HISTORY

MEDIAEVAL PERIOD

Delhi Sultanate. In 1294, Ala-uddin nephew of Jalaluddm Khilji, the reigning emperor of Delhi, invaded the Deccan with the object of subjugating Devagiri, of the wealth of which kingdom he had heard in the course of his forays in Central Asia. He halted at Ellichpur for two days and from thence marched towards Devagiti from where he carried off an enormous quantity of plunder. Mis route from Ellichpur to Devagiri possibly lay through the Akola district. Though the district of Akola was not directly affected by the ravages of war one of the fruits of his victory was the assignment of the revenues of Ellichpur and northern Berar including parts of Akola district to Delhi. Annexation was not attempted nor were Muslims introduced into the administration.

Ala-ud-din on his return marched through Berar. [Yadav Madhav Kale, Varhadacha Itihasa, (1924), p 81.] He murdered his uncle and ascended the throne of Delhi on October 3, 1296. During his reign. the district was traversed by Muhammedan armies from Delhi marching on expeditions to the Deccan, but we find no special mention of the district. In 1306, an expedition under the African, Kafur Hazardinari was sent against Devagiri in consequence of Ramchandra having failed to remit tribute and having allied himself with Rai Kama of Gujarat, who had refused to send his daughter Deval Devi to Delhi. [Briggs, I. p. 366; Haig, p. 112.] Ramchandra and his family were captured and sent to Delhi, but the emperor pardoned him and restored him to his throne, and it does not appear that the arrangement under which Ellichpur and northern Berar remained under Hindu administrators charged with the remission of the revenue to Delhi was disturbed.

Ramchandra died in 1310 and was succeeded by his eldest son Shankar, who rebelled against Delhi and refused to remit the tribute. In 1312 Kafur, now entitled Malik Naib, led an expedition to Devagiri marching through the district, deteated and slew Shankar, and annexed his kingdom, including Berar, to the empire. The Akola district thus came for the first time directly under Muhammedan administration.

Ala-ud-din Khilji died on January 2, 1316, and in the confusion which followed his death and the subsequent assassination of Malik Naib, Harpal, the son-in-law of Ramchandra, seized Deva-giri and ruled it for a short time as an independent king, bringing Berar and with it the Akola district, again under Hindu rule; but by 1316 affairs at Delhi had been settled and Kutub-ud-din Mubarak Shah, who was then on the throne, marched southwards again through Akola district, attacked Harpal, captured him, caused him to be flayed, and placed his head above one of the gates of Devagiri. [Briggs, p. 389; Haig, p, 121.] Akola thus passed again, with the rest of Berar, into the hands of the Musalmans, and the province remained nominally under Muhammedan rule and administration until it was assigned under the treaty of 1853 to the East India Company.

Malik Yaklaki was appointed governor of the reconquered provinces but he shortly afterwards rebelled. We are not told what part the officers in Berar took in the rebellion, which was suppressed.

Kutub-ud-din Mubarak Shah was assassinated by Malik Khusrav on April 14, 1320. Khusrav ascended the throne but he was defeated and slain on September 5, 1320, by Ghaji-Beg Tughlak, the Turki Governor of the Punjab, [Haig pp. 125-26.] who was raised to the imperial throne under the title of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlak Shah. The expeditions to the Deccan in his reign are not direclly connected with the history of Berar, but the resources of the province were doubtless taxed in an effort to furnish, supplies for the armies from Delhi. The district which was traversed by many expeditions to the Deccan must also have suffered with the rest of the province. Tughlak died in February or March, 1325 and was succeeded by his son, Muhammad-bin-Tughlak, who in 1330 transferred the capital of the empire from Delhi to Devagiri, which he renamed Daulatabad. [Haig. p. 150.] However, Daulatabad did nut long' remain the capital. This measure which probably invested Berar and especially its western districts with an artificial and fleeting importance was afterwards revoked and before the end of Muhammad's reign Delhi was once more the capital of India.

Maharashtra was now divided into tour shikks or provinces, and though the limits of these are not mentioned it is probable that they corresponded roughly with the four tarafs or provinces into which the Bahamani kingdom was afterwards divided, and that Berar. with its capital at Ellichpur, formed one of them. The land revenue of the whole tract was assessed at seven crores of white tanks" of 175 grains each, or about Rs. 35,00,000. This assessment seems to have been excessive, for we read that the action of the shikkdars or provincial governors in collecting it caused widespread discontent and a partial depopulation of the country. The oppressive rule of this most eccentric emperor provoked insurrections in all outlying provinces of the empire. The shikkdars were Malik Sardavatdar, Malik Mukhlis-ul-Mulk. Yusuf Bughra, and Aziz Himar or Khainmar, but the names of their provinces are not given. All were subordinate to Kutlugh Khan, governor of Daulatabad. whose deputy was Imad-ul-Mulk. but Kutlugh Khan was recalled very soon after his settlement had been made, and it was then that the oppression of the shikkdars became unbearable. Immediately subordinate to these Shikkdars was a class of officials styled centurions, military officers who also performed such civil duties as the collection of the revenue, the prevention and detection of crime, and the maintenance of order.

In 1347 the centurions of the Deccan rebelled and elected one of them as their king. Muhammad marched southwards and defeated them, but their king. Ismail Fateh, an aged Afghan who. had taken the title of Nasir-ud-din [On according to some authorities, Nasir.] Shah took refuge, in Daulatabad, and there held out until the emperor was called northwards by news of a rebellion in Gujarat, when the centurions of the Deccan fell upon the imperial troops which had been left behind to invest Daulatabad, defeated them, and proclaimed Hasan, entitled Zafar Khan, king of the Deccan in place of the aged Ismail, who abdicated on finding that kingship had its responsibilities as well as its delights. Hasan assumed royal power in the Deccan on August 3, 1347 under the title of Ala-ud-din Bahrnau Shall and made Gulburga, where he had held a jagir before he was called to the. throne, his capital.

The Bahamanis. Bahman Shah, the founder of the Bahamani dynasty of the Deccan divided his Kingdom into four tarafs or provinces, each under the governorship of a tarafdar or provincial governor. The provinces were Berar, Daulatabad, Bidar, and Gulburga. [Haig. pp. 374-75.] We have, unfortunately, very little information as to the details of provincial administration, but it is known that the powers of the tarafdars were very extensive. The tarafdars of Berar, whose headquarters were at Ellichpur, governed a tract of country far larger than the modern province. Berar which, east of Burhanpur, was bounded on the north by the Tapi and on the east by the Wardha and Pranhita rivers, and extended on the south to the southern Purna and Godavari rivers and on the west approximately to its present limits [Haig, op. cit., pp. 374-75.] and marched on its south-western border, corresponding generally with the western and southern boundary of the Buldhana district with the province of Daulatabad. In this large province the governor was almost independent. He commanded the provincial army, collected the revenues, and made all appointments, both civil and military, including appointments to the command of forts, which were among the most important of all. His duties to the central authority seem to have been confined to the regular remission of a portion of the revenue and to attending on his sovereign with the army of the province, whenever he might be called upon to do so. We know little or nothing of the administrative divisions of Berar in these early days, but it was probably divided into two principal divisions, one on the north, with its capital at Ellichpur and one on the south with its capital at Mahur. [Haig, p. 383.] The existing paraganas date, almost certainly, from the period of Hindu rule, and the sardars described in the Ain-i-Akbari were perhaps a legacy from the days of the Bahamanis.

It would thus appear that the occupants of Akola district whether Goads or Yadavas were compelled to relax their hold when the Muslims consolidated their power in the Deccan. Under Bahman Shah, Berar was the northernmost province of his kingdom, the southern boundary of which was probably the Godavari. The fortress of Mahur, second in importance to Gavilgad only, dominated the southern part of Berar and its strength was usually sufficient to keep the Gonds at bay. A fortress of secondary importance existed at Kalam, and the garrisons of these two places of arms were able as, a rule to prevent the Gonds of Chanda from crossing the Wardha.

Muhammad Shah Bahamani, who succeeded his father in 1358 elaborated the organization of the four tarafs and bestowed on each tarafdar a distinctive title, the governor of Berar being styled Majilis-i-Ali.

The first governor of Berar under the Bahamanis was a Persian Safdar Khan Sistani. In 1362 he commanded the army of the province in Muhammad Shah's expedition into Telangana and was absent from Berar on this occasion for two years. [Haig, I. pp. 305, 309.] In 1356, while Muhammad Shah was waging war against Vijayanagar, Bahrain Khan Majindarani, deputy governor of Daulatabad, broke into rebellion at the instigation of Kondba Dev, a Maratha, and several of the nobles of Berar, who were related to Bahram Khan, were implicated in the rebellion with him. The rebellion was suppressed and its leaders made good their escape into Gujarat. At about this time highway robbery was rife in the Deccan, for Muhammad Shah found it necessary to adopt stringent measures for its suppression. The malefactors were beheaded and their heads were sent to the capital, where the toll of heads collected amounted to 20,000. It may be assumed that Berar contributed its share and that the "proud and reiractory Hatgars" of Bashim afterwards mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari, had their share both in the depredations and in the punishment which followed them. [Briggs, 11, pp. 325, 326; Haig, p. 383.]

The provinces were not neglected in the reign of Muhammad I, who toured m one of them every year unless occupied in war, and hunted for three or four months. This information may appear trifling, but it enables us to understand to sonic extent how Berar was governed in former days and how it was that a kingdom organized as was that of the Bahamanis did not fall to pieces sooner than it did.

Muhammad I died in 1377 [Ferishta, how ever, refers to 21st Mareh 1375 as the date of death of Munammad Shah I.] and was succeeded by his elder son, Mujahid Shah, who made war against Bukka I of Vijayanagar. Safdar Khan was summoned to the capital with the, army of Berar and was sent to besiege Adoni. Bukka I was defeated before this fortress fell and the siege was relinquished. Mujahid Shah returned slowly through the Raiehur Doab, hunting as he went, and Safdar Khan and the governor of Bidar, knowing his rash and impetuous disposition exerted themselves to restrain him from running needless risks in his sport. The king wearied of their good advice and much against their will ordered them to return to their provinces. The two governors pursued their way slowly and unwillingly, and shortly after their departure Mujahid was assassinated, on April 15, 1378 [Haig, 384; Ferishla, however, gives the date as April 14, 1378.] at the instigation of his uncle, Daud, whom he had offended during the campaign against the Hindus. Daud hastened to Gulburga in order to ascend the throne, but Safdar Khan and the governor of Bidar refused to attend him there and turned aside to Bijapur, where the royal elephants were stationed. They seized these, divided them between themselves, and returned to their provinces with them. Daud Shah was assassinated on May 20. 1378, [Ferishta gives the date as May 21, 1378.] and was succeeded by his nephew, Muhammad Shah II. [ MOST English writers, in deference to Ferishta who is obstinately mistaken as to this king's name, style him Mahrnud, inspite of the evidence of coins, inscriptions, and other historians. Mahmud was his fathers name Vide. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Vol. LXXIII, part I.]

On the accession of Muhammad II, Safdar Khan and the governor of Bidar made their submission and hastened to the capital to offer him their congratulations. Early in his reign there w as a severe famine in Berar and the Decean.

Akola suffered with the rest of Berar from the severe famine which occurred in the reign of Muhammad Shah, the fifth king of the Bahamani dynasty, who reigned from 1378 to 1397, but no details of the extent of the suffering in this particular tract of Berar have been handed down.

Muhammad II died on April 20, 1397, and was succeeded by his elder son, Ghiyas-ud-din, who was 17 years of age. [Bdggs. II. p. 353.] In his reign Safar Khan Sistani, the governor of Berar, died in Ellichpur. His son, Salabat Khan, who had been a playfellow of the young king, was appointed governor of Berar in his father's place, with the title of Majilis-i-Ali. On June 14, 1397, Ghiyas-ud-din was blinded and deposed and his brother Shams-ud-din was placed on the throne. He, however, was deposed and imprisoned at the end of the year and was succeeded by his cousin, Taj-ud-din Firoz Shah. The army of Berar, under Salabat Khan, took part in Firoz Shah's campaign against Harihara II of Vijayangar in 1398-99. The. campaign was eminently successful and Firoz Shah on his return left Pulad Khan, another son of Safdar Khan Sistani, in charge of the Raichur Doab [Briggs. 11, p. 375.]. But on this occasion the absence of the governor from Berar produced disastrous results, for Narsingh Dev, the Gond Raja of Kherla, had overrun the province from north to south and occupied it. Narsingh Dev established himself in Mahur. It seems strange that the attack was from Kherla rather than from Chanda, but Narsingh Dev was probably instigated by the Sultan of Malva and it is not certain that he received no help from Chanda. The whole of Akola district was now in the hands of the invaders. Firoz Shah hastened northwards and, after recapturing Mahur, pressed on towards Kherla. At Ellichpur he halted and sent on an army under the command of his brother Ahmad Khan, the Khan-i-Khanan, to punish the Gonds. Narsingh Dev was defeated and he offered submission He swore at the foot-stool of Firoz in Ellichpur that he and his successors would be faithful liegemen of the Bahamanis as their predecessors had been in the days of Bahman Shah. Narsingh Dev was dismissed with honour after paying tribute. After receiving the Gond chieftain's humble submission, Firoz Shah returned to Gulburga, but it is not certain whether he returned as he had come, or whether he followed the more usual route through western Berar.

The names of the Muhammedan nobles killed at the battle of Kherla are worthy of attention for, as we have seen, they probably provided the apocryphal Abdul Rahman with a local habitation and a name. They were four in number and it appears probable that the requisite tale of five was completed by Salabat Khan, the governor of Berar, for no more is heard of this tarafdar. and Firoz Shah, immediately before he left Ellichpur for Gulburga, appointed Mir Fazl-ullah-Anju, governor of Berar.

In 1406 Firoz Shah was at war with Vijayanagar and the army of Berar under Fazl-ullah was employed in the siege of Bankapur. The expedition was successful. In 1412 Firoz Shah indulged in an apparently purposeless campaign in Gondwana in which the army of Berar probably took a principal part. [Haig, p. 393.]

In 1417 Firoz embarked on a disastrous war against Vira Vijaya of Vijayanagar, near Pangal. Mir Fazl-ullah-Anju who. with the army of Berar, played a dominant role in the decisive battle of the campaign, in which the Muslims were defeated, was treacherously slain by a Kanarese attendant who had been bribed by his co-religionists. The affairs of the kingdom fell into great confusion and nobody was immediately appointed to succeed the slain tarafdar of Berar, but the government of the province was probably carried on by the deputy whom Fazl-ullah had left behind him when the set out on the fatal expedition.

In 1422 Ahmad Khan deposed his brother Firoz Shah and ascended the throne in Gulburga as Ahmad Saab I on September 22, 1422. His first care was to bring the war with the Hindus to a successful conclusion, and in the attainment of this object he laid waste the territories of Vijayanagar. After one of his actions he was separated from his army while hunting and nearly fell into the hands of a band of resolute Hindu warriors, but was rescued by Abdul Kadir, a commander of 200 horse and captain of the guard, whose soldierly precautions averted the disaster which Ahmad's foolish behaviour courted. Abdul Kadir's reward was the vacant governorship of Berar with the title of Khan-i-Jahan [Briggs, II, pp. 402-03; Haig, pp. 397-98.] in addition to the ex-officio title of Majilis-i-Ali. Abdul Kadir, who held the governorship of Berar for nearly forty years. was the son of Muhammad Isa, the son of a Turk named Malik Hindui who received the title of Imad-ul-Mulk from Bahman Shah, and held under that king the appointment of inspector-general of the forces. The Khan-i-Jahan was thus a Deccani of Turki descent.

Ahmad Shah made peace with Vira Vijaya and then set out to capture Warangal, which fell into the hands of Abdul Latif Khan-i-Azam, the governor of Bidar. The king then returned to his capital.

The army of Berar played an honourable part in Ahmad Shah's successes against the Hindus of the south, but the defeat of the Muhammedans before the deposition of Firoz, and the absence of the provincial army, had encouraged rebels to assert themselves in Eastern Berar. That the ruler of Chanda was largely responsible for these troubles is evident from the fact that Ahmad Shah, who had many other matters to occupy him and would not have been likely to waste his strength in acts of wanton aggression, sent an expedition from Kalam into the Chanda dominions where, besides ravaging the country, the Muhammedans captured a diamond mine. The locality of the mine is not precisely indicated, but it is mentioned again at a later period, and it would be interesting to trace the situation of ancient diamond workings in Berar.

From Kalam Ahmad Shah marched to Ellichpur, his actions in which place, were directed principally towards strengthening the northern frontier with a view either to meeting attacks or to extending his dominions.

In 1425 Ahmad Shah, the ninth king of the dynasty, was compelled to visit his northern province owing to the invasion of eastern Berar by the Gonds. After driving the intruders from his dominions he halted for a year at Ellichpur, and while there he built the fort of Gavil and repaired that of Narnala in the Akola District. These expressions, which are used by Ferishta in connection with the two forts, have been understood to mean that the antiquity of Narnala is superior to that of Gavilgad, but they were probably used loosely, for there is no building in Narnala which can be assigned with any certainty to a period earlier than that of Ahmad Shah's sojourn in Ellichpur, and the evidence for the supposition that the covered cisterns in the fort were the handiwork of Jains of pre-Muhammedan times is most unsatisfactory. Having completed his arrangements on the northern frontier he retired in a leisurely manner towards Gulburga in 1428. Hoshang Shah, of Malva, took advantage of this retrograde movement to attack Narsingh Dev of Kherla. whom he had been unable to detach from his allegiance lo the Bahamani king. The army of Berar under Abdul Kadir, the Khan-i-Jahan, was ordered to march to the assistance of Narsingh Dev, while Ahmad Shah returned north-wards to its support. His leisurely movements fostered the belief that he feared to meet Hoshang in the field, and Hoshang openly boasted that Ahmad dared not encounter him. Ahmad, much incensed by this boast, set forth to attack Hoshang but was dissuaded from doing so by the doctors of religion in his camp, and contented himself with sending a message to warn Hoshang against interfering with a vassal of Gulburga. After the despatch of this message he retired southwards followed by Hoshang, who was now convinced that Ahmad feared him. Hoshang's entrance into Berar removed the religious scruples which had hitherto restrained Ahmad from attacking a brother Muslim, and he halted his army and awaited the advance of the army of Malva, which moved forward all unprepared for any opposition. The invaders suffered a severe defeat and Hoshang Shah fled, leaving the ladies of his harem in the hands of the victors. As he fled towards Mandu the Gonds of Kherla fell upon his beaten army and completed the heavy tale of slaughter. Ahmad Shah's religious scruples once more asserted themselves and in compensation for the loss which had been inflicted on the army of Malva by an unbelieving foe he despatched Hoshang's ladies to him under the charge of a trusted guard, with many eunuchs whom he presented to him as a free gift.

It is only fair to say that there is another version of this story of the war between Hoshang Shah and Ahmad Shah in Berar and that according to that version, Ahmad Shah was the aggressor and was marching to attack Narsingh Dev when Hoshang came to the latter's aid. There is something to be said for this version for it is improbable that Narsingh Dev gave much thought to his allegiance to Gulburga when Firoz Shah was in difficulties with Vira Vijaya of Vijaynagar and it is not unlikely that he was concerned in the occupation of Mahur and Kalam; but on the whole the version first given is to be preferred. Narsingh Dev accompanied Ahmad Shah on his return march and parted from him at Mahur whence he was dismissed with many rich presents.

In 1433 the Bahamani kingdom was exhausted after a war with Gujarat. Hoshang Shah, taking advantage of its condition attacked Ahmad Shah when Nasir Khan, king of Khandesh intervened, prevented an outbreak of war between his two powerful neighbours and proposed terms of peace which were accepted by both parties. These were that Hoshang Shah should retain possession of Kherla, and that Berar should continue to form part of Ahmad Shah's kingdom. These terms were most unfavourable to Ahmad Shah, and his acceptance of them is an indication of the extent to which his kingdom had suffered in the war with Gujarat. It is probable that in consequence of his weakness the Akola District as well as the rest of Berar was subject to inroads from Malva and Chanda, and the events of his son's reign bear out this view.

Ahmad Shah I died on 19th February 1435 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Ala-ud-din Ahmad Shah II, who had married the daughter of Nasir Khan Faruqi, the ruler of Khandesh. This lady, in a fit of jealousy, complained to her father that her husband was neglecting her for a Hindu mistress, [Briggs, II. p. 424.] the daughter of the Raja of Sangameshvar by bestowing upon her the title of Ziba Chihra or beautiful face, and Nasir Khan prepared to invade his son-in-law's dominions. Having obtained the assent of Ahmad Shah of Gujarat to his enterprise he began to prepare his way by detaching the nobles of Berar from their allegiance to the Bahamani king. Nasir Khan claimed descent from the second Khalifa, Umar-ul-Faruk, and succeeded beyond expectation in persuading many of the officers in Berar that the one who fell fighting in the cause of the descendants of the greatest of the Prophet's successors would receive the reward promised to martyrs for the faith. It is not easy to understand how the officers of Berar were deceived; for Nasir Khan allied himself with Gonds and probably with the Korkus of the Melghat also, but many fell into the trap and formed a strong party in Berar against the Bahamani king. Nasir Khan accordingly entered into Berar marching southwards from Burhanpur with all the troops of Khandesh a considerable force having been also sent to his aid by the Raja of Gondvana. The treacherous officers attempted to seize the governor. Khan Jahan, who was too firmly attached to the house of Bahamanis to join the invaders; and he. obtaining information of their designs, fled to the fortress of Narnala, where he shut himself up. and wrote accounts of the state of affairs to his court. The traitors, meanwhile, joined Nasir Khan, and not only read the Khutba in his name as king of Berar, but marched with him to besiege Narnala.

Ala-ud-din Shah, on receiving this intelligence, called a council 0f his ministers and military chiefs, to concert measures for acting at such a critical moment. It was recommended that the king "should proceed in person against the enemy, it being pro-bable that both the kings of Gujarat and Malva, as also the rais of Gondwana, were prepared to aid in assisting Nasir Khan. The king, however, suspecting the fidelity of his chiefs, appointed Khalaf Hasan Basri-Malik-ut-Tujjar, then governor of Daulatabad and leader of the foreigners, to conduct the campaign. He requested the king to give him the command of the household troops, and all the foreigners, without any Deccanis or Abyssinians, to bring the royal affairs in Berar to a prosperous issue. [Khalaf Hasan Basri, (Malik-ul-Tujjar) was a foreign merchant. The hostility of the Deecanis and Abyssinians to the Persians and Turks seems to have prevailed throughout the long period of the reign of the Deccan kings.] 'Ala-ud-din Shah consenting, directed three thousand Moghal bowmen from the body-guards [Among these body-guards were two princes, Majnun Sultan and Shah Kully Sultan, both lineal descendenis from the great conqueror Chung Khan.] to attend him, as also many Moghal officers, who had been brought up in the service of Firoz Shah and Ahmad Shah. Malik-ut-Tujjar left Daulatabad with 7,000 foreign horse, despatching an army on observation to the frontiers of Gujarat and Malva and entered into Berar. Khan Jahan also, having found an opportunity of quitting Narnala, joined the kings army at Mehkar. It has been mentioned that Nasir Khan had obtained a promise of assistance from the "Gonds," and Khalaf Hasan, in order to prevent these allies of the ememy from ravaging Berar and falling' on his tank, despatched some of the Deccani officers and troops who were with him to Balapur and Ellichpur. From the situation of these two places it appears likely that the "Gonds" mentioned as Nasir Khan's allies were in fact Korkus of the Melghat, for the Muhammedan historians, like the British officers, first appointed to administer Berar, fell into the error of believing the Korkus to be Gonds.

Meanwhile Nasir Khan had reached Rohankhed where Khalaf Hasan Basri, marching northwards, met him. In the battle which was fought there Nasir Khan was defeated and fled to Burhanpur, closely pursued by Khalaf Hasan. On the approach of the Deccanis Nasir Khan fled to the fortress of Laling, where he took refuge, leaving Burhanpur to be sacked. Khalaf Hasan then succeeded in drawing Nasir Khan out. He sustained another defeat and many of the rebellious nobles of Berar, who had taken refuge with him, were slain. Khalaf Hasan then returned to Bidar laden with spoil.

In 1453 Jalal Khan, who had married Ala-ud-din Ahmad's sister, rebelled in Telangana and attempted to raise his son, Sikandar Khan, the grandson of Ahmad Shah I, to the throne. Ala-ud-din Ahmad Shah assembled his forces and Jalal Khan sent Sikandar Khan to Mahur in order that he might create a diversion there. Sikandar Khan occupied Mahur and sent a message to Mahmud Shah Khilji of Malva, informing him that the Bahamani king was dead but that his attendants were concealing the fact of his death for their own ends. He added that if Mahmud Shah took the field, Berar and Telangana would fall into his hands without a struggle. Mahmud Shah believed this report, and after consulting Adil Khan II, the ruler of Khandesh invaded Berar in 1456, encamped in the plains about the fortress of Mahur. On hearing of this aggression Ala-ud-din Ahmad Shah changed his plans. He left Khwaja Mahmud Gavan to act against Jalal Khan in Telangana; detailed the army of Berar to watch Adil Khan of Khandesh and to prevent him from co-operating with Mahmud Shah; ordered Kasim Beg Safshikan, governor of Daulatabad, to march on Mahur; and himselt, with his household troops and the army of Bijapur, marched towards the same fortress. Mahmud Shah was very-wroth when he learnt how he had been tricked by Sikandar Khan, and being unprepared to meet Ala-ud-din Ahmad in the field, fled towards Mandu by night, leaving behind him an officer with instructions to prevent Sikandar from returning to his former allegiance and to send him as a captive to Mandu, should he show any inclination to make his submission to Ala-ud-din Ahmad. Sikandar Khan discovered that he was virtually in custody and contrived to elude his jailor and to escape from Mahur with two thousand men. He fled to Nalgonda, where Khvaja Mahmud Gavan was besieging his father, and here both father and son submitted and were pardoned. Fakhr-ul-Mulk, the Turk who had been governor of Mahur before he was ejected bv Sikandar Khan, was reinstated by Ala-ud-din Ahmad Shah.

