could, and then quickly return to the defence of their respective posts. (Adab. 147b.)
A Maratha attempt to loot the city of Ahmadnagar was defeated;Multafat Khan, the qiladar of the fort, took effective steps to defend the city at its foot, and removed the property of the inhabitants for greater safety within the fort. (Adab. 148b.)
After Nasiri Khan's victory over Shiva in the Ahmadnagar district, he was ordered by Aurangzib to "pursue the Marathas and extirpate them," (end of May.) But this could not be done. The rains now set in with the full violence of the monsoons, and the campaign had to be closed. Shiva retreated to his own country and the Mughal officers fell back on their appointed stations, watching the frontier. "There was peace in the whole district." (Adab. 156a, 149a.)
June, July and August 1657 passed in enforced idleness for the imperial troops. In September the situation was complicated by the illness of Shah Jahan and the preparations for a War of Succession among his sons. Bijapur made peace with the Mughals. But throughout the month of September Aurangzib continued to urge his officers not to relax their vigilance, but hold the S. W. frontier in force, lest Shiva should renew his raids. About the middle of October he wrote to the governor of Ahmadnagar to take care of the city and keep his troops in readiness, lest when Nasiri Khan went back, Shiva
