Rája Jai Singh, in obedience to orders, raised the siege of Bíjápúr. Knowing that the forts which he had taken could not be held after his departure, through want of provisions on the inside, against the swarms of Dakhinís outside, he resolved to abandon them. He took out of them such guns as he could carry away. Then he gave the forts up to plunder, and afterwards set fire to them, and blew up the strong towers and walls. Then he proceeded to Aurangábád. Information now reached him of the flight of Sivají, and, in obedience to the Imperial command, he arrested Nathújí and his son, and sent them to Court. * * On arriving there, Nathújí was ordered to be kept under close surveillance. Seeing no other chance of escape, he expressed a wish to become a Musulmán, which greatly pleased the Emperor. So he was initiated, and received a mansab of three thousand and two thousand horse, with the title of Muhammad Kulí Khán. After some time, when he returned to the Dakhin with reinforcements for Diler Khán, he recanted, and seized an opportunity to join Sivají.
[Text, vol. ii. p. 207.] Prince Muhammad Mu'azzam was appointed Súbadár of the Dakhin, * * and intelligence reached the Court of the death of Rája Jai Singh.
[Text, vol. ii. p. 211.] After the expiration of ten years (of the reign), authors were forbidden to write the events of this just and righteous Emperor's reign. Nevertheless some competent persons (did write), and particularly Musta'idd Khán, who secretly wrote an abridged account of the campaign in the Dakhin, simply detailing the conquests of the countries and forts, without alluding at all to the misfortunes of the campaign; and Bindrában, who wrote an abridged account of the events of some years of the second and third decades. But I have neither seen nor obtained any history that contains a full and detailed account of the forty remaining years of the reign. Consequently, from the eleventh to the twenty-first year of the Emperor's reign, I have not been able to relate the events in the order in which they occurred, giving the month and year; but after this year, with very great labour and pains, I collected information from the papers in the public offices, and by inquiry made from truthful persons, the confidential and old servants of the Emperor and old eunuchs. This, and whatsoever I myself observed, after attaining years of discretion, for thirty or forty years, I laid up in the strong box (of my memory), and that I have written. And since I heard that Bindrában Dás Bahádur Sháhí, who was long a mutasaddi of Sháh 'Álam during the time he was a prince, had compiled a history, and had included in it an account of upwards of thirty years, being exceedingly anxious to see it, I made great search for it. Subsequently when, after great trouble, I obtained a copy, and examined it carefully from beginning to end, in the hope that I might gather the rich fruits of his labours, I discovered that his work did not contain one-half of what I had collected and included in my own history.*
The King of happy disposition strove earnestly from day to day to put in force the rules of the Law, and to maintain the Divine commands and prohibitions. Orders were also issued prohibiting the collection of the ráhdárí, the pándarí, and other imposts which brought in lacs of rupees to the State. Prohibitions were promulgated against intoxicating drinks, against taverns and brothels, and against the meetings called játras or fairs, at which on certain dates countless numbers of Hindús, men and women of every tribe, assemble at their idol temples— when lacs of rupees change hands in buying and selling, and from which large sums accrue to the provincial treasuries. The minstrels and singers of reputation in the service of the Court were made ashamed of their occupation, and were advanced to the dignities of mansabs. Public proclamations were made prohibiting singing and dancing. It is said that one day a number of singers and minstrels gathered together with great cries, and having fitted up a bier with a good deal of display, round which were grouped the public wailers, they passed under the Emperor's jharokha-i darsan, or interview-window. When he inquired what was intended by the bier and the show, the minstrels said that Music was dead, and they were carrying his corpse for burial. Aurangzeb then directed them to place it deep in the ground, that no sound or cry might afterwards arise from it.
In the reigns of former kings, and up to this year, the jharokha-i darsan had been a regular institution. Although the King might be suffering from bodily indisposition, he went to the jharokha once or twice a day at stated times, and put his head out of the window to show that he was safe. This window, at Ágra and at Dehlí, was constructed on the side looking towards the Jumna. Besides the nobles in attendance at the Court, hundreds of thousands of men and women of all classes used to collect under the jharokha and offer their blessings and praises. Many Hindús were known by the name of darsaní, for until they had seen the person of the King at the window, they put not a morsel of food into their mouths. His religious Majesty looked upon this as among the forbidden and unlawful practices, so he left off sitting in the window, and forbade the assembling of the crowd beneath it.
[Text, vol. ii. p. 217.] Sivají left Mathurá after changing his clothes and shaving off his beard and whiskers, carrying with him his youthful son and forty or fifty individuals, servants and dependents, who all smeared their faces with ashes, and assumed the appearance of Hindú mendicants. The valuable jewels and the gold mohurs and the huns they carried with them were concealed in walking sticks, which had been hollowed out for the purpose, and were covered at the top with knobs. Some was sewed up in old slippers, and the wearers, pretending to be Hindú mendicants of three different classes, Bairágís, Gosáíns, and Udásís, proceeded by way of Alláhábád to Benares. One very valuable diamond with some rubies was encased in wax, and concealed in the dress of one of his followers, and other jewels were placed in the mouths of other attendants.
So they proceeded until they reached a place of which the faujdár, 'Alí Kulí Khán, had received private and public notice of Sivají's escape. The faujdár, knowing of the escape of Sivají, on hearing of the arrival of these three parties of Hindú devotees, ordered them all to be placed in confinement, and an inquiry to be made. All these men and some other travellers remained in confinement a night and a day. On the second night Sivají, at the second watch of the night, proceeded alone to the faujdár in private, and acknowledged that he was Sivají. But, said he, “I have two gems, a diamond and a ruby of great value, with more than a lac of rupees. If you secure me and send me back a prisoner, or if you cut off my head and forward that, the two priceless jewels will be lost to you. Here am I, and here is my head; but still, keep off thine hand from wretched me in this dangerous strait.” 'Alí Kulí preferred the ready bribe to the hope of the reward which might afterwards accrue to him. He took the two valuable jewels, and on the following morning, after making inquiries, he released all the devotees and travellers from custody.
Sivají, looking upon his escape as a new lease of life, hastened
to pursue his journey in the direction of Benares. He himself
in rapid travelling and walking beat even the regular runners;
but after reaching Alláhábád, his young son Sambhá, who accompanied
him, was foot-sore and worn out. Sivají therefore at
Benares gave a quantity of jewels and money, and placed his
boy in the charge of a Bráhman, named Kabkalas,*
who was the
hereditary family priest of his family, and who happened at that
time to be at Benares. Sivají promised that if he reached home
alive, he would write to the Bráhman, who was then to conduct
the boy to his father by the road and in the manner prescribed
in the letter. He warned him against listening to the wishes of
the boy, or attending to letters from his mother. Having thus
provided for the care of his boy, he continued his flight, * * and
he had hardly entered Benares before the government messengers
brought the news of Sivají's escape. * * Sivají then continued
his flight by way of Bihár, Patna and Chánda, which is a thickly-