Ala-ud-din Ahmad II, died in 1458 and was succeeded by his son Humayun "the Tyrant" who had hardly ascended the throne when Jalal Khan and Sikandar Khan, the two nobles who had rebelled in the previous reign, again rose in rebellion. The governor of Berar who had visited the capital for the purpose of offering his congratulations to the new king was employed against the rebels, but was defeated, and the rising was ultimately suppressed by Humayun. [Ibid, p. 114.] We hear no more of Berar during this brief and troubled reign. When Humayun Shah was taken ill and thought that he would die, he appointed his eldest son, Nizam Shah, then only eight years of age, his successor. Having summoned Khvaja Jahan Turk from Berar, and Khvaja Mahmud Gavan from Telangana [ Haig mentions that Khwaja Jahan, the Turk and Nizam-ul-Mulk were sent to Warangal to fight the Hindus of Telangana and especially those of the district of Deurkonda, who had supported Sikandar Khan. One of the Rajas of Orissa helping the Hindus, Khwaja Jahan and Nizam-ul-Mulk were defeated. Khwaja Jahan basely attributed the disaster to his colleague, and Nizan-ul-Mulk was put to death by Humayun Shah. Khwaja Jahan was imprisoned. Haig. op. cit; pp. 410-11.] he made his will, constituting them regents and guardians of his son during his minority and commanding them strictly, at the same time, to transact no business without the cognisance of the Queenmother. [Makhaduma Jahan Nargis Begam.] Humayun Shah died on September 4, 1461 and was succeeded by his son Nizam Shah, aged eight. In 1462 Mahmud Shah of Malva taking advantage of the new king's young age, invaded the Deccan by the route which had been followed by Nasir Khan of Khandcsh and occupied Berar. The army of Bidar was employed in keeping off the rajas of Telangana and Orissa, who had invaded the Bahamani dominions of the east, and the armies of Berar, Daulatabad and Gulburga marched to meet Mahmud Shah. A battle was fought at Kandhar about seventy miles north of Bidar, and the Bahamani forces were defeated. Nizam Shah was carried off by his mother to Firozabad near Gulburga while Mahmud Shah of Malva sacked Bidar. He had begun to lay siege to the citadel when he heard that Mahmud Shah of Gujarat, to whom Nizam Shah's mother had appealed for help, had now advanced to the frontier of Berar with 80,000 horse. Mahmud Gavan, one of the chief nobles of Bahamani kingdom, joined the Gujaratis with live or six thousand cavalry, and continued to raise and borrow troops until he was able to take the field with an army of 40,000 Deccani and Gujarati horse. He sent 10,000 Deccani horse into Berar to clear the province of the intruders and to harass Mahmud of Malava on his retreat and marched towards Bidar with the remainder of his force. Encamping between Bid and Kandhar he cut off the besiegers' supplies but would not risk a battle, though Mahmud Shah of Malva could not put more than 30,000 horse into the field. At length the army of Malva was starved out and Mahmud Shah of Malva, after blinding his elephants and burning his heavy baggage, retreated northwards through eastern Bera'r and Melghat. He was pursued and harassed throughout his retreat by Mahmud Gavan and the ten thousand horse which had been awaiting him in Berar. In order to avoid Mahmud Gavan on the one hand and escape Mahmud Shah of Gujarat on the other, he resolved to retreat through the hills of the Melghat and engaged one of the Korku rajas of that tract as a guide. After leading him by Ellichpur and Akot the raja took him into the hills and there intentionally led him astray, in the Melghat the army of Malva perished by the thousands from heat and thirst and by the attacks of the Korkus, who were instigated by their raja. When the remnant of the army at length emerged from the wild hilly country, Mahmud Shah of Malva had the Korku raja put to death. [Dr. E. (1 Kunte: Bahamani Rajyacha Itihas, p. 134.,]

In the following year he again invaded the Bahamani Kingdom and advanced through Berar as far as Daulatabad, but oil hearing that Mahmud Shah of Gujarat, was again marching to the aid of Nizam Shah, he repented, of his enterprise and returned to his capital.

Nizam Shah died on July 30, 1463 and was succeeded by his brother Muhammad III, surnamed Lashkari or "the soldier."

In 1467 Nizam-ul-Mulk, the Turk, who had commanded the left wing in the battle of Kandhar against Mahmud Shah of Malva was appointed governor of Berar and was ordered to capture Kherla, where a Gond prince still owed allegiance to Malva. The army of Berar marched against Kherla and besieged it and the army of Malva, in an attempt to raise the siege, was signally defeated. Kherla fell, but two Rajputs [Haig, p. 480. Sayyad Ali says that he was killed by the commandant of the fort.] of the place approached Nizam-ul-Mulk under the pretence of making their submission to him and assassinated him. They attacked his attendants and were put to death. The two officers next in authority to Nizam-ui-Mulk were Yusuf Adil Khan, [There is sonic conflict of authorities here. Some historians give the name of Yusuf Adil Khan, the Deccani, a much less distinguished person, but a bitter enemy of Yusuf Adil Khan Savai, as he was called. On the whole the account given in the text is the more probable. ] afterwards the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur, and Darya Khan, the Turk. These nobles argued that the desperate enterprise of the two Rajputs could not have been undertaken otherwise than at the instigation of some of the inhabitants of Kherla and a massacre of these unfortunates, with their wives and children followed. Yusuf and Darya left a force to hold Kherla and returned to Bidar with the body of their late leader. Muhammad Shah approved of their action and bestowed Kherla upon them in Jahagir. Mahmud Shah of Malva now sent an embassy to Muhammad Shah and reminded him of the treaty between Ahmad Shah Bahamani and Hoshang Shah of Malva., in which it was stipulated that Kherla should belong to Malva and Berar to the Bahamanis. He be sought Muhammad Shah not to be a breaker of treaties, or the means of stirring up strife between Musalmans. Muhammad Shah returned to him a dignified reply by Shaikh Ahmad, the Sadr, and Sharif-ul-mu!k. He thanked God that no one of the race of Bahrnan had ever been known to break a treaty and reminded Mahmud Shah that when the affairs of the Bahamani kingdom were in confusion after the accession of the boy--king Nizam Shah it was Mahmud himself who had broken faith by invading the Bahamani domi-nions. In every corner of the empire of Karnatak, which was still in the hands of the infidels, there were many fortresses like Kherla and since these were ready at his hand he had no wish to deprive a brother Musalman of his fortresses. A new treaty-was concluded whereby either sovereign bound himself by the most solemn oaths not to molest or invade the dominions of the other, and Kherla, which had been annexed to Berar, was handed back by Muhammad Shah to the kiing of Malva. [Bahamani Rajyacha 1tihas, p. 140]

The governorship of Berar seems to have remained vacant for a few years after the death of Nizam-ul-Mulk, the Turk until in 1471 Fateh-ullah lmad-ul-Mulk was made governor. This amir is worthy of special notice; for he founded the Imad Shahi dynasty, which reigned in Berar for a period of eighty years. He was a Brahman of Vijayanagar who was captured by the Musalmans in 1422 early in the reign of Ahmad Shah and was bestowed on the Khan-i-Jahan, who was appointed governor of Berar immediately after the conclusion of the campaign, and was brought up as a Musalman, but never forgot his Brahman descent or his native land. Fateh-ullah had spent all his service, if we except temporary periods of absence in the field, in Berar and was a very fair instance of the strength and the weakness of the provincial system of the Bahamani kingdom. He seems to have been sincerely attached to the province, despite his pride of race and descent, and to have been at the same time a faithful servant of the Bahamanis. In his later years, when troubles gathered thick and fast around the head of the descendant of Bahrnan Shah and when the provincial governors were driven rather than tempted to rebellion, he was regarded as the Nestor of the Deccan, and his entire freedom from party prejudice was displayed in his grief and anger at the unjust execution of Mahmud Gavan, a foreigner, and in his unwavering friendship for Yusuf Adil Khan Savai, another foreigner, who differed from him in religion, being a staunch Shiah while Fateh-ullah was an equally staunch Sunni.

Akola district with the rest of Berar and the Deccan, suffered from the terrible two years of famine in 1473, and 1474 and most of those who escaped death from starvation fled to Malva and Gujarat. In the third year rain fell, but prosperity was slow to return, for there were few left to till the soil and the wanderers returned by slow degrees.[ Haig, p., 417.]

As stated earlier Fateh-ullah Imad-ul-mulk had been appointed Governor of Berar in 1471 and Khudawand Khan, an African, governed the southern districts of the province as his subordinate, having his headquarters at Mahur.

In the campaigns of Muhammad III in Orissa, Telangana and the Peninsula, Fateh-ullah, with the army of Berar, bore a share. In 1480, before these campaigns had. been brought to a close, the four provinces into which the Deccan had been divided by Bahrnan Shah were sub-divided into eight by Muhammad III on the advice of his minister Mahmud Gavan. Berar was divided into the two new provinces of northern Berar, named Gavil, and southern Berar, named Mahur. The line of demarcation is not recorded but it is not unreasonable to suppose that it followed the northern crest line of Balaghat plateau in which case the Bashim and Mangrul tahsils would have been included in the province of Mahur while the rest of the district was included in Gavil. At the same time the powers of the provincial governors were much curtailed. Many paraganas of the provinces were made Khas and were administered by officers appointed direct by the crown, while the governors were allowed to appoint a commandant only to the chief fort in each province, all other commandants of forts being appointed direct by the king. These belated reforms caused much dissatisfaction among some of the tarafdars, but the faithful Fateh-ullah, though stripped of half his province, seems to have taken no exception to them and he and Khudawand Khan remained good friends and invariably worked in concert. This measure, which was most distasteful to some of the older Tarafdars whose powers it curtailed, led to a plot against its originator, Khvaja Mahmud Gavan, against whom the con-spirators fabricated evidence to support a false charge of treason. Muhammad III, while under the influence of wine, ordered the execution of his faithful minister without inquiring into the charge against him. The innocence of the Khvaja became apparent after his death, and Muhammad Shah bitterly repented his swiftness to punish, but repentance was powerless to avert the consequences of the crime, which destroyed the confidence of the principal amirs of the kingdom in their king and alienated their affection from him. Chief among those who openly showed their disapproval of the unjust act were Yusuf Adil Khan, who alterwards founded the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur, Fateh-ullah Imad-ul-Mulk of Gavil, and Khudavand Khan of Mahur. These amirs, though they still openly professed obedience to the Bahamani king, regarded him with suspicion and were not slow Jo justify acts of disobedience of his authority by open expres-sions of that suspicion. Fateh-ullah Imad-ul-Mulk and Khudavand Khan, with the troops of Berar, left the royal camp and encamped at a distance of two leagues from it. When asked the reason of this move Fateh-ullah boldly replied that when so old and faithful a servant as Mahmud Gavan could be murdered on the lying reports of false witnesses nobody within the king's reach was safe. The wretched king, now smitten with remorse, sent a secret message imploring them to return that he might take counsel with them regarding the punishment of those who had brought Khvaja Mahmud to his death, but Fateh-ullah and Khudavand Khan replied that they would shape their conduct on that of Yusuf Adil Khan, who was then absent on a distant expedition. Yusuf was at once recalled and joined Fateh-ullah and Khudavand Khan. The three tarafdars then entered the royal camp and made their demands. They did not succeed in bringing the ringleaders of the conspiracy to punishment, but Yusuf obtained the province of Bijapur, which enabled him to make provision for the followers of the deceased minister. Shortly after this the tarafdars were dismissed to their provinces.

Fateh-ullah and Khudavand Khan were recalled from Berar shortly afterwards in order that they might attend Muhammad III on a progress through the province of Bijapur. They obeyed the summons, but both on the march and in camp placed a distance between themselves and the royal camp, and saluted the king from afar when he marched. In this manner the armies reached Belgaum whence the tarafdars were ordered to accompany the king to Goa and the Konkan, which they refused to do. Yusuf Adil Khan, however, marched to the aid of Goa, then besieged by Rajashekhara of Vijayanagar, while Muhammad III marched to Firozabad. Fateh ullah and Khudavand Khan refused to accompany him any further, and returned to Berar without leave. Muhammad felt their defection deeply, but dared not resent it, for he knew that their mistrust of him was justified, and that civil war would but hasten the disruption of his Kingdom.

Muhammad Shah died of drink on 22nd March 1482, and was succeeded by his son Mahmud Shah, a boy of twelve; all power in the capital was held by Malik Hasan Nizam-ul-Mulk, [Dr. B. G. Kunle Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 2.] the principal enemy of the late Mahmud Gavan who was now minister of the Kingdom. Fateh-ullah Imad-ul-Mulk, on visiting the capital to congratulate the young king on his accession, was made titular minister of the kingdom, his son Shaikh Ala-ud-din being appointed his deputy in northern Berar, but the in trigues and massacres of the capital were not to the veteran's taste, [ Haig, p. 423.] and he returned to Ellichpur without having exercised the duties of his post at the capital. [ Briggs, II, p 528.]

Imad Shahi of Berar. Malik Hasan Nizam ul-Mulk was assassinated before 1485 and affairs in Bidar went from bad to worse. The young king showed a precocious bent towards debauchery and the administration passed into the hands of Kasim Barid, a Turk. The tarafdars well aware that all orders issued from the capital were the orders framed by this upstart ceased to heed them, and were practically independent attending only occasionally with their armies when summoned to do so. This attendance only accentuated the humiliation of the nominal ruler, whose splendour was utterly eclipsed by that of the armaments which the tarfdars brought into the field.

Fateh-ullah Imad-ul-Mulk, who retained to the end an affectionate regard for Mahmud Shah, was resolved not to be the servant of the Turkish upstart, and now began to pave the way for an open declaration of his independence by repairing and strengthening his forts. The inscriptions over the beautiful Mahakali or Muhammadi gate of the fortress of Narnala, though they contain exaggerated expressions of respect for the roi faineant Mahmud. record the fact that the gate, which is the strongest in the fort, was built by Fateh-ullah in 1487.

In 1490 Malik Ahmad, the son of Malik Hasan Nizam-ul-Mulk. having founded Ahmadnagar and made preparations for securing his independence, invited Yusuf Adil Khan of Bijapur and Fateh-ullah Imad-ul-Mulk of Cavil to join him in assuming the style and insignia of royalty. [ Haig, jip. 425-26, fool note.] Although Fateh-ullah Imad Shah was con-sidered Sultan of Berar, parts of Akola district and the rest of Southern Berar remained for some years under the rule of Khudavand Khan of Mahur, who was as independent of Gavil as he. was of Bidar, though he seems never to have committed Himself to a formal declaration of independence. The compact was sealed by the consent of each of these three provincial governors, and each had the Khutba read in the mosques of his kingdom in his own name, omitting that of Mahmud Shah Bahamani. Hence forth these rulers will be known by the titles Yusuf Add Shah, Ahmad Nizam Shah, and Fateh-ullah Imad Shah, though Yusuf and Fateh-ullah appear to have been very chary of using the royal title.

The supremacy of Kasim Band in the capital had, however, convinced Fateh-ullah of the necessity for some decisive step. and the veteran statesman as stated earlier had already prepared himself for possible opposition by improving the defences of Gavilgad and Narnala.

Although Fateh-ullah had declared himself independent he still regarded himself, to some extent, as a vassal of the Bahamani King. Thus in 1494, when a rebel named Bahadur Gilani, who had established himself on the western coast of the Deccan, committed in Gujarat, excesses which caused Mahmud Shah ci that country to demand his punishment at the hands of Mahmud Shah Bahamani, Fateh-ullah Imad Shah, together with Yusuf Adil Shah and Ahmad Nizam Shah, responded to his old master's appeal and aided him against the rebel, who was defeated and slain after a long and arduous campaign. But the aid thus rendered differed from the submissive attendance of the tarafdars for the Sultans because now they did not attend in person but sent contingents.

In 1504 Yusuf Adil Shah, who was a Shiah, had the Khutba read in the mosques of the Bijapur kingdom after the Shiah fashion, he being the first Muhammedan ruler in India to make this public profession of the Shiah faith. Amir Barid who had succeeded his father, Kasim Barid, in the same year sent notices in Mahmud Shah's name to Fateh-ullah Imad Shah, Khudavand Khan of Mahur, and Sultan Kuli Kutub-ul-Mulk, who had been appointed governor of Telangana and had established himself at Golconda, asking them to combine to stamp out the heresy. The result of the appeal was curious. Sultan Kuli Kutub-ul-Mulk who was himself a devoted Shiah, responded to it at once, apparently on the ground that Yusuf Adil Shah's act was a more pronounced declaration of opposition to Bahamani traditions than his mere assumption of independence. Fateh-ullah Imad Shah, and Khudavand Khan, on the other hand, though both were professed Sunnis, showed very clearly their disinclination to act against their old ally, excused themselves. As to what followed, there is a conflict of authority. Ferishta says that Amir Barid was much perplexed by the contumacy of the two chiefs of Berar and applied to Ahmad Nizam Shah for aid which was promptly rendered. Ali-bin Aziz-ullah Tabatabai. whose dates do not agree with those of Ferishta, though he is clearly referring to the same incident, writes that Mahmud Shah, on becoming aware of Fateh-ullah Imad Shah's refusal to take the field against Yusuf Adil Shah, marched into Berar, whereupon Fateh-ullah, who was not more willing to take up arms against the Bahamani than against Yusuf, made his submission to him. Ferishta's account is to be preferred, for he was, though sometimes misinformed, always impartial, where-as the author of the Burhan-i-Masir was an uncompromising partisan of the Nizam Shahi kings and also, strangely enough, a strenuous supporter of the fiction that Mahmud Shah was as independent a king as any of his forefathers. Moreover, immedi-ately after its account of these events, the Burhan-i-Masir goes wildly astray in its references to Fateh-ullah Imad Shah and Yusuf Adil Shah. The following is the true account of what happened. Amir Barid with Mahmud Shah, Suitan Kuli Kutub-ul Mulk, Ahmad Nizam Shah, and Fakhr-ul-Mulk, the Deccani, marched against Yusuf Adil Shah, who finding that his external foes and the Sunnis in his own kingdom were too strong for him, left Fakhr-ul-Mulk the Turk, to hold Gulburga and the surrounding country, sent his infant son Ismail with Kamal Khan, the Deccani, to Bijapur, and made the best of his way, with 5,000 horse, to the territories of his old friend Fateh-ullah Imad Shah, closely pursued by the allies who followed him almost to the gates of Gavilgad. Fateh-ullah was again greatly perplexed. [Briggs II, p 548.] He would not give up the refugee, he would not fight for the Shiah religion, and in no circumstances would he draw the sword against the Bahamani king. He, therefore, despatched Yusuf Adil Shah, to Daud Khan of Khandcsh, while he proceeded to make terms with the invaders of Berar. His methods are a fair example of the astuteness which he seems always to have brought into play in the interests of justice and toleration. He sent envoys to Ahmad Nizam Shah and Sultan Kuli Kutub-ul-Mulk to apprise them of his view of the quarrel which was that Amir Barid well-known, he said, as 'the fox of the Deccan,' was not actuated in his persecution of Yusuf Adil Shah by religious scruples, but merely desired to gain possession of Bijapur. Should he attain his object, the old diplomatist added, the position of those who held the other provinces of the kingdom would not be enviable, for Amir Barid who had already filled the Bahamani king in the hollow of his hand and wanted but an addition to his territorial possessions to make him supreme in the Deccan. This entirely correct view of the situation impressed itself on Ahmad Nizam Shah and Kutub-ul-Mulk who at once returned to their provinces without even going through the form of bidding Mahmud Shah farewell. The Sultan of Berar was now free to deal with the Sultan of Bidar. He represented to Mahmud that there was nothing to be gained by prosecuting the war and that the wisest course was to proclaim that Yusuf was pardoned and to return to Bidar. Mahmud Shah was inclined to accept this counsel, but Amir Barid did not intend to let Bijapur slip through his fingers so easily and was about to carry Mahmud off to besiege Bidar, but meanwhile Yusuf Adil Shah had heard of the retreat of Ahmad Nizam Shah and Kutub-ul-Mulk and returned with all haste from Burhanpur to Gavilgad. he now took the field against Mahmud Shah, or rather against Amir Barid, who perceiving that he was no match for Yusuf and Fateh-ullah in combination, hurriedly retreated to Bidar, leaving Berar in peace. The minister Amir Barid put the king under greater restraint than before. Weary of the situation Mahmud Shah found the means to effect his escape to Gavil in Berar where he procured assistance from Imad-ul-Mulk who marched with him towards the capital. Amir Barid shutting himself up in the citadel, applied for relief to Burhan Nizam-ul-Mulk, the son of the late Ahmad Nizam Shah [In 1509 Ahmad Nizam Shall died and was succeeded by his son, Burhan I. ], who despatched Khvaja Jahan to join him with considerable force. Amir Barid and his ally now rallied forth against the troops of Imad-ul-Mulk, who pre-pared to receive them, and drew up his army for action [It happened that the king was bathing at the time; and the messenger sent by Imad-ul-Mulk to inform him of the enemy's approach insolently remarked, within his hearing, that it was no wonder a prince who could be so employed at such a critical moment should be the derision of his nobles. The king, stung with the reproof and enraged at what he thought proceeded from the insolence of Imad-ul-Mulk, joined Amir Barid's army-Bnggs, op. cit. II, p 551.]. The king joined the line as soon as possible, but suddenly spurring his horse, galloped over to Amir Barid's army. Imad-ul-Mulk immediately retreated with precipitation towards his own country and the minister returned triumphantly into the city with the king. Amir Barid, in 1507, found it necessary to march with the king to Mahur against Bashir Khan [Sharza Khan, the son and successor of Khudawand Khan of Mahur. Shaiva Khan and one of his brothers were slain. Ala-ud-din Imad Shah inarched to the relief of Mahur and compelled Amir Barid to retire.], who with his son, was slain in the battle and Mahur was conferred on Ghalib Khan, another son of Khudavand Khan.

The dale of the death of Fafeh-ullah Imad Shah is variously given as 1504 and 1510. The latter seems to be a mistake. His age when he was taken from Vijayanagar in 1422 is not given, and we are merely told that he was then a boy [Briggs III, pp. 485-486.]. Assuming his age to have been ten years at that time he must have been 92 years of age at the time of his death. It will thus be seen that there is nothing of interest connected with the Akola district to record except the events narrated above during the reign of Fateh-ullah Imad Shah. Fateh-ullah was succeeded by his son Ala-ud-din Imad Shah, of whom Ferishta contradictorily says that he was the first of the dynasty to use the royal title. There can be little doubt that his father used it occasionally, certainly in his correspondence with Ynsuf Adil Shah and Ahmad Nizam Shah, to whom he would not have admitted himself to be in-ferior, but it is likely that he refrained from using it in corres-pondence with the Bahamani king.

The early part of Ala-ud-din's reign is obscure. Accordinglo one authority he quietly succeeded his father, but according to another he was a prisoner in the fort of Ramgiri, in Telangana, at the time of his father's death, in the power of Amir Barid and remained m captivity until he was rescued by one of the sons of Khudavand Khan of Mahur. On his release Ala-ud-din is said to have proceeded at once to Gavilgad and to have assumed that government of his father's kingdom, while Mahmud Shah Bahamani, at the request of Yusuf Adil Shah, conferred upon him his father's title of Imad-ul-Mulk. This story is improbable. In the first place the dates are all wrong, for Fateh-ullah is represented as having died before 1500, whereas he was certainly alive in 1504, and in the second place it is highly improbable that Fateh-ullah, who had, as we have seen, great power and influence in the Deccan would have left his son, his only son so far as we know, in the hands of his greatest enemy, 'the fox of the Deccan.' The more probable story is that which represents Ala-ud-din Imad Shah as quietly succeeding his father in Ellichpur.

In 1509 Burhan Nizam Shah succeeded his father Ahmad in Ahmadnagar at the age of seven [Brians, III, p. 211. ]. The administration of that kingdom was in the hands of Mukarnmil Khan, [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. -11. ] who had been Ahmad's minister, and the Deccani nobles of the State, whose predominance was distasteful to the 'foreigners' i. e. the Persian and Turki soldiers of fortune who always formed a political party of their own in the Deccan. The foreigners conspired to overthrow the Deccanis, and on the failure of their plot [ Ibid, p. 41.] fled from Ahmad-nagar with 8,000 horse and took refuge with Ala-ud-din Imad Shah in Ellichpur. They found no difficulty in persuading him that the affairs of Ahmadnagar were in hopeless confusion and that the conquest of that kingdom would be an easy task.

Ala-ud-din, without waiting to consider how far the interests of the fugitives had coloured their story, collected his troops from Gavilgad and Ellichpur and marched to the borders of Ahmadnagar. Mukarnmil Khan was prepared and met him. After a severely contested battle victory declared itself for Ahmadnagar [ Ibid, pp. 41-42.], and Ala-ud-din with the army of Berar tied to Ellichpur. The army of Ahmadnagar followed up its victory and laid waste the greater part of south-western Berar includ-ing the Akola district pressing Ala-ud-din 'so hard that he deserted his country and fled to Burhanpur, where he besought Adil Khan III, the ruler of Khandesh, to use his good offices in the cause of peace [Briggs, III, p. 214.] With some difficulty Adil Khan of Khandesh and his doctors of religion brought about a peace, but quarrels soon broke out afresh.

In 1514 Mahmud Shah made an abortive attempt to escape from the clutches of Amir Barid. It failed owing to his own slothfulness and readiness to take offence, and its failure seems to have exasperated Khudavand Khan of Mahur who occupied him self in raiding and ravaging Amir Band's territory in the direction of Kandhar and Udgir until, in 1517, Amir Barid, taking Mahmud Shah with him, marched against Mahur and captured it, slaying Khudavand Khan and his eldest son, Sharza Khan. Another son, Mahmud Khan [ In one passage' called Ghalib Khan, apparently by a scribe's error], was appointed to the command of Mahur as the servant of Ala-ud-din Imad Shah, a politic concession which was evidently intended to hinder the Sultan of Berar from interfering in the affairs of Bidar.

Khudavand Khan, though apparently independent, had alwavs been on the most friendly terms with Faleh-ullah and invariably acledd in concert with him. Berar was once more united on the death, of the governor of Mahur during the reign of Ala-ud-din Imad Shah.

