The young viceroy engaged himself assiduously in suppressing the enemies of the Empire. He captured the district of Baglana, lying between Khandesh and the Surat coast, and compelled Shahji to submit to him and surrender certain forts. In 1637 he went to Agra to marry Dilras Binu Begam, daughter of Shah Nawaz Khan of the Persian royal family, then employed as a Mughul officer. But Aurangzeb was much embarrassed in his Deccan administration for misadministration of finance and also by the influence of a hostile party under his brother, Dara. Shukoh. In 1644 he proceeded to Agra to am his favourite sister, Jahanara, who had been severely burnt in the month of March and was cured at last in November b an ointment prepared by a slave named Arif.1′ But three weeks after his arrival at Agra, Aurangzeb was forced by adverse circumstances to resign his post. The older historians have suggested some vague reasons for this sudden fall of Aurangzeb, which do not offer a true explanation of the situation. ‘Abdul Hamid Lohari writes that ” misled by the wicked counsels of his foolish companions, he wanted to take to the retired life of an ascetic and had also done some acts which the Emperor disapproved of “. In the opinion of Khafi Khan, Aurangzeb, in order to ” anticipate his father’s punishment of his bad deeds, himself took off his sword and lived for some days as a hermit ” which caused his retirement from the Deccan viceroyalty. The real reason, aa found in Aurangzeb’s. letters, was that owing to Dara Shukoh’s pertent hostility towards him and the partiality of Shah Jahan for his brother, Aurangzeb found it difficult to carry on the Deccan administration and maintain his self-respect properly and so resigned in disgust.
After his resignation of the viceroyalty of the Deccan, Aurangzeb was appointed governor of Gujarat in February, 1645, and was subsequently sent on expeditions to Balkh, Badakhshon and Qandahar, which as we have already seen, ended in failure. On returning from Qandahar, Aurangzeb could not stay at court in safety, or honuourably, owing to the hostility of Dara Shukoh. He was, therefore, to the Deccan as its viceroy for the second time in the beginning Of’ A.D. 1653. From November, 1653, either Daulatabad or Aurangabad was the headquarters of his government.
1It has been shown by Sir William Foster (Indian Antiquary, 1911) and Dr. Smith (Oxford H, p. 401), that the story of an English surgeon named Gabriel Boughton curing Jahiangri is not true.
The task before Auranbgzeb was immensely difficult. During the few veers following his resignation, the administration of the Deccan had fallen into utter confusion, and its financial condition had become deplorable, through a” succession of short viceroyalties and incompetent viceroys”. The administration ran on a constant financial deficit, which had to be made good by draining the imperial exchequer. But this was indeed a shortsighted policy. To improve the financial of the Deccan was, therefore, Aurangzeb’s first concern. He not only took steps to promote agriculture in the interests of the peasantry but also adopted certain revenue measures, which considerably improved the economic conditions of his territory and have made his viceroyalty famous in the history of Land settlements in the Deccan. He fortunately received valuable assistance from an able Persian revenue officer named Murshid Quli Khan. Belonging originally to the company of ‘All MardAn Khan, Murshid Quli came to the Deccan with Aurangzeb as diwdn of Daulatabad and Telangana and subsequently also of Berar and Khandesh. For the purpose of revenue-collection, the Deccan subah was divided into two parts, the Painghat or the Lowlands and the Balaghat or the Highlans, each having its own diwan or revenue-minister. The former comprised the whole of khandesh and one half of Berar and the latter covered the rest of the terri- tories under viceregal control. Besides reorganizing the Deccan financed, Murshid Quil extended there Todar Mall’s system of survey and assessment, with some changes suited to local conditions. Thus in the areas which were thinly populated and where agriculture was in a comparatively backward stage ‘u-0 retained the traditional system of a fixed lump sum payment per plough, while elsewhere lie introduced the system of batai (matayership),
under which the share of the State varied,according to the nature of the crop and the source of water. In certain parts he introduced another system of assessment known as the jarib. -According to it, the State-revenue, to be paid in kind, was fixed per bigha on a uniform claim to one-fourth of the produce, after a careful measurement of the lands and consideration of the quality and quantity of their I)rod,ice. Steps were also taken to improve the condition of the ruined villages and help the agriculturists with advance payments. On the whole, the wise measures of Murshid Quli contributed to the restoration of prosperity in the Deccan, though the accumulated evils of several years’ bad government were too numerous to be removed completely within a short time. Sir J. N. Sarkar observes on the authority of Bhimsen Burhanpuri, the author of Nuskha-i-Dilkhusha, that in 1658 there was not “a single piece of waste land near Abid; wheat and pulse sold at 2« maunds a rupee, jawar and bajra at 3« maunds, mo at half a maund, said yellow oil (ghee) at 4 seers”.1
Having thus reorganized the internal administration, Aurangzeb turned his attention towards destroying the independence of the rich Shah States of Golkunda and Bijapur. Excuses for immediate attack were not lacking. So far as the State of Golkunda, already a. tributary of the Mughul Empire since 1636, was concerned, it had been frequently in arrears in payment of the stipulated tribute. A more plausible plea was found in the Sultan’s treatment of his powerful minister, Mir Jumla, who had secured the protection of the Mughuls.
Muhammad Sa’ld, better known as Mir Jumla, was a Persian merchant-adventurer. Like several other adventurers, he made a. vast fortune, by trading in diamonds and precious stones, and soon entered the service of ‘Abdullah Qutb Shah, the Sultin of Golkunda. His exceptional talents, military genius, and administrative capacity, were appreciated by his master, who made him the chief minister of the State. Mir Jumla took advantage of his position to make himself the virtual dictator of the State. He went further and soon carved out a dominion for himself by extensive conquests in the Karnatak. This dominion, about three hundred miles long and fifty miles broad,
