INDIA. 



31 



Hnssrr. the following circumstance. Mahomed, the, son of 

 """ "V"" 1 ' the emperor, was attached to one of the daughters of 

 Sujah ; he was placed under the care of Meer Jumla, 

 to whom was entrusted the pursuit of Sujah ; as soon 

 as the two armies approached each other, Mahomed 

 took an opportunity to leave the camp of Meer Jumla, 

 and to join his uncle. This circumstance rendered it 

 the more necessary to bring Sujah to an engagement 

 as speedily as possible ; accordingly Meer Jumla attack- 

 Of TmAi, ed him at Tanda, a town in the province of Bengal, 

 A. D. 16*0. adjacent to the ruins of the ancient city of Gour, and 

 again defeated him. Aurengsebe, as soon as he heard 

 of the defection of his son, wrote him a letter, the ob- 

 ject of which was, in a most artful manner, to n.u-e 

 Ms suspicions of his uncle and father-in-law. This 

 letter had the desired effect ; and Sujah perceiving that 

 Mahomed was no longer happy with him, sent him off, 

 with his wife, and jewels to a large amount. \V ith 



respect to himself, having no longer any chance of op- 

 posing Aurengsebe, or even of standing hi* ground in 

 the plain country, he Bed, after the battle of Tanda, to 

 the mountain i of Tipperah. Among these, and in the 



Kstcatsr 



A .-rr _-. 



- 



t countries, he wandered almost forgotten for 

 y years, till at length he was destroyed, together 

 with the greater part of bis family, by the llaiah of Ar- 

 racan. Mahomed, a* soon a* he returned to his father, 

 was thrown into prison, where be remained till his 

 death. With respect to Dara, be was, if possible, still 

 more unfortunate than either of his brother* : After 

 wandering about m the deserts, be seems to have taken 

 up his residence at the court of Jihon, a petty prince in 

 the province of Bichar, west of the Indus. At first be 

 wat hospitably received ; but afterwards, probably in 

 of the interference of Aurengsebr, be was 

 to Delhi. There be was obliged to 

 no after being CTpood to toe 

 ( M captive, be was roardered by the orden 

 of hi. brother 



Aurengsebe was now seated, without a rival, on the 

 Arone of hi father; the empire which he governed 

 was extensive and powerful ; t the death of Shah Je- 

 han, it stretched from Cabul to the Nerbudda ; west- 

 ward of this river to the Indu*. and to the eastward, it 

 comprehended Bengal and Ona. To the south of the 

 Nerbudda, the Mogul, had reduced the countries de. 

 pendent on Dram pure, Aurungabod, Ahmednagur, and 

 Beder ; and these had been connected into one govern. 

 rocnt. This territory was bounded on the east by Be- 

 rar, westward by the hills towards Cancan, and by the 

 dominion*- of Golconda and Bejapore to the south. 



A* Aurengsebe had governed in the Decan during 

 Ml lather's lifetime, it i not surprising that his ambi- 

 tion directed it* views of conquest principally to that 

 part of India ; but it was not till the year 1078 that he 

 could in person, and with all his force, invade this dis- 

 trict. In the mean time, a power was ruing up in the 

 Decan to resist the onset, and, alter various vicissi- 

 tudes, to retaliate on his successor* the injuries of hi* 

 word. This was the state of the Mahrattas. 

 KIM of the In the ancient fables of die Hindoos, the term Maha- 

 MSSMMM ; rashtra i* spplied to a geographical division of the De- 

 can, comprehending principally it* north-west quarter, 

 supposed, that the original country of the Mahrat- 

 ta* included Khandesn, Boelana, and part of Berar, ex- 

 tending, hi a north-west direction, as far as Gun-rat 

 and the Nerbudda. They possessed the narrow but 

 f country that borders on the Concan, and itretchea 

 1 with |he tea from near Surat to Canara. The 



Attrmpti 



i . t 



' - -.. 



original Mahratta state comprehended a country of History, 

 great natural strength, interspersed with mountains, *,-' 

 defiles, and fortresses, and admirably calculated for de- 

 fensive warfare. It does not appear, however, that the 

 original Mahrattas were of the military cast ; for the 

 names of their principal tribes signified fanner, shep- 

 herd, and cowherd. It appears extraordinary, that a 

 nation so numerous as the Mahrattas, should have been 

 almost unnoticed in Indian history till the reign of 

 Aurengsebe. Xursingh, one of their princes, is indeed 

 mentioned in A. D. 139 1, by Ferishta ; but it is proba- 

 ble that, prior to the time of Aurengzebe, their coun- 

 try, like the other parts of the Decan, was divided into 

 little principalities, many of which depended upon the 

 neighl>ouring Mahomedan chieftains, but were never 

 completely brought under subjection. 



In the middle of the 17th century, Sevajee suddenly 

 arose ; one of those men who, by a fortunate conjunc- 

 tion of rare talents and rare opportunities, raise nations 

 from obscurity to the highest pitch of fame. His fa- 

 ther had been minister to the king of Bejapore, and, 

 having obtained possession of the wealth which he had 

 collected, he raised a band of adventurers, and by 

 means of them he seised some strong fortresses in the 

 mountains, near the sea coast The security of these 

 retreats, and the connections he had in the army of Bo. 

 japore, brought numerous bodies of troops to his ser- 

 vice; while hi* abilities, and the desire of opposing 

 alahnmatlsn power, induced many of the rajahs to 

 Ives to hi* cause. Under these circum- 

 the king of Bejapore judged it necessary to 

 send a strong army against him ; but he first seduced, 

 and afterwards murdered the general, and the army, 

 deprived of their leader, broke up and dispersed. 



At this period Aurengsebe was in the Decan. He 

 had reduced Gokondah ; but being obliged to return 

 to Delhi, be was apprehensive that his conquest would 

 be Pieeted from him by the king of Hejapore. He 

 tliereibre endeavoured to gain the Mahratta chief as 

 hi* ally ; and, by congratulating him on hi* success, 

 and putting him in possession of some fort* adjoining 

 to the kingdom of Bejapore, he succeeded in his 

 scheme, Sevajee, enterprising and crafty, extended hi* 

 dominion*, till, by his plunder of Sur.it in the year 

 1664, be roused the suspicion, and the anxieties of wh P Iun - 



igsebe. Besides the abundance of its commerce, A " D ""GUI. 



:ty was in high renown, as being the part through 

 which the Moguls made their pilgrimage to Mecca, 

 of which, in the archive* of the empire, it was called 

 the port. Aurengsebe felt the disgrace a* well as the 

 detriment of the insult. The whole army of the De- 

 can, therefore, was ordered to invade the Mahratta ter- 

 ritory ; but Aurengsebe did not trust entirely to force, ^'bTHndca. 

 he also employed stratagem ; and finding that Sevajee *^ ur , to de l 

 made a moat obstinate resistance, he used all his arts to cave their 

 perrss4r him to make peace ; and not only succeeded chief. 

 in this, but also prevailed upon him to come to Delhi. 

 When he arrived at this city, he discovered that he had 

 been deceived, and, burning with revenge, he contri- 

 ved to escape, and place himself again at the head of 

 his armies. Anrengsebe was now convinced that he 

 had stirred up against himself a most rancorous and 

 formidable foe, who would not only defeat his scheme* 

 of conquest in the Decan, but most probably wrest from 

 him the territories he had already acquired there. To 

 reduce him by the sword was out of the question ; he 



attempted stratagem, but without success. Un- 

 these circumstances, Aurengzebe resolved to em- 