Burhan Nizam Shah's grandfather Malik Hasan Nizam-ul-Mulk, was descended of a Brahman family which had held the hereditary office of Kulkarni or patvari in Pathri, near the Godavari river. For some reason or another, probably the proselytizing zeal of one of the Bahamani kings, the ancestor of Hasan had fled from Pathri and taken refuge in the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar. Malik Hasan, whose original name was Tima Bhat, had been captured like Fateh-ullah Imad-ul-Mulk, in one of the campaigns against Vijayanagar, and brought up as a Muslim. When he attained power and the governorship of a province to the border of which his ancestral home was adjacent, his relatives flocked from Vijayanagar to Ahmadnagar and urged his son, Ahmad Nizam Shah, to include in his dominions the town of Pathri which lay on the southern border of Berar. Mukammil Khan wrote, by command of Burhan Nizam Shah proposing that Ala-ud-din Imad Shah should cede Pathri to Ahmadnagar in exchange for a richer paragana. Ala-ud-din refused to listen to this proposal and began to fortify Pathri. Mukammil Khan then complained that the establishment of a military post so close to the frontier would give rise to depredations on the part of the more lawless members of the garrison and consequent hostilities between Ahmadnagar and Berar. Ala-ud-din paid no heed to the protest, completed his fort and returned to Ellichpur. [.Almadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 48 f. n. ] In 1518 Mukammil Khan. under the pretence that Burhan Nizam Shah wished to enjoy the cool air of the hills above Daulatabad and visit the caves of Elllora, collected a large army and marched in a leisurely way to Daulatabad, whence he made a sudden forced march on Pathri The town was taken by escalade and the army of Ahmadnagar possessed itself of the whole paragana. Burhan having attained his object returned to his capital leaving Miyan Muhammad Ghori, an officer who had greatly distinguished himself in the assault, to govern the paragana with the title of Kamil Khan [Ibid, p. 48.] Ala-ud-din Imad Shah was not strong enough to resent this aggression at the time, and though it rankled in his memory he suffered himself to be cajoled six year later by Mulla Haidar Astrabadi, an envoy from Ahmadnagar, into an alliance with Burhan Nizam Shah, who was then engaged in an acrimonious dispute with Ismail Adil Shah regarding the possession of the fortress of Sholapur. [ Briggs, III, pp. 216-17.] In 1524 a battle was fought at Sholapur and Ala-ud-din, whose army was opposed to a wing of the Bijapuris commanded by Asad Khan of Belgaum, was utterly defeated and withdrew by rapid inarches and in great disorder to Gavilgad, forsaking his ally. Burhan Nizam Shah was defeated and forced to retreat to Ahmadnagar.

Ala-ud-din Imad Shah now perceived his error in allying him-self with Burhan, and Ismail Adil Shah, anxious to weaken Ahmadnagar as much as possible, persuaded Sultan Kuli Kutub Shah in 1527 to aid Ala-ud-din in recovering Pathri [ Briggs III, p. 217.] The allies succeeded in wresting Pathri for a time from Burhan, but he entered into an alliance with Amir Barid of Bidar and marched from Ahmadnagar to Pathri, the fortifications of which place, in the course of a cannonade of two month's duration, he succeed-ed in destroying. The place fell again into his hands and once more the paragana was annexed to Ahmadnagar and bestowed upon some cousins of Burhan Nizam Shah who still adhered to the faith of their fathers. Burhan was not disposed to regard the recapture of Pathri as a sufficient punishment for Ala-ud-din, and having captured Mahur occupied southern Berar. He now turned his eyes towards Ellichpur and formed the design of annexing the whole of Berar to his kingdom. Ala-ud-din, who had been deserted by Sultan Kuli Kutub Shah, was in no position to face the allied armies of Ahmadnagar and Bidar. He, therefore, fied from Ellichpur to Burhanpur and sought assistance from Miran Muhammad Shah of Khandesh. Miran Muhammad responded to the appeal and marched with his unfortunate ally into Berar. The armies of Berar and Khandesh met the allied armies of Ahmadnagar and Bidar in battle and were utterly defeated. [ Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 51 f. n.] We are not told where this battle was fought, but it was probably not far south of Ellichpur, towards which place the invaders had marched from Mahur, and may have been in the immediate neighbourhood of the town. Burhan Nizam Shah now held practically the whole of Berar including Akola district and captured 300 elephants and the whole of Ala-ud-din's artillery and stores. Ala-ud-din and Miran Mahammad Shah fled to Burhanpur and thence sent a message to Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, imploring his assistance. Bahadur Shah snatched at the opportunity of interfering in the affairs of the Deccan and in 1528 sent a large army by way of Nandurbar and Sultanpur towards Ahmadnagar, and also entered Berar. Burhan Nizam Shah was much per-turbed by the appearance of this formidable adversary on the scene. He made a wild appeal for help to Babar, not yet firmly seated on the throne of Delhi, and more reasonable appeals to Sultan Kuli Kutub Shah of Golconda and Ismail Adil Shah of Biiapur. The former was engaged in warfare with the Hindus of Telangana and professed himself unable to send assistance, but Ismail sent 6,000 picked horse and much treasure [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, pp. 51-52 f. n.].

Bahadur Shah entered Berar on the pretext of restoring Pathri and Southern Berar to Ala-ud-din, but having seen the country he desired it for himself and made no haste to leave. This was very soon perceived by Ala-ud-din, who repented of his folly and ventured to suggest to Bahadur Shah, that the Ahmadnagar kingdom should be the theatre of war. He promised that if Bahadur Shah would conquer that kingdom for him he would resign the kingdom of Berar. Bahadur Shah accepted the offer and advanced against Burhan Nizam Shah, who was now encamped on the plateau of Bid. Amir Barid fell upon the advancing foes and slew two to three thousand of. the Gujaratis. This enraged Bahadur Shah, who sent 20,000 horse against Amir Barid. The battle soon became general, and the Deccanis were defeated and fled to Paranda. Being pursued thither, they again fled to Junnar, while Bahadur Shah occupied Ahmadnagar. Here he remained until supplies, which the Deccanis cut off, became scarce. He then marched to Daulatabad and left Ala-ud-din Imad Shah and the amirs of Gujarat to besiege that fortress while he encamped on the plateau above it. Burhan Nizam Shah now made a fervent appeal to Ismail Adil Shah for further assistance. Ismail replied with expressions of goodwill, sent five hundred of his most efficient cavalry, and expressed regret that the hostile attitude of the Raja of Vijayanagar prevented him from leaving his capital. Burhan wanted the prestige of Ismail's presence with his army, not a regiment of cavalry. In the circumstances he did the best he could, collected all the troops that could be raised between Junnar and Ahmadnagar and ascended into the Daulatabad plateau. Here a battle was precipitated by the in-cautious valour of Amir Barid, and although the issue hung for some time in the balance, the Deccanis were again defeated.

The problem now was not an equitable decision of the dispute between the kings of Berar and Ahmadnagar, but the expulsion of an inconvenient intruder who was strong enough to upset entirely the balance of power in the Deccan. Burlian Nizam Shah opened negotiations with Ala-ud-din Imad Shah and pro-fessed himself ready to restore all that had been captured by him. Ala-ud-din and Miran Muhammad Shah were now as apprehensive as their former enemies of Bahadur Shah's intentions and approached Khudavand Khan, the latter's minister, with a request that his master would leave the Deccan. Khudav and Khan replied that Bahadur Shah had not come uninvited, and that if the Sultans of the Deccan composed their differences all would he well. The intimation was sufficient. Ala-ud-din Imad Shah sent his surplus supply of grain to the defenders of Daulatahad and returned to Ellichpur. Bahadur Shah and Miran Muhammad Shah decided that they would do well to return to their capitals before the rains rendered both the country and the rivers impassable. They retreated after stipulating that the boundaries of Berar and Ahmadnagar should remain in status quo ante bellum, that the khutba should be read in both kingdoms in the name of Bahadur Shah and that both Ala-ud-din and Burhan should pay a war indemnity. Akola district was thus once more included in the dominions of Ala-ud-din Imad Shah. Miran Muhammad Shah, after his return to Burhanpur, called upon Burhan Nizam Shah to fulfil his obligations by restoring to Ala-ud-din Pathri and Mahur and all the elephants and other booty which had been captured near Ellichpur. Burhan's reply to this message was to return to Miran Muhammad some elephants which had been captured from him, on receiving which Miran Muhammad desisted from urging on Burhan the fulfilment of his compact with Ala-ud-din. [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 55 f. n.] The inveterate plotter Amir 'Ali' Barid had tried to tamper with the loyalty of the contingent sent from Bijapur to the assistance of Ahmadnagar, and Ismail, to punish him, inarched to Bidar. Amir Barid, now an old man, left the defence of the fortress to his sons and sought help of Sultan Kuli Kutub Shah. Ismail defeated a relieving force from Golconda and Amir Ali withdrew to Udgir and begged 'Ala-ud-din' Imad Shah to help him. 'Ala-ud-din would not oppose Ismail, but he marched to Bidar and interceded with him, but Ismail refused to hear of any negotiations until Bidar should have surrendered. It was surrendered when Amir 'Ali was about to be trampled to death by an elephant, and Ismail entered the capital of the Deccan and" took his seat upon the turquoise throne. He made Amir 'Ali' a noble of the kingdom of Bijapur, and it was agreed that he and 'Ala-ud-din' Imad Shah should aid in recovering the Raichur Doab and then march northwards to recover Mahur and Pathri for Ala-ud-din [ Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar had recently died and in the confusion which followed his death, Ismail was able to reduce both Raichur and Mudgal within three months; Haig, p. 437.]

The recovery of the Doab released Ismail from his vow of abstinence and he celebrated the occasion by a select symposium, at which only 'Ala-ud-din' and Asad Khan Lari at first sat with him, but both begged him to admit Amir 'All' and he consented, but when "the Fox" entered quoted from the chapter "The Cave" in the Koran the words, "their dog, the fourth of them." Amir Ali did not understand Arabic. But a burst of laughter from 'Ala-ud-din' apprised him that he was the victim of a jest and he wept with humiliation and resentment, while the others laughed. Disturbing rumours that Bahadur meditated another invasion of the Deccan postponed the joint expedition for the recovery of Mahur and Pathri, and 'Ala-ud-din' hastily returned to Berar [Ismail restored Bidar to Amir Ali. ].

This was not the last campaign in which the warlike but unfortunate Ala-ud-din was engaged. Sultan Kuli Kutub Shah of Golconda, who had proclaimed himself independent in 1515 [Briggss. III, p. 323. ] was for many years troubled by a Turk entitled Kivam-ul-Mulk who had been appointed by Mahmud Shah Bahamani governor of eastern Telangana and resisted Sultan Kuli's claims to dominion over that tract [Birggs, III, p 489.]. He maintained a guerilla warfare for years, with intermittent encouragement from Bidar and perhaps from Berar also, until he was defeated by Sultan Kuli at Gelgandal when he fled and took refuge with Ala-ud-din Imad Shah in Berar. Sultan Kuli sent an envoy to Berar to demand the delivery of the fugitive and also the restoration of certain districts of south-eastern Berar which in the time of the Bahamanis had belonged to Telangana. On Ala-ud-din's refusal to satisfy these demands Sultan Kuli marched northwards and Ala-ud-din marched from Ellichpur to meet him. A battle was fought near Ramgiri and the Beraris were utterly defeated. Ala-ud-din fled to Ellichpur and Sultan Kuli possessed himself of the disputed territory and returned to Golconda. Unfortunately, the date of these operations is not given, but it appears probable that they took place after the departure of Bahadur Shah of Gujarat from the Deccan. The date of the death of Ala-ud-din Imad Shah is not certain, but he probably died in 1529 and was succeeded by his son Darya Imad Shah [Briggs, II, P. 527.].

The early years of Darya Imad Shah's reign were uneventful and his kingdom enjoyed a much needed rest. No events of sufficient importance to be chronicled occurred in Akola district during the reign of Darya Imad Shah. On December 30, 1553 Husain Nizam Shah succeeded, not without opposition, to the throne of Ahmadnagar [Briggs, III, pp. 257-58. ]. His younger brother, Abdul Kadir, was induced to make a tight for the throne but was overcome and look refuge with Darya Imad Shah, under whose protection he remained until his death. [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 101. ] Shortly after Miran Abdul Kadir's flight, Saif Ain-ul-Mulk, who had been commander-in-chief of the army of Ahmadnagar in the latter part of the reign of Burhan Nizam Shah and on his death had espoused the cause of Abdul Kadir became apprehensive lest Husain Nizam Shah should punish him for his defection, and fled to Ellichpur, where he took refuge with Darya Imad Shah. [Briggs. III, p. 105] He did not remain long in Berar but took service under Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur, who interested himself in plots to dethrone Husain Nizam Shah. Ibrahim's interference brought about a war between Bijapur and Ahmadnagar and Husain sent a Brahman envoy named Vishvas Rav to Darya Imad Shah to ask him for aid. Darya sent 7,000 cavalry to his neighbour's assistance [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 110.] and Husain then advanced to Sholapur, which place Ibrahim was besieging [Briggs, HI, p. 490]. In she battle which ensued the armies of Ahmadnagar and Berar were on the point of fleeing when Ibrahim Adil Shah was attacked by doubts of the loyalty of Saif-Ain-ul-Mulk, who commanded a large body of his cavalry, and suddenly returned to Bijapur, leaving the allies in possession of the field. Husain then returned to Ahmadnagar and sent the cavalry of Berar back to Ellichpur.

After the death of Ibrahim Adil Shah I in 1558 Husain Nizam Shah persuaded Ibrahim Kutub Shah of Golconda to join in an attempt to capture Gallburga and the eastern districts of the Bijapur kingdom. The attempt failed owing to Ibrahim Kutub Shah's distrust of his ally and Ali Adil Shah, who had succeeded to the throne of Bijapur, resolved to revenge himself on Husain Nizam Shah, who sought strength in an alliance with Darya lined Shah [ Briggs, III, P. 239.]. In 1558 the kings of Berar and Ahmadnagar met at Sonpeth on the Godavari where Daulat Shah Begam, Darya's daughter, was married to Husain, Sonpeth receiving the name of lshratabad in honour of the event [ Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 118.].

Meanwhile Ali Adil Shah had formed an alliance with Ibrahim Kutub Shah and Sadasnivaraya of Vijayanagar and in 1560 these allies invaded the dominions of Ahmadnagar. Husain Nizam Shah's trust lay in Ali Barid Shah of Bidar, Darya Imad Shah of Berar, and Miran Mubarak II of Khandesh. Unfortunately for him influences had been at work to break up this alliance. The Khan-i-Jahan, brother of Ali Barid Shah, was friendly with Ali Adil Shah and had entered the service of Darya Imad Shah, whom he dissuaded from joining Husain Nizam Shah. He then led an army of 5,000 cavalry and infantry from Berar into the Ahmadnagar kingdom and laid waste those northern tracts which lay out of the way of the more powerful invaders from the south. Against this force Husain Nizam Shah sent nearly 3,000 horse under Mulla Muhammad Nishaburi [Briggs, 111 p. 240.]. The army of Berar was utterly defeated and the Khan-i-Jahan, ashamed to return to Berar, joined the army of Ali Adil Shah [Ahamadnagarchi Nizamshahi. p. 122 f. n. ]. Jahangir Khan, the Deccani, now became commander-in-chief of the army of Berar, and had an easier task than his predecessor, for by this time the members of the southern alliance had closed round Ahmadnagar and left Darya Imad Shah's army little occupation but that of plundering a defenceless country. The allies, however, quarrelled. Ibrahim Kutub Shah, who had gradually been drawn into sympathy with Husain Nizam Shah, withdrew rapidly and secretly to Golconda, leaving behind him a small force which joined Husain. Jahangir Khan with the army of Berar also went over to Husain who was enabled, by this accession of strength, to cut off the supplies of Ali Adil Shah and Sadashivaraya, who were besieging Ahmadnagar. Sadashivaraya, who perceived that he had been drawn by Ali Adil Shah into no easy undertaking, was now in a mood to entertain proposals of peace, and when Husain Nizam Shah sued for peace he agreed to retire on three conditions, one of which was that Jahangir Khan, whose activity in intercepting the supplies of the besiegers had caused much suffering among them, should be put to death. Husain was base enough to comply and the commander of the army of Berar was assassinated [Ibid, p. 123 f. n. ]. Fortunately for Husain, his father-in-law was either too weak or too poor spirited to resent this act of gross ingratitude, and the kingdom of Ahmadnagar was by these shameful means, freed of its invaders. The war, the conclusion of which was not entirely honourable to Berar, does not seem to have been carried into the Akola district. Darya Imad Shall did not long survive his disgraceful acquiescence in his servant's death. He died in 1561 and was succeeded by his son, Burhan Imad Shah.

We have no certain information of the age of Burhan when he succeeded his father. He is described as a boy or a young man, but he was not too young to resent the murder of Jahangir Khan [briggs. III. p. 243. ] for when Husain Nizam Shall and Ibrahim Kutub Shah invaded the territory of Bijapur in 1562 and Ali Adil Shah and Sadashivaraya of Vijayanagar marched against them, Burhan not only refused to respond to Husain's appeal for assistance but prevented Ali Barid Shah of Bidar from joining him. Husain Shah then abandoned the siege of Kalyani, in which he was engaged, and sent his ladies and heavy baggage to Ausa. The kings of Ahmadnagar and Golconda now found themselves opposed by Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur, Sadashivaraya of Vijayanagar, Ali Barid Shah of Bidar, and Burhan Imad Shah of Berar, and advanced to meet them halting within twelve miles of their camp. On the following day Husain and Ibrahim advanced against the enemy, the former making the camp of Sadashivaraya and the latter that of Ali Adil Shah, Ali Barid Shah, and Burhan Imad Shah his objective. When they were well on their way heavy rain fell and Husain's artillery and elephants stuck fast in the mire. [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamsliahi. p. 125 f. n. ] Any further advance was out of the question, and Husain returned to his camp with only forty out of seven hundred guns. Meanwhile Murtaza Khan with the Maratha officers of Bijapur had been sent by Ali Adil Shah to warn the allies to prepare for battle. On his way he came upon the abandoned guns of Husain Nizam Shah, and learnt that Husain had returned to his camp. Murtaza informed his master of what he had found and Ali Adil Shah and Sadashivaraya sent troops to take possession of the guns. After securing the guns these troops fell in with the forces of Ibrahim Kutub Shah, attacked them, and defeated them. Ibrahim reformed his beaten army in the rear of Husain Nizam Shah's camp and made a stand which enabled Husain Nizam Shah to come to his aid. The troops of Bijapur and Vijayanagar were repulsed, but Husain Nizam Shah was much dispirited by the result of the day's fighting and by Ibrahim's failure, and on the following day, when the armies of Bijapur, Vijayanagar, Berar and Bidar advanced to the attack, he and Ibrahim Kutub Shah fled in the direction of Ahmadnagar, leaving their camps in the hands of the enemy. At Ausa they separated, Ibrahim returning to Golconda, while Husain retired to his capital, followed by the allies. Husain did not venture to defend his capital but, having provisioned the fortress, fled onwards to Junnar. The allies sat down to besiege Ahmadnagar. Ali Adil Shah, however, persuaded Sadashivaraya to leave Ahmadnagar and to pursue Husain Nizam Shah to Junnar, [Briggs, III, pp. 245-46. ] but before the allies left Ahmadnagar Burhan Imad Shah and Ali Barid Shah having quarrelled with the Raja of Vijayanagar, retired to their own kingdoms.

On Burhan's return to Berar he was seized and imprisoned in Narnala by Tufal Khan, the Deccani, one of his own amirs, who henceforth exercised regal functions in Berar. [Briggs, III, p. 47.] Tufal Khan refused to join the confederacy of the Muhammedan Sultans of the Deccan which was formed in 1564 for the purpose of overthrowing the power of Vijayanagar and Berar had, therefore, no share in the decisive victory of Talikota. [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, pp. 140-41 f. n. ] Tufal Khan's refusal to join the Muhammedan league may be attributed to his sense of the insecurity of his position as a usurper to apathy, to Hindu sympathies, or to the view that the power of Vijayanagar could always be usefully employed for the maintenance of the balance of power between the Muhammedan kingdoms of the Deccan, but the refusal, whatever the motive may have been, brought much trouble and suffering to Berar.

On June 6, 1565, Husain Nizam Shah died and was succeeded in Ahmadnagar by his son, Murtaza Nizam Shah I, who persuaded Ali Adil Shah to join him in invading Berar in order to punish Tufal Khan for his refusal to join the league against Vijayanagar. In 1566 the allies invaded the kingdom from the south and south-west and devastated it with fire and sword as far north as Ellichpur, destroying all standing crops. The Akola district probably suffered severely from this invasion. The invaders remained in Berar, wasting the country and slaughtering its inhabitants until the approach of the rainy season, when Tufal Khan approached Ali Adil Shah with an enormous quantity of treasure and besought him to use his influence to induce Murtaza to retire. Ali undertook the task and succeeded in persuading Murtaza, on the pretext that the rains would render marching and campaigning on the black cotton soil of Berar a difficult task, to retire to Ahmadnagar, while he himself returned to Bijapur [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 141. ].

In 1572 Ali Adil Shah entered into a treaty with Murtaza Nizam Shah, in accordance with the terms of which the latter was to be allowed to annex Berar and Bidar without objection from Bijapur, while the former was to possess himself of so much of the dismembered territories of Vijayanagar as should be equal in revenue to those two provinces. Murtaza lost no time in taking advantage of his arrangement with Bijapur, and encamped at Pathri with the object of invading Berar. As a pretext for this aggression he pretended sympathy with Burhan I mad Shah and sent a letter to Tufal Khan calling upon him to release his sovereign, to be obedient to him in all things, and to refrain from interfering in the government of Berar. The letter concluded with a threat that disobedience would entail swift punishment. Tufal Khan took counsel of his son, Shamshir-ul-Mulk, who had a reputation for valour and was astute enough to perceive that Murtaza's real object was the annexation of Berar, and not the release of Burhan from confinement. He advised his father to rely on the resources of Berar and to return no answer to the letter. Murtaza Nizam Shah, on hearing of the dismissal of his envoy, set out from Pathri for Ellichpur. The army of Berar was defeated in a hotly contested battle, and Murtaza Nizam Shah, before advancing further, took steps to attach the Hindu revenue officials to his cause. He then pursued Tufal Khan and Shamshir-ul-Mulk through the Melghat. The former fled and attempted to take refuge with Miran Muhammad II of Khandesh, but Murtaza Nizam Shah informed that ruler by letter that his country would be invaded if he gave shelter to Tufal. Miran Mahammad sent the letter on to Tufal Khan without comment, and the latter understood that he was no longer safe in Khandesh and returned to Berar, where he took refuge in Narnala, while Shamshir-ul-Mulk shut himself up in Gavilgad. Murtaza Nizam Shah at once marched to Narnala and laid siege to the fort. When the siege had progressed for some months Murtaza Nizam Shah, who was already weary of campaigning, received news that a son had been born to him in Ahmadnagar, and proposed to return to his capital and celebrate the auspicious event but his energetic minister, Changiz Khan, exerted all his influence to prevent his master from taking his hand from the plough.

The effeminate Murtaza soon began to despair of ever capturing Narnala, when chance placed a weapon in Changiz Khan's hands. A merchant arrived in the camp with horses and merchandise which had been ordered by Tufal Khan from Lahore, and besought Changiz Khan that he might be allowed to enter the fort and conclude his bargain with the nominal ruler of Berar. Changiz Khan granted this request on condition that the merchant should, on his return, enter the service of Murtaza Nizam Shah, adding that he could see he possessed both valour and acumen. The merchant, beguiled by this flattery, readilv accepted the condition, and Changiz Khan caused a large sum of money to be hidden in a bale of merchandise, with which he sent one of his own followers with instructions to do all in his power to corrupt the defenders. The agent laid out his money well and succeeded in leaving the fort at nightfall and rejoining his master. Changiz Khan, having thus established secret communications with Tufal Khan's nobles, succeeded in detaching large number of them from their allegiance, and night after night Berari officers with their followers secretly left the fort and joined Murtaza Nizam Shah's army, until there remained in Narnala no more than twelve men able to work guns. Asad Khan and Rumi Khan, who commanded the artillery of Ahmadnagar, now drew their guns up as close as might be to the walls, and soon made a practicable breach in one of the bastions and its curtain. The defenders of the fort were now so few that the result of an attempt on the breach was a foregone conclusion. The attack was made by night, and Changiz Khan's trumpeter went in advance of the attacking party and sounded his trumpet in the fort. Tufal Khan, aroused from sleep, fled through the northern gate into the hills of the Melghat, but was pursued by Sayyad Hasan Astrabadi, who captured him on the third day after the fall of Narnala. Murtaza Nizam Shah found Burhan Imad Shah in the fort and made him his prisoner, and also took possession of a large quantity of treasture. Shamshir-ul-Mulk surrendered Gavilgad on hearing of the capture of Narnala. Burhan Imad Shah, Tufal Khan and Shamshir-ul-Mulk, with their families and followers, numbering about forty souls, were sent to a fortress in the Ahrnadnagar kingdom, where, after a short time, they perished, probably by suffocation. The Imad Shahi dynasty was thus utterly extinguished in 1572, and Berar was annexed to Ahrnadnagar, Khudavand Khan and Khurshid Khan being appointed to govern it.

Akola district with the rest of Berar thus became a province of the Nizam Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar.

Murtaza apportioned the districts of Berar among his nobles and now wished to return to Ahmadnagar and enjoy the fruits of victory, but Changiz Khan incited him to further exertions. Ali Adil Shah, he said, was occupied with the siege of Bankapur, and the opportunity of gaining possession of Bidar, to which as well as to Berar, his treaty with Bijapur entitled him, was too good to be lost. Murtaza was thus persuaded to march against Bidar, and while he was thus employed affairs in Berar took a new turn. Miran Muhammad II of Khandesh seized the opportunity of harassing an inconveniently powerful neighbour, and, as soon as Murtaza Nizam Shall was engaged with Bidar, set up the son of Burhan Imad Shah's foster mother as king of Berar alleging that he was a son of Darya Imad Shah and sent the pretender to the frontier of Berar with 6,000 horse. [Briggs, III, p. 256. ] Many adherents of the extinct family either believed the fable or were willing io adopt any pretext for maintaining the independence of Berar, and rose in rebellion, driving the officers of Murtaza Nizam Shah from their military posts. A revolt in which the governor recently appointed by Murtaza lost his life, encouraged Muhammad to intervene, and he sent an army under the command of his minister Zain-ud-din into Berar to support the cause of the pretender. [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 172. ] The rebels numbered eight or nine thousand, and their activity was a serious menace to the stability of the newly established authority. Khudavand Khan and Khurshid Khan, the two officers who had been appointed to administer Berar, sent a message to Murtaza Nizam Shah imploring him to return. The king recalled Changiz Khan, who had preceded him to Bidar, despatched Sayyad Murtaza Sabzavari with 8,000 horse to Berar and followed him with the main body of the army. [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 174. ] Changiz Khan returned from Bidar by forced marches and begged the king to make a short halt in order that the troops might rest. Murtaza Nizam Shall refused to listen to the proposal and pressed on. Miran Muhammad Shah, who was hovering on the border of Berar, ready to make a descent as soon as Murtaza Nizam Shah should be safely out of the way, was much disconcerted by his adversary's activity and fled in haste to his fortress capital of Ashirgad. Sayyad Murtaza, who preceded Murtaza Nizam Shah, having come up with the Berar Pretender, at the head of eight thousand horse, obliged him to flee, and his adherents to disperse. The army of Ahtnadnagar advanced by forced marches and invaded and laid waste Khandesh and Ashirgad was on the point of falling into their hands when Miran Muhammad Shah bought off Murtaza Nizam Shah with a large sum of money. [Haig, p. 455. ] Murtaza Nizam Shah now returned to Berar where, in the course of a complicated intrigue connected with the invasion of Bidar, he poisoned Changiz Khan in 1574. He then returned io Ahmadnagar and in 1575 appointed Sayyad Murtaza Sabzavari governor of Berar. [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 181. ] The new governor was assisted in his administration of the nrovince by a large number of amirs, the chief of whom were Khudavand Khan, the Muvallad, Jamshid Khan, Kijalbash Rustam Khan, the Deccani, Chaghtai Khan, the Turkman, Tir Andaz Khan Astrabadi, Shir Khan Tarsizi, Husain Khan Turn, Chanda Khan, the Deccani, and Dastur, the Eunuch.

