The Akbarī Generations 34.3

34.3

The royal forces were ordered to plunder and lay waste the country, and Asaf Khan was sent to Rampur, a prosperous town of the province. He attacked and captured the fort, and ravaged all the neighbourhood. Husain Kuli Khan was sent with a detachment towards Udipur and Kombalmir, which is one of the chief fortresses in that country, and is the residence of the Rana. He ravaged several towns and villages, but finding no trace of the Rana, he returned to the Imperial camp. When the siege of Chitor had been carried on some time, the Emperor ordered the construction of sabats, and the digging of mines. About 5000 builders and carpenters and stonemasons were collected, and began their work of constructing sabats on two sides of the fort. A sabat is a kind of wall which is begun at musket-shot distance (from the fort), and under the shelter of its planks strongly fastened together and covered with raw hides, a kind of way (kucha) is conducted to the fortress. The walls are then battered from it with guns, and a breach being made, the brave assailants rush into the fort. The sabat which was conducted from the royal battery (morchal-i badshahi) was so extensive that ten horsemen abreast could ride along it, and it was so high that an elephant-rider with his spear in his hand could pass under it.