silence of the emperor as an acknowledgment of these claims, which, from this time forward, it became the paramount object of Mahratta policy to extend to every province.

Sevajee, having now entered the emperor’s service;

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joined the imperial army with 2,000 horsemen and 8,000 foot, and marched against Beejapore.

Sevajee attacks Beejapore, and visits Delhi, 1666

The Mahratta horse in the service of Beejapore, – a portion of which was commanded by Vencajee, the half-brother of Sevajee, – greatly distinguished themselves in this war; nor were the Mahrattas in the service of the emperor less conspicuous for their valour. Aurungzebe wrote a complimentary letter to Sevajee, inviting him to court, and he proceeded to Delhi with an escort of 1,500 horse and foot. The emperor had now an opportunity of converting a formidable foe into a zealous adherent; but, either he had not the tact of conciliation, or his pride rendered him blind to his interests. Sevajee found himself treated with wanton insult, and presented at the durbar in company with nobles of the third rank. He left the imperial presence burning with indignation, and asked leave to return to his jaygeer. But the object of the emperor was to detain him, and his residence was beleaguered and all his movements watched; he contrived, however, to elude the vigilance of the emperor’s guards, and escaped in a basket, and reached his own dominions in the disguise of a pilgrim in December, 1666.

Aurungzebe’s moderation Sevajee’s civil polity, 1668–69

The raja Jesswunt Sing, and prince Muazzim were sent to command in the Deccan, – the Mahomedan fond of pleasure, and the Hindoo of money. Sevajee gratified the avarice of the raja with large gifts, and through him was enabled to make his peace with the emperor, who made an addition to his territories and conferred on him the title of raja. The Mahratta manuscripts ascribe this unexpected lenity on the part of the emperor to the design he cherished of again decoying Sevajee into his power. About the same time a treaty was concluded between the king of Beejapore and Aurungzebe, by which the former ceded the fort and territory of Solapore, yielding near two lacs of pagodas a-year. Sevajee now prepared to enforce his claim of chout on the districts of Beejapore, alluded to in the Convention of Poorunder, but the vizier of that state purchased

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exemption by agreeing to an annual payment of three lacs of rupees. Some agreement of a similar character appears to have been entered into by the minister of Golconda for a sum of five lacs of rupees. Having now a season of greater leisure than he had hitherto enjoyed, Sevajee employed the years 1668 and 1669 in revising and completing the internal arrangements of his government. There is nothing which gives us so high an opinion of his genius as the spirit of wisdom which pervades his civil polity. It is impossible to behold without the greatest admiration, a rough soldier, who was unable to read or write, and who had for twenty years been simply a captain of banditti, establishing a system of administration so admirably adapted to the consolidation of a great kingdom. His military organization, which was distinguished for its vigorous discipline and its rigid economy, was equally suited to the object of creating a new and predominant power in Hindostan.

Prosperity of Aurungzebe and his people, 1666–70

This was also the most prosperous period of Aurungzebe’s long reign. The empire was at peace. His father Shah Jehan had recently sunk into the grave, and there was no longer any dread of projects for his restoration. The emperor was held in the highest respect throughout the Mahomedan world, and received tokens of deference from the most distant sovereigns. The Scheriff of Mecca, the Khan of the Uzbeks, the king of Abyssinia, and even the sovereign of Persia, had sent complimentary embassies to Delhi. But the restless ambition of Aurungzebe again kindled the flames of war, which continued to rage without the intermission of a single year through the period of thirty-seven years to which his reign was prolonged. Finding it impossible to inveigle Sevajee into his power, and knowing that his general Jesswunt Sing was inactive under the influence of Mahratta gold, he issued the most peremptory orders to seize him and some of his principal officers, threatening vengeance for neglect. Sevajee, seeing hostilities inevitable, prepared for the conflict with the most determined resolution.

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He opened the campaign by the capture of Singui a fortress deemed inaccessible to an enemy, but which his general Maloosray escaladed with his mountaineers, the Mawullees, and fell in the moment of victory. Sevajee rewarded every private soldier with a silver bangle. Poorander, a fortress of equal strength and importance, was also recovered. With an army of 14,000 men he again plundered Surat, and again the factors of the East India Company covered themselves with renown by the gallantry of their defence. One of Sevajee’s generals overran the province of Candesh, and for the first time levied the chout from a Mogul district. The most remarkable circumstance attending this distant invasion was the exaction of a written document from the village authorities, in which they engaged to pay one-fourth of the government dues to Sevajee, or to his officers. Sevajee, on his part, engaged to furnish them with regular receipts, which would exempt them from future pillage and ensure them protection.

