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History of Aurangzib Vol I/Chapter V

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History of Aurangzib Vol I
by Jadunath Sarkar
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4512429History of Aurangzib Vol I — Chapter VJadunath Sarkar
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CHAPTER V.

The War in Central Asia, 1647.

To the north of Kabul the Hindu Kush Badakhshan. mountain range running north-east and the Oxus river flowing westwards enclose between them two provinces, Balkh and Badakhshan. The eastern half, Badakhshan, is a mere succession of ridges and valleys, with a scanty population and scattered patches of cultivation. The mines of ruby and turquoise which once gave it fame throughout the eastern world, now yield very little. It is a province thrust into a forgotten nook of the world, and hemmed in by fierce mountain tribes; the squalor and poverty of its people is equalled only by their ignorance and helplessness.[1]

Balkh is a more open and fertile country. Balkh. Irrigation canals and numerous streams have given its favoured ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/114 ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/115 ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/116 ​crushing blow which might win for him peace and the growth of revenue. The enemy had "no forts or towns or immovable property, worthy of the name, for an invader to destroy, and no stationary population, left undefended, upon whom he might wreak his vengeance Mobility must have been the quality they relied on more than any other, both in attack and retreat, and we find them baffling their enemies more by their movements than by their fighting power."[2] When reduced to the worst, they fled across the Oxus to their homes. Mughal troops who had served in the Deccan, immediately noted that the Uzbaks fought like the Marathas but were far more hardy.[3]

Savage and uncouth as the Uzbaks were, they had at least the faith of Islam in common with their foemen from India.Tartar raiders. But the Turkoman tribes (miscalled Alamans) were worse still. They had not yet accepted the creed of Muhammad, but clung to their old heathenism.[4] Plunder was their sole livelihood. In their forays they burnt the Quran ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/118 ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/119 ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/120 ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/121 ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/122 ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/123 ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/124 ​Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/125 ​ Bahadur Khan and Asalat Khan were left in Balkh as joint viceroys, and Oalich Khan in Badakhshan. After 22 days of hard toil, the great wazir finished his task and returned to Kabul by a rapid ride of four days only (6 September).[5] The Prince, who had preceded him, was disgraced, deprived of his rank and government, and forbidden the Court.[6]

The Mughal outposts were exposed to attack from the Uzbaks, and many of them lived in a state of siege, fighting frequent but indecisive skirmishes with the enemy. All waited for the arrival of a supreme commander and reinforcements at the end of winter.[7]

During the recess the Emperor made grand preparations for opening thePreparations for renewing the war. campaign in the spring of 1647. His sons Shuja and Aurangzib were called up from their provinces, large sums of money were conveyed to Afghanistan, and troops were massed at convenient stations from Peshawar to Kabul, in readiness to move at the first order. [8]

​Aurangzib was in his government of Guzerat Aurangzib appointed viceroy of Balkh. when he received his father's letter, dated 4th September 1646, ordering him to him to come away after leaving Shaista Khan, the governor of Malwa, in his place. On 20th January, 1647, he arrived at Lahore with his two eldest sons and had audience of the Emperor. Next day the provinces of Balkh and Badakhshan were conferred on him, with 50 lakhs of rupees for his expenses. On 10th February he took his leave with a present of 5 lakhs of rupees, and advanced to Peshawar, where he was to halt till the spring.[9] Thence he reached Kabul on 3rd April, and set out for the seat of war four days afterwards. Ali Mardan Khan accompanied him as his chief adviser and right hand man, and no better selection could have been made.[10]

