OPPOSED BY THE LOCAL POWERS. 11 CHAP. I.
the three sovereigns of the Deccan in a confederacy for
his support, and had influence to make them reject or
evade the commands of the emperor. He was entrusted General.
with a body of troops, and seizing the passes of the moun-
tains, opposed the entrance of the Mogul army into Gol-
conda. The emperor, impatient of delay, removed his
general, and commanded the vuzeer to take upon himself
the charge of destroying Lodee and chastising the inso-
lence of the princes of the Deccan. The princes were
already tired of the war and alarmed by its dangers.
The reputation and power of the vuzeer augmented their
apprehensions. Lodee was deserted by all on the day of
battle, except by a few chiefs, his friends, who adhered to
him with their retinues. With these he posted himself
on an advantageous ground, and long arrested victory
against the whole might of the imperial arms. A party
of those who were sent in all directions to secure the
country at last came upon him in a place from which
there was no retreat, and he fell defending himself to the
last extremity. Shah Jehan exhibited the most indecent
joy when assured of his destruction - the measure of his
terrors when this brave man was alive. After the con-
quest of Lodee, the war in the Deccan was little else than
a series of ravages. The princes were able to make little
resistance. A dreadful famine, from several years of ex-
cessive drought which prevailed throughout India and a
great part of Asia, added its horrid evils to the calamities
which overwhelmed the inhabitants of the Deccan. The
princes sued for peace and the emperor agreed to with-
draw his army, which he now found it difficult to subsist,
on condition of retaining, as a security for good behaviour,
the forts which had fallen into his hands.
Turning now to the more explicit narrative of ELPHIN-