Another pretender, styling himself 'Firuz' Imad Shah, arose in Berar, but was captured and put to death by Sayyad Murtaza. In 1576 it was reported that Akbar was preparing to invade the Deccan. [Haig, p. 456. ] Murtaza Nizam Shah, now sunk in sloth and debauchery, made a feeble and confused effort to take the field. He move to the north, with a few troops, but in a covered litter, to observe the movements of the Moghal army, and to be in readiness to defend his dominions, [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, p. 183. ] and would have marched to attack the Emperor, had he not been prevented by the entreaties of his nobility. Berar was placed in a state of defence. Fortunately, these precautions were unnecessary, for Akbar's journey was no more than a trip from Agra to Ajmer and Ahmadnagar and Berar were left for a time in peace. The rumour of danger from the north had, however, galvanized the wretched Murtaza Nizam Shah into something like activity, and early in 1578 Sayyad Murtaza Sabzavari was summoned to Ahmadnagar in order that he might parade the army of Berar before the king. This effort to secure military efficiency in the frontier province had most unfortunate results. Murtaza Nizam Shah's unworthy favourite Sahib Khan, a Deccani, grossly insulted one of the foreign officers of the army of Berar, with the result that the old quarrel between the foreigners on one side and the Deccanis and the Africans on the other was renewed. [Briggs, 111, p. 262.] A fight followed in which the king identified himself with the Deccanis, whereupon most of the foreign officers left his service and entered that of Golconda and Bijapur. In the confusion which followed, Salabat Khan grasped the reins of government and Murtaza Nizam Shah was left powerless. He attempted to recover possession of Sahib Khan and bespoke the good offices of Sayyad Murtaza Sabzavari to this end, but Sayyad was unable, and probably unwilling to save the wretch and Sahib Khan was ultimately slain by Khudavand Khan, one of the amirs of Berar. [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, pp. 197-98. ] Salabat Khan was now regent of Ahmadnagar and Sayyad Murtaza Sabzavari retained the governorship of Berar.

In 1584 Salabat Khan sent an order to Jamshid Khan Shirazi who has been already mentioned as one of Sayyad Murtaza's officers, directing him to join an embassy which was about to leave Ahmadnagar for Bijapur. As the order had not been countersigned by Murtaza Nizam Shah, Jamshid Khan replied that he could not obey it without the sanction of his superior officer, Sayyad Murtaza. The latter was much annoyed by Saiabat Khan's assumption of the right to communicate an order to Jamshid direct, and refused to permit Jamshid to leave his post in Berar. The quarrel reached such a point that Sayyad Murtaza Sabzavari assembled the army of Berar, marched towards Ahmadnagar with the intention of overthrowing Saiabat Khan, but the amirs at the capital intervened and brought about a temporary peace, and Sayyad Murtaza returned to Berar.

Towards the end of the same year the quarrel was renewed and Sayyad Murtaza of Berar again marched on Ahmadnagar. Salabat Khan advanced to meet him and defeated him near the capital. Unable to withstand his powerful enemy Sayyad Murtaza and his lieutenant fled by way of Burhanpur to the court of Akbar. [The battle was fought at Jeurghat, a distance of a few miles from Ahmadnagar. For further details see Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, pp. 232 35. ] Meanwhile Shahzada Burhan, a brother of Murtaza Nizam Shah, had been persuaded by a party in Ahmadnagar to make an attempt to dethrone Murtaza and seize the throne. The plot was frustrated by Saiabat Khan and Burhan was forced to flee in the guise of a darvesh to the Konkan whence he reached Gujarat and joined Akbar's court.

Akbar now resolved to attempt the conquest of the Deccan and ordered his foster-brother, Mirza Aziz Kuka entitled Khan-i-Azam, who was then governor of Malva to assemble the army of Malva and marched against Ahmadnagar taking Burhan with him. Saiabat Khan replied by sending 20,000 horse to Burhanpur. Mirza Muhammad Taki, who commanded this force, succeeded in attaching Raja Ali Khan of Khandesh to the cause of Ahmadnagar despite an attempt by the Khan-i-Azam to secure his adherence to the imperial cause. The Khan-i-Azam's expedition was delayed by a quarrel between him and Sahib-ud-din Ahmad Khan, the governor of Ujjain, and Mirza Muhammad Taki and Raja Ali Khan carried the war into the enemy's country and encamped over against the Khan-i-Azam at Handia. The Khan-i-Azam was unwilling to risk a battle, but by a rapid night march eluded the Deccanis, invaded Berar from the north, plundered Ellichpur and then moved to Akola district where they plundered Balapur then second only to Ellichpur in importance and before the Deccanis, who had turned back from Handia to meet them, could come up with them, retreated by way of Nandurbar into Malva. [Ahmadnagachi Nizamshahi, pp. 236-37. ] Raja Ali Khan then returned to Burhanpur and Mirza Muhammad Taki to Ahmadnagar. Akbar did not at onse pursue his project of adding the Deccan to his empire and the district with the rest of Berar was not seriously disturbed and remained at peace until the Moghals undertook the conquest of Deccan in earnest.

In June, 1588, Murtaza Nizam Shah, who had attempted to destroy his son Miran Husain by setting fire to his bedding, was, in return, suffocated in his bath by the prince, who succeeded him as Husain. Nizam Shah II. Husain II was put to death after a reign of less than ten months on April 1, 1589 and the amirs of Ahmadnagar raised to the throne Ismail, the son of the fugitive Burhan. [Briggs, III. pp. 271-73, ] Jamai Khan, who had been one of Sayyad Murtaza's lieutenants in Berar, was now regent in Ahmadnagar. He belonged to the heretical sect of the Mahadvis and in the name of Ismail Nizam Shah, who was too young to understand theological disputes, established their religion in Ahmadnagar with the result that the kingdom became a refuge for most of the Mahadvis throughout India. The amirs of Berar were much annoyed by the spread of the heresy and in 1589 released Salabat Khan, [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, pp. 266-67.] who had been imprisoned by Murtaza Nizam Shah in Kherla. and induced him to lead them against Ahmadnagar, while Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur invaded the Kingdom from the south. Jamal Khan defeated the amirs of Berar at Paithan on the Godavari, then the southern boundary of the province, and the Bijapuris at Ashti. Salabat Khan made his peace with Jamal Khan and returned to his jahagir to die.

In 1590 the time was ripe for the invasion of Berar and the Deccan by Akbar. The amirs of Berar were disaffected and disgusted with the heterodox doctrines now fashionable at the court of Ahmadnagar and the elevation to the throne of the young Ismail, the son of the emperor's protege Burhan, furnished Akbar with a pretext for aggression. He offered Burhan as many troops as he should consider necessary for the purpose of gaining the throne of his ancestors, now unjustly held by his son. but Burhan had no desire to reign at Ahmadnagar as Akbar's puppet and declined the proffered aid. Akbar then bestowed upon him the paragana of Handia in jahagir and gave him letters to Raja Ali Khan of Khandesh who was ordered to render him all the assistance in his power. Burhan took up his quarters at Handia and issued letters to the principal officers and landholders of Berar and the rest of the Ahmadnagar Kingdom reminding them that he was their lawful king and exhorting them to be faithful to him. These letters Were well received and Burhan got many assurances of loyalty and offers of assistance, including one from Jahangir Khan, the African, warden of the northern marches of Berar. Burhan now entered Berar, with a small force of horse and foot which he had collected, by way of the Melghat, but Jahangir Khan had repented of his promise, and attacked and defeated the small army, forcing Burhan to retire to Handia in great disorder. From Handia he went to Burhanpur where he sought assistance from Raja Ali Khan who received him kindly and not only promised him aid but invoked the aid of Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur who. smarting under the recent defeat of his forces by Jamal Khan, readily sent an army northwards.

Jamal Khan again defeated the Bijapuris [Ahmadnagarchi Nizamshahi, pp. 272-74. ] but had not recovered from the fatigue of the fight when he heard that the nobles of Berar had declared for Burhan, who was on the point of entering Berar. He, therefore, hastened northward to confront this new danger, but the army of Bijapur was not so broken as to be incapable of pursuit, and the Maratha horse hung upon the flanks and rear of his army and cut off his supplies. But in the battle fought below the Rohankhed ghat Jamal Khan was defeated by the combined forces of Burhan Nizam Shah and Raja Ali Khan, Jamal Khan was laid low by a musket shot in the forehead and the other Mahadvi leaders, the chief of whom were Yakub Khan, Khudawand Khan, 'and Suhail Khan, the eunuch, were not disposed to continue the fight, and fled from the field, taking with them the young Ismail Nizam Shah. The fugitives were closely pursued by Burhan's offcers, and were overtaken. Yakub Khan and Khudavand Khan were slain and Suhail Khan the eunuch, effected his escape, leaving Ismail in his father's hands. Burhan now ascended the throne of Ahmadnagar as Burhan Nizam Shah II. He appointed Nurkhan, Governor of Berar.

Burhan died on April 28, 1595, after a troublesome reign of rather more than four years, and was succeeded by his elder son Ibrahim Nizam Shah, who had been previously passed over in favour of his younger brother Ismail on the score that his mother was a negress and his personal appearance unkingly. The affairs of the State were now in the utmost confusion. The rival factions contended at the court while Ibrahim Adil Shah on the south and Akbar on the north prepared to invade the kingdom. Ibrahim Nizam Shah after a reign of less than four months was slain in battle with the Bijapuris, and a faction attempted to raise to the throne on August 16, 1595. Ahmad. son of Shah Tahir, who had pretended to be the son of Sultan Muhammad Khudabanda, [Ibid, p. 282 f. n.] one of the sons of Burhan Nizam Shah I. But the circumstances of Shah Tahir's birth had already been secretly investigated, and there were those at the capital who knew the details of the inquiry and published them. Nevertheless the impostor's faction held the field for a time, and when they were hard pressed in Ahmadnagar they sent a message to Sultan Murad, Akbar's fourth son, and implored him to come from Gujarat to their aid. Murad had a general commission from his father to attempt the conquest of Berar and Ahniadnagar whenever the time should seem propitious and at once made preparations to invade the Deccan. Meanwhile, however, an unexpected quarrel in the camp of those who opposed the impostor's claims enabled Miyan Manju, his chief supporter, to emerge from Ahniadnagar and attack them. He defeated them on October 1, 1595 and, deeming himself now strong enough to dispense with foreign aid, began to regret his invitation to Murad. Murad, however, was already on his way and when he reached the borders of the Ahmadnagar kingdom with the Khan-i-Khanan, Abdur Rahim and Raja Ali Khan of Khaudesh, Miyan Manju leaving Ansar Khan, in whose charge was Chand Bibi, in command of Ahmadnagar, fled with his protege Ahmad to Ausa, where he attempted to raise an army and to enlist the aid of Ibrahim Adil Shah II and Muhammad Kuli Kutub Shah of Golconda.

Chand Bibi soon asserted her supremacy in Ahmadnagar and had Bahadur, the infant son of Ibrahim Nizam Shah, proclaimed king in place of the impostor set up by Miyan Manju. The imperial army meanwhile closely besieged Ahmadnagar, and though Sultan Murad did not succeed in capturing the city he was only bought off by a treaty of peace concluded in April, 1596, one of the conditions of which was the cession of Berar to the empire. On the conclusion of peace Murad occupied Berar which thus became once more, after the lapse of two centuries and a half, an appanage of the crown of Delhi. Hence forward Berar was a province of Delhi, and the Moghals, who ever kept in view the prospect of a general advance on the Deccan, made Balapur, which lay near the road between Burhanpur and the Rohankhed ghat, then regarded as the highway between Hindustan and the Deccan, their head quarters, and maintained an advanced post at Jalna. For some time after this, Balapur was in fact, though not in name, the capital of Berar and the residence of its governor. Here the Moghals maintained their largest garrison, and here, even when the greater part of the province was overrun by the Deccanis, as often happened, they contrived to maintain a military post. From Ahmadnagar Murad retired to Balapur and at a distance of some twelve miles from the town he built himself a palace at a village which he re-named Shahpur, where the ruins of his residence may still be seen. After the withdrawal of the imperial army Bahadur Nizam Shah was seated on the throne of Ahmadnagar while the pretender Ahmad was provided for by the Sultan of Bijapur.

Although Berar had been formally ceded to Akbar, its principal fortresses had not been surrendered, and Gawilgad and Narnala were still held by officers of the king of Ahmadnagar. Meanwhile the Khan-i-Khanan, who was the real commander-in-chief of the Mughal forces in the Deccan, had established himself at Jalna and was engaged on the banks of the Godavari in a campaign which is not immediately connected with the history of the district, while Murad spent his time in debauchery and excessive drinking in Shahpur. In 1598 a quarrel occurred between the prince and the general. Murad proposed to complete the conquest of the Ahmadnagar kingdom by capturing its capital and taking possession of its other provinces, but the Khan-i-Khanan insisted that the first thing to be done was to render Berar secure by capturing Gawilgad and Narnala. The result of the quarrel was that the Khan-i-Khanan was recalled and Abul Fazl was sent to the Deccan. He captured the two great fortresses of Berar, but complaints that he had failed to support the Moghal governor of Bid when he was hard pressed reached the ears of Akbar, and Abul Fazl was recalled. It was now recognized that the Khan-i-Khanan was the only one of Akbar's officers who was fit to have charge of affairs in the Deccan, and his only disqualification was his intolerance of the drunken and slothful Murad. Murad solved the difficulty by dying in Shahpur in 1599 from drink and the effects of incontinence, and Sultan Daniyal, Akbar's youngest son, was appointed nominal governor of the Deccan under the tutelage of the Khan-i-Khanan. He had not reached Berar when Akbar, in consequence of a report received from Abul Fazl, set out from Agra for the Deccan, but discovered as he advanced that his presence would not be required in Ahmadnagar. He, therefore, laid siege to and captured Ashirgad, the. principal fortress of Khandesh, sending Daniyal and the Khan-i-Khanan on to Ahmadnagar, which place fell into their hands later in the same year (1599), when Bahadur Nizam Shah was captured and sent to Akbar at Burhanpur, Akbar then returned to Agra, leaving Daniyal as governor of the three provinces of Berar, Khandesh, now re-named Dandesh, and Ahmadnagar. It may be noted that the theatre of war during these conflicts lay to the south and beyond the Akola district, but it is probable that the district was much disturbed especially in its south western corner.

The account of Berar in the Ain-i-Akbari was added to that work in 1596 97. The greater part of the Akola district was included in Akbar's sorkar or revenue district of Narnala, but some of the parganas of this sarkar are now included in Buldhana, while Akola, on the other hand, includes three parganas of Akbar's revenue district of Bashim. The whole revenue demand for the area now included in the Akola district seems to have been nearly twenty-four lakhs of rupees. The only special notice of any places in the District has reference to Balapur, Shahpur, and Bashim. Near Balapur, says Abdul Fazl, 'are two streams, about the borders of which are found various kinds of pretty stones, which are cut and kept as curiosities. Six kos distant were the headquarters of Sultan Murad, which grew into a fine city under the name of Shahpur'. Of Bashim he writes, 'About Bashim is an Indigenous race, for the most part proud and refractory, called Hatgars their forces consist of 1000 cavalry and 5000 infantry.' He adds that the Hatgars are Rajputs, which is a mistake, for they are a branch of the Dhangar caste. It is strange that according to the figures of the census of 1901 Hat-gars were exceptionally weak in numbers in the late Bashim District.

After the imprisonment of Bahadur Nizam Shah in Gwalior in 1599, Malik Ambar, the African, the most powerful remaining adherent of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, raised to the throne Murtaza Nizam Shall, the son of Shah Ali, one of the sons of Burhan I, and established him in the fortress of Ausa. It may he noted that after the fall of Ahrnadnagar Balapur was still the principal garrison town of Berar, but Daniyal preferred Burhanpur, where he died of drink in 1605, as his viceregal capital. The death of his favourite son was a severe shock to Akbar, who survived Daniyal only for a few months, and died in October 1605, when he was succeeded by his eldest son Salim, who took the title of Jahangir.

It is unnecessary to follow in detail the tedious progress of the warfare between his generals and Malik Ambar. Throughout his reign the Moghal tenure of Berar was very uncertain. At times Malik Ambar occupied the whole province, and even introduced his own land settlement. At other times his officers were driven back to the neighbourhood of Khirki, but it was seldom that his hand was not felt in Berar It will be sufficient to notice hostilities between the Deccanis and the imperialists so far as they immediately affected the Akola district. In 1609 Jahangir appointed his second son Parvez to the governorship of the Moghal provinces of the Deccan, and the prince chose Burhanpur as his headquarters. Owing partly to his lack of enterprise and partly to dissension between his officers, over whom he had little real control, the administration of Parvez was a dismal failure. In 1610 Malik Ambar, the African who still supported a representative of the Nizam Shahi dynasty in Ausa, attacked Ahmad-nagar, repulsed Parvez when he advanced to its relief, and overran the greater part of Berar. A Moghal garrison was still maintained in Balapur, but for some time its principal occupation was to look to its own safety, and its sphere of influence did not extend far beyond the walls of the town. So small a part had the Moghals in the administration of Berar that Malik Ambar introduced a settlement of the land, and, though the imperial officers probably succeeded in collecting some revenue from the northern paraganas of the province, the garrison at Balapur was the only evidence of the emperor's nominal sovereignty. This state of affairs lasted until the beginning of 1616, when the prestige of the Moghal arms was somewhat restored. Dissensions in Malik Ambar's camp drove some of his officers to offer their services to Shahnavaz Khan, a gallant officer who at this time commanded at Balapur. Shahnavaz Khan, taking advantage of Malik Ambar's difficulties, marched from Balapur with such troops as he could collect and, after defeating the Deccanis in the field, laid waste Ambar's capital, Khirki, afterwards known as Aurangabad, but was not strong enough to maintain a permanent hold on any of Ambar's dominions beyond Berar, and fell back again to Balapur. This raid however," restored for a time the authority of the Moghals in Berar, and the Akola district was now in fact, as well as in name, in the hands of Shahnavaz Khan. [For details see Elliot Vol. VI, pp. '343-44.]

The climate of Balapur had an unfortunate effect on the Moghal officers. Akbar's son Murad had already died there from the effects of drink, and in 1617 Raja Mahan Singh, a distinguished and valued officer of Jahangir's, died there from the same cause Shahnavaz Khan succumbed to the same fate a few years late,

Early in 1617 the prospects of the imperial army were improved by the removal of the indolent Parvez and the appointment of the enterprising Khurram, Jahangir's third son, to the command in the Deccan. This appointment produced an immediate effect on the Deccanis, who surrendered to the imperial officers many of their recent conquest and ceased to molest Berar. Later in the year Khurram was recalled to Mandu, where the emperor was then in camp, and was honoured with the title of Shahjahan, under which he afterwards ascended the throne. At the same time the Khan-i-Khanan, the father of Shahnavaz Khan, who now held the position of governor of Berar and Ahmadnagar, was appointed viceroy of the Deccan. Two years later Shahnavaz Khan, to the emperor's great grief, died of drink in Burhanpur. His younger brother, Darab Khan, succeeded him as governor of Berar and Ahmadnagar, and took up his residence in Balapur.

In 1620 Malik Ambar took advantage of Jahangir's absence in Kashmir to besiege Khanjar Khan, the Moghal commandant of Ahmadnagar, while he also drove in the commanders of military posts in the Balaghat of Akola and Buldhana and forced them to take refuge with Darab Khan in Balapur. Darab Khan collected his forces, advanced into the Balaghat, and thence to Ahmadnagar, where he fell upon and dispersed the besiegers. But supplies were scarce and dear, and the Moghal army could not maintain itself in the Ahmadnagar country. Darab therefore retired on Balapur, where he encamped until supplies should be collected. A force of the Deccanis hung on the rear of the retreating army and followed it as far as Balapur, where the intruders were defeated by Raja Narsingh Dev, who captured and beheaded Mansur, one of Ambar's African officers. This trifling success did not suffice to stay the progress of the Deccanis. The siege of Ahmadnagar was vigorously pressed forward, and most of the fortified posts in the Ahmadnagar country and Berar were captured from the imperialists, while the enemy ravaged nearly the whole province of Berar and burnt the standing crops. Malik Ambar's strength increased with his prestige, and he was now able to put into the field 60,000 horse, including the contingents furnished by the kings of Bijapur and Golconda. Darab Khan made an effort to check Ambar's further advance by moving from Balapur to Mehkar, where he remained for three months, but in spite of his successes against the Deccanis in the field their Maratha horse succeeded in cutting off his supplies until he was compelled to fall back once more on Balapur. The enemy followed him and repeated at Balapur the tactics which had compelled him to leave Mehkar. The activity and mobility of the Marathas enabled them to destroy the crops and to intercept all supplies until the imperial troops were reduced to such straits that numbers of them deserted daily to the enemy. Darab Khan had now no choice but to retreat to Burhanpur, and the fortunes of the Moghals were at a lower ebb than at any time since their first interference in the affairs of the Decean. Malik Ambar even ventured to besiege the imperial troops in Burhanpur and to cross the Narmada and ravage the southern districts of Malva, but early in 1621 Shahjahan was again sent to the Deccan He drove the Deccanis from the neighbourhood of Burhanpur, and pressed on through Berar to Khirki, which he demolished. Malik Ambar, now in dire straits, agreed to a humiliating treaty of peace, one of the articles of which was to the effect that the southern frontier of the empire should be advanced thirty miles to the south. This provision secured Berar for the emperor, the southern tracts of the Akola district were again brought under the managment of Moghal officers, and Balapur was again garrisoned. [For details see Elliot Vol. VI, pp. 376-78 and 379-80.]

In 1622 Shahjahan rose against his father and was in rebellion for three years, during which period the imperial cause in the Deccan suffered much though the Moghals never again lost their hold on Balapur and the Akola district. After Shahjahan's submission to his father Pira Lodi, an Afghan who held the high title of Khan-i-Jahan and was one of the principal nobles of the empire, was appointed governor of Berar. The Afghan betrayed his trust with a shamelessness which eclipsed all former dealings of the Moghal officers in Burhanpur with Malik Amber. Their traffic with the enemy had at least been carried on under the cloak of secrecy, and their treason was never unveiled; but the Khan-i-Jahan openly sold the Balaghat of Berar, which comprised the southern parganas of the Akola district, to Murtaza Nizam Shah, the creature of Malik Amber, for twelve lakhs of rupees, and insisted on the fulfilment of his bargain by his subordinates, compelling all commanders of posts in the Balaghat to return to Balapur. This was the situation of affairs in Berar when Shahjahan, early in 1628, ascended the imperial throne in Delhi. The new emperor ignored the nefarious bargain of Pira Lodi and ordered Murtaza Nizam Shah to vacate the military posts in the Balaghat, and the latter did not venture to disobey the command. Pira Lodi was summoned to court and, discovering on his arrival there that his treachery was well-known and was likely to be punished, fled towards the Deccan, where he was harboured by Murtaza Nizam Shah, who refused to surrender him. Shahjahan now prepared for war and advanced to Burhanpur.

Early in 1630 three imperial armies invaded the Balaghat, and Rav Ratan with 10,000 horse was sent to occupy the valley of the Penganga near Bashim, there to await an opportunity of advancing into Telangana. A marauding force of the Deccanis succeeded, however, in evading him and, having entered Berar, committed extensive ravages. Rav Ratan was inclined to turn back and pursue them, but received orders to stand fast in Bashim while Vazir Khan was sent from Burhanpur in pursuit of the invaders and dispersed them. Later in the year Rav Ratan, who was deficient in enterprise, was relieved in Bashim by Nasiri Khan. The war was now carried beyond the confines of the Akola district and calls for no further notice here.

In 1630 the rains failed, and a severe famine which affected the whole of Berar was the result. The province had been for many years the scene of hostilities and neither of the hostile armies was in the habit of respecting the rights of private property, while the invariable tactics of one of them consisted in the destruction of crops with the object of depriving the other of supplies. It is, therefore, not surprising that the famine was more severe than any which has occurred in recent years. The official chronicler of Shahjahan's reign describes it in the following terms:—'Buyers were ready to give a life for a loaf, but selier was there none. The flesh of dogs was sold as that of goats and the bones of the dead were ground down with the flour sold in the market, and the punishment of those who profited by this traffic produced yet more dreadful results. Men devoured one another and came to regard the flesh of their children as sweeter than their love. The inhabitants fled afar to other tracts till the corpses of those who fell by the way checked those who came after, and in the lands of Berar, which had been famous for their fertility and prosperity, no trace of habitation remained.' Some mention is made of measures of relief, but it is very clear that these were utterly inadequate.

This account, taken from the official record of Shahjahan's reign is obviously hyperbolical, but cannot be dismissed as entirely imaginary. Berar had suffered much from protracted hostilities during which it had been the prey of hostile armies which had little respect for the rights of property, and the measures of relief undertaken were utterly inadequate. However nothing particular seems to have been attempted in Akola district which slowly recovered from this calamity.

In 1632 Shahjahan returned to Agra and Mirza Isa Tarkhan was appointed governor of Ellichpur while Yamin-ud-daulah was viceroy of the Deccan. The viceroy directed two campaigns, one in Telangana which ended with the fall of Kandhar, and the other in the Daulatabad country which ended with the fall of Daulataoad in 1633. Bashim was the base of operations in the former campaign and Balapur in the latter.

Towards the end of 1634 Shahjahan issued a farman redistributing his conquests in the Deccan. Hitherto Khandesh, Berar, and the conquests from the Nizam Shahi dominions had formed an unwieldy subha under one subhadar. This arrangement was now changed. Berar, Khandesh and the Ahmadnagar kingdom were divided into two subhas, the Balaghat on the south and the Payanghat on the north. The line of demarcation between the two new subhas was the edge of the plateau of southern Berar, and the Akola district was thus divided between the two, the tahsils of Akola, Akot, Balapur and Murtizapur lying in the Payanghat and those of Bashim and Mangrul in the Balaghat. The new arrangement was not of long duration.

