- !■
IIIS'IOHV OF INDIA.
[Hook I
A D 1585
l!oii?al an.l JJehar in- coi'poratail in the Mo-ul empire.
Akber advances on tlie Punjab.
New trouMi! iu Gujerat.
DawooJ Kliau, liavin;;^ leagued with several ^Vfgliau chiefs, appeared at the hea«l of 50,000 hor.se, and retook the greater part <^t" Bengal, ili.s possession, however, was only momentary; for, in a battle fought shortly after, lie was defeated, taken prisoner, and put to death. The iiLsuirection was stilJ hea<led by some Afghan chiefs, and several sanguinary battles were fought; but ultimately the Moguls proved everywhere trium{>hant. The fort of Khotas, in Behar, which had long held out, was obliged to surrender; and Bengal and Behar were formally incorporated with the empire of the Great Mogul, though they both
4
continued to be, from time to time, the seats of fonnidable insurrections. These had hitherto for the most part originated with Afghans, who had fled thither when the Afghan dynasty was driven from the throne of Delhi; but when their hostility had ceased to be fonnidable, the Mogul chiefs themselves began to give considerable trouble, first quarrelling with Akbers financial arrangements, and then making open war by appearing in the field in 1579. with an army of 30,000 men. After an intestine war, which the Afghans again endeavoured to turn to account, tranquillity was restored.
While Akbers officers were thus occupied in Bengal, he was himself obliged to march to the north-western provinces, in consecjuence of a new attempt by his half-brother, Mahomed Hakim Mirza, to make himself master of ])art of the Punjab. Mahomed had advanced as far as Lahore and laid siege to it, when the arrival of Akber at Sirhind disconcerted all his schemes, and he hastened back to Cabool. He had so often before escaped in the same way, that Akber deter- mined not to let him off so easily ; and after crossing the Indus, continued his march upon Cabool itself, which he entered in trixunph in 1 579. Mahomed was now at his mercy; but, on making his submission, received more favourable terms than he deserved, and was left in possession of his capital, wlule the royal army set out on its return. On this occasion Akber built the fort of Attock ; a short time after he built the fort of Allahabad, at the junction of the Jumna and Ganges.
After MoozufFur Shah, the former ruler of Gujerat, had been forced to abdicate, he was taken to Agra, and so far ingratiated himself with Akber that he was presented with an extensive domain, and allowed to reside upon it. He seemed satisfied; but in 1581, when new troubles arose in Gujerat, he was worked upon by some of the insurgents, and suddenly quitted Hindoostan for the purpose of attempting to recover his lost throne. Thus headed, the insur- rection soon became formidable, and the royal generals were obliged to retreat northwards to Puttun, leaving MoozufFur in possession of Alimedabad, Baroach, and nearly the whole of the province. An army, sent imder Mirza Khan, son of tlie late Behram Khan, recovered a large portion of what had been lo.st ; but MoozufFur, retiring into the more inaccessible parts of the peninsula, maintained himself in a kind of independence for several years.
In 1585, Mahomed Hakim Mirza havmg died, Akber immediately set out
J
