The Battle of Khajwa 1659

The Battle of Khajwa, fought on 5 January 1659, was the engagement that removed the last serious challenge to Aurangzeb’s succession to the Mughal throne. On a plain near the town of Khajwa, in the district of Allahabad, the forces of the new emperor defeated the army of his brother Shah Shuja, the governor of Bengal and the most formidable of the rival claimants. The victory at Khajwa, which followed Aurangzeb’s earlier defeat of Dara Shukoh at Samugarh in the previous year, gave Aurangzeb effective control of the eastern provinces and completed the consolidation of his authority over the Mughal heartland. The wider context of the war of succession is examined on the Battle of Samugarh 1658 and the Aurangzeb pages.

The Final Conflict between Aurangzeb and Shah Shuja

The war of succession that had been precipitated by the illness of Shah Jahan in 1657 had, by the close of 1658, resolved itself into a contest between Aurangzeb and Shah Shuja. Dara Shukoh, the eldest brother, had been defeated at Samugarh and was in flight; Murad Baksh had been captured and was in prison; and the nominal authority of Shah Jahan was at an end. Shah Shuja, who had been governing Bengal and Bihar since 1639, had proclaimed himself emperor at Rajmahal in 1657 and had since been gathering strength for a decisive campaign against the upper provinces.

The political and military background of the conflict is examined on the Battle of Samugarh 1658 and the Aurangzeb pages. The institutional framework of the succession is treated on the Mughal court and nobility and the Mughal administration overview pages.

The Location Near Allahabad

The plain of Khajwa lies on the right bank of the Ganges, near the junction of the river with the Yamuna at Allahabad. The site was chosen by Aurangzeb as the most convenient point at which to intercept Shah Shuja’s advance, which had already carried him as far as Benares and had threatened to push on to the heart of the empire. The geography of the region and the strategic considerations that led to the choice of the site are examined on the Mughal military overview and the provincial administration pages.

The Two Armies

Shah Shuja’s army at Khajwa is estimated at perhaps 50,000 men, including a substantial body of cavalry, a large train of artillery, and a number of war elephants. The army included a contingent of Afghan and Pathan cavalry drawn from the eastern frontier, as well as Rajput and Indian contingents from the governors of the eastern provinces. The army was accompanied by a substantial body of camp followers, and the contemporary accounts emphasise the splendour of Shah Shuja’s camp.

Aurangzeb’s army was somewhat smaller, perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 men, but it was better disciplined and was commanded by several officers of proven ability. The principal commanders included Mir Jumla II, the former governor of Bengal who had defected to Aurangzeb in 1657; Khalilullah Khan, a general of long service; and several Rajput and Indian nobles of the imperial establishment. The military institutions through which the army was raised are treated on the mansabdari system and the Mughal military overview pages.

The Role of Mir Jumla II

Mir Jumla II (also known as Mir Muhammad Said Ardistani) was one of the most capable of the military and administrative officers of the period. A Persian by origin, he had been governor of Bengal under Shah Shuja, and his defection to Aurangzeb in 1657 had been one of the decisive events of the early phase of the war of succession. At Khajwa, Mir Jumla commanded a substantial portion of the imperial centre and contributed to the victory by a series of well-timed cavalry attacks that broke the cohesion of the Bengali army.

The Course of the Battle

The two armies met on the morning of 5 January 1659. The battle opened with a heavy exchange of artillery, in which the superior training of Aurangzeb’s gunners gradually told. The Bengali army, less accustomed to combined-arms warfare, was eventually drawn into a series of frontal assaults on the Mughal centre, in the course of which the cohesion of the Bengali cavalry broke. The decisive moment of the battle came in the early afternoon, when Mir Jumla’s cavalry, supported by a charge of the imperial war elephants, broke the Bengali centre and forced Shah Shuja’s army into a general rout.

The Flight of Shah Shuja

The aftermath of Khajwa was the effective end of Shah Shuja’s imperial ambitions. The defeated prince fled eastward with a small following and eventually took refuge in the kingdom of Arakan, on the eastern frontier of Bengal. The details of his subsequent career are obscure, and the date and circumstances of his death are uncertain; the principal sources suggest that he was killed in 1660, although other accounts place his death later. The political and military consequences of his flight are examined on the Aurangzeb and the Mughal Empire overview pages.

The Consolidation of Mughal Power in Eastern India

The victory at Khajwa completed the consolidation of Mughal authority in the eastern provinces. The Mughal state had, since the death of Islam Shah Suri in 1554 and the early campaigns of Akbar, struggled to impose effective control over Bengal and Bihar. The defeat of Shah Shuja and the subsequent pacification of the east opened the way for a half-century of relatively stable Mughal rule in the region.

Casualties and Historical Significance

The casualties at Khajwa were substantial, in part because of the long hours of close combat and the determined resistance of the Bengali army. The most cautious modern estimate places the Bengali dead at perhaps 5,000 to 8,000, with a comparable number of wounded and captured. Aurangzeb’s losses were considerably lighter, in the range of 1,500 to 2,500.

The historical significance of the battle lies in the completion of Aurangzeb’s victory in the war of succession and the consolidation of Mughal authority in eastern India. The victory at Khajwa, together with the earlier defeat of Dara Shukoh at Samugarh, marked the end of the political crisis that had begun in 1657 and the beginning of the long reign of Aurangzeb, which was to last nearly five decades. The full arc of that reign is treated in the Aurangzeb page, and the institutional consequences of the long reign are examined on the Mughal administration overview and the economic decline of the Mughals pages.

Sources

• Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzib, vol. III (1916), pp. 1–42.