This scheme of reorganization was very soon amended. In 1636 Shahjahan appointed his third son, Aurangzeb, to the viceroyalty of the Deccan, where the possessions of the empire were redistributed into four subhas or divisions. [V. M. Kale, p. 141., Elliot Vol. VII p. 58. ]

(1) Daulatabad and Ahmadnagar, the nominal capital of which was Daulatabad, while Aurangzeb resided at Khirki which he renamed Aurangabad. (2) Telangana which included those tracts of north-western Telangana, which had been annexed to the empire (3) Khandesh, the administrative capital of which was Burhanpur, while its principal military post was Ashirgad, and (4) Berar, the capital of which was Ellichpur. Berar, of which Akola district formed part, now became once more a homogeneous province. Each of these divisions was governed by a subhedar in immediate subordination to Aurangzeb as viceroy, and the Khan-i-Dauran was retained as subhedar of Berar, with Sipahdar Khan as deputy governor in Ellichpur.

In 1637 the Khan-i-Dauran with Sipahdar Khan and the army of Berar undertook an expedition through the northern district of the kingdom of Golconda, where they collected tribute and thence they marched 'through the sarkar of Pavnar to besiege' Nagpur, which was held by Kokiya, the Gond ruler of Chanda and Nagpur was taken. It was probably at this time that the sarkar of Devgad was added to the province of Berar. [Y. M. Kale, p. 28. ]

In 1642 Shah Beg Khan, a commander of 4,000 horse, was appointed subhedar of Berar in place of the Khan-i-Dauran and two years later Allah Vardi Khan was made a commander of 5,000 horse and received Ellichpur in jahagir on the death of Sipahdar Khan.

Early in 1658 Aurangzeb left the Deccan in order to participate in the contest for the imperial throne which ensued on the failure of Shah Jahan's health and having worsted his competitors he gained the prize. He appointed Raja Jai Singh to the viceroyalty of the Deccan and made Irij Khan subhedar of Berar. In 1661, Diler Khan accompained by Irij Khan, the subhedar of Berar and the Faujdar of the province marched through Berar to attack the Gond Raja of Chanda. The Raja submitted and the expedition terminated on the Raja paying to the imperial exchequer a crore of rupees and promising to pay an annual tribute of 2 lakhs and to raze his fortifications. At this time a new power was gaining ascendency in the Deccan, viz., that of the Marathas under the leadership of Shivaji. Inspired by the ideal of carving a separate State, and backed by the zeal of his followers he had made deep incisions in the Adil Shahi kingdom of Bijapur and had carried out daring attacks against the Moghal possessions in the Deccan. Aurangzeb had sensed this danger and had sent his generals, Shayasta Khan, Mirza Raja Jai Singh and Diler Khan to contain Shivaji's activities in 1665. Shivaji realizing the tactical superiority of the Moghals, submitted and entered into an understanding with them under the terms of the treaty of Purandar. But the struggle with the Moghals which had begun was to last till the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. In 1667 Mirza Raja Jai Singh was recalled from the subhedari of the Deccan and Prince Muazzam was appointed in his place. Shivaji, while carrying out preparations for war with the Moghals, adopted a conciliatory tone and came to terms with the new viceroy. Sambhaji was made a Moghal mansabdar and was given a jahagir in Berar comprising the paraganas of Balapur and Avandhe. This was confiscated later towards the recovery of the amount of 1 lakh of rupees sanctioned to Shivaji as expenses when he visited Agra in 1666. Sambhaji visited prince Muazzam at Aurangabad on 4th November 1667 and after a short stay returned to Rajgad while Maratha officers continued to stay in Aurangabad. Within two years Shivaji had made thorough preparations for war with the Moghals. In 1670 he attacked and drove away the Moghals from the Svarajya territory. He also invaded the imperial Moghal territory in all directions and carried daring raids into Khandesh and Berar. In December 1670, he attacked, when least expected, the rich city of Karanja in Berar and looted it completely. [ Sarkar, Shivaji, p. 178,] Shivaji died in 1680. His son Sambhaji succeeded him. Soon after his accession, early in 1681 Sambhaji's generals invaded Berar. They then moved with 20,000 troops towards Burhanpur, attacked and sacked it. The Marathas kept up a continuous pressure on Khandesh and Berar. In 1684 they attaeked Dharangaon in Khandesh. Sambhaji was captured and executed in 1689 by Aurangzeb. His son Shahu was made a prisoner.. Sambhaji's brother, Rajaram and his able commandants Santaji, Dhanaji, Parasoji and Nemaji made relentless attacks against the Moghals. Aurangzeb was forced to deploy his best officers as subhedars in the provinces of Khandesh and Berar, [The following Moghal officers administered Berar as subhedars from 1675 till the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. Khan Zaman was appointed subhedar In December 1675. He was succeeded by Irij Khan who died, on 13th August 1685. In August 1686 Hasan Khan was appointed subhedar. He was succeeded by Mahabat Khan (appointed in September 1686) and prince Kam Baksh (appointed on 26th September 1686 and again on 24th December 1697). In 1698 Askar Ali Khan was appointed subhedar. He was succeeded by the leading Moghal general Firoz Jang.] and renowned Moghal generals like Zulfikar Khan and Gazi-ud-din Firoz Jang were continuously striving to contain the Maratha activities in the Deccan. After the fall of Jinji in the South in 1698, Rajaram returned to the Svarajya territory and reached Vishalgad in February 1698. Meanwhile Bakht Buland, the Gond Raja of Devgad was carrying on struggle against the Moghals. Rajaram's generals, Nemaji Shinde and Parasoji Bhosle, were successfully ravaging Khandesh and Berar exacting chauth from the Imperial territory. In 1699 Rajaram himself planned an invasion of Berar. This was checked by the Moghals under prince Bedarbakht and Zulfikar Khan, Rajaram returned to Sinhgad where he died on 2nd March 1700. The death of Rajaram brought about no lull in the fighting between the Marathas and the Moghals. The Marathas, under the able leadership of Tarabai (widow of Rajaram), Ramchandrapant Amatya, Shankaraji Narayan, Dhanaji Jadhav and others, continued the struggle vigorously. They ravaged Moghal territory in Malva and Gujarat In 1703 Berar was again raided when Sharza Khan, the Deputy Governor of Berar was captured by Ncmaji Shinde. The struggle continued till the death of Auiangzeb on February 20, 1707.

At the time of Aurangzeb's death Gazi-ud-din Firoz Jang was the governor of Berar. The district of Akola was held in jagir by Asad Khan, the prime minister of Aurangzeb whose local agent was Khaja Abdul Latif. This officer built the walls of Akola which he named Asadgadh in compliment to his master and the idgah to the north of the town.

On 20th February 1707 Aurangzeb died at Ahmadnagar and was shortly afterwards buried at Rauza afterwards called Khuidabad, near the caves of Ellora and about seven miles from Daulatabad. The usual conflict for the throne followed the death of the emperor and victory finally declared for Shah Alam, the eldest surviving son, who ascended the throne under the title of Bahadur Shah. Firoz Jang at first held Berar for prince Muhammad Azam by whom he was transferred, as subhedar, to the province of Gujarat, but the cautious amir was a lukewarm partisan and readily made his peace with Bahadur Shah who confirmed him in his appointment in Gujarat.

Towards the end of 1707 Zulfikar Khan Nusrat Jang was viceroy of the whole of the Deccan, and it was now that the officers of the imperial army first began to enter into regular agreements with the Marathas for the payment of chauth and sardeshmukhi. It may here be mentioned that after the capture of Sambhaji in 1689, Rayagad fort, the capital of the Marathas, fell to the Moghals and Shahu, the son of Sambhaji along with his mother Yesubai, was made a prisoner. He remained with Aurangzeb till the latter's death in 1707.

Shahu was allowed to go back to the Deccan from the imperial camp [From the river Narmada.] in 1707. At the time of release of Shahu by Azam Shah, the terms of the release were (1) that he was to rule the small svarajya of his grandfather as a vassal of the Moghal empire (2) that he was to serve his liege lord whenever called upon to do so with his contingent of troops and (3) that he was also permitted to collect chauth and sardeshmukhi from the six Moghal provinces of the south which included Berar of which Akola district formed a part. Parasoji Bhosle the ancestor of the later Bhosle rulers of Nagpur was then in possession of Berar and Gondvana.[Parasoji's uncles were in the service of the Nizamshahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar and were contemporaries of Shahaji, the father of Chhatrapati Shivaji. They were granted Amravati and Bham in Jahagir for the services rendered by them. Parasoji made Bham in Yeotmal distnd his headquarters.] He hastened to West Khandesh with his army to join Shahu, whereupon Shahu, along with other prominent Maratha chiefs crossed the Godavari and reached Satara. Tarabai, widow of Rajaram however not desiring to acclaim Shahu, had won over Parashuram Pratinidhi and Bapuji, elder brother of Parasoji, to her side. Tarabai. under the pretence of ascertaining whether Shahu was real, sent Bapuji who was the eldest person known in the Bhosle House, to Shahu's camp. But Bapuji not only joined Shahu's forces but partook food in the same dish with Shahu and convinced all other Maratha chiefs of his blood royal, who now readily joined his standard. Shahu in appreciation of Parasoji's services to his cause, granted him Sanad for Gavil, Narnala Mahur, Khedale, Pavnar and Kalamb, and declared him "Sena saheb subha" in 1707. [The details of the sanad granted by Shahu at that time were as under: Prant Ritapur and Sarkar Gavel, Prant Varhad, Prant Devgad, The details of the Anagondi, etc., Mahals of Varhad prant

Thus making a total of six Sarkars with a charge of rupees nine annas eleven in every Hundred.]

Parasoji collected tributes from Berar but in 1709, on his return from Satara, died at Khed near Wai.

Bahadur Shah died in 1712 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Muizuddin who took the title of Jahandar Shah. On his death the two Sayyad brothers of Barha, who were now all powerful at Delhi, raised to the throne Farrukhsiyar. It was in his reign, in 1719, that the imperial court formally acknowledged [Y. M. Kale,Nagpur Prantacha Itihas.] the claim of the Marathas to chauth and sardeshmukhi. In consideration for refraining from ravaging Berar and the other five subhas of the Deccan they were allowed to collect one-quarter of the revenue under the name of chauth and in addition to this a further portion of one-tenth under the name of sardeshmukhi, which was regarded as a recompense for the trouble and expense of collecting the chauth. It was the imperial recognition of these claims which laid the foundation of that system of government known as do-amli.

These terms pertaining to svarajya, chauthai and sardeshmukhi stated (1) that all territories known as Shivaji's svarajya together with the forts therein should be delivered to Shahu (2) that such territories as had been recently conquered by the Marathas in Khandesh, Berar, Gondvana, Hyderabad and Karnatak should also be ceded to them as part of Maratha kingdom and (3) that the Marathas should be allowed to collect chauthai and sardeshmukhi from all the six subhas of the south. This sanad thus unequivocally upheld the dejure sovereignty of the Marathas over the territories conquered by them in the Deccan including the subha of Berar and by giving them the right to collect chauth and sardeshmukhi in the six subhas of the Deccan including Berar. The sanad legalised their right of doing so. Shahu accordingly issued orders to his local officials in the six subhas of the Deccan to enforce the terms of the above agreement and make collections of chauthai and sardeshmukhi. The imperial confirmation of these terms in the form of sanads of svarajya, chauthai and sardeshmukhi was obtained in 1719 when Balaji Vishvanath paid a personal visit to Delhi alongwith a strong contingent of Maratha troops including Khanderav Dabhade, Udaji, Keshoji and Tukoji Pavar, Ranoji and Santaji Bhosle. While the Peshva was in Delhi a clash of arms ensued between the Marathas and imperial troops and about 1500 to 2000 Maratha horse-men were killed. Among those killed was Santaji Bhosle, the son of Shahu's benefactor, Parasoji Bhosle. Shahu at the time of the grand darbar held in Satara on the return of Balaji Vishvanath, amply rewarded Ranoji, the brother of Santaji with fresh Inams and gave him the title of Savai Santaji.

It may here be pointed out that Nizam-ul-mulk the founder of the state of Hyderabad, during his brief viceroyalty of the Deccan from 1713, never accepted the Maratha right of collecting chauth and sardeshmukhi in the six subhas of the Deccan.

It is not necessary here to follow in detail the course of the-intrigues of the Sayyad brothers at Delhi. After deposing Farrukhsiyar and setting up two nonentities to succeed him, they raised to the throne in 1719 Raushan Akhtar, who took the title of Muhammad Shah.

In 1720 the two Sayyad brothers of Barha, Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan, who had long held all real power at Delhi, began to conspire against their most dangerous rival, the brave and astute Chin Kilich Khan, better known by his titles of Nizam-ul-mulk and Asaf Jah. Asaf Jah was appointed subhedar of Malva in the hope that he would be defeated and perhaps lose his life in attempting to quell disturbances sedulously fostered from Delhi, or that he would be entrapped into some overt act of rebellion which would expose him to attack by imperial army from Delhi under the command of the Sayyad brothers and by the army of the Deccan under the command of their nephew, Alam Ali Khan. Asaf Jah, however, held his own at Burhanpur where he was joined by his uncle Iwaz Khan, the subhedar of Berar, and by most of the principal officers in Malva. The Sayyads now repented of having allowed him to strengthen himself in Malva, and Husain Ali Khan prepared to oust him from his appointment and to assume it for himself. Alam Ali Khan was ordered to attack him from the south, while Sayyad Ali Khan, another member of the family, was sent from Delhi with instructions to attack him from the north, should success appear probable, or to avoid him and join Alam Ali Khan without risking an action. Meanwhile Asaf Jah had been attacked by and had defeated and slain at Ratanpur, within forty miles of Burhanpur, Dilavar Ali Khan, another relative of the Sayyad brothers. On 19th June 1720 Husain Ali Khan, who had intended to march in person against Asaf Jah, was detained at Delhi, but Alam Ali Khan marched from Aurangabad into Berar. Asaf Jah sent the corpse of Dilavar Ali to Alam Ali for burial, informing him at the same time that he might retire with his family to Hindustan without molestation. Alam Ali Khan, however, was not disposed to give up the Deccan without a struggle, and Asaf Jah marched towards the Purna river, the south bank of which was now held by Alam Ali Khan. The rains were heavy, the river was in flood, there were no boats, and the country was well nigh impassable owing to the deep mire. Asaf Jah accordingly moved eastwards along the bank of the river until he heard of a ford in the direction of Balapur. With the assistance of Ivaz Khan and the local zamindars he crossed the river and awaited the arrival of Alam Ali Khan at Shegaon. Here his army suffered great discomfort. Rain tell incessantly, supplies could not be obtained and the Marathas hung around the camps so that the baggage animals could not be sent out for grass. Many of the rank and file deserted and fled to their homes and many of the horses and baggage animals, standing up to their girths in mud, died of exhaustion and disease. As soon as the rain ceased Asaf Jah inarched from Shegaon towards Balapur. The Marathas molested his army on its march, but were attacked and defeated. The army then halted at a deserted village six miles from Balapur and some supplies were collected, but Asaf Jah was compelled to bury some of his heavy guns at this place as the debilitated bullocks could not drag them through the mud. The army then pressed on to Balapur. where supplies were plentiful. Here they encamped, and Asaf Jah selected a defensive position within six miles of the town. Alam Ali Khan had been following him as rapidly as the state of the country permitted, and Asaf Jah had no more time at his disposal than was necessary for the selection of his position and the preparation of his troops for battle.

The armies met on August 10th, 1720. In the artillery combat which preceded the actual conflict Asaf Jah had the advantage, but this advantage was nullified by the vigour with which Alam Ali's men delivered their attack, Asaf Jah's first line was broken, but Alam Ali, in pursuing his advantage pressed on at such a pace that his companions could not keep up with him. He fought valiantly and was once repulsed, but returned to the attack, while the defence was weakened by the necessity for detaching a force to deal with the Marathas, who had already plundered some of Asaf Jah's treasure. Alam Ali at length fell, covered with wounds, and his army was defeated and dispersed with comparatively small loss to Asaf Jah, who now became supreme in the Deccan. The families of Dilavar Ali Khan and Alam Ali Khan fled to Daulatabad, where they took refuge, and shortly after this the Sayyad brothers were destroyed and Muhammad Shah was freed from their domination.

In 1722 the Nizam received news that his province of Gujarat and his son's province of Malva were overrun by the Marathas and he therefore, obtained permission to leave Delhi for the purpose of expelling the intruders. While he was settling the affairs of Malva in order, he learnt that Mubariz Khan, the subhedar of Hyderabad, whom he had believed to be devoted to his interests, had been bribed by the Sayyads with the promise of the viceroyalty of the Deccan to take up arms against him and was even then marching to meet him. On 3rd September 1724 Asaf Jah defeated Mubariz Khan at Sakharkherda in Buldhana district.

The date of the Nizam's victory at Sakharkherda is an important one in the history of Berar of which the Akola district formed a part and the Deccan; for the battle established the virtual independence of the Deccan under the Nizams of Hyderabad. Neither Chin Kilich Khan Nizam-ul-Mulk nor any of his successors at Hyderabad ever assumed the style of independent sovereigns, but they settled questions of succession among themselves, made all appointments in the six subhas of the Deccan and behaved in all respects as independent rulers with the exception that their coin bore the name of the reigning emperor and that the imperial recognition of each succession was purchased by large presents and professions of subservience.

It must not, however, be supposed that the Nizams of Hyderabad exercised undisputed sway over their wide dominions. Several years before the battle of Fatehkhelda the imperial officers in the Deccan had entered into humiliating compact with the Marathas under the terms of which the latter were allowed, in consideration of their abstention from ravaging the country to levy an impost known as chauth, amounting to one-quarter of the land revenue, and a further contribution known as sardeshmukhi and amounting to one-tenth of the revenue to cover the cost of collecting the chauth. This agreement had been in force for some years when, in 1719, it was formally ratified by the advisers of the emperor Farrukhsiyar at Delhi. Asaf Jah's sovereignty was, therefore, subject to this limitation, which seems to have been accepted by him and his officers as part of the established order of things. So far as Berar was concerned the mokasdar or recognized collector of chauth and sardeshmukhi was the Bhosle Raja of Nagpur, and the effects of this dual system of government are well described by Sir Alfred Lyall: 'whenever the emperor or the 'Nizam appointed a jagirdar the Marathas appionted' another and both claimed the revenue, while foragers from each side exacted forced contributions; so that the harassed cultivator often threw up his land and helped to plunder his neighbour. The Marathas by these means succeeded in fixing their hold on this province; but its resources were dilapidated, and its people must have been seriously demoralized by a regime of barefaced plunder and fleecing, without attempt at principle or stability'. This brief extract describes generally the condition of the Akola district between the years 1724 and 1803.

The death of Parasoji Bhosle had already been referred to Kanhoji succeeded him to the title of Sena Saheb Subha. Kanhoji not only established firmly the Maratha power in Berar and Gondvana but also laid the foundation of its future in Orissa. His Headquarters being at Bham, the Bhosles are referred to even up to the treaty of 1803 with the English, as the Rajas of Berar. However, the relations of Kanhoji with Shahu were no more cordial. Kanhoji had looked after Raghuji, the son of Bimbaji, his cousin, but now by the blessings of the Saint Ramajipant of Pandavgad near Wai, he had a son, Rayaji and his attention to Raghuji was no more undivided. Raghuji, leaving Kanhoji had joined Shahu and had even once saved the life of Shahu when he was attacked by a ferocious tiger. Shahu gave the daughter of Shirke, the sister of his wife Sagunabai to Raghuji in marriage. Kanhoji's rule, again, according to the contemporary reports seems to be oppressive.

Ranoji, the uncle of Raghuji after his return from Delhi, joining with Raghuji, demanded their share of the hereditary rights in Bhosle principality. Shahu, first through the good offices of Balaji Vishvanath, and later, himself tried to conciliate them. Raghuji and Ranoji were asked to serve under Kanhoji which they refused to do. However, Kanhoji and Fatehsingh Bhosle had accompanied Bajirav and Raghuji Bhosle on their Karnatak expedition during 1725-1727.

Kanhoji had constantly failed to submit accounts of his jahagir to Shahu and evaded revenue payments to the Maratha State exchequer. Sensing the trouble, Kanhoji left Satara, in a hurry without taking Shahu's permission. Kanhoji left for Kumtha on 23rd August 1725 in the afternoon and next day, reached Tasgaon via Kanherkheu and Pusesavali. Shahu despatched two prominent Maratha chiefs to pursue Kanhoji and not being satisfied with this arrangement himself, set out with Yamaji Shivdev. Shahu, however, returned from Vadgaon being persuaded to do so by Yamaji Shivdev who took the responsibility to bring Kanhoji to hook. Avaji Kavade, Bajirav's sardar in Berar and all the Maratha chiefs on Kanhoji's road to Berar were instructed instantly by Shahu to arrest Kanhoji wherever possible.

Kanhoji, however, joined the Nizam, evading all the vigilance of the Marathas. Shahu remonstrated to the Nizam strongly, declaring that the Nizam had broken the earlier treaty with the Marathas, by giving refuge to Kanhoji and it appears that the Nizam refused to give quarters to Kanhoji. Finally, through the good counsel of Yesaji Siddheshvar, Shahu and Kanhoji were brought on friendly terms, but even these proved to be short-lived.

Shahu despatched Raghuji Bhosle against Kanhoji and gave Devur in jahagir to Raghuji anticipating his good services. [The actual sanad is dated, 22nd November 1731, but Raghuji was to leave his family here and to march ahead. The Bhosles were called hereditary Rajas of Devur on this account. Kale. Nagpur Prantacha Itihas,p.60] Govindrav Chitnis, Fatehsingh Bhosle and Shripatrav Pratinidhi had helped Raghuji's cause, from the very beginning. Raghuji was explicitly asked not to repeat Kanhoji's insolence and to pay regular tribute to the Maratha State. Konhereram Kolhat-kar paid one lakh rupees to Shahu towards guarantee for Raghuji's loyal conduct. Konhereram demanded in return the office of sikkeravis, which was granted by Raghuji. Anant Bhat Chitale was appointed by Shahu, in charge of the audits of Raghuji's jahagir. Raghuji was given the title of Sena Saheb Subha by Shahu on this occasion.

Raghuji. setting out to meet Kanhoji, was obstructed, near Jalna by Samsher Bahadar Santaji Atole, but Dinkar Vinayak and Shivaji Vinayak from Raghuji's camp, finding one Yeshvantrav Pilaji, their relation in Santaji's camp, conciliated matters, averting a clash and Raghuji advanced further. Raghuji started collecting chauth and sardeshmukhi in Berar, in the name of Shahu. He entered Berar through Lakhanvada ghat and from Balapur, divided his army of 30,000 horse, despatching sections in all directions of Berar. He defeated Shujayat Khan, the deputy of Navab of Ellichpur in the neighbourhood of Ellichpur.

Having established himself firmly in Berar, Raghuji now turned to Kanhoji. Kanhoji, too, had prepared himself for adequate defence by fortifying Bham thoroughly. Raghuji set out from Balapur, reached Amravati and further marched to Talcgaon. Kanhoji in the meanwhile was negotiating with the Nizam through Hirjulla Khan, subhedar of Mahur. Vasudev Pant, his vakil, had been sent to Aurangabad for this purpose. Raghuji and his uncle Ranoji laid siege to the fort of Bham. Kanhoji's sardar, Tukoji Gujar was killed in action. However, Kanhoji escaped to Mahur pursued hotly by Raghuji and Ranoji. Both the armies met near Wani at Mandor and Kanhoji submitted. [When Kanhoji was surrounded on all sides by Raghuji's army, Raghuji, giving him due respect, requested him to sit in the palanquin, but Kanhoji, being very hot-tempered, abused Raghuji, with the result that Raghuji finally had to put him under guard.] Raghuji took him to Shahu who put him in custody at Satara where he died subsequently. Raghuji's army was stationed at Rajur for six more years.

It may here be pointed out that the relations between the Marathas and the Nizam were strained due to the attempts of the latter to seduce Shahu's Sena Saheb Subha, Kanhoji Bhosle and his Sar Lashkar Sultanji Nimbalkar. The matters came to a head when Nizam tried to play Sambhaji of Kolhapur against Shahu and when his officers alongwith the Maratha noblemen who had went over to his side raided and carried depredations in the territory of Svarajya, Bajirav took up the challenge and directed his officers to contain the activities of the Nizam, Fatehsingh and Raghuji Bhosle encountered Chandrasen Jadhav who had defected to the Nizam and defeated him after a sanguinary action. Bajirav also leaving Pune in September 1727 proceeded through Berar, ravaged Mahur, Mangrol and Washim and then suddenly directing his course to the north-west entered Khandesh. Nizam-ul-mulk who had in the meanwhile occupied Pune, on hearing of Bajirav's movements marched northwards towards Aurangabad as anticipated by Bajirav. When the Nizam was at Palkhed Bajirav suddenly attacked him on 25th February 1728 and surrounded his position. With no chances of succour, the Nizam surrendered and signed the treaty of Mungi-Shevgaon on 6th March 1728. Under the terms of the treaty the Nizam agreed that all administrative or diplomatic measures for the Government of the six subhas should be executed through the agency of the Marathas and also confirmed the previous grants of Svarajya and Sardeshmukhi. From now onwards the subhas of the Deccan, including the subha of Berar came under dual management of the Marathas and the Nizam in regard to the collection of chauth and sardeshtnukhi in which the dominant partners were the Marathas.