But from the very beginning Aurangzib was The force under him. handicapped by the smallness of his fighting force. Last year Murad had marched into Balkh with 50,000 men, but after the conquest a part of the army had been recalled. Of the remaining troops many were in garrison at the various ​forts or guarding the line of communication with the base in Afghanistan. High officers in full strength held important districts like Taliqan and Qunduz in the east, Rustaq in the north-east, Balkh, Tarmiz on the Oxus, north of Balkh, Maimana in the south-west, and Andkhui in the north-west. Aurangzib wisely kept them at their posts, lest the country should pass out of The enemy's strength. his control. But this step weakened his own immediate command. Some of the Indian nobles under orders to join him lingered at home or reached no further than Afghanistan. So the Prince had to fight his battles with less than 25,000 men, while the enemy were a nation in arms and outnumbered the Mughals as three to one.[11] True they did not fight pitched battles and had a wholesome dread of musketry-fire; but their "Cossak tactics" wore out the Mughals, and their superiority in number enabled them to bear easily a loss ten times as large as the casualties of the invaders. Against these light forayers the small Imperial army could not hope for a crushing victory.[12]

​After leaving Kabul, 7the April 1647, Aurangzib Aurangzib's march on Balkh. marched by the Shibur Pass and Aq Rabat to Kahmard, which was a half-way depot of the invaders. Thence the road to Balkh runs over a tableland, through which winds the Dehas river with its narrow valley called the Derah-i-Gaz. Here the Uzbaks assembled in force under Qutluq Muhammad to dispute the passage. The Prince sent a reconnoitring force of 500 men under Khalil Beg, who charged the enemy, regardless of the odds against him. On hearing of his dangerous plight the Vanguard, mostly composed of Rajputs and a force of musketeers, was pushed up. The Uzbaks fled, but only to take post further off (20th May).[13]

​Next day, Aurangzib led the main army by the eastern bank, while Ali Mardan Khan was sent with the Van across the two upper affluents of the Dehas to dislodge a strong body of the enemy from the hills and ravines that crossed the path.

The front division of the Mughal army, as it Fight on the way. issued from a defile, was attacked by the Uzbaks and suffered some loss; but the wings soon came up and broke the enemy's centre. The battle now became general. Ali Mardan Khan drove the enemy from the field and from some hillocks behind it, chased them for four miles over broken ground, and returned to camp with some wounded prisoners. This was Aurangzib's first victory in Balkh.

The city of Balkh was reached without further opposition (25th May). Madhu Singh Hada was left in command of the fort, and the leading citizens were detained in custody in Aurangzib's camp to prevent them from making mischief.[14] Reinforcements in men and money continued to arrive from Kabul, where Shah Jahan himself was present.[15]

At the head of the Bukhara national defence ​stood Abdul Aziz Khan, the eldest son and supplanter of the weak king Nazar Muhammad. He now sent another army under Beg Ughli across the Oxus river to Aqcha, 40 miles north-west of Balkh. Here the fugitives from the pass of Gaz, under Qutluq Muhammad, joined the new arrivals.[16]

After a three days' halt at Balkh, Aurangzib March on Aqcha. left his baggage there in charge of his eldest son, and set out with light kit towards Aqcha to meet the assembled Uzbaks. The Imperial army moved with great caution, Bahadur Khan leading the Van, Aurangzib seated on an elephant commanding the Centre which enclosed in its bosom the baggage and camp followers, and Ali Mardan Khan bringing up the Rear. The artillery supported by foot musketeers cleared the line of advance. The Uzbak squadrons charged repeatedly but only to be broken and driven back. They formed again at a safe distance and took advantage of the many canals and gardens of the region to obstruct the Imperialists, who steadily advanced to Timurabad (2nd June).[17]

​Hardly had the wearied force of Aurangzib Incessant fighting with the hovering Uzbaks. dismounted at their camp here, when the Uzbaks attacked them from all sides. After a harassing fight they succeeded in driving the enemy back in front and right, and Ali Mardan Khan with the Rear went in pursuit and plundered the camp of Qutluq Muhammad. But the Mughal left wing was weak in number and its leader Said Khan Bahadur Zafar Jang was an old man in bad health. The enemy quickly discovered this weak spot, and their troops, repulsed at other points, flocked here to swell the attack. Said Khan sent a detachment of 400 men to hold a stream which skirted the camp and to prevent the enemy from crossing it. But a clever ruse of the Uzbaks lured the indiscreet Mughals to the other bank, where they were surrounded and almost exterminated by the mobile enemy. Said Khan sent up reinforcements and at last himself marched out in spite of his illness. But he was wounded and thrown down from his horse, and his two sons were slain with many other soldiers. Just then Aurangzib arrived to succour the hard-pressed division. Two furious elephants were driven before him, and his soldiers rushed into the lane that was thus cleared. The enemy ​ were routed and the left wing saved from extinction.[18]