Jinjeerah made over to the Moguls, 1671

The great naval arsenal of the Beejapore state was the port of Jinjeerah, and it was under the command of an Abyssinian admiral. It had long been the earnest desire of Sevajee to obtain possession of this important harbour, and he had besieged it annually for nine years, but, owing to the inferiority of his artillery, had invariably failed. In 1670 he again brought his whole force against it, but was again baffled. He endeavoured to seduce the admiral from his allegiance by large offers; but three of the subordinate officers of the port, who were personally obnoxious to Sevajee and detested the very name of Mahratta, imprisoned the admiral, and placed both the arsenal and the fleet under the protection of the Moguls. This was a severe blow to the projects of Sevajee, as it strengthened his most formidable and inveterate foes, the Sedees of Jinjeerah, by enabling them to obtain reinforcements from Surat, which rendered the port impregnable. Meanwhile, the emperor, dissatisfied with the inactivity of his son Muazzim, sent

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Mohabet Khan, with an army of 40,000 men to the Deccan. Sevajee had always avoided a pitched battle with the superior forces of the Moguls, but on this occasion he boldly resolved to try conclusions with them in the open field. The result was the most complete victory the Mahrattas had ever gained, and no trifling increase of their confidence. The attention of the emperor was soon after drawn to Afghanistan, and the war with Sevajee languished.

Aurungzebe in the Khyber, 1673

The turbulent Khyberees and Eusufzies, the perpetual enemies of peace and order, had again broken out in open revolt. They had defeated Mahomed Amin, the son of Meer Joomla, and destroyed his army in the passes, – subsequently rendered memorable by the annihilation of a British army, – and obliged him to redeem his women and children by a heavy ransom. The emperor determined at first to undertake the subjugation of these incorrigible highlanders in person, and marched with a large force as far as Hussun Abdal, but soon after transferred the command of the expedition, in which little glory was to be reaped, to his son. The war occupied two years, and the emperor was at length happy to terminate it by accepting the nominal submission of the tribes.

Revolt of the Sutnaramees, 1676

On his return to Delhi he found, himself suddenly involved in a most formidable difficulty arising from a most insignificant cause. A sect of Hindoo devotees, called Sutnaramees, living in the town of Narnoul, agriculturalists by profession but always bearing arms, were thrown into a state of extreme excitement by the violence of a police soldier. The émeute gradually grew into a revolt. The devotees assembled by thousands, and being joined by some disaffected zemindars and men of note, defeated a body of troops sent against them. The provinces of Agra and of Ajmere were thrown into commotion, and the imperial army shrunk from collision with enthusiasts, who were said to possess the magical power of resisting bullets. The tact of Aurungzebe at length succeeded in putting down a rebellion which threatened his empire. He

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caused texts of the Koran to be written on slips of paper and attached to his standard, and his troops, now believing themselves protected from the spells of the enemy, obtained an easy victory.

Aurungzebe persecutes the Hindoos, 1677

This event would scarcely be worthy of notice, but for the disastrous results which sprung from it. Akbar and his two successors had adopted the liberal and sound policy of reconciling the Hindoos to the Mogul power by granting them religious liberty and equality. During a century of toleration the Rajpoot chiefs became the firmest supporters of the Mogul throne. But the bigoted Aurungzebe entertained a strong religious hatred of all infidels, though from motives of policy, he still continued to employ Rajpoot troops, as a counterpoise to his Mahomedan soldiers, and had formed two family alliances with Rajpoot princesses. From the beginning of his reign, all his measures had breathed a spirit of intolerance, but it was not till his feelings were embittered by the want of success in the Khyber, and the revolt of the Hindoo devotees, that he entered upon a systematic persecution of the Hindoos. He issued an edict forbidding all governors any longer to receive Hindoos into the public service, and ordered the jezzia, or poll tax, to be imposed on all who were not Mahomedans. The tax was odious, not so much from its pressure, being less than three quarters per cent. on income, as from its being a “tax on infidels,” and a token of religious degradation. On going to prayers at the mosque after this edict, his way was blocked up by suppliants whom his guards were ordered to disperse, and many of whom were trampled to death by his horses and elephants. After this example of severity, the tax was sullenly submitted to. So severe was the persecution, that not only were the pagodas destroyed throughout Bengal, but in the holy city of Benares, the sanctuary of Hindooism, the most sacred temples were demolished and mosques erected on the ruins, while the images were used as steps for the faithful to tread on.

