The wonder that was india

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under Jahangir and had been appointed governor of the Deccan to crush his own rebellion against the Emperor. Once Shahjahan's rule was firmly established, Khan-i Jahan apologized to the Emperor and sent him a string of costly pearls. Initially he was made governor of Berar and Khandesh but was soon transferred to Malwa. He was then recalled to court and ordered to disband his forces. Finding total ruin imminent, he fled the court in October 1629 and, pursued by the relentless imperialist forces, took refuge with Murtaza Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar, with whom he had established friendly relations.

Shahjahan took the field in person, leaving Agra on 3 December 1629 for Burhanpur. A terrible famine was raging in Daulatabad, and when the Mughals invaded Ahmadnagar from different directions Murtaza was convinced of the precariousness of his position. The differences between Khan-i Jahan and Murtaza began to mount, forcing the host to move to north of the Narbada in November 1630, where the Bundelas also refused to support him. Khan-i Jahan was forced to disperse his Afghan followers, retaining only a handful for personal safety. In February 1631 he fell fighting near Banda in modern Uttar Pradesh. His head was sent to the Emperor at Daulatabad.39

For sixteen months Khan-i Jahan had fought resolutely, but his defeat in the face of the vast Mughal resources was a foregone conclusion. His supporters had dreamed of reviving Afghan rule, but Khan-i Jahan was more realistic in assessing his own strength. He could have survived longer in the Afghan tribal regions beyond Peshawar, but life as a high-ranking Mughal mansabdar had made him unsuited to guerrilla warfare.

Shahjahan's war against the Bundelas was endemic. Bundel-khand, lying on the route from Agra to the Deccan, had never been peaceful; but during Jahangir's reign Bir Singh Deva Bundela had become the Emperor's favourite by assassinating Abu'1-Fazl. Despite regular promotions, Bir Singh was notorious for encroaching on both his Hindu and his Mughal neighbours' territories. After his death in 1627 his son Jujhar succeeded him. Jujhar also had a son, Vikramajit, who was greedy and cruel. While Jujhar was at Shahjahan's court congratulating him on his accession, many reports castigating Vikramajit were received. The Emperor instituted inquiries into the administration of Bundelkhand. Although Jujhar Singh was allowed to hold a mansab of 4,000 zat and 4,000 sowar by the Emperor, he was alarmed and fled. Shahjahan immediately ordered a massive build-up of Mughal forces. His generals besieged the whole state, and the Emperor himself moved to Gwalior, ostensibly on a hunting expedition but in reality to

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supervise military operations. Finding no way out of the impasse, Jujhar surrendered. A heavy fine was imposed on him, but he was confirmed in his original rank and ordered to serve in the Deccan with his own contingents. His subsequent service there earned him promotion to the rank of 5,000, but when he returned to his capital of Orcha his lawlessness revived. He arbitrarily killed the Gond chief of Chauragarh and seized his capital. The chief's son appealed to the Emperor, who decided to chastise Jujhar for aggrandizing himself at the expense of an imperial protectorate. Jujhar was ordered to surrender the conquered territories and stolen treasure. Before the royal orders were issued, Jujhar rebelled and recalled his son from the Deccan. The Emperor ordered Aurangzib to attack Bundelkhand from three sides. In March 1634 Orcha was seized and a Bundela raja of a different family installed there. The imperialist forces pursued Jujhar and his son relentlessly, and eventually they were murdered and their heads sent to Shahjahan. Jujhar's bulging treasury also fell into the Emperor's hands. The massive Orcha temple built by Bir Singh was wantonly demolished, the idols were desecrated, and a mosque was built on the site. One of Jujhar's sons and a grandson were converted to Islam. The royal Bundela ladies were forced to serve either the imperial ladies or the Muslim nobles.40

Shahjahan's punitive measures were marked by a revival of pre-Akbar vindictiveness. The wave of resentment his atrocities aroused made the rule of the imperial nominee at Orcha, Devi Singh, very difficult. Then Champat Ray, a brave Bundela chief, crowned one of Jujhar's sons, and the Bundelas rallied around his standard. The guerrilla fighters remained as elusive as ever to the Mughal columns sent to stop Bundela incursions into Mughal territories. It was only when one of Bir Singh Deva's sons, Pahadh Singh, was given command of the Mughal expedition that Cham-pat surrendered and accepted a mansab.