The Second of June was a terrible day for the Imperialists, They had marched from dawn to midday and then got no rest in their camp, but had to fight incessantly till sunset before they could gain the much needed safety and repose. Ali Mardan Khan now returned with the victorious Rear. The camp was entrenched and carefully guarded, many of the captains doing patrol duty all night, without dismounting.

Next day the tired soldiers and their chief alike wished to halt. But under Ali Uzbak Camp captured. Mardan's wise advice they advanced to seize Beg Ughli's base and reap the utmost fruit of their victory. The Uzbaks as usual hovered round the marching army and kept up a running fight. Thanks to their superior mobility, they could attack or retreat as they chose. Leaving screens at safe distances on the Right and Left, their miassed troops fell on the Van, but only to be shattered by the Mughal artillery. The same tactics were repeated against the Rear, but with no better success. The march continued, the enemy seizing every disorder or weakness ​ to come closer and gall the Imperialists with showers of arrows. But the Scythian militia was no match for regular troops, and their general's camp at Pashai was seized by Aurangzib, and the peasantry whom they had carried off into captivity were released.[19]

After two days of march and fighting the Prince could no longer deny his troops a halt. Meantime the baffled enemy slipped away from his front to his rear at Aliabad. Another large army arrived from Bukhara under Prince Subhan Quli, evidently to attack the city of Balkh.[20]

Retreat to Balkh. The news made Aurangzib beat a retreat from Pashai (5th June) and hasten eastwards to defend the capital. The enemy became more aggressive than before, and at two places penetrated into his camp for a time.[21] Artillery, rockets, and muskets alone could keep their hordes at a safe distance. Next day he turned a little aside to Shaikhabad to release two of his officers who were invested in a ​ garden. Thence he marched towards Faizabad on the Balkháb river.[22]

On the 7th the situation grew worse. The Grand battle with the Uzbaks. Bukhara army put forth a supreme effort. It was now in full strength. Its highest commanders, Abdul Aziz the king, Subhan Quli his brother, and Beg Ughli the Uzbak chieftain, were all present, and directed the attack on three points of the Imperial army. But again musketry and superior discipline gave the Mughals the victory. The retreat continued till the 9th with the usual ineffective molestation from an enemy that lacked fire arms, and whose arrows were powerless except in a close en- counter. At last in the evening of the 9th the Bukhara king demanded a parley and sent a friendly message. The Mughals were not molested during the next two days, and they reached Balkh in peace on 11th June.[23]

This march Hardships of the Mughals. towards Aqcha and retreat to Balkh had taken up ten days, during which the Mughal army had been a stranger to repose. ​ Day after day a strenuous fight had to be maintained against the tireless and mobile enemy, while hunger raged in the Imperial ranks. The soldiers were ever on the move, and food could be cooked only on the backs of the marching elephants! Bread sold at one rupee or even two rupees a piece and water was equally dear. Happy were those who could get the necessaries of life even at this price, for there was not enough for all. Such was the condition of the Prince's personal following. The lot of the common soldiers may be imagined. But in the midst of all this hardship and danger, Aurangzib's firmness and control prevented any slackness or disorder; his watchful eye and active body hastened to the succour of every weak spot, and his wisdom and courage brought the army back to safety.[24]

