Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/149

CHAP. VI.] was to strike down the most notorious brigand chiefs and secure a nominal profession of allegiance to the Emperor from the border clans. The Imperial suzerainty once admitted in theory, its practical working out might be left for better times.

A large Baluch tribe name Hot had migrated into Sindh and the Panjab under Mir Chakar Rind of Sibi, and split up into branches. One section held the upper Derajat for two centuries with Dera Ismail Khan as their capital. Their chiefs bore the title of Ismail Khan from generation to generation and stretched their lordship over Darya Khan and Bhakkar east of the Indus. In the Sind Sagar Doab stood Mankera, another Hot stronghold, and the capital of a principality which in the beginning of the 17th century stretched from Bhakkar to Leiah on the Indus. In course of time the Hots have become assimilated to their Jat and Rajput neighbours, and their power and number have declined. But the seventeenth century was the period of their greatness. Their chief, Ismail Hot, sent presents to Shah Jahan and secured a patron in Dara Shukoh. Taking advantage of his position on