CHAP. III.] MUGHALS OPPOSED IN DECCAN. 35
But a fresh complication now arose. The Sultans of Bijapur and Golkonda cast longing glances at the adjacent forts and districts of Ahmadnagar, and tried to secure parts of the floating wreckage of the ruined kingdom. Nizam Shahi officers entered the service of the Bijapur king or were secretly aided by him in resisting the Mughals. He bribed them to give up to him some of their late master's forts. Shahji Bhonsla, the father of the celebrated Shivaji, with his light cavalry gave the Mughals great trouble. He could not be finally subdued without first getting control over Bijapur and Golkonda.'--'
The occasion called for heroic exertions, and Shah Jahan made his prepara-
.Sr/o/wir" t'°°^ °" a. befitting scale. For more efficient administration, Daulatabad and Ahmadnagar were now separat- ed from the province of Khandesh and made an
of his minister Fatih Khan (the son of Ambar), was given up to the Mughals at the capture of Daulatabad, 17th June 1633, (Abdul Hamid I. A. 528) and imprisoned in Gwalior in September (540). Shahji set up another prince, whom he surrendered in November or December 1636. This boy is called a son (I. B. 135) and elsewhere a kinsman {khesh) of Nizam Shah (I. B. 36, 229, 256).
- Abdul Hamid, I. B. 35, 135, 140.
