Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/165

Rh appropriation of booty, however, he was inexorable. Common goods belonged to the finder, but treasure, gold, silver, gems, and satins, must be surrendered untouched to the State.

Sivají's rule now extended on the sea coast from Kalyiní in the north to the neighbourhood of Portuguese Goa, a distance of over 250 miles; east of the Gháts it reached from Poona down to Mirich on the Kistna; and its breadth in some parts was as much as 100 miles. It was not a vast dominion, but it supported an army of over 50,000 men, and it had been built up with incredible patience and daring. Like the tiger of his own highland forests, Sivají had crouched and waited until the moment came for the deadly spring. He owed his success as much to feline cunning as to boldness in attack.

He was freed from anxiety on the score of his eastern neighbour the King of Bíjápúr, whose lands he had plundered at his will, and he now longed for fresh fields of rapine. The Hindús had become his friends, or bought his favour, and offered few occasions for pillage. He therefore turned to the Mughal territory to the north. Hitherto he had been careful to avoid giving offence to his adopted suzerain, but now he felt himself strong enough to risk a quarrel. His irrepressible thirst for plunder found ample exercise in the Mughal districts, and though he deprecated an assault upon the capital, lest he should provoke the Emperor to a war of extermination, he pushed