Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/54

42 headquarters. The Deccanis were three times defeated in the open field, but the imperialists could not profit by their victories, for they were continually harassed by the Maratha horse and were again compelled to retreat to Balapur. Hither the Marathas followed them and reduced them to such a plight by cutting off their supplies that many were fain to desert to Malik Ambar and the rest were compelled to retreat to Burhanpur, leaving Berar and Khandesh once more in the hands of Malik Ambar. At the end of the year, Shahjahan was again despatched with large reinforcements to the Deccan, and, after defeating the Deccanis, who hemmed in the imperial army at Burhanpur, pursued them as far as Khirki. Malik Ambar had barely time to remove Murtaza Nizam Shah for safety to Daulatabad before Shahjahan arrived. Khirki was captured and so laid waste that " the city which had taken twenty years in the building would not be restored for twenty years to come." Shahjahan then raised the siege of Ahmadnagar, and, after receiving promises of submission from Malik Ambar, who agreed to restore all the country captured from the Mughals, together with other districts yielding a revenue of fourteen crores of rupees, and to pay an indemnity of fifty lakhs of rupees, withdrew to Berar. Soon after this Shahjahan rebelled against his father, but was defeated and forced to flee to the Deccan, where he took refuge, in the Qutb Shahi dominions. In 1624 Mahabat Khan, Jahangir's general, sent a force to the Balaghat to receive the envoy of Ibrahim Adil Shah II, and Malik Ambar, hearing of its approach, placed his family in Daulatabad and fled with Murtaza Nizam Shah to Kandhar in the Qutb Shahi dominions, leaving Khirki undefended. He then entered into correspondence with Muhammad Qutb Shah, and demanded from him two years' arrears of the annual contribution which he had formerly agreed to pay towards the expenses of the army maintained to oppose the imperial forces. The money was paid and the treaty was renewed, and Malik Ambar then turned his attention to Ibrahim Adil Shah, who had entered into a treaty with Jahangir and had in return been nominated by him governor of the whole of the Deccan. Bidar, which had since the fall of the Barid Shahi dynasty been included in the Adil Shahi dominions, was plundered, and Malik Ambar then advanced and besieged Ibrahim in his capital of Bijapur. Ibrahim appealed to the imperial governor at