Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/194

 the faithful servant of the glorious King Abdullah Qutb Shah, in the month of Rajab, A. H. 1252 (A. D. 1642). Just within the gate of the citadel is an extensive armoury of three stories. The summit of the steep rocky hill on which the inner citadel is situated is crowned by a large hall with a flat roof, whence a magnificent view of the surrounding country may be obtained. Here, we may imagine, the successors of the resourceful and accomplished Turk were wont to sit in the cool of the evening, enjoying the fresh breeze and surveying the fair landscape spread out around them, and from this point of vantage Abul Hasan, the last of that kingly line, doubtless watched, with mingled apprehension and amusement, the efforts of the great host of the emperor of Delhi to wrest from him his fortress capital, the last possession that remained to him of all his dominions.

We now come to the most stirring and interesting event in the history of Golconda — its siege and capture by the Emperor Aurangzib, and the extinction of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. Aurangzib had, in his younger days, been viceroy of the Deccan in the reign of his father, Shah Jahan, and had made Aurangabad his capital. He had even then formed the resolve of overthrowing the two remaining independent kingdoms of the Deccan, Bijapur and Golconda, and in the case of the latter very nearly carried his purpose into execution. In 1665-6 Mir Jumla, the most powerful subject of Abdullah Qutb Shah, had by his arrogance deeply offended his master, to whom his great power and wealth rendered him an object of fear and envy. Abdullah Qutb Shah, on being informed that an improper intimacy existed between Mir Jumla and the queen-mother, lost control of his passion and declared that he would revenge himself on his presumptuous subject. Mir Jumla who was absent from Court, hearing of his master's anger, at once wrote a letter to Aurangzib, claiming his protection and offering to assist him in capturing Golconda, an enterprise which, he declared, would present no difificulties. Abdullah Qutb Shah's next move was to throw Mir Jumla's son, Mir Muhammad Amin, into prison. Repeated letters from Aurangzib, directing the release of the young man, produced no result, and the prince accordingly, with the consent of his father the emperor, who ordered the governor of Malwa and the neighbouring feudatories to render all the assistance they could, prepared to march