AFTER THE WAR                            191

seemed to feel, equally irritated against the father and
the son, and Jesseingue, apprehending that he might avail
himself of this pretext to seize his territories, abandoned
his command in the Decan and hastened to the defence of
his dominions, but he died on his arrival at Brampour.^
The kindness shown by the Mogol to the Raja's soii,^
when apprised of this melancholy event; his tender
condolences, and the grant to him of the pension enjoyed
by the father, confirm many persons in the opinion that
Seva-Gi did not escape without the connivance of Aureng-
Zebe himself. His presence at court must indeed have
greatly embarrassed the King, since the hatred of the
women was most fierce and rancorous against him : they
considered him as a monster who had imbued his hands
in the blood of friends and kinsmen.^

But here let us take a cursory review of the history of
the Decan, a kingdom that, during more than forty years,
has coirstantly been the theatre of war, and owing to
which the Mogol is so frequently embroiled with the
King of Golkonda, the King of Visapour, and several other
less powerful sovereigns. The nature of the quarrels in
that part of Hindoustan cannot be well understood while
we remain ignorant of the chief occurrences and have
only an imperfect knowledge of the condition of the
Princes by whom the country is governed.

' Burhanpur.                                           ^ Ram .Singh.

' Fryer's account {op. cit. pp. 173, 174) of these transactions agrees
with Bernier's narrative in m.-my particulars, and with regard to Sivaji's
escape from Dehli (Agra according to Fryer), he says that Aurangzeb,
'desirous to try if by Kindness he could reclaim this famous Rebel,
allures him to Court (Faith being plighted for his Safety), where shortly
after, the Outcries of the Women in whose Kindred's Blood his hands
Avere imbrued, made him shift for himself in an Hamper on a Porter's
Back, which passed the Guards among many others, which were forced
to be sent as Piscashes' [Peshcush, Persian pesh-kash, a present to a
great man, etc.] 'to his Friends, as the manner is when under Con¬
finement : With this Slight he got away (not without the Mogul's
Privity), and 'tis believed will hardly venture to Agra again, unless
better guarded.'