I X D I A. 



33 



iM*ry. in this war, 



grew dju>- 

 get. 



Alain of 

 .: Lit-;. 



thirfdm. 

 A. D.l6a 



inclosed in another defile of tfy moun- 

 e was taken prisoner. The emperor 

 himself, unable to escape and unwilling to surrender, 

 was exposed to all the horrors of famine ; but most un- 

 expectedly and unaccountably, after being thus con- 

 fined for two days, the rajahs withdrew from their sta- 

 tions, and permitted him to escape. The empress also 

 was sent back ; and the only recompcnce which the ra- 

 jah* asked in return for this moderation was, that the 

 ror would refrain from destroying the sacred ani- 

 of the Hindoo religion ; but he ascribed their l'r- 

 ince to fear of future vengeance, and continued the 

 war. Being, however, a second time exposed to immi- 

 nent danger, he resolved to leave the conduct of the 

 campaign to hi* sons Azim and Acber, while be him- 

 self retired to Ajmeer, with his body-guard of 4000 

 His sons continued the war each in a different 



Cof the country ; but neither, at the end of the year, 

 been able to force the passes of thr mountains. 



We 



oil 



broker, 

 *! \ c 



to the Decan. Sevajee, in con- 

 of princes against him, had 

 to retreat ; but his spirits were not 

 bis plans frustrated. He soon iinailH of- 

 and was again successful in a most 



important enterprise. A convoy of money for the use 

 and support of the Mogul army was coming to Aurun- 

 gabad, of which he received early intelligence. He 

 aalved to intercept it ; and accordingly, with a de- 

 tachment of hio beet cavalry, be set out, and fell upon 

 the convoy, before hi* approach wan known, within a 

 few miles of Braropore. He seised and carried off the 

 whole; bnt the exceaaive fatigM* which he had under. 

 gone in this rapid nurrh, produced an inflammation of 

 the breast. Hi* illnes* was concealed as long as pos- 



sible, but it proved fatal on the 3th of April 1680. At 

 the period of hi* death, the Mahratta state* comprised, 

 on the western side of India, all the coast, with the back 

 country, from the river Mirzeon to Venal, 

 the small territory of Goa ; to the south. Bot 



sette. and the Portuguese ji inn* between 



and Dunaun ; to the north, along the other side of the 

 ridge, they fomnrohoaded all the district a* far as the 

 """in* canmed4o the westward. The length of 

 the whole might be nlimili il at 400 miles, ami the 

 breadthat ISO. At the distance of 300 mjtoo from thb 

 territory he we* in poaxmiusi, towards the sa*trn sea, 

 ofhalftheCamatie. The whole bad been acquired by 

 -r. abflkie* ml enterprise ; end he left, at hi* d*. 

 a minoHiml *otere>int>. eotoboahed en comma. 



empire, which could with prudence be collected to one History. ^ 

 spot, was now employed against the two Rajpoots, un- V "^"Y"^ 

 der the command of the three sons of the emperor, and 

 his own inspection. Of these sons, the youngest, Ac- 

 ber, was turbulent, arrogant, and mischievous. The 

 array he commanded lay nearest the city of Ajmeer, 

 where Aurengzebe was ; and Acber was easily bribed, Acber, one 

 by the promise of the support of the Rajahs, to at ^'^ 

 tempt the seizure of his father, and the placing himself {^<-lV 

 upon the throne. The scheme, however, was betrayed A. D. 1681. 

 to Aurengzebe, and Acber judged it prudent to escape 

 and take refuge near Guzerat. Mauzura, the eldest 

 son, was ordered by Aurengzebe to follow Acber, and 

 not to quit the pursuit till he had taken him : the fu- 

 gitive, however, effected his escape ; and on the 1st of ">& escapes 

 June 1681, arrived at Pawleegur, a fort at the foot of 

 the Ghauts, not far from Bombay. 



