■Cablis Caun, the vile inftrument of his pleafures, corrupted by
Aurengzebe. His extravagant love of women brought on him
ruin. Informed by Cablis that a Hindoo of rank and great
beauty was on her road to be delivered by the parents to her
hufband, according to the cuilom of the Hindoos, he inftantly
put himfelf at the head of a fmall body o f horfe to carry away
the prize, and ordered Cablis to follow at a diftance for his protection,
in cafe o f accidents in that hoftile time. The traitor
had given notice to Aurengzebe of this expedition, who, fending
a body o f cavalry, furprifed Sambagi juft as he had dif-
perfed the nuptial proceflion.
“ Sambagi appeared before Aurengzebe with undaunted
“ brow; who reproached Cablis Caun, not with his treachery,
“ but the encouragement which his proftituted miniftry had
“ given to vices, which at length had led his fovereign to ruin,
“ and ordered him to inllant death. To Sambagi he proffered
“ life, and rank in his fervice, i f he would turn Mahometan,
|| who anfwered by an invective againft the prophet, and the
“ laud of his own gods. On which he was drefled in the fan-
“ taihc ornaments of a wandering Indian devotee, who beg in
“ villages with a rattle and a cap with bells. In this garb he
“ was tied looking backwards upon a camel, and led through
“ the camp, calling on the Raipoots he faw to kill him, but none
“ dared. After- the, proceflion his tongue was cut out, as the
fi penalty o f blafpheming Mahomed, In this forlorn condition
“ Aurengzebe, by a meffage, again offered to preferve his life if
“ he would be converted ; when he wrote f Npt i f you would
“ give me your daughter in marriage:’ On which his execu-
“ tion
“ tion was ordered, and performed by cutting out his.heart;
“ after which his limbs and body were feparated, and all toge-
“ ther were thrown to dogs prepared to devour them. This
“ horrible cruelty produced not the expected fubmiflion from
“ any part of the Mahratta government, which it only ani-
“ mated the more.to continue the war.”
I n t o the north fide o f Krijhna, in Lat. 16" 20', falls the great River Bee.ma.
river Beema, after a cou'rfe of three'httndred and fifty miles.
It rifes at the head o f the weftern Ghauts, parallel to Choul in the
Cancan, and not above fifty miles from the fea. It defcends
rapidly towards the fouth-eaft. In Lat. 17° 40', it receives a
fmall river from the weft, on the fouthern banks of which
Hands Vifiapour, the capital o f the famous kingdom o f the fame
name, is now poffefled by the Mahrattas, but once was governed
by its own monarchs, till conquered by Aurengzebe in 1686.
It was of great extent, and reached to the Weftern fea, where it
poffefled the ports o f Dabul, Vingorla, and Carapatan.
T he capital, Vifiapour or Fejapour, as it is often called, is fome VmApoim.
leagues in circuit, feated in a fine but naked country, well watered.
It makes a Angular appearance from an adjacent eminence,
filled with numbers o f fmall domes, and one of a majeftic
iize. It was once a city o f great fplendor, and filled with palaces,
mofques, maufoleums, and public and private buildings
o f great magnificence; many of them are fallen to ruin, and
give melancholy proofs o f its former fplendor. I fliall not
attempt to detail them. The palaces of the kings, and accommodations
for their attendants, were within a vaft fort, fur-
rounded with a ditch a hundred yards wide; the depth ap-
V o l. II. P peared