After the battle of Palkhed Bajirav decided to invade Malva, Chimaji, his brother, taking the western route through Baglan and Khandesh and Bijirav, the eastern route through Ahmadna-gar, Berar, Chanda and Devgad towards Bundelkhand. Chimaji defeated and killed Giridhar Bahadur, the Subhedar of Malva in the battle fought at Amjhera on 29th November 1728. Bajirav received the news of this victory while he was in Berar and he instructed his brother quickly to follow up the action at Amjhera. From Berar Bajirav proceeded to Devgad and from thence to Bundelkhand whose Chief Chhatrasal had sent an urgent appeal to him to be rescued from the clutches of Muhammad Bangash. Bajirav humbled Bangash and returned to Pune. The subsequent developments such as Maratha incursions into Gujarat, the submission of Sambhaji of Kolhapur to Shahu, the humbling of the Dabhade at Dabhai do not concern the history of Akola and could be passed over. They are important only in the context of the overall history of the Deccan in that the events paved the way for an understanding between the Peshva and the Nizam when they met at Rohe Rameshvar on 27th December 1732. This understanding was, however, short-lived and the later years saw estrangement between the two leading to the rout of the Nizam at Bhopal in December 1737 by Bajirav ably assisted by Raghuji Bhosle, the new Sena Saheb Subha, Damaji Gaikvad and Avji Kavade. In 1739 Delhi was rockd by the invasion of Nadir Shah and Nizam-ul-mulk who marched towards Delhi was humiliated by the invader to his utter discomfiture. In the meanwhile Raghuji Bhosle had seized the province of Berar which the Nizam considered as his own exclusive possession. In retaliation Nasir Jung, the son of Nizam-ul-mulk marched northward to invade the Peshva's domain but was routed by Bajirav near Aurangabad. A treaty was formally concluded at Mungi-Shevgaon on 27th February 1740 and was ceremoniously ratified at a personal meeting between the two chiefs on 3rd March at Pimpalgaon. Bajirav died soon afterwards on 28th April 1740 and was succeeded to the Peshvaship by his son Balaji Bajirav alias Nana Saheb. Nanasaheb decided to acquire the subha of Malva which he did by making friends with the Rajput prince Jaysinh who impressed upon the emperor the necessity of granting the subha of Malva to the Marathas. On 4th July 1741 the deed was ratified under the emperor's seal. When the Maratha affairs were thus flourishing ill feeling began to develop between the Peshva and Raghuji Bhosle. The latter had acquired as early as 1738 a sanad from Shahu which stated that "the Subhas of Lucknow, Maksudabad, Bundelkhand, Allahabad, Patna, Dacca and Bihar are made over as Raghuji's field of activity." This was in addition to the province of Berar in which Raghuji had already established himself, and of which the chauth and sardeshmukhi were regularly collected by him. The Nizam had recognised formally Raghuji Bhosle as the Mokasadar of Berar, that is an assignee of a share of the revenues, which he was authorised to collect through his own officers. As stated earlier in 1738 immediately after he acquired the above sanad from Shahu, Raghuji strengthened his position by attacking and defeating Shujayat Khan, the Governor of Berar, in the neighbourhood of Ellichpur. The desire of the Peshva in such a situation to extend his influence in the Northern and Eastern parts of India brought him at cross roads with Raghuji Bhosle and a conflict between the two seemed inevitable. A short but indecisive action was fought between the forces of the Peshva and Raghuji Bhosle on 10th April 1743 in the narrow pass of Bendu near Pachet. However, before the matters could take a turn for the worse Shahu brought about a reconciliation between the two. An agreement was signed by both on 31st August 1743 at Satara by which all the territory from Berar to the East right upto Cuttack, Bengal and Lucknow was assigned to Raghuji with which the Peshva bound himself not to inierfere and the territory west of this line including Ajmer, Agra, Prayag and Malva were to be the exclusive spheres of the Peshva. [Aid. Patravyavahar 35-39; Raj. Vol. 2; pp. 98-99.]

The particular reference to Berar in this agreement is of significance. Well before the acquisition of the sanads for collecting chauth and sardeshmukhi from the six subhas of the Deccan, the Marathas were already forcing the Moghal officers to part with their share of the revenues of the six subhas including the subha of Berar. Not only that but in many instances the Marathas appointed their officers to work side by side with the officers of the Moghals, before 1724 and then of the Nizam subsequent to the declaration of independence by the latter Sometimes they even collected the whole revenue of the province and handed over the residue of the same to the officers of the Nizam after appropriating their own share. As stated before after Parasoji Bhosle, Kanhoji was appointed the Sena Saheb Subha but as he proved to be of a refractory nature, Shahu dismissed him and appointed his nephew, Raghuji Bhosle to the post of Sena Saheb Subhaship. [Shahu ordered Raghuji to arrest his uncle Kanhoji. Raghuji defeated Kanhoji at Mandar in Yeotmal district and sent him as a prisoner to Shahu at Satara.] Like his predecessors Raghuji established himself at Bham. The rivalry between the Peshva and the Bhosles was not merely confined to the Northern and Eastern regions of India but extended to Berar though in a smaller degree, because of the specific rights of Mokasa and inam which the Peshva acquired from the Chhatrapatis of Satara and the Nizam. It may be interesting to note that Peshva Balaji Vishvanath got in inam from Shahu 2 villages in Berar. Bajirav also obtained certain Mokasa in Jahgir in Berar from Shahu. In a document pertaining to the year 1740-41 a complete list of Mokasa Jahagir enjoyed by Bajirav is detailed as below:

Alter the death of Bajirav Peshva, Balaji Bajirav was confirmed in these Mokasa villages by Shahu in 1741, the sanad clearly stating that the grant of Mokasa is in lieu of the salary. A copy of the orders regarding the grant of such Mokasas from time to time and their confirmation by the Chhatrapati were dispatched to the Sena Saheb Subha, Bhosles, who were responsible for the collection of chauth and sardeshmukhi of the province of Berar and also to the local officers such as the village officer and the Deshmukh and the Deshpande. The Peshvas were not the only recipients of such Mokasa jahagir in Berar but other officers in the Court of the Chhatrapati also enjoyed the Mokasa jahagirs in Berar. [ A document of the year 1752 lists the Mokasa Jahagir in Berar of Khanderao Kashi, a Judge in the Maratha Court.] It would thus seem that the interests not only of the Nizam and the Bhosle were involved in the affairs of Berar but also those of the Peshva. This naturally proved a bone of contention in the wider conflict between the Peshva and the Bhosles. The reconciliation brought about by Shahu between Balaji Bajirav and Raghuji Bhosle put an end at least temporarily to the rivalry between the two. The activities of Raghuji Bhosle during the subsequent years as also those of Balaji Bajirav need not detain us here, though involved as they did the expansion of Maratha influence in the Eastern and Northern India, they had very little bearing on the history of Akola which continued under the dual administration of the Nizam and the Bhosle. On 15th December 1749 Shahu died. Exactly a year and a half before on 21st May 1748 had died the Nizam. It may be noted here that before the death of the Nizam, the Bhosles had become possessed of the Melghat and its two fortresses Narnala and Gavilgad. These they held nominally as feudatories of the Nizam, but actually as a guarantee of their share of revenue, and they retained possession of them until the close of the third Maratha war. The death of Shahu brought the conflicts of the Maratha principals in the open. The successors of the Nizam were not slow in taking advantage of this disunity among the Marathas and the history of Maratha-Nizam relations from now onwards has a considerable bearing upon the history of Akola district

Shahu was succeeded by Ramraja as the Chhatrapati of Satara. The domestic trouble in the Maratha Court reached a crisis immediately after the accession of Ramraja due to the attitude of Tarabai, the wife of Rajaram who conspired against the Peshva. The Peshva called Raghuji Bhosle and the Maratha nobility to Pune including Shinde, Holkar, Somvanshi, Ram-chandra Bava, Purandare and others. The assembly of these noblemen consented to the proposal of Peshva that the executive power in the State must remain in the hands of the Peshva with Raghuji Bhosle whole heartedly supporting the Peshva. It thus becomes clear that Raghuji did not want to entangle himself in the affairs of the Maratha Court but desired a free hand in the politics of the Eastern region leaving the Peshva free to deal with the affairs of the Maratha Court as he deemed fit.

Nizam-ul-mulk Asaf Jah was succeeded in the Deccan by his son Nasir Jang. In 1750 Nasir Jang was murdered. Muzaffar Jang, Asaf Jah's grandson by his daughter succeeded him. He too was murdered and was succeeded by his brother Salabat Jang, who, on the death of Sayyad Sharif Khan Sujat Jang in June, 1752, appointed Sayyad Lashkar Khan to the vacant appointment of subhedar of Berar. In the same year Gaji-ud-din Khan, the eldest son of Asaf Jah, having been appointed by the emperor Ahmad Shah, viceroy of the Deccan, advanced as far as Aurangabad to secure his heritage, but in Aurangabad he died suddenly from cholera according to one account, but according to another from poison administered by or at the instance of Salabat Jang's mother. In November 1752, war broke out between the Marathas and the Nizam. The latter was surrounded at Bhalki and forced to surrender. Under the terms of the treaty then signed the whole of the western half of the then province of Berar between the rivers Godavari and the Tapi including a considerable portion of Akola district was ceded to the Marathas by the Nizam. This demarcation of the Nizam's territory had practically existed till recent times. Salabat Jang spent the rainy season of 1753 in Aurangabad where Sayyed Lashkar Khan, subhedar of Berar, who had now received the title of Rukn-ud-daula was appointed vazir of the Deccan, which appointment he resigned after a few months, leaving the finances of the State in a deplorable condition. Gaji-ud-din Khan, in order to attach the Marathas to his cause, had assigned to them the revenue of all the northern districts of Deccan and Raghuji Bhosle, on the pretext of Gaji-ud-din's promise, had collected and retained the whole of the revenue of Berar. One of the first acts of Samsam-ud-daula, who had succeeded Rukn-ud-daula as minister, was to send against Raghuji an army which succeeded in forcing him to disgorge five lakhs of rupees, an utterly inadequate share of his plunder. On 14th February 1755, Raghuji Bhosle died and Rukn-ud-daula returned to Berar as subhedar. He was displaced in 1756 in favour of Mir Nizam Ali, the brother of Salabat Jang who on his appointment as subhedar of Berar received the title of Nizam-ud-daula. Nizam-ud-daula now marched into Berar, where his presence was required and encamped at Ellichpur.

Raghuji, on his death, left behind four sons, Janoji, Mudhoji, Bimbaji, and Sabaji. Janoji, being eldest, claimed the Sena-Saheb Subhaship. However, Mudhoji who had been to Gavilgad, hearing the news of Raghuji's death, hastened to Nagpur to ascertain his own claim, as he was Raghuji's son by his elder wife. Janoji preparing himself, despatched Jayaji to capture Gavilgad. Meeting Mudhoji on the way, Jayaji pretended himself a friend of Mudhoji and secured the office of killedar (fort-keeper) of Gavilgad from Mudhoji. Jayaji immediately informed Janoji that Gavilgad was in his possession. Mudhoji, however, exacted tributes from Berar and was well supported by Sadashiv Hari and the Deshmukh of Parole. Moreover, Dinkar Vinayak Prabhu, Shivaji Vinayak Prabhu and Narsingrav Bhavani had joined Mudhoji with their armies. But Janoji was supported by Baburav Konher Kolhatkar (Mujamdar), Rakhmaji Ganesh Chitnavis, Trimbakji Raje Bhosle, Krishnaji Govind, the Maratha Subhedar of Berar, Narhar Ballal (Risbud) and Shivabhat Sathe, the Maratha Subhedar of Cuttak. All the elderly nobility including Raghuji Karande, Bimbaji Wanjal, Nanhoji Jachak, Shivaji Keshav Talkute, Girmaji Khanderav, Anandrav Wagh, Krishnaji Atole, too, supported Janoji. At last Trimbakji Raje Bhosle and Baburav Konher, reaching Pune, paid Rs. 2½ lakhs to the Peshva as Bhosle's tribute to the Maratha State and secured the office of Sena Saheb Subha for Janoji.

The Bhosle armies clashed twice or three times in Berar but the Peshva reconciled the two, declaring Mudhoji Senadhur-andhara. The new jahagirs in Chandrapur and Chhattisgad were respectively granted by the Peshva to Mudhoji and Bimbaji in 1757. [ Tne official Sanad was granted, however, by Tarabai on 6th August 1761 when Madhavrav was the Peshva.] Sabaji was at his headquarters at Daravhe in Berar. The Gond King of Chandrapur taking advantage of the dissensions in the Bhosle house, had taken possession of the fort of Chandrapur. Hence Mudhoji, setting out from Ellichpur, captured the Chandrapur fort.

Here we must revert to the story of the Peshva's relations with Navab Salabat Jang of Hyderabed, resuming the thread of the time from the peace of Bhalki in December 1752. Bussy was called upon to face the machinations of the two old and able servants of the State Sayyad Lashkar Khan and Shah Navaz Khan, who became greatly jealous of his power and control of the administration, giving rise to murder and secret plots at the Nizam's Court to which ultimately Salabat Jang fell a prey.

While Bussy had been reducing Savanur in the summer of 1756, his master Salabat Jang wishing to be rid of this over bearing and grasping servant, sent him on 18th May, an order that he had been dismissed from service. This was the result of the serious alarm which Indian powers began to feel at the increasing domination which the English and the French began to exercise through their superior military organization. As soon as the Peshva learnt of Bussy's dismissal he offered to engage him in his own service and to all appearances this was agreed to by both the parties. But Bussy was a master tactician, intent upon impressing the Indian Powers with a premonition that hereafter the Europeans were to be the masters in India. Bussy quietly said yes to every request that was made to him and asked for passports to proceed to Masulipatan after a few days stay at Hyderabad to collect his effects. The Peshva even gave him his own escort on the way. With his whole following Bussy reached Hyderabad in June and took up his residence at the grand old edifice known as the Char Minar in the centre of the town where he so fortified himself by means of his powerful artillery that he could not be dislodged. Salabat Jang came soon after with all his forces, but could make no effect upon Bussy's position during a stiff contest that raged for four months. In the end Salabat Jang was completely humbled and gave a written agreement to Bussy on 16 November reinstating him in his former position. After arranging his affairs in Hyderabad, Bussy left for Masulipatan to manage the lucrative districts he had obtained in the Northern Sarkars, for the expenses of his army. He returned to Hyderabad in September 1757. Had not the fortunes of the French so thoroughly waned during the Seven Years' War, it is clear that Bussy could never have been dislodged from the Nizam's State.

What with his grasping French auxiliary Bussy, and what with the increasing power of the Peshva in his neighbourhood, Salabat Jang's position began rapidly to grow weaker. The lesson taught by Bussy at the Char Minar did not fail to impress the Peshva also. He openly demanded from Salabat Jang all the north Godavari region under a threat of resorting to arms. Bussy was then away and Shah Navaz Khan did not resist the Peshva's demand. This was too much for the spirited brother of Salabat Jang, Nizam All to bear. Guided by a clever Hindu diplomat Vithal Sundar, Nizam Ali enlisted the services of another of Bussy's captains Ibrahim Khan (latter of Panipat fame). The Khan brought with him 2,500 trained infantry and fifteen guns on an annual payment of one lakh. Shah Navaz Khan, feeling nervous about his own safety when Nizam Ali thus began to assert himself, took prompt possession of Daulatabad fort, removed there his family and valuables, and prepared to defend himself there in case of necessity, following the example of Bussy at the Char Minar.

The clash of arms between the two occurred at Sindkhed and Nizam Aii was humbled. Thus the two courts of Pune and Aurangabad occupied themselves during the monsoon of 1757 in preparing for another trial of arms.

On 17th December Nizam Ali acknowledging defeat sent Vithal Sundar to the Maratha camp begging for terms. Peace was concluded by the Nizam ceding to the Peshva territory worth 25 lacs along with fort Naldurg. Ceremonial visits by the two principals at Sakharkherda ratified and confirmed the treaty on 29th December 1757. Once more the unity of Maratha ranks under the Peshva's direction was plainly exhibited to the Indian world, finally closing the rift that Tarabai's activities had created.

While Nizam-ud-daula was halting at Ellichpur, Raghuji Karande, Bhosle's lieutenant, invaded Berar and advanced as far as Borgaon where Nizam-ud-daula met and defeated him. However, Raghuji Karande and Nanhoji Jachak had looted the Nizam's artiliery baggage in December 1757. Nizam-ud-daula looted the city of Akola but the Navab of Ellichpur reconciled the two in May 1758, whereby both agreed to the Sathichalisi treaty The treaty stipulated that 45 per cent of the tribute would go to the Bhosles and the remaining 55 per cent would be allotted to the Nizam. The visits were exchanged in a royal darbar on the banks of the Wardha on 25th March 1758. The treaty of peace which was concluded was not, however, sufficiently stringent in its terms to prevent the Marathas from continuing their depredations in Berar [ The old Gazetteer of Akola gives the following account of this clash between the Bhosle and Nizam Ali. The Akola campaign.—In 1758 Nizam Ali Khan, subhadar of Berar, took the field against his brother, the Nizam Salabat Jang, marched from Burhanpur, his headquarters, towards the Deccan, and halted during the rainy season at Basim, leaving his lieutenant Shaikh Amin Ahmad, at Burhanpur to organize and equip his artillery train. Salabat Jang succeeded in gaining over to his cause Janojie Bhonsla of Nagpur, who as soon as the cessation of the rains rendered field operations possible, raided Berar. The first care of Nizam Ali, who had spent the rainy season in Basim, was to draw the claws of Janoji Bhonsla, and he was preparing to march against him when he heard that his artillery park in Burhanpur was ready to join him, but that Bapu Karandiya, Bhonsla's lieutenant, was only waiting for it to leave Burhanpur in order to fall upon it. Nizam Ali therefore wrote to Shaikh Amin Ahmad bidding him be upon his guard and cautioning him against leaving Burhanpur until he was joined by his master. Nizam Ali followed his letter by way of Akola, beyond which place he had to fight his way to Burhanpur. The Marathas opposed him in the field on each day of his march and were daily repulsed. Janoji, seeing that his lieutenant was no match for Nizam Ali, marched to his assistance, and the Marathas so harassed Nizam Ali on his march that his troops had rest neither by day nor by night. At last, when Nizam Ali had reached the bank of the Purna, probably in the vicinity of Patharda, he saw and seized his opportunity. The Marathas had encamped for the night, when Nizam Ali directed Sidi Ambar Khan and Kadir Sahib to fall upon them. The night attack was successful and both Janoji Bhonsla and Bapu Karandiya fled in confusion. Janoji succeeded in rallying a force sufficient to harass Nizam Ali and so keep him on the alert, but the spirit of the Marathas was broken and they would not face the Mughals in the field. Janoji now forsook Salabat Jang and threw in his lot with Nizam Ali, whom he advised to march on Hyderabad.].

Janoji and Mudhoji had both agreed to pay ten lakhs of rupees to the Peshva each. However, they experienced great difficulties in collecting the tribute due to dissensions every where. Krishnaji Govind had been collecting Berar tribute, as deputy of Kashirav Bhaskarram, but he was removed from the office and instead Janoji now appointed Mansingrav Mohite. The Peshva sent his vakils, Vyankatrav Moreshvar and Trimbakji Bhosle for recovery but to no avail. Negotiations were opened between the two brothers in October 1759. Mudhoji insisted that Janoji should stay in Nagpur, leaving all management to him; while Janoji pleaded for division of territory and parallel management. Moro Raghunath, Raghuji Karande and Balaji Keshav exchanged visits but no compromise could be effected. Dasara, being fixed for the two brothers to meet in ceremony, Mudhoji and Karande sensed a plot against them and escaped to Berar.

Janoji sent Trimbakji Raje to reconcile Mudhoji, but Mudhoji and Karande pointed out that as long as Devajipant, Balaji Keshav and Shamji Fulaji were in the services of Janoji, they would always advise against any permanent reconciliation and that they must be driven out from the court of Nagpur. Janoji agreed to hand over Devajipant to Piraji Naik Nimbalkar but insisted that Mudhoji must terminate the services of Sadashiv Hari, Ramaji Keshav and Nanaji Krishna. Negotiations again failed and Mudhoji collected five and half thousand horse. Janoji intending not to allow sufficient time for Mudhoji to increase his military strength, set out on the Divali day for Berar. The two armies met in battle near Amravati at Rahatgaon, and Mudhoji was completely defeated. [A trick was played in the high hour of the battle on Mudhoji's army. A horse exactly like the one Raghuji Karande always used was let loose unbriddled and it gave the impression that Raghuji Karande fell in action. Mudhoji's army became panicky and was defeated. Kale, Nagpur Prantacha Itihas, p. 126.] Mudhoji's Fadnis, Moropant, was captured by Janoji. However, Raghuji Karande, collecting his army afresh, released Moropant. Mudhoji, hotly pursued by Janoji escaped towards Karanja. In the meanwhile, Udepur Gosavi of Satara, on behalf of the Peshva, collected tribute from Berar. Peshva's vakil Vyankatrav Moreshvar tried to reconcile the two brothers and finally it was agreed that Mudhoji would look after the Nagpur affairs and Raghuji Karande, Trimbakaji Raje and Piraji Naik Nimbalkar would see that all crisis would be averted. On 9th January 1760, both the brothers wrote to Sadashivrav Bhau that their affairs were amicably settled. Janoji and Mudhoji arrived at Vashim on the banks of Penaganga as Sadashivrav Bhau had reached Paithan after his successful battle at Udgir [This battle was fought on 3rd February 1760, at Udgir, 200 miles east of Pune. Haig, IV, Op. 390, 412.] against the Nizam. Balaji Bajirav himself was near Ahmadnagar, Janoji, taking Raghuji Karande [Mudhoji was completely alienated from Divakarpant and Balaji Keshav. Mudhoji ana now Trimbak Raje insisted that both of them should be tested and kept, one in Devagad fort and the other m Ambagad fort whereupon they pleaded to the Peshva for their safety.] with him advanced to Nandashi Brahmani and reached Jogai Amba (Ambejogai), with 12,000 horse and next day joined Sadashivrav Bhau's army. Mudhoji, too by a different route, at the same time reached Sadashivrav's camp. Sadashivrav, Raghoba and Balaji met near Ambe Patdur and received the news of the crushing defeat and death of Dattaji Shinde [On 9th January 1860, at the Berar Ghat ten miles north of Delhi Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated and slew Dattaji Shinde.] in the north. It was at once decided that a force must be despatched under a member of the Peshva's family to restore Maratha influence in Hindustan. Little love was lost between the two cousins, Raghunath and Sadashivrav and the hero of Udgir claimed the command of the Maratha army. The army which set out from Patdur on 10th March 1760 was the most magnificent that the Marathas had ever sent forth to battle. Raghunath however remained behind to check the Nizam and Janoji and Mudhoji too Returned to Nagpur. In 1761 was fought the battle of Panipat between the Marathas and Abdali in which the Marathas were defeated.

In 1762 Nizam-ud-daula, who had already received the titles of Asaf Jah and Nizam-ul-Mulk, deposed his brother and became ruler of the Hyderabad State. In 1763 he appointed Gulam Sayyad Khan governor of Berar, but removed him in 1764 to Daulatabad and replaced him in Berar by Ismail Khan, the Afghan.

Now Zafar-ud-daula, who had been engaged in suppressing rebellion in Nirmal and had pursued some of the rebels into Berar conceived the idea that Ismail Khan was harbouring them. He wrote to him accusing him of treason and Ismail sent an indignant reply. The correspondence between the two amirs became so acrimonious that Ismail, as a precautionary measure, strengthened the fortifications of Ellichpur, whereupon Zafar-ud-daula, Nizam Ali's minister, charged that the governor of Berar was meditating rebellion and asked for permission to march against him. Rukn-ud-daula, who did not doubt Ismail's fidelity and was loth to see the resources of the State frittered away in civil war, returned no reply to this request, and Zafar-ud-daula, either taking his silence for consent or affecting to believe that the urgency of the case was sufficient to justify him in acting on his own responsibility, invaded Berar and in June besieged Ismail in Ellichpur. On hearing that the conflict which he had tried to prevent had broken out Rukn-ud-daula hastened to Ellichpur and patched up a temporary peace between the two disputants.

The situation after the battle of Panipat became one of the greatest dangers to the Maratha State. The combined armies of Janoji and Nizam Ali moved along the Bhima ravaging the Peshva Madhavrav's territory. When the Marathas entered the Bhosle's possessions in Berar, Nizam Ali came on their heels. Pune shared a dreadful fate, a major portion of it being completely burned down. Secret negotiations were opened and Sakharam Bapu won over Janoji to the Peshva's side. On 10th August 1763 the Peshva defeated the Nizam at Raksha-sbhuvan. Ismail Khan of Ellichpur was wounded but Janoji, being true to his earlier friendship, had brought him to his camp. The Nizam gave to the Peshva territory worth 82 lakhs of rupees, out of which the Peshva handed over 32 lakhs of Rupees worth territory to Janoji. However, when Madhavrav sent Vyanktrav Moreshvar and Ganesh Tukdev to Janoji to solicit his help for his Karnatak expedition, Janoji refused to accompany him. Moro Dhondoji, the Nizam's sardar in Berar, with his army of 2,000 horse, was attacked by Bhosle's army. Hence the Peshva and the Nizam decided to attack the Bhosle's territory. Madhavrav set out from Pune on 17th October 1765 and was joined by Rukn-ud-daula near Kaigaon Toke. Raghunath too joined Madhavrav in December 1765 and the Peshva's army reached Daryapur. Shivabhat Sathe, Gopalrav Sambhaji Khandekar. Krishnaji Anant Tambe collected, on behalf of the Peshva, tribute from all directions, marching further in Berar. The Ellichpur army of 3,000 horse under Ismail went to support Janoji. But not being able to face the might of the Peshva himself Janoji sent from Nandgaon, Vyankatesh Moreshvar, the Peshva's vakil in his camp for a truce to Madhavrav. However, Madhavrav was reluctant to fight with his own sardar and reconciled matters with the Bhosles. The treaty was signed at Kholapur, near Amaravati, which stipulated that Janoji would return 24 lakhs of rupees worth territory to the Peshva, out of the 32 lakhs ceded to the Bhosle at Rakshasbhuvan, retaining only eight lakhs to himself. Out of this 24 lakhs rupees worth territory, the Peshva returned 15 lakhs worth to the Nizam as agreed between them before the expedition against Janoji was opened The Nizam and Rukn-ud-daula, along with Sherjang and Jagan-nath Dhondoji, brother of Moro Dhondoji, took control of this territory after the official meeting of the Nizam and the Peshva on 23rd January 1766 at Kumarkheda.

