Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/62

 Towards the close of Akbar's reign, the Mughal Empire began to extend beyond the Narmada

river, which had so long been its southern boundary, except for the coast-strip running from Guzerat to Surat. Khandesh, the rich Tapti valley, was annexed in the year 1599. Taking advantage of the discord and weakness reigning in Ahmadnagar, Akbar wrested from it Berar, the southern portion of the present Central Provinces. The murder of the heroic Chand Bibi by her factious nobles delivered the city of Ahmadnagar into his hands (1600); the boy Sultan was deposed and the kingdom annexed. Thus in a few years the Mughal frontier had been pushed from the Narmada to the upper