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Revolt of the Rajpoots, 1678

These violent proceedings produced great disaffection in every province, but no open revolt, except in Rajpootana, and for the Rajpoots the emperor had no sympathy. His father and grandfather were, indeed, the offspring of Rajpoot princesses, but he himself was of unmixed Tartar blood. It was not, however, till after the death of the two celebrated Mahratta generals who had been the prop of the throne, raja Jey Sing, of Jeypore, and raja Jesswunt Sing, of Joudhpore, that Aurungzebe ordered the jezzia to be imposed on his Hindoo subjects. Jesswunt Sing had recently died in the imperial service at Cabul, and his widow had returned to Delhi with her two sons, on her way to their native country. Aurungzebe, anxious to detain the children as hostages, surrounded their encampment with his troops; but Doorga Dass, the faithful servant of the family, extricated them by the most ingenious contrivances from the toils of the emperor, and conveyed them in safety to their own capital. The insult thus inflicted on this noble house served to rouse the indignation of the Rajpoots, and, with the exception of the raja of Jeypore, who was bound to the imperial family by many intermarriages, the whole of Rajpootana was in a blaze. The emperor lost no time in marching into the country, and constrained the rana of Oodypore to make his submission. Favourable terms were granted to him, and a cession of territory was accepted in lieu of the poll tax. But soon after he took up arms again, and Aurungzebe, exasperated by this renewed opposition to his wishes, summoned troops from every part of India, even from the province of Bengal, and let them loose on this unhappy country. The prince was again driven to the mountains, the women and children were carried into captivity, and the country was consumed by fire and sword. The alienation of the Rajpoots from the Moguls was now complete. After this period they were often at peace with Aurungzebe and his successors, and furnished their contingents of troops, and accepted the government of provinces; but that cordial attachment which had made them the bulwarks of the empire for

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more than a hundred years, was gone. During this war with the Rajpoots, the embarrassments of the emperor were increased by the defection of his son, prince Akbar, who went over to the enemy and advanced suddenly upon the imperial camp with an army of 70,000. Aurungzebe was in imminent danger of being captured with his slender escort, but with his accustomed craft he succeeded in sewing dissensions among the adherents of the prince, who found himself generally deserted, and sought refuge with the Mahrattas, accompanied by the faithful Doorga Dass, and 500 Rajpoots.

Sevajee assumes royalty, 1674

To return now to the progress of Sevajee. In 1672 he appears to have proceeded on a secret expedition to Golconda, and extracted nine lacs of pagodas from the king. While Aurungzebe was employed in Afghanistan, he took advantage of the death of the king of Beejapore and the weakness of a minority, to annex the whole of the Concan and the adjoining ghauts, with the exception of the ports held by the English, Portuguese, and Abyssinians. He had long struck the coin in his own name, and he now determined to proclaim his independence and assume all the ensigns of royalty. After many religious solemnities, on the auspicious day fixed by the brahmins, the 6th of June, 1674, he was enthroned at Raigur, and announced himself as the “ornament of the Khsetriyu race, the lord of the royal umbrella,” – the chuttru putee of modern India, the satrap of ancient Persia. In accordance with the custom of oriental princes he was weighed against gold, and the money was distributed amongst the brahmins to the amount of 16,000 pagodas, for, to their chagrin, he was found to weigh only ten stone. The next year he sent an army for the first time across the Nerbudda, and ravaged the province of Guzerat.

Sevajee’s expedition to the Carnatic, 1676

In the year 1676 he undertook one of the most extraordinary expeditions recorded in Indian history, whether we regard the boldness or the success of the design. It was directed to the recovery of the paternal jaygeer, held by his half-brother Vencajee, as a vassal

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of Beejapore, and the extension of his conquests in the south of India. Having bribed the Mogul general Khan Jehan who directed the operations against him, and obtained an armistice, he made the most judicious provision for the protection of his forts until his return. At the close of 1676 he marched to Golconda with a force of 30,000 horse and 40,000 foot, and, through the medium of the chief minister, a Mahratta. entered into a compact with the sovereign, who engaged on his part to cover Sevajee’s territories during his absence, while Sevajee agreed to grant him a moiety of all his conquests, with the exception of the paternal estates. After a month of negotiation and the receipt of a large supply of money and artillery, he sent forward his army and proceeded himself to pay his devotions at the celebrated shrine of Purwuttun. Naked and covered with ashes, he assumed the guise of a Hindoo jogee or devotee, and having for nine days committed various acts of superstitious folly, which at one time alarmed his attendants for his sanity, resumed the command of the army, and marched by Madras in the beginning of May. Fort after fort was surrendered to him; but the most extraordinary exploit of this expedition was the capture of Ginjee, the inaccessible fortress of the south, “tenable by ten men against any force that could be brought against it.” He had now advanced six hundred miles from his own capital, and at Trivadee had an interview with his brother, Vencajee, who held Tanjore and the other territories bequeathed to him by Shahjee. These domains he refused to share with Sevajee, who thereupon took forcible possession of the whole of the jaygeer; while his horse ranged through the Carnatic and subjected it to plunder wherever the exaction of the chout was resisted, but no portion of either land or money did he allot, according to his agreement, to the king of Golconda. Meanwhile the Moguls attacked that state, and Sevajee, having come to an understanding with his Tanjore brother, returned to his own dominions and reached Raigur in the middle of 1678, after an absence of eighteen months.

