As soon as Sujah heard of the death of one of his brothers, the defeat of the other, and the successful enterprize of Au rengzebe, he collected a large army, and commenced his march towards Delhi ; as he was now the only obstacle which stood between Aurengzebe and the entire and se cure possession of the throne, the latter immediately made preparations to oppose hint ; and as soon as he had com pleted such measures as were necessary to keep Delhi quiet during his absence, he left that capital with a power ful army. The two brothers met at Kedgera, about thirty miles from Allahabad ; the battle which ensued was obsti nate and bloody, but it terminated in the defeat of Sujah Yet, notwithstanding this defeat, Sujah was still a formida ble opponent ; and his farther resistance was rendered pe culiarly harassing to Aurengzebe, as well as dangerous, by the following circumstance. Mahomed, the son of the em peror, was attached to one of the daughters of Sujah ; he was placed under the care of Meer Jumla, to whom was entrusted the pursuit of Sujah ; as soon as the two armies approached each other, Mahomed took an opportunity to leave the camp of Meer Jumla, and to join his uncle. This circumstance rendered it the more necessary to bring Su jah to an engagement as speedily as possible ; accordingly Meer Jumla attacked him at Tanda, a town in the province of Bengal, adjacent to the ruins of the ancient city of Gour, and again defeated him. Aurengzebe, as soon as he heard of the defection of his son, wrote him a letter, the ob ject of which was, in a most artful manner, to rouse his suspicions of his uncle and father-in-law. This letter had the desired effect ; and glijah perceiving that Mahomed was no longer happy with him, sent him off, along with his wife, and jewels to a large amount. \Vith respect to him self, having no longer any chance of opposing Aurengzebe, or even of standing his ground in the plain country, he fled, after the battle of Tanda, to the Mountains of Tipperah. Among these, and in the adjacent countries, he wandered almost forgotten for many years, till at length he was de stroyed, together with the greater part of his family, by the Rajah of Arracan. Alahomed, as soon as he returned to Iris father, was thrown into prison, where he remained till his death. \Vith respect to Dara, he was, if possible, still more unfortunate than either of his brothers : After wan dering about in the deserts, he secIns to have taken up his residence at the court of Jihon, a petty prince in the pro vince of Bichar, west of the Indus. At first he was hospi tably received ; but afterwards, probably in consequence of the interference of Aurengzebe, he was seized and sent to Delhi. There he was obliged to mount on an elephant, and after being exposed to the inhabitants as a captive, he was murdered by the orders of his brother.
Aurengzebe was now seated, without a rival, on the throne his father ; the empire which he governed was extensive and powerful ; at the death of Shah Jekan, it stretched from Cabul to the Nerbudda ; westward of this river to the Indus; and to the eastward, it comprehended Bengal and Orissa. To the south of the Nerbudda, the Moguls had reduced the countries dependent on Brampore, Aurungabod, Ahmednagur, and Bcder ; and these had been connected into one government. This territory was bound ed on the east by Herat', westward by the hills towards Concan, and by the dominions of Golconda and Bejapore to the south.
As Aurengzebe had governed in the Decan during his father's lifetime, it is not surprising that his ambition di rected its views of conquest principally to that part of India ; but it was not till the year 1678 that he could, in person, and with all his force, invade this district. In the mean time, a power was rising up in the Decan to resist the onset, and, after various vicissitudes, to retaliate on his successors the injuries of his sword. This was the state of the Mahrattas.
In the ancient fables of the Ilindoos, the term Maharash tra is applied to a geographical division of the Decan, cop prehending principally its north-west quarter. It is sup posed, that the original country of the Mahrattas included Khandesh, Boglana, and part of Berar, extending in a north-west direction as far as Guzerat and the Nerbudda.
They possessed the narrow but strong country that borders on the Concan, and stretches parallel with the sea from near Surat to Carrara. The original Mahratta state com prehended a country of great natural strength, interspersed with mountains, defiles, antl fortresses, and admirably cal culated for defensive warfare. It does not appear, how ever, that the original Mahrattas were of the military cast ; for the names of their principal tribes signified farmer, shepherd, and cowherd. It appears extraordinary, that a nation so numerous as.the Mahrattas should have been al most unnoticed in Indian history till the reign of Aureng zebe. Nu rsingh, one or their princes, is, indeed, mentioned in A. D. 1391, by Fcrishta; but it is probable that, prior to the time of Aurengzebe, their country, like the other parts of the Decan, was divided into little principalities, many of which depended upon the neighbouring Mahomedan chieftains, but were never completely brought under sub jection.
In the middle of the 17th century, Sevajee suddenly arose ; one of those men who, by a fortunate conjunction of rare talents and rare opportunities, raise nations from obscurity to the highest pitch of fame. His father had been minister to the king of Bejapore, and, having obtain ed possession of the wealth which he had collected, he raised a band of adventurers, and by means of them he seized SOW strong fortresses in the mountains, near the sea coast. The security of these retreats, and the connec tions he had in the army of Bejapore, brought numerous 1.tudies of troops to his service ; while his abilities, and the desire of opposing a Mahontedan power, induced many of the rajahs to devote themselves to his cause. Under these circumstances, the king of Bejapore judged it necessary to send a strong army against hint ; but he first seduced, and afterwards murdered the general, and the army, deprived of their leader, broke up and dispersed.
At this period Aurengzebe was in the Decan. He had reduced Golcondah ; but being obliged to return to Delhi, he was apprehensive that his conquest would be wrested from him by the king of Bejapore. He therefore endea voured to gain the Mahratta chief as his ally ; and, by con gratulating him on his success, and putting him in posses sion of some forts adjoining to the kingdom of Bejapore, *he succeeded in his scheme. Sevajee, enterprising end crafty, extendeded his dominions, till, by his plunder of Surat in the year 1664, he roused the suspicions and the anxieties orAurengzehe. Besides the abundance of its commerce, this city was in high renown, as being the part through which the Moguls made their pilgrimage to Mec ca, of which, in the archives of the empire, it was called the poi Aurengzebe felt the disgrace as well as the detri ment of the insult. The whole army of the Decan, therefore, was ordered to invade the Mahratta territory; but Aurengzebe did not trust entirely to force, he also employed stratagem; and finding that Sevajee made a most obstinate resistance, he used all his arts to persuade him to make peace; and not only succeeded in this, but also prevailed upon him to come to Delhi. When he arrived at this city, he disco vered that he had been deceived, and, burning with re venge, he contrived to escape, and place himself again at the head of his armies. Aurengzebe was now convinced that he had stirred up against himself a most rancorous and formidable foe, who would notonly defeat his schemes of con quest in the Decan, but most probably wrest from him the territories he had already acquired there. To reduce him by the sword was out of the question; he again attempted stratagem, but without success. Under these circum stances, Aurengzebe tesolved to employ that knowledge of human nature which he so eminently possessed; he knew that the Mahratta chief was actuated by the most unbound ed ambition, and this passion he hoped to manage in such a manner as to bring about his destruction..