Evil as was the plight of the Mughal army, Aurangzib's splendid courage. the enemy were worse off. Aurangzib's grim tenacity had gained its object. Abdul Aziz now desired to make peace. His hope of crushing Aurangzib had failed. He had personally witnessed a striking proof of the Prince's cool courage; for, one day the hour of evening prayer ​ arrived when the battle was at its hottest; Aurangzib spread his carpet on the field, knelt down and calmly said his prayers, regardless of the strife and din around him. He was then, as during the rest of the campaign, without armour and shield. The Bukhara army gazed on the scene with wonder, and Abdul Aziz, in generous admiration, stopped the fight, crying, "To fight with such a man is to court one's own ruin."[25]

The Bukhara king could no longer pay and Uzbak army melts away. keep his vast host together. The hope of an easy plunder of the Imperialists had brought his men together. That design having failed they were eager to return home. The Turko- mans in particular sold their horses to the Imperial army and decamped across the Oxus.[26]

Overtures of peace. Abdul Aziz proposed that Balkh should be delivered to his younger brother Subhan Quli, as Shah Jahan had publicly offered to restore the country to their father. Aurangzib referred the question to the Emperor, and Abdul Aziz left the neighbourhood of Balkh, and from Khulm turned sharply to the crossing the ​ Oxus at Aiwanj on inflated skins, his soldiers following his example wherever they could.[27] The historian Abdul Hamid has blamed Auranszib for not immediately giving chase and killing or capturing Abdul Aziz.[28] But he forgets that the Uzbak war was a national rising and did not depend on any individual leader, even when that leader was a powerful and able prince like Abdul Aziz Khan.

The war was now practically over, at least for a season. But a settlement Mughal army sick of Balkh. was still far off. Shah Jahan had no doubt decided to give the country back to Nazar Muhammad Khan, but that king must first offer submission and beg pardon before Imperial prestige could be satisfied. Meantime in the Mughal army officers and men alike were sick of their exile and longed to return home. High commanders like Bahadur Khan secretly thwarted Aurangzib, fearing that if they captured the king of Bukhara, the Emperor would annex Transoxiana and leave the Indian troops in permanent garrison there, while the failure of the expedition would lead to their speedy return home! The country had been devastated by the Turkoman freebooters, the ​ crops burnt, and the peasantry robbed or dragged away. Aurangzib, therefore, wrote to his father that he could do no good by staying there.[29]

Nazar Muhammad prolongs negotiations. Soon after the Prince's return to Balkh about the middle of June, negotiations had been opened by Nazar Muhammad, then in refuge at Belchiragh.[30] But three months were wasted in a fruitless exchange of messages and vain attempts to allay the ex-king's suspicions of treachery if he interviewed Aurangzib. He demanded this fort and that as a security, and on 13th September sent Qafsh, the Qalmaq chieftain, as his agent to Aurangzib. On the 23rd, he sent his grandsons to the Prince, excusing himself on the ground of illness.[31]

With this Aurangzib had to be contented, as the winter was fast approaching. The passes of the Hindu Kush would be soon closed by

snow. His army was faced with starvation, as grain was selling in Balkh at ten rupees a maund. They had no winter quarters in that poor and desolate country.

​ Already tribes of Turks and "Alamans" had recrossed the Oxus and begun to Peace patched up. cut off small parties of the Mughals. Aurangzib, as his officers urged, had no time to lose; he could not even wait for the Emperor's consent. So at last, on 1st October, 1647, he formally delivered the city and fort of Balkh to Nazar Muhammad's grandsons. His distant garrisons fell back on him at the rumour of peace, without waiting for his order.[32]