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Attack of Beejapore, 1679

A formidable army had been sent by Aurungzebe under Dilere Khan to besiege Beejapore; and the regent, during the king’s minority, invoked the aid of Sevajee, who stipulated as the price of his assistance, for the cession of the Raichore dooab, or country lying between the Toombudra and the Kistna, and the sovereignty of his father’s jaygeer and of the conquests he had made in the south. To create a diversion in favour of Beejapore, he proceeded northward, and laid waste all the country between the Beema and the Godavery, and plundered the town of Aurungabad for three days, though the Mogul viceroy was at that time residing in it. After his return from this expedition he captured twenty-seven forts, and on the receipt of an express from the regent of Beejapore hastened to the succour of the town. On the line of march, his son, Sambajee, who had been placed in confinement by his father for an attempt to violate the wife of a brahmin, made his escape and went over to the Mogul general. Sevajee retired to Panalla to devise means for the recovery of the youth, and sent his army to Beejapore, which was making a noble defence. The Mahratta generals cut off all supplies from the enemy’s camp, and eventually obliged Dilere Khan to raise the siege. At the same time Sambajee returned to his allegiance and was placed under restraint by his father.

Death of Sevajee, 5th April, 1680

But in the midst of these events all Sevajee’s plans of ambition were cut short by his death, which happened at Rairee on the 5th of April, 1680, in the fifty-third year of his age.

His character

Aurungzebe could not conceal the satisfaction he felt on the death of his most formidable enemy. During the long struggle which he was constrained to maintain with Sevajee, he affected to despise his power, and was accustomed to deride him as the mountain rat; but after his death he did full justice to his character. “He was,” he said, “a great captain, and the only one who has had the magnanimity to raise a new kingdom, while I have been endeavouring to destroy the ancient sovereignties of India; my armies have

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been employed against him for nineteen years, and nevertheless his state has been always increasing.” This state, at his death, comprised a territory estimated at four hundred miles in length, and a hundred and twenty in breadth, in the north; in the south he was in possession of half the Carnatic, which alone was equal in extent to many kingdoms in India. These large possessions were created by the efforts of his own genius, and consolidated by a communion of habits, religion, and language, and a common hatred of the Mahomedans. Sevajee is one of the greatest characters in the native history of India, greater than Hyder Ali, greater even than Runjeet Sing who, in after times followed his example, and beginning life as adventurers closed it as mighty sovereigns. He did more than found a kingdom; he laid the foundation of a power, which survived the decay of his own family. His son was a dissolute tyrant, and his grandson a simpleton, from whose hands the sceptre fell; but the spirit of national enthusiasm which he infused into the Mahrattas, in a few years made them the arbiters of the fate of India.

Succession of Sambajee, 1681

Sambajee, the eldest son of Sevajee, was living in durance at the time of his father’s death, in the fortress of Panalla, and a party was formed among the Mahratta chiefs to exclude him from the throne, on the ground of his profligacy. But he succeeded in establishing his authority, and was acknowledged the sovereign of the Mahratta nation, after which he gave loose to the ferocity of his disposition. He caused one of his father’s widows as well as those who had opposed his succession to be executed, not sparing Anajee, a brahmin, to whom he was under the greatest obligations. He had none of the virtues of his father, except his courage. His cruelties soon alienated the great generals and statesmen who had assisted in building up the Mahratta throne; and he rendered himself an object of general contempt by his slavish devotion to a favourite of the name of Kaloosu, a Cunouj brahmin. His inglorious reign of nine years. was marked only by rash enterprizes, or

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voluptuous excesses. At the beginning of his reign he was induced to renew the siege of the island of Jinjeerah, the great naval arsenal of the Moguls, which his father had attacked year after year in vain. He was obliged to relinquish the enterprize with disgrace, and the Seedee or Abyssinian admiral retaliated on him by ravaging the coast, and slaughtering kine, and eventually by destroying the fleet which Sevajee had been at the greatest pains to create. In the year 1681, the emperor’s son, Akbar, who had at first joined the Rajpoots, sought refuge at the court of Sambajee and received a cordial welcome; but, becoming at length disgusted with the follies of that prince, he retired to Persia.

