CHAP. VII. tains. The Aravulli chain of mountains begins a little to Aravulli moun- the south of Ajmír, and runs towards the south-west past the city of Udaipur at the foot of its eastern slopes. The western side is formed by a mountain wall which overlooks the sandy plain of Jodhpur or Marwar. On this side there is but one opening that can be called a pass; the opening is opposite the village of Ganerao. The eastern side is broken into defiles, which overlook the fertile territory of Udaipur, the garden of Rajputana. Four Moghul armies. Azam Shah. Aurangzeb's dis aster. Each of the four armies of the Moghuls had its place of rendezvous. Shah Alam, coming up from the Dekhan, marched past Ahmadabad towards the western wall. He entered the mountains at the pass opposite Ganerao. He made his way up the bed of the Gúmti river, and then turned south towards the great lake in front of the Rana's summer palace at Kankroli. There he halted. The road was partially blocked up by the lake and palace. If Shah Alam had gone farther, he would have imperilled the communications in his rear. 66 Azam Shah, coming up from Bengal, seems to have got to the south of Udaipur, or else to the westward of the Aravulli range. He could do nothing but pound hopelessly against the mountain wall. There was not a pass open to any one, save Bhíls and goats, from the city of Udaipur to the pass at Ganerao. Aurangzeb was joined by his son Akbar at Ajmír. He then advanced south towards the city of Udaipur, on the eastern side of the range. Not a soul interrupted his progress to the capital of the Rana. He 66 A glance at sheet 49 of the Topographical Survey Maps of India will indicate Shah Alam's position and the general character of the Aravulli range. tried to enter a defile which seemed to reach to the CHAP. VII. Marwar side. Suddenly he found himself entrapped. Before and behind the way was blocked by ramparts of trees, impassable for horses or elephants. On either side the Rajpúts lined the defiles. To make matters worse, the beautiful Udipurí was surprised in another defile, and carried off prisoner by the Rajputs. clemency. For a whole day Aurangzeb and his army were Rajput starving in the defiles. The Rana still respected the Moghul. He ordered the trees to be removed, and thus released the invaders. He delivered up Udipurí to the Emperor. He begged Aurangzeb to abandon his claim for Jezya; above all, to spare the sacred cows, who had been left behind to pasture in the plains. Aurangzeb, despised the clemency of the Rana. Moghul spite. He left his son Akbar in command; he beat a retreat to Ajmír; before he went, he ordered the slaughter of the cows. 67 For years the strength of the Moghuls was frittered wasted strength. away before the Aravulli mountains. Aurangzeb lay in slothful ease at Ajmír. He exhorted his sons to pierce the defiles and capture the Rana. Each one sent back his excuses, or declared he was starving out the Rajpúts. No one ventured to enter the defiles. All this time the Rana was sending out messengers to arouse the princes of Rajputana to turn against their common enemy. Meanwhile a dangerous plot was brewing. Akbar, 67 The foregoing narrative has been drawn up on the authority of Manouchi through Catrou; also on the native authorities, translated by Tod in his great work on Rajasthan. There are some discrepancies between the two, but nothing of any moment. Disaffection of CHAP. VII. the third son of Aurangzeb, was a rebel at heart. He occupied a position nearer to Ajmír than either of his brothers. He knew that Aurangzeb had denuded his army to strengthen his sons; that the Emperor had, in fact, only a small force at Ajmír. Rajput plot. The astrologer. Warnings. Awakening of At this crisis the widow of Jaswant Singh of Marwar sent secret messengers to Akbar in the joint names of herself and the Rana. She exhorted him to rebel against his father; to seize Aurangzeb at Ajmír; to mount the throne and take possession of the empire. She promised to send fifty thousand Rajpúts to support him; she declared that every worshipper of the Hindú gods would join him the moment he began his march to Ajmír. Akbar closed with the offer at once. In due course he was joined by the fifty thousand Rajpúts. Success was a certainty. In an evil hour he consulted his astrologer. There was a delay in making the calculations. A spy revealed the plot to Shah Alam. The throne of the Moghuls was in sore peril. Shah Alam saw that his own birthright was in danger. Possibly he was mortified by the thought that but for the sham rebellion he might have headed the plot. He sent off full particulars to Aurangzeb. He offered to march at once on Ajmír for the protection of his father against the rebel Akbar. The Emperor believed nobody. He was rudely wakened to the fact that his force was very small. He suspected Shah Alam of a design to seize him and dethrone him, just as he himself had dethroned and imprisoned his father, Shah Jehan. He wrote back that Shah Alam was altogether mistaken about Akbar; that Shah Alam was not to leave his post until further orders. Shortly afterwards, Aurangzeb received letters from Akbar's camp, revealing the whole plot; CHAP. VII. one of the letters came from Akbar's astrologer. Akbar was on his march to Ajmír with fifty thousand Rajpút auxiliaries. Fortunately Shah Alam had not waited for his father's orders. He was only one day's march behind Akbar. The Emperor sent a secret messenger to order the astrologer to delay Akbar. Accordingly, Shah Alam got to Ajmír three hours before Akbar. The chances of battle were very doubtful. The Artifice. Rajpút auxiliaries rendered Akbar very formidable. Night was coming on; the battle was to be fought at early morning. Aurangzeb heard from his spies that the Rajpúts were to form the first line of Akbar's army. He wrote a feigned letter to Akbar, which was to fall into the hands of the Rajpút general. In this letter he rejoiced over the destruction of idolatry and massacre of the Rajpúts; reminded Akbar to place the Rajputs in the front, so that they might be slaughtered from before and behind; not a Rajpút was to escape; the massacre was to be a sacrifice to God and the Prophet. disappear. This letter fell, as was intended, into the hands of the Rajputs Rajpút general. He at once concluded that Akbar was playing the same game of sham rebellion that had been played by Shah Alam. He thanked the gods for opening his eyes in time. Before morning the Rajpút auxiliaries were in full march for Marwar. Akbar woke in the morning to find that his Raj- Akbar's flight. púts had fled to Marwar, and that his Muhammadans were deserting to the Emperor. The astrologer had gone off to Ajmír. One faithful adherent made a desperate attempt to assassinate Aurangzeb, but was cut to pieces at the entrance to the tent. Akbar fled CHAP. VII. to Marwar in despair. There he learned how the Rajpúts had been gulled by the feigned letter. The escape. Game of craft. Humiliating peace with the Rana Shah Alam was sent with an army to arrest Akbar and bring him to Ajmír in silver chains. The Rajputs, however, helped Akbar on his way through wilds and jungles. Suddenly they were all surrounded by the army of Shah Alam. Akbar was entrapped, but he was so far safe that Shah Alam could not get at him. Then followed a game of craft between the two brothers. Shah Alam promised pardon and reconciliation; he implored his brother to rely on the mercy of Aurangzeb. Akbar replied that he was anxious to throw himself at the feet of his father; but the Rajpúts were clamouring for pay; he was a prisoner in the hands of the Rajputs. Shah Alam was taken in ; Akbar paid part to the he advanced the money. For four years the Rana stood out against Aurangzeb. The Moghuls were humiliated in the eyes of all Rajputana. The rebellion and flight of Akbar made matters worse. The Emperor was forced to leave the Rajpút and fly at the Mahratta; to withdraw from the heart of Hindustan in order to assail the Konkan in the Western Ghats. It was humiliating to leave the idolaters of Udaipur to worship their gods in peace in order to fight against the mountain-rats of the Konkan. The shame was covered up in the old Moghul fashion. The Rana was supposed to sue for peace; the demand for Jezya was dropped. The Rana was left in the possession of his kingdom without having yielded a |