There was no resistance to the Emperor's suzerainty in Little Tibet. Kooch-Bihar had been annexed to the empire during Jahangir's reign and remained peaceful. In Assam the raids during 1628-39 seemed to demarcate the Mughal boundaries, enabling trade and commerce gradually to develop.

In the eastern part of Bengal the Portuguese enjoyed a monopoly of the salt trade, participated in the slave trade, and forcibly converted the local population to Christianity. They also protected the Chittagong pirates and helped the King of Arakan against the Mughals. This prompted Shahjahan to mount an invasion, by both land and river. Hugli, the Portuguese stronghold, was besieged. After about one year the Portuguese were defeated, and the

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Christian prisoners were forced to embrace Islam.41

The north-west frontier tribes were also a source of trouble. The Roshana'I leader, Ahdad, was killed in 1625-6, but his successor, 'Abdu'l Qadir, made many successful raids on the Mughal army. The constant movement of troops en route to Transoxiana and Qandahar, however, soon intimidated the tribes, and peace was restored in the region.

The Shah of Iran had refused to assist Shahjahan's rebellion against his father. After his accession diplomatic relations were maintained, although the governor of Kabul was ordered to seize any opportunity to recover Qandahar. No military action was taken, but in February 1638 'All Mardan Khan, the Iranian governor of Qandahar, frightened by Shah Safi's atrocities against the proteges of his father, Shah 'Abbas, surrendered the fort to the Mughal commander of Ghazm. He was given a mansab of 6,000 and appointed governor of Kashmir. He became an asset to the Mughal empire, both as a far-sighted administrator and as an engineer. The forces of the new Qandahar governor, Qulij Khan, quickly reconquered territory as far as Zamindawar. The Mughals were unable to retain Qandahar for long and had to surrender it to the Iranian army in February 1649. Both Aurangzib and Dara Shukoh mounted unsuccessful invasions to recover Qandahar. The Iranian artillery had grown very powerful during the wars against Turkey and remained superior to the Mughal guns. The Mughal army was brained to fight on the plains and was ignorant of siege tactics. Fighting in the hilly Qandahar region was alien to it.

The Mughal inability to fight prolonged wars in mountains and under unfavourable climatic conditions also frustrated Shahjahan's ambitions to conquer Transoxiana. The Mughals lost more than five thousand lives during their successive invasions between 1639 and 1647. The Uzbeks suffered heavier losses and their territories were practically ruined, but they would not surrender. Shahjahan also became more realistic and stopped dreaming of ruling over his former ancestral lands, now inhabited by hostile tribes. Shahjahan's imperial policies were more successful in the Dec-can. Malik Ambar, the indefatigable saviour of the Nizam Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar, had died in May 1626. Shahjahan enticed some Maratha leaders into his service. The most eminent among them was ShahjT Bhonsle, the son-in-law of Jadhav Rao, who had been murdered by Nizam Shah. Malik Ambar's son, Fath Khan, whom Burhan had made his prime minister, ungratefully assassinated his patron. He subsequently placed Burhan's son, Husayn Nizam Shah, aged ten, on the throne. The Nizam Shah! Bobles refused to co-operate with him and Fath Khan consequently

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surrendered to the Mughals. The Emperor would have continued fighting from his base at Burhanpur, but the death on 7 June 1631 of his devoted wife, Mumtaz Mahal, dampened his interest in warfare. He left Burhanpur on 6 March 1632, assigning the supreme command to Mahabat Khan, who captured Daulatabad. By this time Shahji was alienated from the Mughals, and his armies and those of 'Adil Shah of Bijapur fearlessly ravaged the imperial territories. Murtaza Nizam Shah III was raised to the Ahmadna-gar throne in place of Husayn Nizam Shah, and Path Khan's treaty with the Mughals was thrown overboard.