Aurungzebe in the Deccan, 1683

Aurungzebe had never relinquished his designs on the Deccan. Though he had not prosecuted them with vigour, his generals had from time to time invaded Beejapore, and he himself had steadily fomented all the internal discords in that state, as well as in Golconda, and encouraged the Mahrattas to assail and plunder them both. Having now, in a great measure, subdued the opposition of the Rajpoots, which had been excited solely through his own bigotry, he resolved to bring the whole strength of the empire to bear on the subjugation of the south. It was a war of wanton aggression, and, by a righteous retribution, it exhausted the resources and hastened the downfall of the Mogul power. In the year 1683 he quitted Delhi, which he was destined never again to enter, with an army magnificent beyond all former example. The finest cavalry was assembled from the provinces beyond the Indus, and within it, and supported by a vast and well equipped infantry. The artillery consisted of several hundred pieces, served by native gunners, but directed by Europeans, as well as an efficient body of sappers and miners. A long train of elephants, intended both for war and equipage, and a superb stud of horses accompanied the camp. There was, moreover, a large menagerie of leopards and tigers, and hawks and hounds without number,

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and all the appliances of field sport. The camp, which resembled a moving city, was supplied with every luxury the age or country could furnish. The canvas walls which surrounded the emperor’s personal encampment were twelve hundred yards in circumference, and the tents contained halls of audience, courts, cabinets, mosques, oratories, and baths adorned with the finest silks and velvets, and cloth of gold. There is no record of such extravagant luxury in any modern encampment, and it may be questioned whether it was equalled by the Persian splendour of the army of Xerxes. But there can be no question that a thoroughly equipped and well commanded force of 10,000 Europeans – cavalry, infantry, and artillery – would have dispersed this host like chaff before the wind. Yet, amidst all this grandeur, the personal habits and expenses of the emperor were as frugal and austere as those of a hermit.

Invasion of the Concan, 1684

With this unwieldy army the emperor moved down to Boorhanpore, and then to Aurungabad, and, by a strange infatuation, commenced his operations by directing the odious jezzia to be imposed on all the Hindoos of the south. Contrary to all military principles he sent a body of 40,000 horse, under his son, prince Muazzim, to traverse the stupendous ghauts, and enter the maritime province of Concan. The prince reached the Concan without opposition, except from the natural obstacles presented by this region of mountains, and he plundered and laid waste every village as he proceeded. But the work of destruction recoiled on the invaders. The resources of the province were destroyed, and by the time the army reached the neighbourhood of Goa, it was in a state of starvation. The Mahratta cruizers intercepted the supplies sent from the Mogul ports, and their cavalry blocked up the passes. The wreck of this fine army, exhausted by hunger and pestilence, was at length happy to find shelter under the walls of Ahmednugur, while Sambajee, advancing to the north, insulted the emperor by plundering and burning down the town of Boorhanpore.

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Invasion of Beejapore, 1686

In 1686 Aurungzebe moved his camp to Solapore, and sent his son, prince Azim, to attack Beejapore. In this, the last year of its national existence, the troops of that state exhibited the most devoted gallantry. They cut off the supplies of the Moguls, intercepted all their communications, and reduced the army to a state of extreme peril, from which it was extricated only by the extraordinary exertions of Ghajee ood deen, who, after a desperate engagement, succeeded in bringing up a convoy of 20,000 brinjaree bullocks with grain; but the prince could effect nothing. In the meantime, the king of Golconda, Aboo Hussein, formed an alliance with Sambajee, who took advantage of the embarrassment of the Mogul troops before Beejapore to lay waste the province of Guzerat, and sack the town of Broach. On the failure of the Beejapore expedition the emperor sent his general, Khan Jehan, to attack Golconda. Mudhoona Punt, the Mahratta minister of that state, had equipped an army of 70,000 men to meet the invasion. It was commanded by Ibrahim Khan, whose superiority in the field was so great as to place the Mogul commander completely in his power; but instead of pressing his advantages, he treacherously went over to the enemy with a large portion of his army. Mudhoona was assassinated in a popular tumult excited by his enemies, and the helpless king sought refuge in the fortress of Golconda. For three days Hyderabad was subject to plunder, which the Mogul commander could not restrain, and the wealth which Aurungzebe had destined for his own coffers was, to his infinite chagrin, shared among the soldiers. The king at length sued for peace, and a treaty was concluded with him, on condition of his paying a contribution of two crores of rupees.