On 3rd October the Mughal army marched from the plain outside Balkh and began its retreat to Kabul.Mughals leave Balkh. Ali Mardan Khan and Rajah Jai Singh commanded the Right and Left wings, and Bahadur Khan the Rear. The artillery accompanied the Van. The pass of Ghazniyak was crossed slowly and painfully, the enemy harassing them from the rear and boldly falling upon them at their least disorder or Harassed during retreat. difficulty. Ghori was reached still hanging on on 14th October, the Uzbaks the tail of the retreating force. Shah Jahan had wished to retain this fort and Kahmard as the southern gates of Balkh, but his officers refused to stay there.[33] ​ The retreat continued. The wild hillmen Sufferings in crossing the Hindu Kush. called Hazarahs now took the place of the Uzbaks in harassing and plundering the Mughals. The winter of that year set in very early and with unusual severity.[34] The Imperialists, encumbered with 10 lakhs of rupees but having few transport animals and porters, toiled slowly and painfully through a narrow and steep pass east of the Surkhab river (21st and 22nd October) and the hardened ice on the Hindu Kush (24th October). South of these mountains lay Afghanistan and safety, and Aurangzib could now hasten in advance to Kabul, which he reached on the 27th.[35] Ali Mardan Khan too crossed with ease. But the rest of the army, especially the Rajputs under Jai Singh, the treasure-escort under Zulqadar Khan, the stores, and the Camp and Rear under Baha​ dur Khan, were several days' march behind. They suffered untold hardships from heavy and incessant snowfall for three days together. Men and beasts of burden alike slipped on the snow or lost the narrow track and went rolling down into the depths below. The exhausted camels lay down in the ice never to rise again. The intense cold drove every man away in search of shelter. Zulqadar Khan alone, with a handful of men, guarded his charge on the bare top of the pass for seven days, regardless of snowfall, till the Rear under Bahadur Khan came up and took him away. This last officer's march had been slow, as he had constantly to face round and drive back the hillmen who clung to him in the hope of plunder. One night, in the midst of wind and snow, he had to bivouac on the top of the pass, and many benumbed men and beasts of his party perished.[36] The last part of the army reached Kabul on 10th November.[37]

Loss of life. The total loss of the Imperial army in crossing the passes was 10,000 lives, about one-half of the number being men, and the rest elephants, horses, camels and other beasts. Much property, too, was left buried under the snow, or flung into the ravines ​ for want of transport. The horrors of the British Retreat from Kabul were anticipated by these Indian mercenaries, who had blindly gone to an unrighteous war at the call of their paymaster. Next year when the snow melted it revealed the gruesome spectacle of piles of human bones bordering the path![38]

Thus ended Shah Jahan's fatuous war inLoss to the treasury. Balkh,—a war in which the Indian treasury spent four krores of rupees in two years and realised from the conquered country a revenue of 22½ lakhs only. Not an inch of territory was annexed, no dynasty changed, and no enemy replaced by an ally on the throne of Balkh. The grain stored in Balkh fort, worth 5 lakhs, and the provisions in other forts as well, were all abandoned to the Bukharians, besides Rs. 50,000 in cash presented to Nazar Muhammad's grandsons and Rs. 22,500 to envoys. Five hundred soldiers fell in battle and ten times that number (including camp followers) was slain by cold and snow on the mountains.[39] Such is the terrible price that aggressive Imperialism makes India pay for wars across the north-western frontier.