Mahabat Khan died of a fistula in October 1634. In February 1636 Shahjahan again arrived in Daulatabad. He dispatched one division of his army to capture the Nizam Shahl forts in the north-west and another to crush Shahji. A third division was ordered to invade Bijapur, and a fourth to prevent Qutb Shah of Golkonda from helping Ahmadnagar and Bijapur. The Ahmadna-gar kingdom was unable to resist the Mughal onslaught and lost its independence. Both Bijapur and Golkonda signed a treaty with the Emperor. Bijapur was given Konkan and some other districts of Ahmadnagar. 'Abdu'Ilah Qutb Shah of Golkonda agreed to accept the orthodox Sunni form of the khutba42 and to pay tribute to Shahjahan.

Shahji was now chased by the Mughal and Bijapur armies from fort to fort in turn and surrendered several important strongholds. Khandesh, Berar, Telingana, and Daulatabad were made into four Mughal provinces. The sixty-four hill-forts of the Deccan remained the principal centres of Mughal strength in the south.

The first viceroy, Aurangzib, controlled all four provinces from July 1636 to June 1644. Six viceroys succeeded him, each working for a short period only. In 1652 Aurangzib, after his dismissal from the Qandahar expedition, was appointed viceroy of the Deccan for the second time. He made Khirki, founded by Malik Ambar, the capital of the Mughal Deccan and named it Aurangabad. The land revenue collected was, however, insufficient to maintain the huge army necessary to control the hilly terrain. The khalisa revenue was reserved for expenditure at the Emperor's discretion, and the tribute paid by the rulers of Golkonda and Deogarh was not enough to balance the expenditure. Both the mansabdars and the viceroy clamoured for jagirs in the fertile north in order to fulfil their obligations. The Emperor allowed the Prince to exchange his own unproductive jagir for more fertile ones in mansabdar lands, but this was no solution. The financial bickering between father and son forms a large part of Aurangzib's correspondence known as the Addb-i 'Alamglri. Murshid Quli Khan, Aurangzib's diwan in

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15. Babur supervising the layout of a garden in the Babur-nama (p. 92)

16. Jahangir shoots a deer c. 1610 (p. 120)

17. The invention of the mirror under the direction of Sikandar ZuIq'arnayn (Alexander the Great) c. 1590 (p. 225)

18. An attractive turkey-cock painted at Jahanglr's command, attributed to Mansur, c. 1612 (p. 301)

19. Abu'1-Fazl, presenting the Akbar-Nama to the Emperor Akbar, painted by Govardhan in the Akbar-Nama (p. 107)

20. Sword of Sultan'Ala'u'd-Din Khalji (1296-1316) (p. 36)

21. Shaykh Phul Shattari in front of his Agra house, by Bishundas, seventeenth century (p. 262)

22. Birth of Prince Salim in the hurriedly built house near Shaykh Salim Chishti 's hermitage at Fathpur-Sikri (p. 106)23.

23. The story of unfaithful wife from the Baharistan of Nuru 'd-Dan' Abdur' Rahman Jami (p.301)

24. Portrait of Shahjahan with a halo by Bichitr (p. 301)

25. Presentation of a meal painted by Banwari the Elder from the Babur-Nama (p. 95)

26. Portrait of Jahahgir painted by Hashim, below an Indian representation of John the Baptist Nadiru'g-Zaman; on the border are Hafiz's verses (p. 301)

Balaghat (excluding Khandesh and Pa'inghat) and from 1656 onwards in the whole of the Deccan, came to the rescue by introducing Todar Mai's reforms into the Deccan. He appointed a hierarchy of village officials to improve cultivation and revenue realization. Aurangzib also improved military efficiency and streamlined the civil administration.