Conquest of Beejapore, 1686

Aurungzebe was now at liberty to turn his whole strength against Beejapore. The walls were of hewn stone, six miles in circumference, and the artillery was as superior to that of the Moguls as it had ever been; Aurungzebe determined therefore to blockade the town. The

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garrison began to be straitened for provisions, and its brave Patan defenders were at length obliged to capitulate. The emperor, seated on a portable throne, was carried in triumph through a breach in the walls, and the young king was consigned to captivity, and died within three years, not without suspicion of violence. On the 15th of October, 1686, Beejapore was blotted out of the roll of Indian kingdoms, after having enjoyed a career of independence for more than a hundred and fifty years. The revenues of the country were estimated in the imperial registry at seven crores of rupees a year, a sum which appears incredible, notwithstanding the fertility of its soil, and the wealth poured into it by maritime commerce. Whatever may have been the resources of the kingdom, the Adil Shahee dynasty employed them in works of utility or magnificence which had no rival in India. No race of princes ever adorned their capital in so brief a period with such magnificent mosques, palaces, and tombs. Even at the present day, after nearly two centuries of decay in an Indian climate, the majestic ruins of the city attract the admiration of the traveller, more especially the mausoleum of Mahomed Adil Shah, with its dome of simple grandeur, which, like the dome of St. Peter’s, fills the eye of the beholder from every quarter.

Conquest of Golconda, 1687

The fate of Golconda was not long delayed. Aurungzebe was determined not to allow the treaty which he had recently concluded with the king, to impede the absorption of the kingdom. Though the Mogul army was now sufficiently strong to overwhelm it, the emperor again had recourse to his habitual craft. He advanced into the territory with a large force, under pretence of a pilgrimage to the tomb of a saint, and began to practise on the fears of the bewildered monarch, from whom he gradually extracted all his treasure and jewels. It is recorded, that Aboo Hussein stripped the inmates of his seraglio of their ornaments to propitiate the emperor. But Aurungzebe’s cold and selfish nature was never capable of a generous emotion. The only return he made for these offerings was a declaration

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of war against the unhappy prince, charging him, a follower of the Prophet, with the crime of having employed a brahmin for his minister, and formed an affiance with the infidel Mahrattas. The king, though addicted to pleasure, was roused to indignation by the baseness of this treatment, and for seven months defended himself with a heroism worthy his ancestors. The fort of Golconda was at length captured, but only by an act of treachery, and the royal house of Bootub Shah became extinct, after a brilliant career of a hundred and seventy years. Mogul generals were sent to take possession of the districts in the Carnatic and Telingana, which had been held by the kings of Beejapore and Golconda, and the Mahrattas, leaving nothing but the principality of Tanjore in the possession of Vencajee, in whose line it continued till it was absorbed in the British dominions.

Confusion in the Deccan

The ambition of Aurungzebe was now consummated. He had extended his authority in the south over tracts which had never before acknowledged the sovereignty of the Mahomedans, and for the first time in seven hundred years the whole of India appeared to be bound in allegiance to a single head. The year 1688 is the culminating point of Mahomedan rule. The calamities of Aurungzebe commenced as soon as he had reached the summit of success, and the decay of the Mogul empire may be dated from the fall of Golconda. The governments which had maintained order in the Deccan had disappeared; no system of equal vigour was established in their stead. The suspicious nature of Aurungzebe prevented him from entrusting any of his generals with a force which they might be tempted, by its magnitude, to turn against him. The two states of Beejapore and Golconda had maintained their authority by an army of 200,000 men, the Mogul army, after their subjugation, did not exceed 34,000 men. The disbanded soldiery enlisted under disaffected commanders, or joined the predatory bands of the Mahrattas, and each petty chief, in accordance with the prescriptive habits of the country, “withdrew his

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neck from the yoke of obedience,” whenever it could be done with the prospect of impunity. Aurungzebe was incessantly employed in the siege of forts; there was no energy at the head-quarters of government; there was no redress for the oppression of the governors, while the collectors of the jezzia extorted millions from the wretched Hindoos, and exasperated them against the Mogul conquerors. The Deccan became a scene of boundless confusion, and the last twenty years of the reign of Aurungzebe presented a constant succession of conspiracies and revolts, which consumed the strength of his army and of the empire.

Death of Sambajee, 1689

Sambajee, infatuated with his favourite and immersed in low pleasures, viewed with indifference the fall of Beejapore and Golconda, though it enabled the Moguls to concentrate their efforts upon the Mahrattas. Aurungzebe had taken possession of the open Country, and was engaged in besieging the forts, when Sambajee was surprised during a drunken revel, and conveyed as a prisoner to his presence. After the insult offered to the imperial power by the plunder of Boorhanpore and Broach he had sworn that “he would never return to Delhi till he had seen the head of the Mahratta weltering at his feet.” The life of Sambajee was offered him on condition that he would turn Musulman. The haughty son of Sevajee replied, “Not if you would give me your daughter in marriage,” and at the same time poured a torrent of abuse on the Prophet. Aurungzebe ordered his tongue to be cut out for his blasphemy, and finally put him to death with the most excruciating tortures. Though Sambajee had lived nine years amidst the contempt of his subjects, his tragic end created a strong feeling of pity among them, and gave a keen edge to that spirit of hostility which they cherished towards the Mahomedans. The flagitious execution of Sambajee, which has left a stain of the deepest die on the character of Aurungzebe, was not only a crime, but an error. It was the sowing of the dragon’s teeth, of which the emperor reaped an abundant harvest before his death.