  1. ↑ Leyden's Memoirs of Babar (ed. 1826), xxix, Wood's Journey to the Source of the Oxus (ed. 1872), lxxv-lxxix, 171, 206, 191.
  2. ↑ Elias & Ross, Intro. 55.
  3. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 705.
  4. ↑ Alaman is a Tartar word meaning 'a predatory ex-pedition' (Vambery, 317.) The historian Abdul Hamid took it to be the name of a Tartar tribe, whose manners he describes in ii. 619 and 453.
  5. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 560—565, 584.
  6. ↑ Ibid, 579.
  7. ↑ Ibid, 566—571, 614—618, 620—624, 626, 642—657.
  8. ↑ Ibid, 603, 633, 641-642.
  9. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 583, 625-628, 632.
  10. ↑ Ibid, 670, 671.
  11. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 702-704. Khafi Khan computes his force at 35,000 and the Uzbak army at 1,20,000 men. (i. 671.)
  12. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 704, 705.
  13. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 671-673. Aurangzib advanced from Kabul by the Abdarah and Gaz passes, according to the Persian account. Yule takes Abdarah to be the upper valley of the Surkhab, below Zohak (Wood's Journey, lxv). This was therefore "the Shibr Pass, which was most commonly used by Baber." (Leyden, 139). Aurangzib's stages are thus named: Kabul—(by way of Ghorband) to Aq Rabat (two stages from Kahmard)—Bajgah—the pass of Badar Hamid (?= Babar's "Madr on the Khulm road"),—Kishan Deh Khurd-Puni (or Buni) Qara ('which is the beginning of the valley of Gaz')—Balkh. He seems to have marched from Kabul northwards to Charikar, thence westwards by way of Ghorband to Zohak and Bamian, next northwards across the Dandan-Shikan Pass to Kahmard or even to Qara Kotal, whence he turned northwest to the mouth of the valley of Gaz (crossing one affluent of the Dehas river on the way). The entire route from Kabul to Balkh city is spoken of as 123 kos or 246 miles, (Abd. Ham. ii. 669).
  14. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 673–675, 686–687.
  15. ↑ Ibid, 680, 681, 684, 685.
  16. ↑ Ibid, 686.
  17. ↑ Ibid, 687-688.
  18. ↑ Ibid, 688—692; Khafi Khan says that this encounter took place next morning (i. 662).
  19. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 692—694.
  20. ↑ The following points in Aurangzib's advance from Balkh are mentioned: Yulbugha (near some canals)—Aliabad—Timurabad, 'one kos from Fatihabad'—Pashai in the district of Aqcha.
  21. ↑ Khafi Khan (i. 668) says that three or four thousand Uzbaks dashed into the Mughal camp, and carried off many camels loaded with baggage and many women and children of the Mughal troops. Ali Mardan Khan recovered only a little of the booty.
  22. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 694-697.
  23. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 697—701. The following points in Aurangzib's retreat from Pashai are named in the Persian history: Aliabad-digression to Shaikhabad—Faizabad on the Balkhab River—Yanki Ariq—Bridge of Dost Beg (on the Balkhab?)—Naharab or canal—Yandarak-Balkh city.
  24. ↑ Khafi Khan, i. 668 and 669. Howorth (752) says, "The devastation caused such a famine that an ass's load of corn cost 1000 florins."
  25. ↑ Masir-i-Alamgiri, 531; Abdul Hamid, ii. 704.
  26. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 701 & 702, 708.
  27. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 700, 706 & 707.
  28. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 709.
  29. ↑ Waris, 3b, 4a.
  30. ↑ For Nazar Muhammad's adventures in Persia and after his return, see Abdul Hamid, ii. 658-668.
  31. ↑ Waris, 6b, 7a.
  32. ↑ Waris, 7b.
  33. ↑ Waris, 8a.
  34. ↑ Vambery's History of Bukhara, 332.
  35. ↑ Aurangzib returned from Balkh to Kabul by the Ghazniyak—Haibak—Ghori—Ghorband route, which is called in the Persian history the Khwajah Zaid Road (Abd. Ham. ii. 669). He seems to have crossed the Hindu Kush either by the Kushan Pass, because "this pass leads under the great peak specially known as that of Hindu Kush", (Wood, lxv) or, what is more likely, by the Chardarya or Kipchak Pass, (for which see Wood, lxv. and Leyden, 139). The stages of his homeward march from Balkh are thus given:-Ghazniyak Pass—Ghori—Surkhab river—Bek Shahar—Chahar Chashma—Pass of Hindu Kush—Ghorband—Charikar—Kabul. (Waris, 8a & b).
  36. ↑ Waris, 8b, 9a.
  37. ↑ Waris, 9a.
  38. ↑ Vambery's Bukhara, 322.
  39. ↑ Abdul Hamid, ii. 542, 704; Waris, 7b, 6b, 7a.
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