Dara's supporters, however, did not allow Shahjahan to appreciate Aurangzib's problems and misrepresented the steps he took to improve the administration. They ridiculed Aurangzib's recommendations; even his minor requests were rejected. He was humiliated on insignificant issues and taken to task for acts which he never committed. Aurangzib's persistent demands that the envoys at Bijapur and Golkonda should take their orders from him and that the imperial correspondence with them should be channelled through him were granted only at the close of his service and then with reservations. Aurangzib was nevertheless keen to annex Golkonda in order to seize its fabulous wealth. The late payments of tributes and the varying exchange value of the Qutbshahi gold coins gave him an excuse. He also took the Sultan to task for not obtaining his overlord's permission before capturing the former Vijayanagara territory of Karnataka.

Karnataka was conquered by 'Abdu'llah Qutb Shah's prime minister, Mir Jumla, a Shi'i adventurer from Isfahan, who was unmatched in both martial and administrative ability. Mir Jumla's conquests in Karnataka made him ruler of a kingdom yielding an annual revenue of 4 million rupees. His cavalry and artillery were. the strongest in the region. He already possessed twenty diamond mines and he channelled the rewards from his conquests into personal commercial gains; he was not prepared to part with Karnataka. Mir Jumla visited Golkonda reluctantly but quickly returned to his capital Gandikota, in Karnataka, determined never to return. From Karnataka he sent envoys offering his services both to Bijapur and to Iran. Aurangzib could not miss this opportunity to profit from Mir Jumla's wealth and vast administrative experience. Shahjahan promised Mir Jumla protection, but he remained irresolute. Intrigues with three courts could not remain secret. Both the Deccan courts decided to fight Mir Jumla when they learned of his negotiations.

The drunkenness and insolence of Mir Jumla's son, Muhammad Amin, while at the Qutb Shahi court gave the Sultan a pretext to cast him and his family into prison and attach their property. Shahjahan had appointed Mir Jumla and Muhammad Amin as Mughal mansabdars, however, and he wrote to Qutb Shah ordering him to release them. The Emperor ordered Aurangzib to seize

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Golkonda-if the Sultan disobeyed him. Without giving Qutb Shah time to comply, Aurangzib ordered his son, Prince Muhammad Sultan, to invade Golkonda. He himself moved with an army to Daulatabad in order to prevent 'Adil Shah's army from assisting Golkonda. On receipt of the Emperor's letter, Qutb Shah sent Muhammad Amin and his family to Aurangzib, but Muhammad Sultan remained at war. Qutb Shah fled on 22 January 1556 from Hyderabad to Golkonda in order to save himself from total destruction. Next day the invaders entered Hyderabad, which they ransacked for two days. Qutb Shah's entreaties and his abject obedience to the imperial command were of no avail. On 6 February Aurangzib himself besieged Golkonda but was unable to storm the fort, because the Deccani guerrilla tactics blunted the Mughal aggression. Aurangzib was determined to annihilate the Qutb Shahi state in order to seize its wealth and earn religious merit for destroying a Shi'I kingdom. Shahjahan, however, was not prepared to take extreme measures, and Dara Shukoh, who had been bribed by the Golkonda envoy, secured peace for them on the payment of an indemnity. Aurangzib, considering the imperial decision fatuous, kept Shahjahan's letter secret, until humiliating terms were accepted by Qutb Shah.43 On 20 March Mir Jumla reached Aurangzlb's camp at Golkonda and gave the viceroy many valuable presents. He was immediately called to Delhi, where he again produced gifts worth several lakhs, including a large diamond. He was given a mansab of 6,000 and made diwan in place of the lately deceased Sa'du'llah Khan.

