THE FALL OF AHMEDNUGGER. 9 CHAP. I. General,
combined army marched upon Ahmednugger, to which they laid siege. The place was defended with great bravery till provisions began to fail in the Mogul army, when the generals opened a negotiation, and agreed, upon condition of receiving Berar, to raise the siege of Ahmed- nugger and evacuate the kingdom. The pain felt by the king at the loss of Berar soon prompted him to an effort for its recovery. His army fought a drawn battle with the Moguls. The resolution and ardour of Meerza led him to renew the engagement on the following day, when he defeated indeed the enemy, but was so weakened by his loss as to be unable to pursue the fugitives or to improve his victory. Meerza was soon after recalled. In his ab- sence the Ahmednugger arms gained some advantages, and the Mogul interests declined. But in 1598 Mirza was restored to the army in the Deccan, to which the emperor proceeded in person. Ahmednugger was again besieged and at last compelled to open its gates. The territory of Ahmednugger was formed into a province of the Mogul empire, and its government conferred upon Daniel, one of the sons of Akbar. The emperor did not long survive these new acquisitions." Between the fall of Ahmednugger at the close of the reign of Akbar and the year 1632, when the Emperor Shah Jehan took the field, the following are the principal events which had taken place in the Deccan:- The ter- ritories of the Nizam Shah or Ahmednugger sovereignty were divided between Maleek Umber, who possessed from the Telingana frontier to within eight miles of Ahmed- nugger and four of Dowlutabad, and Rajoo Minnan, who ruled from Dowlutabad northward to the borders of Guze- rat and southward to within twelve of Ahmednugger; while Mortiza the Second, a prince of the royal house of