Janoji, however succumbed to the wicked advice of his minister Devajipant and coquetted with the Peshva's enemy. Madhavrav, after disposing of his uncle at the battle of Dhodap in June 1768, decided to teach a severe lesson to Janoji. Madhavrav sent for the Nagpur minister Devajipant for a personal visit at Pune. The latter refused to obey the summons. When his stern warning fell on deaf ears, the Peshva at once opened hostilities. Devajipant realizing the peril he was running into, came to meet the Peshva at Vashim in Berar. He was at once put under arrest. Gopalrav Patvardhan and Ramchandra Ganesh Kanade were ordered by the Peshva to fall upon Nagpur and ravage the Bhosle's territory. Rukn-ud-daula and Ramchandra Jadhav with 8,000 horse were despatched by the Nizam to the Peshva's help. Thus reinforced, the Peshva began aggressive movements with his 60,000 horse, marching through Sholapur, Tuljapur, Dharur, Pathri, Bid, Nandashi, Brahmani, Kalamnuri, Vashi, Mangrulpir, Pinjar, Karanja and Amaravati. The Bhosles removed their family to Gavilgad and Narhar Ballal with his 5,000 horse protected the fort. Bapu Karande marched to Burhanpur but was obstructed by the Peshva's officers there. Anandrav Gopal and Balaji Keshav Sapre defeated Bapu Karande and Narhari Pant at Panchagavan near Akola on 10th January 1769. Narhar was killed in action. His nephew, Vithal Ballal, with 2,500 horse devastated the territory, marched to Burhanpur and returned to Malkapur, to effect junction with Jachak and Karande. However, Vithal was severely wounded and his family was put under arrest by the Peshva's agent at Burhanpur. Janoji's camp was at Nandgaon, near Amravati with 15 to 20 thousand horse. Piraji Nimbalkar effected junction here on 6th December 1768 with Janoji. Five thousand horse of the Bhosle army was at Narnala under Tulaji. Tulaji being sick in body, his nephew took this band and joined Janoji and Piraji on 17th December 1868. However, Ismail Khan of Ellichpur refused to join the Bhosles. On 1st December 1768, the Peshva had halted at Badner Gangai and the Bhosle camp was in front, 25 Kos but on the 10th, the distance separating the two was still less, as the Bhosles had on 11th their camp at Nandgaon, near Amaravati. Devajipant, however, opened negotiations and offered fifteen lakhs of rupees to the Peshva. Acting on the advice of Devajipant, Janoji, being unable to meet the Peshva's strength, adopted guerilla tactics and gave out that he would march upon Pune, liberate Raghunath and instal him in the Peshva's seat. For three or four days during February Pune was in a great alarm and confusion. The Peshva had already plundered Nagpur on 11th January 1769. In March Janoji's brother, Mudhoji joined the Peshva. However, the exhaustion of both the parties induced them to seek a termination of their hostilities by coming to a mutual accommodation. A treaty of mutual friendship was ratified at Kanakapur or Brahmeshvar, at the confluence of the two rivers, the Godavari and the Manjra, on 23rd March 1769. The Bhosles agreed not to increase the prescribed number of their army and to pay a tribute of 5 lakhs yearly in five instalments.

In 1770 the southern tracts of Berar were in a disturbed state. The Zamindar of Nirmal who had rebelled was attacked by Zafar-ud-daula, the general of the Nizam, Nizam Ali Khan and fled. His adherents seem to have crossed the Penganga into the Yeotmal district whither they were pursued and the occurrence led to a quarrel between Zafar-ud-daula and Ismail Khan, the Governor of Berar. Madhavrav Peshva died on 18th November 1772 and Janoji Bhosle too had died in the same year in May. The death of Janoji gave rise to the usual succession disputes and a civil war ensued between the two brothers Mudhoji and Sabaji. The former was supported by Raghunath and Sakharam Bapu from Pune, and the latter by Narayanrav, Nana Phadnis and others.

Mudhoji with his three sons, Raghuji, Khandoji and Vyankoji was well supported by Balavantrav Mahipatrav, Ramaji Keshav, Tikhe, Bhavani Atole, Govindrav Mugutrav, Shivaji Talkute and Jagdev Gujar. Sabaji had in entourage Khandoji Adhav from Berar and Shankaraji Ghorpade, Ramasingh Nimbalkar and Zunjarrav Ghatge. The Peshva, sent Balaji Palande to reinforce Sabaji The two armies met in battle in January 1773, at Kumbhari near Akola. Jivaji Bhosle, son of Ranoji Bhosle of Arnaravati, died in action. Fighting was stopped for two days in mourning and thereafter, through the mediation of Ramaji Ballal this fratricidal war came to be temporarily halted and an agreement was arrived at, by which Mudhoji's son Raghuji was to be recognised as the ruler of Nagpur. But Mudhoji very soon released Devajipant and made him his Divan and put under arrest Lakshmanrav, brother of Bhavani Munshi with his family, which induced Sabaji to leave Nagpur and collect fresh army. Sabaji on 23rd April, 1773 and again on 5th June wrote to Anantbhat Chitale to hand over the charge of Arnaravati to Ranoji, son of Jivaji as it was his hereditary Jahagir. Sabaji was also reinforced by the Nizam's Divan, Rukn,-ud-daula and Khanderav Darekar, the Peshva's Sarlashkur. Rukn-ud-daula and Sabaji besieged Ellichpur as Ismail was supporting Mudhoji. Mudhoji hastened to Ellichpur but finding that Rukn-ud-daula and Sabaji commanded greater numbers, followed lingering tactics. Zamasingh, the fortkeeper of Gavilgad, too, in the interest of Mudhoji, surprised Sabaji's camp, many times. Ismail, once, leaving tne fort, dispersed the besiegers. Khanderav Darekar, however, could not reach Ellichpur as he was stopped by the army sent from Chanda by Mudhoji. Mudhoji also instructed Vyankatrav Kashi and his brother Lakshmanrav Kashi at Pune to support Raghunath against Narayanrav Peshva. One dark night in August, Raghunathrav tried to escape with the help of Lakshman Kashi. He was defeated by guards and taken back to his custody. The murder of Peshva Narayanrav took place on 30th August shortly after midday. Vyankatrav and Lakshmanrav had an agreement with Raghunathrav on 4th September 1773 that Mudhoji and not Sabaji would be recognised as. chief of Nagpur Bhosles. Mudhoji had reconciled Rukn-ud-daula through the mediations of Mahipat Dinkar and Balkrishna Bhat Patvardhan. Not only Ismail and Rukn-ud-daula were reconciled but Sabaji, and Mudhoji, too brushed up their differences. Mudhoji, after hearing the news of Narayanrav's murder went to Gavilgad and consulted Daryabai, wife of Raghuji I. Lakshman Kashi had gone to Ellichpur to take Mudhoji to Pune, hence Rukn-ud-daula and Dhousa left Ellichpur and Mudhoji joined Raghunathrav at Pedgaon, where Raghuji II was declared Sena Saheb Subha. Raghunathrav and Mudhoji proceeded to Naldurg. Raghunathrav met Nizam Ali, negotiated a treaty of friendship whereby Mudhoji secured his agreement of 60 to 40 per cent share of Berar with the Nizam. Sabaji and even Darya-bai joined the ministerial party against Raghunathrav. The ministers Barabhai put under arrest Mahipatrav Dinkar and Vyankatrav Kashi in the Chandan Vandan fort but Mahipat was released on condition that he would secure Mudhoji's support for the ministers at Pune. However, Daryabai and Sabaji wrote to Sakharam Purandare to capture the two again, but Mahipat Dinkar along with Mahipat Kashi had already escaped to Ellich-pur and joined Mudhoji there. Mudhoji finding money always short had plundered Amravati but still the Pathans in his army had their salaries in arrears, hence, when Mudhoji returned from Ismail of Ellichpur, he was attacked by the Pathans on the way. Jagdev Gujar, Devaji Dongardev and Chimaji Chitnis met the Pathans' onslaught and Jagdev Gujar died in action. Mudhoji, breaking his thumb in action, was severely wounded. [ Kale, Nagpur Prantacha Itihas, p. 203.] Devaji Dongardev, killing some of the Pathans finally escaped with Mudhoji to a Teli's shop. There too one Rohilla attacked Mudhoji with a dagger in hand but one pedestrian, rushing to Mudhoji's rescue, killed the Rohilla. Ismail, rushing to the spot, rescued Mudhoji and his wounds were nursed. The conspiracy was hatched by one Pathan named Navav in Mudhoji's army, who was later beheaded and Mahipat Subhedar who had gone to celebrate his son's marriage at Chanda, hastened to Ellichpur and controlled the situation. Raghunathrav sent Muhammad Yusuf to the care of Mudhoji. Muhammad Yusuf reached Ellichpur with 2,000 horse and Mudhoji set out for Nagpur. However, Ismail had refused help to Mudhoji Sabaji was shot dead in action in the battle that was fought on 26th January 1775 near Pachgaon. Baburav Vaidya, Bhosle's vakil at Pune, brought to Nagpur the honours of Sena Saheb Subha, from Madhavrav II, the Peshva on 24th June 1775. Vyankatrav Kashi was also set free.

In the meanwhile, the ministerial party promised Shivaji Bhosle of Amaravati, Sena Saheb Subhaship and supported him against Mudhoji. On April 6, 1775, the Peshva gave Shivaji his new sanads and Shivaji raised an army, soliciting support from the partisans of Sabaji. Bhavani Shivram [ Bhavani Shivram, thereafter, joined the Nizam and later returned to the Peshva and never went back to Nagpur, Kale, op. cit, Foot-note, 109] escaping from the battlefield of Pachgaon, joined Shivaji. However, Shivaji could not secure adequate military help from Pune court and the Nizam. Mudhoji had sent Devajipant to the Nizam who reconciled him to Mudhojiis interests and the ministers at Pune were too engrossed in their own affairs. Shivaji too had no adequate finances to raise fresh armies and hence Shivaji's efforts against Mudhoji were of no avail. Mudhoji, too, joined the ministerial party at Pune and secured the sanads in the name of Raghuji II. The relations of Bhosles of Amaravati and Nagpur were permanently strained [Vyankatrao Kashi and Mahipat Dinkar were kept as prisoners in Gavhgad by Mudhoji, though later on Mahipatrao was released.] and Mudhoji deprived the Bhosles of Amaravati of their control over Amaravati and other areas. Mudhoji Bhosle was compelled by the Barabhais, the ministerial party, to withdraw his protection from Muhammad Yusuf, who for a time, remained concealed in the forests of Madhya Pradesh. [ Haripant Phadke despatched Krishnarao Kale and Parashuram Patvardhan against Muhammad Yusuf. Yusuf marched to the north and intended to cross the Narmada, but Mudhoji's Sardar Tajkhan Rohila captured him at Shivani. Tajkhan, on instructions from Mudhoji, handed him over to Parashuram Patvardhan. Haripant Phadke brought him to his camp near Malegaon, Kale, op. cit, 210.] But he was discovered, captured and put to death on 26th November 1775.

In 1775 Nizam Ali, taking advantage of the existence of strong party opposed to Mudhoji Bhosle in Nagpur, sent Ibrahim Beg against him, and himself advanced as far as Ellichpur. Mudhoji, unable to cope at the same time with his foreign and domestic enemies, obtained a cessation of hostilities by causing Gavilgad and Narnala to be surrendered to the Moghal officers and submitted himself, with his son Raghuji, to Nizam Ali in Ellichpur. Here the wily Maratha, by the humility of his demeanour, succeeded in obtaining better terms and in consideration of his agreeing to cooperate with the Nizam's troops in suppressing the Gonds, Gavilgad and Narnala were restored to him. At the same time Nizam Ali's eldest son, Ali Jah, was appointed Subhedar of Berar. Ismail Khan was in disgrace. Rukn-ud-daula who had beiriended him, had been killed and his place had been taken by Ismail's former enemy, Zafar-ud-daula. Before Rukn-ud-daula's intrigues at court, he had left Ellichpur without leave and presented himself before Nizam Ali. This breach of official etiquette was made the pretext for his degradation and he was informed that a Jahagir had been assigned to him in Balapur and that he had been degraded to the position of governor of that district. The message delivered to him was purposely made as galling as possible. He was ordered to vacate Ellichpur and appear before Nizam Ali and was advised that his surest avenue to favour was to apply for an interview through Zafar-ud-daula. The headstrong Afghan refused to humiliate himself and on this refusal being reported to Nizam Ali, Zafar-ud-daula was sent against Ellichpur and was closely, followed by Nizam Ali himself. Ismail Khan marched out of Ellichpur and attacked Zafar-ud-daula, with great determination, but though the vigour of the attack threw the enemy into confusion for a time, the garrison of Ellichpur was no match for the army of Hyderabad. Ismail Khan was surrounded and overpowered and when he fell his head was severed from his body and sent to the Nizam. Nizam Ali marched on, and on May 14th encamped at Ellichpur and made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Abdur Rahman. Zafar-ud-daula was rewarded for this victory with the title of Mubariz-ul-Mulk. Bahram Jang was appointed Ali Jah's lieutenant in Berar, Sayyad Mukarram Khan was appointed divan of the province, and a Hindu, Shamrav, was made faujdar of Ellichpur.

The next few years were taken up by the growing conflict between the Marathas and the English and the intrigues of Raghunathrav against the Peshva Savai Madhavrav supported by the latter. Before the defeat of the English at Talegaon in January 1779, they tried to induce Mudhoji Bhosle of Nagpur who had assumed power after the death of his brother Sabaji to claim the Chhatrapatiship at Satara where Ramraja had died on December 9th, 1777. Mudhoji, however, wisely refused to fall in the trap. The defeat of the English left Raghunathrav without a protector for the time being and he ultimately agreed to acknowledge Savai Madhavrav as Peshva and renounce all his claims to Peshvaship. He, however, escaped while he was being conveyed to his Jagirs by Hari Babaji and went to Surat where he was welcomed by the English General Godard. At the helm of affairs in the Maratha court was Nana Phadnis who realised the dangerous postures the English were assuming and decided to form a grand quadruple alliance against the English with the Peshva Government, the Nizam, Haider Ali and the Bhosle of Nagpur as partners. This alliance proved to be a gamble because Warren Hastings first detached Nizam Ali from the alliance by promising him the cession of Guntur. The Bhosle who bad joined in the alliance and were ready to march against the English possession of Bengal were weaned away from the alliance by a clever stroke of diplomacy by Hastings, who made an offer of 50 lacs to Mudhoji who succumbed to the temptation. Mudhoji Bhosle and his sons Khandoji alias Chimnaji and Raghuji were all a party to this seduction by the English. Bengal at that time (February 1780) was denuded of troops and English troops were to march to Bengal through Orissa which was then a Nagpur protectorate. The English whose position had become critical in Bengal sought the permission of Khandoji Bhosle to allow Colonel Pearse to march his troops through Orissa on the promise of payment of part dues, which promise, Khandoji accepted. In regard to this episode Hastings wrote "We ordered Colonel Pearse to march and use every studied precaution for preventing rupture with the government of Berar At the same time Mr. Anderson was deputed to Cuttack to notify these orders to Chimnaji Bhosle. Colonel Pearse crossed the Suvarnarekha in good order. Chimnaji very readily signified his assent to the passage, to minister to all its wants, which he did most abundantly. The march to Ganjam was quiet and easy. We agreed to relieve the distresses of Chimnaji's army by giving him a gratuity of 16 lacs. Chimnaji has agreed to furnish two thousand horse to be under the order of Colonel Pearse, their pay to be disbursed by us at the rate of one lac per month. I have endeavoured to excite the ambition of Mudhoji to the acquisition of the (Maratha) raj; but 1 am apprehensive he will not undertake anv plan hostile to the young Peshva. [ Gleig's Memoirs of Warren Hastings Vol. 2 page 358.]

The war between the Maratha State and the English, however, continued but not with the same vigour as it would have been under the aegis of the grand quadruple alliance. It came to a close by the peace treaty of Salbye signed on 17th May 1782.

In 1783 Bahram Jang was removed from his appointment in Berar and was succeeded by Zafar-ud-daula's son Ihtisham Jang. Zafar-ud-daula had died in the meantime and his title was bestowed upon his son. The second Zafar-ud-daula was intent on breaking the power of the Marathas in Berar and was preparing to besiege Gavilgad and Narnala and expel the Maratha revenue collectors from Berar when Mudhoji Bhosle became aware of his designs and complained to Nizam Ali that the governor of Berar was meditating the violation of treaty agreements. Zafar-ud-daula was, therefore, removed and Muhammad Kabir Khan, one of the Jahagirdars of the province, was appointed in his place. In 1790 Muhammad Kabir gave way to Salabat Khan, the elder son of Ismail Khan. In 1792 Bahlol Khan, Salabat Khan's younger brother, was appointed Subhedar of Berar and Aurangabad. Bahlol was a debauchee with a taste for architecture and spent all the revenues which his able Divan, Khvaja Bahadur, could squeeze out of the province on his pleasures and his hobby. He was summoned to Hyderabad and ordered to render an account of his stewardship, which proved to be so unsatisfactory that he was thrown into prison, where he remained for some years, and officers were sent to search his house in Ellichpur. If they expected to discover hoarded money they were disappointed for Bahlol had spent the money as he received it. In 1794 trouble erupted between the Marathas and the Nizam after a lapse of nearly 25 years over the payment of Chauth by the Nizam to the Marathas. In 1794 the Nizam sent his minister Mir Aiam to Pune to negotiate settlement. But the mission failed and war seemed imminent. The Nizam who used to pay to the Bhosle of Nagpur a certain proportion of the revenues from Berar, now refused to make the stipulated payment and announced a complete repudiation of all Maratha claims by Nagpur. War was, therefore, declared against the Nizam and all Maratha chiefs, including Raghuji Bhosle, assembled with their troops. The English maintained an attitude of neutrality in this Maratha-Nizam conflict, the armies of the Marathas and the Nizam met at Kharda and victory declared for the Marathas on 11th March 1795. The Nizam among, other conditions, agreed (1) to pay three crores on account of chauth and two more for the expenses of war and (2) restore to the Bhosles of Nagpur all the teiritory of the Bhosle, recently captured along with its accumulated revenues. The terms were, however, never fully realised and the Nizam, Nizam Ali managed to wriggle out of the same.

The deputy governor of Berar in 1801 was Gangaram Narayan, who in that year caused an emeute in Ellichpur. He introduced a new tax apparently ior the purpose of augmenting his private income, and attempted to levy it from all the inhabitants of the town alike, including soidiers and other customary exemptees. The malcontents rose and attacked the fort of Ellichpur. When they burst in, the wretched Gangaram threw himself at their mercy and promised never more to offend them. Thus were the people satisfied and the power and prestige of the government held up to scorn. If is not necessary here to detail the intrigues in the Maratha court from the accession of Bajirav, the son of Raghunathrav, to Peshvaship after the death of Savai Madhavrav till his flight to the English in 1802 and the signing of the treaty of Bassein which reduced the Maratha State to the position of vassalage of the English. The gravity of the situation thus created was soon realised by the principal chiefs of the Maratha State viz., the Shinde, the Holkar and the Bhosle. The restoration of Bajirav to the Peshvaship by the English on May 13, 1803 further complicated the situation. The English assumed the posture of the protectois of Bajirav and opened negotiations with the Maratha Chiefs. When these parleys were going on, Shinde, Holkar, Bhosle and other Maratha noblemen were attempting to organise a grand coalition against the English. When the Governor-General got the news of this move a warning was issued to Shinde that such attempts on his part would be treated as an act of war by the English. A similar remonstrance was also dispatched to Raghuji Bhosle. At that time (June-July 1803) Shinde's lorces were camping in Berar. General Wellesley decided upon south Berar as the theatre best suited for military operations in the event of war and issued instructions to various station commanders to concentrate on Shinde's forces in Berar. Shinde and Bhosle met on 4th June 1803 at Bodvad near Malkapur. Colonel Collins, the British resident with their camp, was instructed to demand that they should at once withdraw from Berar. He was met by a refusal which was regarded as tantamount to a declaration of war and was dismissed from their camp. Considerable time was wasted in replies and counter replies between the English on the one hand and Shinde, Holkar and Bhosle on the other hand. However, the bitter enmity between Holkar and Shinde prevented the participation of Yeshvantrav in this grand design against the English. In this situation the English decided to single out their opponents and deal separately with them. In this policy the English succeeded beyond measure. Bhosle suffered a crushing defeat at Adgaon near Balapur on 29th November 1803 [ For details see the following account of the battle. The battle of Assaye was fought on September 23rd, 1803, and Major-General Arthur Wellesley and Colonel Stevenson, after much marching and countermarching occasioned by the movements of Daulat Rao Sindnia and Raghuji Bhonsle, met on November 28th and marched to Patharda on the Purua with the object of attacking the Marathas, now awaiting them at Argaon (Argaum) in the Akot taluk. The Maratha armies, though nearly as numerous as at Assaye, were neither so well disciplined nor so well appointed, and their artillery consisted of no more than thirty-eight guns. Their position was thus described by Wellesley in his despatches to his brother, the Governor-General:— 'The enefy's infantry and guns were in the left of their centre, with a body of cavalry on their left. Sindhia's army, consisting of one very heavy body of cavalry was on the right, having upon its right a body of Pindaris and other light troops. Their line extended above five miles, having in their rear the village and extensive gardens and enclosures of Argaum; and in their front a plain, which, however, was much cut by 'watercourses, etc.' The troops engaged at Argaon were the King's 19th Light Dragoons, 74th Highlanders, 78th Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs), and 94th Foot, the Company's artillery, the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Madras Native Cavalry and the following battalions of Madras Native Cavalry and Madras Native Infantry:—1st battalion 2nd (now the 62nd Punjabis), 2nd battalion 2nd (now the 80th Carnatic Infantry), 1st battalion 3rd (now the 63rd Palamcottah Light Infantry), 1st battalion 4th (now the 64th Pioneers), 1st battalion 6th (now the 66th Punjabis), 2nd battalion 7th (now the 79th carnatic infantry), 1st battalion 8th, 2nd battalion 9tn, 1st battalion 10th, 1st battalion 11th (now the 81st Pioneers), and 2nd battalion 12th (now the 84th Punjabis). The infantry were drawn up in one line with the 78th on the right. having the 74th on its immediate left and the 94tn on the extreme left of the line. The cavalry were formed in a second line, the regular cavairy being on the right and the Mugnal and Mysore horse on the left. The right of the line was somewnat cnrown forward in order that the first blow might be struck at the enemy's left. As the lines were forming at a distance of about 1,200 yards from the enemy the latter opened a cannonad which did no actual damage but threw nearly three entire battalions of native infantry, which had bebaved admirably under a much heavier fire at Assaye, into contusion. They took refuge in a village behind which the cavairy were naited prior to development, leaving the Highlanders and the artillery alone in the field on the right. fortunately Wenesrey was close at hand and was able to rally these battalions, but much valuable time was wasted, when the time was reformed the troops advanced in perfect order, the march of the 78th being directed against a battery of nine guns on the enemy's left. As this battery was approached a body of about 800 infantry, supposed to have been Persians, but more probably Arabs, which had been sheltered behind it, charged with the apparent intention of breaking through the interval between the 74th and 78tn. These two regiments, however, closed the interval and pressed on with ported arms to meet the enemy. A deep muddy nullah unfortunately prevented them from closing with the bayonet, but they maintained a steady fire until their assailants, who displayed the most obstinate courage, were entirely destroyed. Sindhia's cavalry charged the 6th Native infantry on the left of the line, next to the 94th, but were repulsed, and the Maratha army then broke and fled in confusion, leaving the whole of their artillery and ammunition in the hands of the victors. The British cavalry pursued them for many miles, destroying great numbers and capturing many elephants and camels and much baggage, and the Mughal and Mysore cavalry continued the pursuit with much slaughter. Wellesley wrote that had there been one hour's more daylight, not a man of the enemy would have escaped, and the delay caused by the unaccountable panic of some of his best native infantry was a great disappointment to him. The Marathas were, however, completely demoralized. Vithal Pant, who commanded Bhonsla's cavalry was killed and Gopal Bhau, who commanded Sindhia's cavalry, was wounded. After this signal victory Wellesley marched towards Ellichpur for the purpose of attacking Gawilgarh.] and Shinde was defeated in the battle of Lasvadi on 1st November 1803. The English signed the treaty of Devgaon with Bhosle on 17th December 1803 and that of Surji Anjangaon with Shinde on 30th December 1803.

Under the terms of the treaty of Devgaon, Raghuji Bhosle agreed to withdraw from the plains of Berar to the east of the Wardha river, retaining, however, the fortresses of Gavilgad and Narnala, and the Melghat. This treaty, which was described by the Governor-General in a private letter to his brother as wise honourable, and glorious,' was followed by another with Shinde. signed on December 29th at Anjangaon in the Daryapur tahsil. These two treaties brought the second Maratha war to a conclusion. After the treaties of Devgaon and Anjangaon,

Wellesley marched back to Jalna. After the close of the Maratha War of 1803, the Akola district was nominally at peace, but the people suffered much from the depredations of the Pendharis and from the results of maladministration. Extravagance at the capital led to wholesale borrowing and the approved method of satisfying creditors was farming to them parts of Berar. The lessee's term was uncertain for a more importunate creditor who sometimes obtained a lease over his head with authority to oust him and it was therefore to his interest to make as much money as he could in the shortest time possible without regard to the fate of cultivators. In 1804 the Nizam signed a treaty with the East India Company known as the partition treaty in addition to the one signed on 12th October 1800. [ The Treaty of 12th October 1800 A. D., concluded between the Nizam and the East India Company altered the status of Hyderabad from an Independent Political Unit to that of a State in subordinate co-operation with the British, while the troops of the East India Company, known as the Subsidiary Forces were to be stationed in perpetuity in the State of Hyderabad. The Nizam, on his part undertook, "neither to commence nor to pursue in future any negotiations with any other power whatever, without giving previous notice and entering into mutual consultation with the Honourable East India Company's Government, and never to commit any act of hostility or aggression against any power whatever; and in the event of any differences arising, whatever adjustment of them the Company's Government, weighing matters in the scale of truth and justice, may determine, shall meet with full approbation and acquiescence."]

By the partition treaty of Hyderabad (dated 1804), the whole of Berar, including districts east of the Wardha but excluding certain tracts left with the Nagpur Chief and the Peshva, was made over in perpetual sovereignty to the Nizam. The forts of Gawilgad and Narnala remained subject to Nagpur. Certain tracts about Sindkhed and Jalna, in the south-west corner of Berar, were restored by Shinde to the Hyderabad State. When in 1803, war had broken out with the Marathas the force sent by the Nizam with Wellesley's army had been commanded by one Raja Mahipat Ram. After peace was established, Mahipat Ram was appointed to manage Berar. Raja Mahipat was in charge of the Nizam's forces stationed in the western parts of the Nizam territories. After the death of Arastujah, the prime minister of the Nizam, in 1804 Mahipat Ram entertained hopes to succeed to the post held by Arastujah. But on the advice of the British resident, the Nizam Sikandar Jah appointed Mir Alam as prime minister which Mahipat Ram resented. In the year 1804 when the British undertook a campaign against Holkar, Mir Alam ordered Mahipat Ram to join the British with the stipulated forces as provided for in the treaty of 1800. The troops that joined the British under Mahipat Ram were few in number and extremely illequipped. They were also suspeeted to be anti-British being the remnants of the troops trained by the French. The British suspicion naturally fell upon Raja Mahipat Ram. Soon after the close of the campaign, Raja Mahipat Ram returned to Hyderabad on 3rd October 1805 and rapidly gained influence with the Nizam, Sikanda Jah. He counselled the Nizam against the British and Mir Alam and in his intrigues found a colleague in the person of Raja Raghottam Rav. However, through the efforts of some prominent noblemen and leaders of the palace, a complete breach between Mir Alam and the Nizam was prevented and Mahipat Ram left Hyderabad on 7th May 1806 to take up his post in Berar. Raja Mahipat Ram continued his intrigues from Berar goading the Nizam to adopt a defiant attitude towards the British. [ When he arrived at Basim, he sent two messengers to Shinde and Holkar with the sanction of the Nizam.] This found Mir Alam, a partisan of the British in extraordinary circumstances. The British were also perturbed and the resident on 28th November 1806 visited the Nizam and advised him to remove Raja Mahipat Rarn from the Governorship of Berar and lestore the prime minister Mir Alam to his former confidence and dignity. As this had no effect upon the Nizam, the resident decided to force the issue and issued secret orders to the commanding officers of the subsidiary force to hold in readiness for immediate movement the two regiments of cavalry and a battalion of sepoys with two brigades of field pieces. This had the desired effect and the Nizam on the advice of Amjad-ul-mulk issued orders for the dismissal of Raja Mahipat Ram from the Governorship of Berar and restored Mir Alam to confidence.