Aurangzlb's appropriation of the Golkonda booty increased the wrangling between him and the Emperor. The Viceroy and his officers were accused of amassing enormous wealth from the Hyderabad plunder and private gifts from Qutb Shah. Aurangzib complained that the war had bankrupted his treasury, that his soliders' pay was six months in arrears, and that no share of the Golkonda indemnity had been paid to him. Qutb Shah now arranged through Dara Shukoh to retain Karnataka, but Aurangzib intrigued with Mir Jumla to prevent this. Mir Jumla had already agreed to serve Aurangzlb's interest at the imperial court, where his wealth dazzled the Emperor's eyes. Naturally he became the mouthpiece for Aurangzlb's aggressive policy, and Dara was unable to implement his peace proposals despite his influence over the Emperor. The Emperor subsequently decided to retain Karnataka in his own hands.

Frustrated in his aggression against Golkonda, Aurangzib obtained an excuse to invade Bijapur when Muhammad 'Adil Shah (1627-56) died. Under Muhammad 'Adil Shah the Bijapur kingdom

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had expanded tremendously. He was also partially successful in his invasion of the Portuguese territories of Goa and Salsette. The Sultan had lived in peace with the Emperor ever since his treaty with Shahjahan. After his death, however, Aurangzib refused to recognize 'Ali 'Adil Shah II (1656-72), a youth of eighteen, as his successor. Instead he massed his troops at Bijapur, awaiting the Emperor's orders to invade the kingdom, on the plea that the new ruler was an impostor. In November 1656 Shahjahan gave Aurangzib a free hand against Bijapur. The unprovoked war violated the solemn peace agreement signed by Shahjahan in 1636. Aurangzib conquered BTdar and Kalyani, which made the fall of Bijapur imminent. Dara, however, came to Bijapur's rescue and succeeded in persuading the Emperor to stop all further aggression against it. Besides the payment of an indemnity of 15 million rupees, Bijapur agreed to cede Kalyani, Bidar, and the fort of Parenda with its dependencies. Mir Jumla was ordered by the Emperor to take possession of the newly ceded forts and then to return to the imperial court.44

While Aurangzib was preparing to invade Bijapur, Shahji Bhonsle's son, Shivaji, seized his father's western jagirs and began capturing the Bijapur hill-forts. He urged Aurangzib to allow him to seize the 'Adil Shahi Konkan in order to gain his co-operation. Aurangzib gave a non-committal reply. Profiting by Aurangzib's preoccupation with Bijapur, Shivaji raided Junnar in south-west Mughal territory. Papic spread as far as Ahmadnagar. Aurangzib ordered the devastation of Puna and Chakan and ravaged other areas of Shivaji's domains, having first made sure that the imperial territory was protected against any sudden attack by the Maratha guerrillas. After the submission of Bijapur, Shivaji also surrendered, asking forgiveness for his raids. Aurangzib was still not mollified, but Shahjahan's sudden attack of strangury in September 1657 plunged the empire into consternation.

The Emperor was more than sixty-five and had ruled with great pomp for more than thirty years. His four sons - Murad Bakhsh (b. 1624), Aurangzib (b. 1618), Shuja' (b. 1616), and Dara Shukoh (b. 1615) - were now all mature men. The Emperor doted on Dara and had made him viceroy of rich provinces. After he had been ill for a week Shahjahan nominated Dara as his successor. Susceptible to flattery and sycophancy, Dara was devoid of Aurangzib's shrewdness. Shah Shuja', who had been governor of Bengal, had grown indolent, while Murad, governor of Malwa and Gujarat, was brave but pleasure-loving. Aurangzib possessed a calculating mind, had developed initiative and tenacity as a result of his experience, and was a good judge of character. Of their sisters, Jahan Ara Begum

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(b. 1614), called Begum Sahiba, was Dara's partisan, Raushan Ara (b. 1624) supported Aurangzib, and Gawhar Ara (b. 1631) acted as a spy for Murad. In 1642 Shah Shuja' and Aurangzib had made a firm friendly alliance. Shuja' betrothed his daughter to Sultan Muhammad, Aurangzib's son, and Aurangzib promised his daughter to Shuja's son. Murad also became friendly with Aurangzib. On hearing of Shahjahan's illness, their clandestine correspondence became more frequent, and a cipher was devised to transmit secret information.

