[Text, vol. ii. p. 773.] Intelligence arrived from the Dakhin which found no place in the communications sent to Court by Amíru-l umará Husain 'Alí. He was appointing his own followers to the command of the great fortresses, which appointments had always been made previously by the sovereign himself. At Court, also, Rája Ratan Chand, the díwán of Saiyid 'Abdu-llah Khán, interfered with the appointments of the revenue officers, allowing them no certainty or security in their positions. * * Every day these things became more and more annoying to the Emperor.
[Text, vol. ii. p. 775.] In consequence of the ill-temper of the Emperor, who had become more than ever a man of pleasure and retirement, Saiyid 'Abdu-llah Khán did not, for four or five months together, go to his office to perform his duties as minister and sign papers, so all business was stopped. 'Ináyatu-llah Khán made a representation upon this matter, and asked that he would attend the office once or twice a week. There was a contention about this for several days, but nothing came of it.
At the instance also of 'Ináyatu-llah, in this year 1131 (sic) A.H., an order was given for levying the jizya from the Hindús, which was against the wish of Ratan Chand. Hindús, eunuchs and Kashmíríans, by craft, cheating, and oppression, had got possession of mansabs and the rents of jágírs, and the extent of other jágírs had in like manner been reduced. 'Ináyatu-llah prayed that the accounts should be inquired into, and that the mansabs in the possession of Hindús and other oppressors should be diminished or confiscated. This proposition was very distasteful to Ratan Chand and other revenue officials. They addressed themselves to Kutbu-l Mulk Saiyid 'Abdu-llah, and he was opposed to the issue of the order. All the Hindús were greatly enraged with 'Ináyatu-llah, because of the order for collecting the jizya, and of the advice about the cutting down of the mansabs.
[Text, vol. ii. p. 777.] After Amíru-l umará Husain 'Alí had defeated Dáúd Khán, he went to Aurangábád, and busied himself in settling the country. There he heard of the doings of Khandú Dapháriya,* general in chief of Rája Sáhú. In each of the two súbas of the Dakhin a Mahratta chief was appointed súbadár for the collection of the Mahratta chauth, in the same way as Imperial súbadárs were appointed. Khandú held the súba of Khándesh. On the road to the port of Surat he had built a mud fort and placed a garrison in it. All caravans that passed were required to pay the chauth, i.e. a fourth part of the value of property of merchants and others which was in the convoy. If they agreed to pay, they passed safe; if not, they were plundered, the men were made prisoners, and were not released until a ransom was paid for each.
Husain 'Alí sent his bakhshí, Zú-l fikár Beg, with three or four thousand horse and five or six thousand musketeers, to chastise this chief. After Zú-l fikár Beg had passed through the pass between Aurangábád and Khándesh, he learnt that Khandú, with eight or nine thousand horse, was near the confines of Baglána and Gálna, seventy kos from Aurangábád. He was anxious to attack him, but Khandú made an ignominious flight, and led Zú-l fikár Beg towards thorny and difficult jungles. For all the scouts reported that there was no good opportunity of engaging the enemy, Zú-l fikár Beg, proud of his own courage, and seconded by the advice of some ignorant men of Bárha, paid no heed to their reports, but attacked Khandú. At the first attack many of the enemy were killed; but Khandú, according to Dakhiní practice, took to flight, drawing after him in pursuit four or five hundred well-mounted horse. Having thus dispersed the army of the Bárhas, he suddenly faced round, and falling upon Zú-l fikár Beg with a large force, he closed the way by which support could be rendered to the scattered horse, and attacked so fiercely that the army of Islám was in hard straits. Zú-l fikár Beg and a number of his brave followers were killed. Of the rest of the army, those who wished to save their lives threw themselves from their horses, laid down their arms, and were taken prisoners alive. Those who resisted were all put to the sword. It is commonly said that not one bullock, camel or horse belonging to that army was saved.
Amíru-l umará Husain 'Alí sent Rája Muhakkim Singh, his díwán, with a suitable force, to punish Khandú. He also directed his own brother Saifu-d dín 'Alí Khán, Súbadár of Burhánpúr, to support the Rája. Saifu-d dín had gone out of Burhánpúr towards Sultánpúr and Nandurbár for settling the country. These two famous chiefs pursued Khandú, in the hope of retaliating upon him, or of removing his posts so that they might no longer trouble the country and people of Khándesh. But they accomplished nothing. Khandú bided his time, and went to Rája Sáhú, who was in a secure fortress. His garrisons, which were posted in various places, held their ground. Whenever the army of Amíru-l umará approached, their force fled, and as soon as it had departed, they returned and reoccupied their positions. Muhakkim Singh succeeded in engaging some other Mahratta forces which were plundering in the vicinity of Ahmadnagar, and drove them under the walls of the fort of Sattára. They were, however, unable to exact revenge from Khandú for the death of Zú-l fikár Beg, and the destruction of his army.
The fact of the disagreement between the Emperor and the Saiyids was well known from the farmáns and orders which had been sent secretly to Rája Sáhú, the díwáns and the chief zamíndárs of Karnátik, desiring them not to obey Husain 'Alí Khán. They had accordingly showed resistance, and no settlement of Bíjápúr and Haidarábád had been effected.
[Text, vol. ii. p. 781.] The Emperor Aurangzeb having resolved upon the reduction of the fortresses of the Dakhin, spent long time and great treasure in the work. He took the forts of Sattára, Parnála, Rájgarh, and others, thirty or forty in number, all fortresses of strength and repute, and deprived the Mahrattas of house and home. The chiefs of this race of robbers, knowing that the Imperial territory was now vacant, and the Emperor far away, showed greater boldness than in former years. With large armies they invaded the súbas of the Dakhin, and Ahmadábád, and Málwá, for the purpose of collecting the chauth, and they plundered and ravaged wherever they went. To cities and large towns they sent messengers and letters, demanding payment of the chauth from the governor or zamíndár. Or the mukkaddams and zamíndárs of the towns and villages hastened out to meet the Mahratta army, undertaking to pay the chauth, and begged for protection. Taking back with them a messenger (harkára) and a horseman, to protect the village and the cultivation, instead of showing their total rent to be one or two thousand (rupees), they made it out to be four or five hundred. But whatever sum was settled, they promised payment, and gave sureties, called ol in the language of India. They thus saved themselves from violence and plunder.
When the faujdárs or zamíndárs of a place refused to pay the chauth, and made no propositions, the Mahrattas attacked the place and thoroughly ravaged it. If, after investing a place for some days, they found themselves unable to take it, they moved away. In this way the towns of Nandurbár, Sultánpúr, Jámúd, and many other well-known towns of Burhánpúr, Birár, and other súbas of the Dakhin, were invested by twenty-eight thousand horsemen for two or three weeks, who were finally beaten off.
The Mahrattas treated caravans just in the same way, and many were plundered. The commanders of their bands did their best to settle the amount of chauth to be paid, and were not willing to pillage. Their men, on the contrary, strove to prevent any arrangement of the chauth, so that they might be free to plunder. For, if an agreement was arrived at, and the chauth was settled without plundering, it belonged to the chiefs, and the men got nothing. But, if it came to plundering, each man kept what he could lay hands upon, and the chiefs did not gain so much.
Towards the end of the reign of Aurangzeb, Rání Tárá Báí, widow of Rám Rája, kept up a state of warfare with the Emperor for ten or twelve years after her husband's death. She then offered to make peace upon condition of receiving a grant of the sar-deshmukhí of the six súbas of the Dakhin, at the rate of nine per cent. For the honour of Islám, and for other reasons, Aurangzeb rejected this proposal.