Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/81

CHAP. III.] of the Nasik district, and 100 miles east and west across the Ghats. It contained only a thousand villages and nine forts, but no town of note. Small as was its area, its well-watered valleys and hill-slopes smiled with corn-fields and gardens; all kinds of fruits grew here and many of them were famous throughout India for their excellence. The climate, except in the rainy season, is cool and bracing. The State was further enriched by the fact that the main line of traffic between the Deccan and Guzerat had run through it for ages.

A Rathor family, claiming descent from the royal house of ancient Kanauj, had ruled this land in unbroken succession for fourteen centuries. The Rajahs styled themselves Shah and used the distinctive title of. They coined money in their own names and enjoyed great power from the advantageous situation of their country and the impregnable strength of their hill forts, two of which, Saler and Mulher, were renowned throughout India as unconquerable.