As the Emperor's deputy, Dara tried to stop the alarming rumours from spreading, but panic mounted.

Shahjahan had recovered by the middle of November 1657 but the Princes refused to believe the news. Even letters from Shahjahan and Jahan Ara were of no avail. Then the Princes raised the battle-cry of liberating Shahjahan from Dara's vicious control. Early in December, Murad declared himself king, and Shah Shuja' proclaimed his independence in his capital Rajmahal in Bengal. Shah Shuja' reached Banaras by forced marches in January 1658. Dara's gifted son, Sulayman Shukoh, however, defeated him at Bahadurpur near Banaras, and Shuja' took refuge in Patna.45

Aurangzib moved cautiously. He tried to conciliate the rulers of Golkonda and Bijapur and wrote to Shivaji asking him not to disturb the peace there. Many disgruntled nobles at the imperial court secretly assured Aurangzib of their support. Aurangzib even wrote to Rana Raj Singh of Mewar assuring him of his determination to pursue Akbar's policy of religious harmony in order to win his favour. In the Deccan he had collected a band of able Irani, Turani, and Afghan, officers.

Aurangzib had attempted to restrain Murad from acting rashly, but his brother declared himself independent and left Gujarat. Before he departed, Aurangzib pledged Murad to give him one-third of any booty and conceded him the fight to rule independently over the Panjab, Kabul, Kashmir, and Sind. Early in February 1658 Aurangzib set off from Aurangabad. At the end of April he met Murad at Lake Dipalpur, near Ujjain, and the two armies camped at the village of Dharmat, on the western bank of the Gambhira, a tributary of the Chambal.

The imperial forces under Maharaja Jaswant Singh Rathor had already arr.ived at Ujjain to prevent the Princes from proceeding to Agra. Aurangzib's men controlled the Narbada river passages so carefully, however, that no news of the Princes' movements could get through. Jaswant had expected to fight only Murad and it was riot until both armies arrived near Ujjain that he learned of

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Aurangzib's presence. Aurangzib's envoy urged the Maharaja to allow the Princes to visit his father. Jaswant was perplexed and quailed at fighting the Princes of the blood, and he was no match tactically for Aurangzlb. The Princes' refusal to return, however, forced him to give battle. He chose a narrow enclosed spot at Dharmat where he was camped. The war began on 26 April 1658. The Princes' artillery and archers soon gained the upper hand, and the Rajputs broke and fled. Jaswant left for his home in Jodhpur.

Shahjahan wanted the Princes to visit him, but Dara insisted on fighting his enemies personally, confident that he would soon rout them. He hastily collected a force of about 60,000 men, marched to Dholpur, and seized all the Chambal fords with the help of the local zamindars. The postponement of the battle until Sulayman Shukoh joined him seemed to be in his best interest, but to his utter bewilderment Aurangzlb quickly crossed the Chambal forty miles east of Dholpur and threatened Dara's rear. Dara moved to Samugarh, near Agra, to give battle. The fighting started with a heavy discharge of Dara's artillery on 9 June. Aurangzlb retaliated cautiously at first, lulling Dara into a false sense of superiority. Later he opened full fire and crushed Dara's undisciplined and overconfident troops. Outmanoeuvred and despairing of victory, Dara left his elephant and took to his horse. Aurangzlb sounded the trumpets of victory; the empty howdah of Dara's elephant apparently proclaimed its master's death, and the imperial army fled. Dara was left with no alternative but to hasten to Agra. More than a dozen first-ranking chiefs in Dara's army from the Uzbek, Iranian, and Afghan tribes, as well as the Sayyids of Barha and many Rajputs, fell fighting for their master. Aurangzlb lost only one high-ranking mansabdar. Although Dara fought valiantly, his inability to direct his troops consistently destroyed his chance of victory.