Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/374

344 patent to Bijapur, and all hope of getting Parenda or the promised indemnity would be gone. And at the same time his other enemies in the South would raise their heads: Golkonda would recover the reluctantly ceded and eagerly coveted province of Karnatak; Shivaji would raid the Junnar and Ahmadnagar districts. In short, the fruits of the last two years' warfare in the South would be totally lost to him.

The whole

history of Aurangzib's changing anxieties and hopes, plans and devices, and the variations of his policy with every fresh development during this eventful period, is clearly and fully unfolded in his numerous confidential letters to Mir Jumla preserved in the Adab-i-Alamgiri. Briefly put, his first plan was to realise the terms of the Bijapur treaty as quickly as possible and then, secure about the Deccan, to embark on the struggle for the throne. The success of this plan, depended on the Bijapuris promptly keeping their promises, before the secret of Shah Jahan's helpless illness leaked out. The letters tell the story of how the hope of a speedy settlement with Bijapur daily grew fainter