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Sahoo, king of the Mahrattas, 1689

The Mahrattas, unable any longer to look abroad for assistance, and pressed by the whole power of the Mogul empire, were obliged to bend to the storm. The cabinet of ministers elected Sahoo, the infant son of Sambajee, though then a captive in the emperor’s camp, to fill the throne, and appointed his uncle, Ram raja, regent. Of the great kingdom founded by Sevajee little remained in the north, and it was determined to make suitable arrangements for preserving the remnant, and to transfer the seat of Mahratta power to the south. Ram-raja, with twenty-five chiefs, made his way in disguise through the Carnatic amidst a variety of adventures, on which the national historians delight to dwell, and established his court at the fortress of Ginjee, which Sevajee conquered in 1676, little dreaming at the time that it was one day to become the refuge of his family. Ram raja, on his arrival, laid aside the character of regent and assumed the ensigns of sovereignty, arranging his court on the model of that of his father.

Mahratta depredations, 1691

In the following year he sent two of his generals, Suntajee and Dhunnajee, with a force which increased on its progress, to plunder the Mogul territories and distract their attention. They extended their ravages to the neighbourhood of Satara, where Ramchunder, who had been entrusted with the Mahratta interests in the north, devised a new plan for damaging the Moguls. He conferred the right of levying the chout and sur desh mookee, and of laying waste the districts which refused these exactions, on every Mahratta chief who could bring his retainers into the field. At the same time he created a new demand of ghaus dana, or forage money, which was to be the individual perquisite of each chieftain. Under this new impulse, every mountain and valley poured forth its inhabitants to desolate the plains, and the Mogul authorities instead of having one great predatory army, directed by a single head, and amenable to obligations on their hands, had a monster with a hundred heads to deal with.

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Comparison of the Mogul and Mahratta armies

The Mogul army was ill fitted to contend with this new swarm of warriors. Its commanders were silken generals compared with the iron chiefs of Akbar’s days. They vied with each other only in extravagant display, while their persons were protected from danger by wadding and chain armour. The spread of luxury had eaten out the spirit of valour and discipline, and nothing was so little desired by them as the sight of the enemy. The number of men for whom the officers drew pay, was never honestly maintained, and the ranks were filled with any cheap and beggarly recruits they could pick up. A force thus constituted was no match for the Mahratta troops, accustomed to hard fare and harder work. “The horse without a saddle was rode by a man without clothes, whose constant weapon was a trusty sabre; footmen inured to the same travel, and bearing all kind of arms trooped with the horse; spare horses accompanied them to bring off the booty, and relieve the wearied or wounded. All gathered their daily provisions as they passed. No pursuit could reach their march; in conflict their onset fell wherever they chose, and was relinquished even in the instant of charge. Whole districts were in flames before their approach was known, as a terror to others to redeem the ravage.”

Siege of Ginjee, 1690–98

The rallying point of the Mahrattas was the fortress of Ginjee, the siege of which was as protracted as the siege of Troy. On hearing that Ram raja had taken up his abode in that fortress, Zulfikar Khan was in the first instance sent to capture it; but the suspicious temper of the emperor led him repeatedly to change the commanders, and the operations necessarily languished. Zulfikar was often in collusion with the Mahrattas, and it was even suspected that he contemplated the establishment of an independent authority through their aid, on the death of the aged emperor. It was during the languor of this siege that Suntajee Ghorepuray, having defeated the Mogul generals in the north, appeared before the place with a body

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of 20,000 horse. The besieging army was besieged in its turn, and Cam buksh, the son of the emperor, and the nominal commander-in-chief, was driven to a humiliating convention. Aurungzebe disallowed it, recalled his son, and entrusted the command for the third time to Zulfikar. But as he was in communication with the enemy, the siege was again prolonged, till the emperor, indignant at his inactivity, gave him the option of its immediate capture, or his own degradation. Zulfikar now assaulted the fort in earnest, and it was reduced in the year 1698.

