Note 42 — SECTION I.

Though the account of this war is given in a style sufficiently inflated for the wars of the demons and angels; yet, as Góvind relates, that Husain Khán returned a messenger, which one of the principal Rájás had sent him, with this message to his master; "Pay down ten thousand rupees, or destruction descends on thy head;" we may judge, both from the demand, and the amount of the contribution, of the nature of this contest, as well as its scale. It was evidently one of those petty provincial wars, which took place in every remote part of the Indian empire, when it was distracted: and, at this period, Aurungzéb was wholly engaged in the Dek'hin, and the northern provinces were consequently neglected, and their governments in a weak and unsettled state.