Rebellions
For the time being, however, everything went in the Emperor’s favour. He began his reign with profound optimism and success. .In recognition of their services, Asaf Khan and Mahabat Khan were promoted to high offices. The former was made the Wazir of the Empire and the latter governor of Ajmer. The Emperor easily suppressed two rebellions-one of Jujhar Singh, a Bundela chief, son of Bir Singh Bundela, and the other of a powerful Afghan noble named Khan Jahan Lodi, an ex-viceroy of the Decoan-which,broke out in the first and the second year of his reign respectively. The Bundela, chief was quickly overpowered and retreated into the mountains, whence, however, he continued to create trouble for the Emperor till 1634. Ultimately he was defeated by the imperialists, who forced him to leave his country, and he was killed on the way in a chance skirmish with the Gonds. More formidable than the Bundela rising was the rebellion of Khan Jahan Lodi, who had allied himself with Nizam-ul-mulk, the last of the Nizam Shah! rulers of Ahmadnagar, and had some Maratha and Rajput supporters.
The success of his efforts, which meant the “carrying out of the traditional hostility of the Afghan chiefs to the Mughul dynasty”, would have deprived the Empire of its southern provinces. But Shah Jahan, having fully reahsed the gravity of the situation, sent a body of efficient troops to suppress the rebellion. Chased from place to place, deserted by his allies and having lost his friends and relations in battle, the Afghan chief fought desperately against the imperialists for three, years but was ultimately defeated at Taj Sehonda, north of Kalinjar, and out to pieces with his sons, ‘Aziz and Aimal, in the fourth year.
Treatment of the Portuguese and Capture of Hugli
The Portuguese had established themselves above Satgaon in Bengal in or about A.D. 1579 on the strength of an imperial firman, and had gradually strengthened their position by the erection of large buildings round about Hugli, which became consequently more important than Satgaon from the commercial point of view. But far from remaining satisfied with peaceful commercial pursuits, they gave offence to Shah Jahan by some objectionable practices. They not only exacted heavy duties from the Indian traders, eTwiaJly on tobacco (which had become by that time an important article of trade), at the cost of the revenues of the State, but also became arrogant enough to begin the abominable and cruel practice of slave trading, for which they kidnapped many orphan Hindu or Muslim children, whom they converted to Christianity. Their audacity rose so high that they captured two slave girls of Mumtaz Mahal’s. This must have been sufficient to incense the Mughul’. Emperor. The conversion of Indians to Christianity by some of the Jesuit missionaries added to his resentment against the Portuguese. After his accession to the throne, Shah Jahan appointed Qasim ‘Ali Khan governor of Bengal and charged him ‘with the duty of punishing the Portuguese. Hugli was accordingly besieged by a large army, under the command of Qasim ‘Ali Khan’s son, on the 24th June, 1632, and was captured after three months. Many of the Portuguese, as we know from the court-chronicler, ‘Abdul Hamid Lahori, were killed and a large number of them were taken as prisoners to Agra, where they suffered terribly.
Famine in the Deccan and Gujarat, 1630-1632
In the fourth and fifth years of the reign of Shah Jahan an appalling famine of the most severe type desolated the Deccan and Gujarat. The horrors of this terrible calamity have been thus described by ‘Abdul Hamid Lahori: “The inhabitants of these two countries were reduced to the direst extremity. Life was offered for a loaf, but none would buy; rank was to be sold for a cake, but none cared for it; the ever-bounteous hand was stretched out to beg for food; and the feet which had always trodden the way of contentment walked about only in search of sustenance. For a long time dog’s flesh was sold for goat’s flesh, and the pounded bones of the dead were mixed with flour and sold. When this was discovered, the sellers were brought to justice. Destitution at length reached such a pitch that men began to devour each other, and the flesh of a son was preferred to his love. The numbers of the dying caused obstructions in the roads, and every man whose dire sufferings did not terminate in death and who retained the power to move wandered off to the towns and villages of other countries.” An English merchant-traveller, Peter Mundy, who went on business from Surat to Agra and Patna and came back while the famine was raging, has also left a detailed account of its horrors.
The North-West Frontier Policy
Shah Jahan was determined to recover the important province of Qandahar, without which the Mughul position on the north-west frontier remained comparatively weak. By skilful negotiations he seduced Ali Mardan Khan, the Person governor of Qandahar, from his loyalty to the Shah and persuaded him to surrender the fortress to the Mughul. ‘Ali Mardan entered the Mughul imperial service and was rewarded with money and honour. The action of ‘Ali Mardan Khan deprived Persia of Qandahar, but the Mughuls could not retain it long. The Persians under their energetic ruler, Shah ‘Abbas II made preparations in August, 1648, with a view to attacking Qandahar during winter, when the snowfall would make it difficult for the Mughuls to bring reinforcements from India. The courtiers of Shah Jakan unwisely advised him to postpone the work of opposing the Persians till the n was over. ” The natural consequence of neglecting an enemy followed. The Persian King triumphed over the depth of winter, his lack of provisions, and other difficulties, on which the courtiers of Shah Jahan had built their hopes,” and besieged Qandahar on the 16th December, 1648. The Mughul garrison ultimately capitulated on the 11th February, A.D. 1649, owing largely to the weakness of Daulat Khan, the incapable Mughul governor of Qandahar. Early in May, Prince Aurangzeb with the chief minister, Sa`dullah khan, was deputed to make an attempt to recover Qandahar, and he attacked it on the 16th of that month. But this attempt failed before the superior military preparations and skill of the Persians. Shah Jahan, how. ever, would not abandon his design of recapturing Qandahar. After three years’ preparations the Emperor sent there a powerful expeditionary army with a siege-train, again under Aurangzeb and Sa’dullah Khan, while he himself remained encamped at Kabul to make arrangements for supplies of provisions and munitions of war. The imperial commanders invested Qandahar on the 2nd. May, 1652. They had received strict instructions from their master not to deliver an assault on the fortress without making a breach, but they failed to effect it with their inefficient gunnery in the face of the superior artillery of the Persians. Thus the Mughul troops had no success this time also, and Shah Jahan had to order the abandonment of the siege. A third attempt made by the Emperor’s eldest and favourite son, Dara Shukob (now exalted with the title of “Shah Buland lqbal” or “King of Lofty Fortune”), in the following year, proved as unlucky as that of his brother. Qandahar was lost to the Mughuls for good, though the campaigns undertaken to recover it during the reign of Shah Jahan cost no less than twelve crores of rupees, that is, more than half of the annual income of the State, besides valuable lives. Further, the repeated failures of the Mughul troops before Qandahar considerably affected the prestige of the Empire.