Raja Mahipat Ram was succeeded in the government by Raja Govind Baksh as subhedar of Berar and Aurangabad. [ It may he noted here that Raja Mahipat Ram, who had gone to Sagar, carried on intrigues and maintained regular correspondence with his agents at Aurangabad, Wasim, and Pune.]

As stated earlier, it was in 1803 that the British defeated Shinde and Bhosle and concluded separate treaties with them viz., Surji Anjangaon and Devgaon respectively. These treaties clearly defined the boundaries of the States of Hyderabad, Nagpur and Gwalior and brought about the realignment of their territorial possessions. As they also affected Berar,as Berar was ceded to the Nizam, the terms of both the treaties are reproduced below:—

Treaty of Devgaon :—

1. The Province of Cuttack with its whole coast to be ceded to the English;

2. The province of western Berar up to the river Wardha to be ceded to the Nizam;

3. Bhosle to respect the treaties concluded with his feudatories by the British.

4. Bhosle to dissolve the Maratha Confederacy and entertain no enemy of the English in his service.

Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon:—

1. Shinde to cede to the British the Yamuna-Ganga Doab, the Delhi-Agra region along the Yamuna, parts of Bundelkhand, Broach and some districts of Gujarat, the Fort of Ahmadnagar and the Ajanta region up to the Godavari;

2. Shinde to renounce his control upon the Emperor, and also;

3. To relinquish all claims on the Peshva, the Nizam, and the Gaikvad and recognise the independence of all those feudatories who had made separate engagements with the British.

4. Shinde not to entertain in his sevice any Frenchman or American or any other enemies of the British. Shinde was asked to accept a British Subsidiary Force which he declined to do. On further representation Burhanpur and Ashirgad were restored to him. The territory of Berar ceded by Bhosle was given to the Nizam for his cooperation in the war.

The peace of Devgaon put a stop to actual warfare in Berar; but the people continued to suffer intermittently from the inroads of Pendharis, and incessantly from misgovernment. The province had been restored to the Nizam just at the time when confusion in his dominions was at its worst. "The Nizam's territories" are, writes General Wellesley (January 1804), "one complete chaos from the Godavari to Haidarabad." In 1803 Barshi Takli, Kantal, and Argaon, small country, towns were sacked by free booting bands. [ An interesting account of the Nizam's infantry stationed in Berar is found in the dispatch of the Resident dated 10th December 1806.] "It was now that Meer Allum determined to reform the corps of infantry in Berar, and place them on a respectable footing under the command of English officers who are already in the service of this State. To effect this reasonable reform and to enable the English officers to create and maintain a proper influence and authority over their respective corps, it will be of much importance that a detachment of British troops should be stationed in Berar. By the general influence and example derived from the presence of a British detachment, and under the regulation which Meer Allum intends to adopt, for the regular payment, clothing, and equipment of the corps in Berar, it may be expected that these corps will gradually attain to a degree of discipline and subordination which may render them useful and creditable auxiliaries in any future war." In 1809 the Pendharis advanced close up to Ellichpur, but retired on finding the place too strong for them. Another party plundered Bashim at the time; and Pimpalgaon, near Jalgaon, was sacked and gutted on another occasion. Patur was burnt to ashes, they say, in 1808. In 1813 two Maratha leaders occupied Fatekherda pargana for more than three months; they sacked Fatekherda town, and generally plundered the country. Then (according to local information) came the Naiks, who robbed house by house, and shared with the Pendharis a violent aversion to written papers. Like Jack Cade, they thought it a lamentable thing that parchment being scribbled over should undo a man; and so they are said to have destroyed many valuable sanads among other documents.

It may be doubted whether the acts of these were more injurious to the country than were the great revenue farmers who succeeded them. It is not surprising that of all these lessees one firm only, that of Messrs. Pestonji and Company, attempted to improve in any way the condition of the cultivator and the resources of the province. [ Puran Mal, a great money lender of Hyderabad, in this way held most of Berar in farm. In 1839 he was ousted by Pestonji and Company, an enterprising Parsi firm whose methods with the cultivators contrasted very favourably with those of other farmers. Pestonji, however, was deprived of his lease in 1845, in spite of his plea that forty lakhs were still due to him, and revenue collectors were forcibly ejected, not without bloodshed, from Akola and Balapur. They were succeeded in Akola by a rapacious Talukdar who robbed the people without protecting them from other robbers and drove many of them to Amraoti for refuge.]

During this period there were a number of mutinies in the Nizam's army against the Europeans. The reform of the Nizam's troops including those in Berar was taken up. "The regular corps in the service of the Nizam form a body entirely distinct in every particular from the corps composing the remainder of his army. They now consist of three brigades two in the Berar and one at Hyderabad. Of the two brigades in Berar the first is commanded by Mr. Elliot, who has been 17 years in the Nizam's army, and served during the Seringapatam campaign in 1799, and the second by Mr. Eraser, who was formerly in His Majesty's 65th Regiment, and entered the Nizam's service in 1809. "Under the new scheme"' the whole force of irregular cavalry in Berar was to consist of 8,000 men distributed into four separate Risalas of 2,000 men each. The organization of those troops was placed in the hands of a European Officer as Commandant, aided by five of the Company's Officers, one of whom was to be a staff officer of the Commandant." In 1816 the depredations of the Pendharis in Berar roused the British Government to expostulate with the Nizam; and by the Resident's counsel no iess than 7,500 horse were stationed in the province for its protection. "The State of Hyderabad at this time was in a very bad condition. The army of Hyderabad which was a mere rabble was nearly 70,000 in strength and was costing the State exchequer a major portion of the revenue. Large parts of the State were in a State of prolonged rebellion against the Government which was ineffective in dealing with them. The Hutkers, a war-like community in the districts of Nanded, Parbhani and Berar, across the river Painganga, were in open rebellion from 1798 A. D. Similarly the Zamindars of Sironcha and Mahadevpur were in rebellion from the same year. There was practically a collapse of administration in the country at this time. Added to this financiers like Palmer and Company were exploiting the financial embarrassment of the State to the fullest extent. It was at this time that the Third Maratha War started. In 1817 the Peshva Baji Rav II fought against the British in the battle of Khadki. He was defeated and had to flee from Pune. The Nizam's army was co-operating with the British in this war and the Hyderabad Contingent took a leading part in the operations in the Deccan and Malva. Not all of the Nizam's officers were friendly to the British."

The war of 1817-18 did not seriously affect the tranquillity of Berar, though there was fighting with the Maratha States on the east and west, and against the Pendharis beyond the Satpudas. The Hyderabad subsidiary force had been moved up to Ellichpur, and took part in the campaign. When the Peshva had been driven out of his territories in 1818 he fled across the southern part of Berar by Umarkhed towards Chanda. pursued by Generals Doveton and Smith; but he stopped at the junction of the Painganga and Wardha, having discovered, that no aid from the Bhosle chief could be expected. Here he got hemmed in. and at Seoni (or Pandarkavda), in the south-east corner of the Wun district, he lost many men in a skirmish with Colonel Adams. Thence he fled northward in to the Satpuda hills, and finally surrendered from Dholkot. near Ashirgad.

"Thus the Maratha War ended with the surrender of Baji Rav on 6th June 1818 A. D. In the arrangements with the Nizam which followed, the British gave up their claims to Chauth on Hyderabad to which they had succeeded after the Marathas. Portions of the Peshva's territory situated in Berar were also handed over to the Nizam. The Nizam's Government was thus freed from the perpetual domination of the Marathas and could now breathe a sigh of relief."

It may here be pointed out that the Hyderabad contingent forces were now placed on a very efficient footing. "They were nominally in the Nizam's service but the actual control over them with regard to their formation, location and disposal was in the hands of the Resident. It was with these forces that the British were able to put down rebellions against Hyderabed which were continuously taking place in one part or the other of the State from 1818 down to 1857 A. D." Thus the Berar infantry along with the Russell Brigade and Reformed Horse was used to suppress the rebellion of Naiks in the neighbourhood of Umarkhed in 1819. Similarly the Berar infantry was also used in the suppression of the zamindars of Sironcha and Mahadevpur in 1823.

After the conclusion of the war of 1818 with the Marathas a fresh treaty was made in 1822. which settled the frontier of Berar, and conferred upon the Nizam all the country west of the Wardha. The tracts lying east of that river were at length formally ceded to Nagpur, but the districts taken by the Peshva in 1795, and those which had been left to Bhosle in 1803, were all restored to the Hyderabad State. Thus the parganas across the Wardha, of Ashti, Arwi, and Amner, which had belonged to Berar from very early days, were at length separated from this province; but the forts of Gavilgad and Narnala were recovered, with the subjacent parganas of Akot, Argaon, and others, and all the hill-range known as the Melghat. Umarkhed and other tracts in the south-east were taken from the Peshva while all claims by the Marathas on the Nizam for chauth were for ever extinguished.

The reigning Nizam was at this time Sikandar Jah, a prince who had neither the will nor the capacity to look after public-business; and his minister was Raja Chandu Lal, a clever revenue officer, who, having been lifted to the highest pinnacle of State entirely by British influence, broke down eventually as an administrator, and by his corruption and weakness disorganised the government. Sikandar Jah died in 1829, but Chandu Lal did not resign until 1843, having in the interval shown a real genius for maladministration, of which Berar bore its share.

From the report of Sir H. Russell, Resident at Hyderabad it appears that in 1820 the troops in Berar amounted nominally to 26,000, an extravagant number which proves the disorder of the country and the improvidence of its rulers. The report says further that "this province is naturally the most fertile part of the Nizam's dominions, but that it has suffered severely from Pendharis and from the depredations of Naiks and Bhils, in so much that the net revenue collected is not now (1815-20) more than half the sum which the province was estimated to yield at the close of the war in 1803. This is just what Wellesley predicted in 1804. "Unless the Subah (he writes [ 11th February 1804, Despatches.]) be forced to reform his military establishment, take my word for it that the average of the Nizam's receipts (from Berar) for the next ten years will be even less than those of the last ten". And Wellesley goes on to point out, with characteristic sagacity, how the sudden cessation of arms in the Deccan must for the time even aggravate civil disorder under native government. Large bodies of troops are disbanded, who become gangs of plunderers too strong for the weak police, while the spread of British annexation establishes rigid irresistible order all round, and drives all the brigands of India within the narrow limits of Native States which they can ravage with impunity.

The Nizam, writes Sir H. Russell, is considered the universal heir of all his subjects. This was the ancient prerogative of the Moghal emperors, who maintained it in a country upon which we now hesitate to impose a slight legacy-duty but it must have seriously checked the investment of capital in Berar. Then the whole of the Nizam's land-revenue was at this period farmed out to publicans, who adhered to no rates, but squeezed what they could out of the ryot's crop, his goods and chattels. One Raja Bisan Chand, who held the greater part of Berar valley in farm about 1831, has left a name at which the Kunbi still grows pale to pronounce it in the early morning being unlucky. Petty local revolts were common; the deshmukhs stood up for their hereditary rights; the farmers took what they could by main force; and there was frequent faction-fighting in the towns between Rajputs and Musalmans. Both parties, however, were good shooters and bad hitters; more goods were lost than lives; but campaigns lasting several days were fought out in the streets of Akot, each side being joined by partisans from the whole country-side; and Malka-pur was on one occasion fairly sacked and clean swept by the victorious Hindus.

These affrays at Akot and Malkapur only five years before Berar was assigned to the Company is a fair example of the estimation in which the Government was held as the guardian of the peace. In 1837 a Musalman shot dead a Rajput of Dattala who had insulted him at the Pimpalgaon fair. The act generated a blood feud, and twelve years later Lal Singh of Dattala, without warning or fresh provocation, assembled a band of nearly three thousand Hindus to avenge his relation's death. The fanatical Sikhs of Nanded on the Godavari sent a contingent of five hundred men and the first news of the impending attack came to the Musalmans of Malkapur from their friends at Patur, who sent hasty word that this formidable company was marching by. The Rajputs and Sikhs assaulted Malkapur. There was the usual street fighting, burning, sacking, and slaying, though not many lives were lost, and the Muhammedans were worsted. This was, however, only the first game of the rubber, for the Musalmans were flocking to the fray from neighbouring towns; from Burhanpur especially a strong body had set out. The police and the local militia under the talukdar were utterly powerless, but detachments of the Nizam's army [ The Hyderabad contingent.] under Major Arthur Wyndham, then arrived and found Malkapur empty and deserted. The Musalmans had been driven out and the Rajputs had retreated to Dattala, where they afterwards had a skirmish with the troops.

The country was harried from time to time by bands of men under leaders who set up in defiance of the government on various pretexts, but always with the real object of plundering. Such a captain would start with a small party, and would soon be joined, unless at once put down by all the adventurers of the Deccan. If a Hindu, he sometimes pretended to be Appa Saheb (the Nagpur Raja, who escaped from British custody in 1819); and preached delivery of Berar from the Musalman yoke. In 1841 one Mogut Rav came with a small company to a village near Jalgaon, declaring himself to be a chief of Shindes family, and offering great rewards to all who would join him in conquering Berar. He assembled a crowd of armed persons, and even seduced some men of substance; with these he drove out the Nizams officers and for a short time occupied that side of the country. He was put down and driven out by the combined forces of the talukdars and the irregular force under British officers, but not without much marching and skirmishing of a rather serious kind. Mogut Rav had hoisted the Bhosle flag on the walls of Jamod (Akola district), and made a fair stand there, the Deshmukhs and Deshpandes all assisting him. Then in 1848 came from Nagpur a man who called himself Appa Saheb, the ex-Raja of Nagpur. In the Wun district he publicly proclaimed his pretension to Berar, and was actively supported as usual, by all the hereditary Hindu officials. With their aid he collected troops and arms throughout Berar, engaged a gang of Rohillas, and openly took the field with about 4.000 men. The British irregular forces pursued him, and attacked his party posted among hills near Kalam, when the rebels were driven off; but Brigadier Onslow died on the field from a fall from his horse. This was in May 1849. In June Brigadier Hampton's cavalry by forced marches got Appa Saheb's banditti within reach of their sabres; after a shaip and spirited action, in which the Brigadier was dangerously wounded. Appa Saheb was captured, and his followers dispersed. [It may here be mentioned that the last fight of this kind in.Berar was at Chichamba, near Risod, in 1859, when a plundering party of Rohillas was pursued by a detachment of the Hyderabad Contingent into the village. Being thus driven to bay behind walls, they resisted an assault by the fatigued Contingent infantry, and Captain Mackinnon was there killed.]

Throughout these troubles the behaviour of the Hindu deshmukhs and other pargana officers was most significantly treasonable against the Nizam's government. They did their best to thwart his commanders and to abet the pretenders, although the rebel bands plundered and ravished wherever they went. [ Military correspondence in Presidency office.]

After the old-war-time came the "cankers of a clan world." For then began the palmy days of the great farmer's general at Hyderabad, who flourished like green bay-trees. Messrs Palmer and Company overshadowed the Government, and very nearly proved too strong for Sir C. Metcalfe, when he laid the axe to the root of their powers; they had lent large loans at 24 per cent to the Nizam's government, for the maintenance of that very numerous cavalry which (as has been already mentioned) was organised at the instance of the British Resident for the protection of Berar. Then Puran Mal, a mighty moneylender of Hyderabad, got most of Berar in farm, but in 1839 he was turned out of his districts by the Nizam's minister, under pressure from the British Resident. Puran Mal refused to quit hold of his security for advances made and showed fight when Messrs. Pestanji sent agents to take his place-for alter all the Nizam had only changed his banker. However, Puran Mal had to give up; but he presented to the Hyderabad government an account showing balance due to him of two millions sterling which the ministry altogether refused to pay, proving, by a different system of book-keeping, that Puran Mal was deeply in debt to the treasury.

Messrs. Pestanji and Company had no better luck in the sequel. These were enterprising Parsi merchants, who in 1825-26 made, according to their own statement, the first considerable exportation of cotton from Berar to Bombay. They gave liberal advances to cotton-growers, set up cotton screws at Khamgaon and other places, and took up generally the export of produce from the Nizam's country. In 1841 large assignments of revenue in Berar, for reimbursement of advances to the State were made to them by Chandu Lal; but in 1843 that minister resigned, having conducted the State to the verge of bankruptcy and Pestanji had to deal with another cabinet. He claimed about forty lakhs of rupees. Nevertheless, in 1845, he was ordered to give up his Berar districts; and on his refusal his collecting agents were attacked at Parbhani, Balapur, and Akola. Sixteen of his men were killed at the places first named, so he was forced to evacuate the assignments; while his subsequent importunities for payment seem to have been stayed off by exchequer bills and cheques on native bankers, which all proved inconvertible currency [ "How do you mean to pay the native bankers?" said Sir. C. Metcalfe to Chandu Lal, when the Nizam's debts were under adjustment. "Pay them," answered the Minister, "why, I don't mean to pay them at all they have received interest over and over "again, and III pay no more." Speech of Mr. Russell before the Court of Proprietors (1825), quoted in Bigg's Nizam.]

Messrs. Pestanji and Company had made large and liberal advances to land tenants in Berar; they had thus restored cultivation over wide tracts, and rekindled the lamp in many deserted villages. Among Berar agriculturists they have left a very good reputation.

All these proceedings may have damaged the State's credit, as Raja Chandu Lal's financing had hampered its revenue; for in 1845 and in several succeeding years, the pay of the Nizam's irregular force, maintained under the treaty of 1800 had to be advanced by the British Government. In 1850, it had fallen again into heavy arrears. There were other unsatisfied claims of the British Government on the Nizam: and his whole debt amounted to forty-five lakhs in 1853. The bankruptcy of the Hyderabad Government disorganized their administration; the non-payment of the troops continued to be a serious political evil. Therefore, in 1853, a new treaty was concluded with the Nizam, under which the existing Hyderabad contingent force was maintained by the British Government, in lieu of the troops which the Nizam had been previously bound to furnish on demand in time of war; while, for the payment of this contingent, and other claims on the Nizam, districts yielding a gross revenue of fifty lakhs of rupees were assigned to the British Government. And the districts in Berar-Payanghat and Balaghat-which this treaty assigned to British management, are now popularly understood to form the province of Berar, although they do not all coincide in extent with the boundaries of that province under the Nizam, still less with the imperial subha. Berar was thus divided into two districts South Berar (the Balaghat) with headquarters at Hingoli and North Berar with headquarters at Buldhana.

The territory made over to the British under this treaty comprised, besides the Assigned Districts as they now exist, the districts of Dharashiv (Osmanabad) and the Raichur Doab. It was agreed that accounts should be annually rendered to the Nizam, and that any surplus revenue should be paid to him. The Nizam was released from the obligations of furnishing a large force in time of war;the contingent ceased to be part of the Nizam's army, and became an auxiliary force kept up by the British Government for the Nizam's use. [ Aitchison's Treaties.] The details of the background to the treaty of 1853 from the time general Fraser came to Hyderabad as Resident in 1838 are as under: General Fraser perceived very early that the Government of Hyderabad was involved in financial difficulties due to the pernicious principle of farming out districts and assignment of revenues for meeting its debt obligations. The expenditure on its irregular army was very heavy with the result that while on the one hand the debts of the State were increasing there was also an annual deficit of about 60 lakhs of rupees in the State finance. Hyderabad had paid heavily for its financial difficulties when in 1822-23 Hyderabad had to forego the Peshkash from the Northern Circars once for all to meet its obligation to Palmer and Company. Difficulties on the same scale were mounting up in Hyderabad in 1840-41. There was no attempt at reforming the administration and the uncertain policy of the Residents after the departure of Sir Charles Metcalfe in not forcing Hyderabad to adopt measures of revenue reforms and cutting down expenditure, had brought the administration virtually to a standstill. General Fraser perceived that Chandu-lal the Minister had outlived his usefulness and that he was the general obstacle to reforms. Chandulal had stood by the British, assisted them in the third Maratha war, agreed to the establishment of the Contingent, had never opposed its increased numbers of expenses and had accepted any and every measure which would benefit the East India Company in any war; but he had never shown any urge to reform the administration. His one aim was to maintain his power with the help of the British.

The Government of India was always reluctant to ask for reforms in the State on the grounds that this would amount to interference in the internal affairs of the State; but where it was the question of the consolidation of the Contingent, the Government of India always found means to take strong and effectual measures without any scruples. General Fraser urged constantly the necessity for reforms in the State but this was not agreed to by the successive Governors General of his period, viz., Lord Auckland, Lord Ellenborough, Lord Hardinge and Marquis Dalhousie.

General Fraser's first efforts were directed towards the removal of Raja Chandulal from his post. This result was achieved when owing to increasing financial embarrassment and the lack of support from the Resident, Raja Chandulal made one last desperate attempt in April 1843 by applying for a loan of one crore of rupees to clear off the State in lieu of assignment of territory yielding 17 lakhs of rupees annually as security for the payment of the debt. This was not agreed to with the result that Raja Chandulal resigned in 1843. He was succeeded by Siraj-ul-mulk after a long delay of 18 months. Siraj-ul-mulk's ministry was also a failure as nothing could be done to meet the financial obligations. Meanwhile Lord Dalhousie had arrived in India. After a brief tenure as Minister, Siraj-ul-mulk was removed from his office on 10th of November 1848 and Shams-ul-Umara was appointed as minister in his place. Lord Dalhousie continued to insist on the discharge of the debt for the Contingent and would do nothing to accept the Resident's recommendations for reforms in the State. Shams-ul-Umara too resigned after a brief period of five months. The prospect of the settlement of debt remained as remote as ever and the monthly payment of the Contingent continued to remain in arrears. Lord Dalhousie directed the Resident to require that the whole amount should be paid by the 31st of December 1850; in case of failure decided steps which would mean the exaction of territorial security for the amount would be taken. Lord Dalhousie even enquired of the districts which would be useful for this purpose. It was found that these districts would be Berars. The average annual expenses of the Contingent were about 40 lakhs of rupees; beside this the Nizam's own army consisting of irregulars was costing the Government of Hyderabad double this sum. It was due to this heavy expenditure and also maladministration that the Government of Hyderabad had run into heavy debts. The debts of Hyderabad to the East India Company had by 1850 amounted to 64 lakhs of rupees. The duties of Shams-ul-Umra were now entrusted to Raja Ram Buksh. Even he could not carry on for a long time and after a brief interval Siraj-ul-mulk was once again made the Minister. The Hyderabad Government had by this time paid upwards of 42 lakhs of rupees under heavy pressure and a second instalment of about 32 lakhs of rupees had been promised to be paid by the end of October 1851. As by this time the Nizam had announced that in the reduction of troops contemplated, the Contingent would not be included, Lord Dalhousie decided in January 1853 not to proceed for some time to extreme measures. These extreme measures which had been contemplated were to take over some districts in mortgage as security for the debts. Although this plan was suspended for some time, protracted correspondence went on between the Resident and the Minister on the very partial imperfect manner in which the arrears of the Contingent were being paid. By this time Lord Dalhousie had made up his mind to have the Berar province by means of treaty. He had already on 10th of April 1852 directed the Resident to make every possible arrangement for the regular payment of the Contingent, "abstaining at this moment from pressing for the payment of the principal of the Company's debt." This Lord Dalhousie achieved by the treaty of 21st of May 1853. General Fraser resigned in November 1852 and was succeeded by Colonel Low. On taking charge, the Resident had to advance a large sum of money from the Company's treasury to pay the Contingent so that by March 1853 the debt of the Government of Hyderabad had again 'gone up to 45 lakhs of rupees. In April 1853 the Resident, under the orders of the Government of India placed before the Nizam a proposal for a new treaty. This treaty concluded on 21st of May 1853 laid down that "in lieu of the present Contingent the company agreed to maintain an auxiliary force to be paid from the Nizam's revenue and entitled the Hyderabad Government to provide for the regular payment of this force and certain obligations." The Nizam agreed to assign districts yielding an annual gross revenue of 50 lakhs of rupees. Reciprocally the Government of India accepted that any surplus revenue accruing from these districts, after the necessary charges were met, was to be made over to the Nizam. The treaty secured to the Nizam the full use of the auxiliary troops. It also released him from the liability of being called upon to supply a large military force in times of war and from the immediate payment of 50 lakhs of rupees.

Thus the province of Berar and the districts of Osmanbad and Raichur were taken over by the East India Company and these regions passed under its direct administration.

As stated earlier the province of Berar was divided into Northern and Southern Berars and the administration of the Berars was vested in the British resident at Hyderabad. The Northern Berar had an area of 6400 square miles and a population of 9,50,000 with an annual income of Rs. 25,40,500. The Southern Berar occupied an area of 8200 square miles and had a population of 5,13,000 yielding an annual revenue of about Rs. 7,70,800. The Southern Berar included some part of the Ex-Hyderabad State such as Hingoli.

It may be pointed out here that the provisions of the Treaty of 1853 which required the submission of annual accounts of the Assigned Districts to the Nizam, were productive of much inconvenience and embarrassing discussions. Difficulties had also arisen regarding the levy of the 5 per cent duty on goods under the commercial treaty of 1802. To remove these difficulties, and it the same tine to reward the Nizam for his services in the revolt of 1857 which had scarcely affected Berar a new treaty was concluded in December 1860, by which the debt of fifty lakhs due by the Nizam was cancelled; the territory of Surapur, which had been confiscated for the rebellion of the Raja, was ceded to the Nizam; and the districts of Osmanbad and the Raichur Doab were restored to him. On the other hand the Nizam ceded certain districts on the left bank of the Godavari, traffic on which river was to be free from all duties and agreed that the remaining Assigned Districts in Berar together with other districts, making up a gross revenue of Rs. 32,00,000 should be held in trust by the British Government for the purposes specified in the Treaty of 1853, but that no demand for accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the Assigned Districts should be made. [ Wun Revenue Records.] Certain territorial exchanges were also made, with the object of bringing under British administration those lands within these districts which were held in Jagir for payment of troops, or which were allotted for the Nizam's privy purse.

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