Ram Raja makes Satara his capital, 1698

Ram raja, who had been allowed, through the connivance of Zulfikar, to escape from Ginjee before its capitulation, made his way back to his native mountains and selected Satara as his capital. He was soon enabled to assemble a larger army than Sevajee had ever commanded, and proceeded to levy what he termed “the Mahratta dues” through the provinces of Candesh and Berar. The greater portion of the maritime forts of the Mahrattas had been preserved or recovered; and, with Colaba for their arsenal, they were enabled to keep the sea against the Moguls. On the other hand, the Mahratta cause suffered the severest injury by the death of Suntajee Ghorepuray, who had been the terror of the Mogul armies for seven years. Dhunnajee, his former associate, became his mortal enemy; he was hunted by his own countrymen like a wild beast, through the region which he had filled with his exploits, and was at length brought to bay and his head cut off and sent as an acceptable present to the emperor.

New plans of Aurungzebe, 1700

To meet the increasing audacity of the Mahrattas, Aurungzebe devised the plan of separating his army into two divisions – one to be employed in protecting the open country from their depredations – the other in capturing their forts. The first duty was committed to Zulfikar Khan, the ablest and the most energetic of the Mogul generals, at a time when they were universally enervated by indulgence and venality. He repeatedly defeated the

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Mahrattas in the field; but he was unable to reduce their strength, and they always appeared more fresh after a defeat than his own troops after a victory. Aurungzebe reserved the task of capturing the fortresses for himself; and, breaking up his encampment on the banks of the Beema, to the deep regret of his voluptuous officers, commenced operations by the siege of Satafa, which was surrendered to him in four months, in April, 1700. A month before this period Ram raja expired at Singur, and his son, a child of ten years of age, was declared king under the regency of his mother, Tara Bye.

His increasing difficulties, 1702–1707

During the succeeding five years Aurungzebe was incessantly engaged in reducing the Mahratta forts; but while thus employed he continued to superintend the minutest details of business throughout the empire, and not even a petty officer was admitted to the service at Cabul without his concurrence. When we are assured that the climate of India invariably relaxes the vigour of the body and the energies of the mind, we turn with astonishment to this octogenarian chief, engaged incessantly with youthful vigour in the duties of the cabinet or in the severer labours of the field, in a wild country and a vile climate. But all the energy of Aurungzebe was unable to cope with the disorders which multiplied around him. The Rajpoots were again in open hostility; other tribes in the north, encouraged by his continued absence, and the consequent weakness of the administration, began to exhibit a refractory spirit. His treasury was exhausted by a wasting war of twenty-five years. The Mahratta chiefs began to recover their forts; and in 1705 he received accounts at one and the same time that they had crossed the Nerbudda in great force, and extended their ravages to Malwa, and overrun Berar and Candesh, and also despatched 15,000 troops to levy contributions in Guzerat. In every direction around his camp, north, south, east, and west nothing was seen but the sack of villages, the slaughter of troops, and devastation of the country.

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Overtures to the Mahrattas, 1706

In these deplorable circumstances the emperor made overtures to the Mahrattas, and offered them a legal title to the fourth and the tenth of the revenues of the six soobahs of the Deccan, on condition of their maintaining order and repressing violence. But they immediately rose in their demands, and had the effrontery to require dresses of honour for more than seventy of their marauding chiefs. The negotiation was therefore broken off, and the imperial encampment began to retire to Ahmednugur, closely followed by the Mahrattas, who plundered up to the verge of the camp, and converted the retreat into an ignominious flight.

Aurungzebe’s death, 22nd February, 1707

Twenty years before Aurungzebe had marched from this capital in all the pride and pomp of war, to extend this dominion to Cape Comorin; he now returned to it with the remnant of a discomfited army, and pursued by a victorious foe, and there he expired on the 22nd of February, 1707. By his will he directed that his funeral expenses should be limited to four rupees and a-half, to be defrayed from the sum he had received for the caps he had made and sold; and that the sum of 805 rupees, which he had acquired from the sale of the Korans he had copied with his own hands, should be distributed among the poor.

Remarks on his reign

Aurungzebe has been considered by the native historians the type of Mogul greatness, and his name is invested with an indefinite idea of grandeur, even in the minds of Europeans. But this feeling is corrected by a close inspection of the events of his reign, and it is impossible to resist the conviction that few characters in Indian history have ever been more overrated. His personal bravery, his military talents, and his application to business, are deserving of all praise; but he persisted in a policy which was inherently vicious, after he perceived the ruin it was bringing on the empire. He was engaged for twenty-five years in a war, first of intolerance, and then of aggression, which exhausted the resources of the country, and hastened

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the downfall of the house of Baber. The great oriental despotism of the Moguls, like others which preceded it, had nearly run out the usual period of two centuries, and began to crumble to pieces, as soon as the genius or the prestige of Aurungzebe ceased to sustain it.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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