Sambagee, who had succeeded Sevajee as chief of 

 the Mahrattas, was at this time at Panda ; and short, 

 ly afterwards he paid his personal homage to Acber, 

 declaring that he intended to accompany him with 

 30,000 horse to Brampore, and there proclaim him em- 

 peror of the Moguls. 



Aurengzebe, when he learnt that his son had effect- 

 ed his escape -into the south of India, fully impressed pursues har. 

 with the necessity of prompt and vigorous measures, 

 sent forward the two armies commanded by his sons, 

 and soon afterwards marched from Ajmeer with a third 

 army, which he himself commanded. Before he set 

 out, however, he concluded a piece with the Rajpoots ; 

 they agreed to surrender the district of Meirdah, which 

 had been taken from Chittore by Shah Jehan ; and the 

 emperor, on his part, did not insist on the capitation 

 tax the ODrutaat source of uneasiness and turbulence 

 with the Rajpoot*. 



By the middle of November 1681, the three armies 

 had arrived at their intended stations. Azim's at Ah- 

 mednagur, Manxum't at Aurungabad, and Aurengzebe 

 bJajettf at Rnmpore. His plan was to attack the moun- 

 tain* with his land forces, while his fleets should act 

 against the fleet and coasts of the Mahratta chief. This 

 war is full of petty details, rather than of interesting and 

 important transactions. Sambagee continued for a long 



nion of i 



Aurengsebe could not raetraaTlhe motion* of his 

 joy on hawing of Sevajee's death, nor the justice dw* 

 to his character, which he had denied htm daring hio 

 He was," he said, a great captain ; and the 

 only one who had the magnanimity to raise a new king, 

 don, whilst he hinuelf had been endeanuiuig to de- 

 stroy the ancient sovereignties of India;" he added, 

 that his armies bad been employed against him for 19 

 years, and nevertheless hio state had been always in- 

 1 1 was acoBftomed to apply to Sevajee the 

 appellation of the Uo^^ g^ 



. Aurengzebe still remained at Azaair directing the 

 war against the Rajpoots, carried on by two different 

 armies, under the command of his sons. In the year 

 IfieVJ, the army of Azim took the city of Chittore by 

 surprise, where all the favourite objects of Hindoo wor- 

 ship were destroyed. The rajahs, however, were not 

 opiriloJ, and Aurengzebe dssmsd it prudent to recal 

 bis armies from the Decan. 



vol. xti. TAT r. 



The whole force of the 



to defeat the open measures, or to frustrate 

 the secret design* of Aurengzebe, till at length, in Drub of 

 1649, be was betrayed into his hands, and murdered in SambaRec 

 the most barbarous manner by his orders. Prior to this the Mali- 

 event, Aurengsebe had commenced hostilities against r"efcJet 

 the king, of Bejapore and Golconda, and he soon re. A ' D> lflw> 

 dwced those two coontries completely under his power; 

 but notwithstanding these *cc*>*n, and the death of 

 the Mahratta chief, the mountainous part* of Baglana 

 were unsubdued, and he experienced great difficulty 

 in prosecuting his conquest* on the west 



Hi* absence for so long a time in the Decan, encour- r>iurb. 

 aged the tribe* in the north of his empire, particularly ,mce in the 

 the Rajpoot*, Patans, and Jats, to take up arms : this north of 

 was the first time that the Jats appeared otherwise Hindottcn 

 than as banditti. These insurgents, however, were 

 soon and easily quelled ; and the emperor appears to 

 have passed the remainder of his reign unmarked by 

 any event of moment. He died in the year 1707, in Death of 

 the 90th year of hi* age, after a reign of 52 years. Aureng- 

 L'ndcr him, the Mogul empire reached the utmost limits Ifbt - 

 to which it ever attained; it comprehended the country A- D- 1T07- 

 from the 10th to the 35th degree of latitude, and nearly 

 a* many degrees of longitude. 



Notwithstanding the ambitious projects in which 

 Aurengzebe was engaged during a large portion even of 



