Muntakhab al-lubab 110: Surrender of Sattara and Capture of Parli.
Muntakhabu-l Lubáb, of Kháfí Khán (Elliot & Dowson, extracts) 110
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- English
Surrender of Sattara and Capture of Parli.
110.1
[Text, p. 470.] At the death of Ram Raja, a chief named Parsa Ram was in the fort of Parli, acting in that country as diwan in revenue matters for Ram Raja. On hearing of his decease, without consulting with the commandant of the fort, he came and made his submission to Aurangzeb. The commandant also, being dismayed, sent a proposal of surrender upon terms. At the same time Sobhan, the commander of Sattara, was troubled by the blowing up of the wall on one side of the fortress and the burning of a great number of his men. The death of Ram Raja added to his perplexity. He was at feud with the commandant of fort Parli, and he sent a message to Aurangzeb, through Prince Muhammad A'zam, offering to capitulate on honourable terms, if the proposal of the commandant of Parli were rejected. He was willing to give up the keys of Sattara at once, and would undertake to place Parli in Aurangzeb's hands unconditionally in a short time, without any promise of security. On the 16th Zi-l ka'da he surrendered the keys, and more than three thousand persons, male and female, came out of the fort upon promise of safety. Great rejoicings followed. Sobhan was brought, bound hand and neck, to the foot of the throne; but orders were given for the forgiveness of his offences, and for loosening his bonds. He was appointed to a mansab of five thousand and two thousand horse, and a horse, an elephant, etc., were presented to him.
110.2
After the surrender of Sattara, Aurangzeb marched against Parli, the commandant of that fort having been diverted by his advisers from his intention of surrendering. Parli is a more lofty fort than Sattara, and it had been put into a state of preparation. * * On the 10th Zi-l hijja many men were killed in an attempted assault, but in a short time the garrison was pressed very hard. The besiegers were greatly incommoded by the heavy rain, which in this part of the country falls for five months without an hour's interval by night or day, and by lack of supplies, the convoys being cut off by the enemy who swarmed around. * * The garrison showed great daring in coming suddenly down the hill and attacking the besiegers; but the repeated attacks and the daring of Fathu-llah Khan at length prevailed, and a proposition of capitulation was made. At the beginning of Muharram, after a siege of a month and a half, the fortress was taken, and the men of the garrison marched out with their families and their old clothes. * * The name of Sattara was changed to A'zam-tara, and of Parli to Nauras-tara.
110.3
Aurangzeb then determined to return, but there was little means of carriage, for the rains and the bad climate * * had affected the animals, so that those that were alive were nothing but skin and bone. Some of the baggage and matériel was carried away, some was left in the forts, and some was burnt. * * On reaching the river Kistna, there was great difficulty in crossing it. * * Some men attempted to swim over, but nine out of ten were drowned, * * and thousands remained behind and died. In the middle of Safar the army reached an obscure fort, which offered sufficient protection for a few days, and an order was issued for a month's rest there. The rains, which had continued so far, now ceased, and the men of the army found a little comfort. Some proceedings of Prince Muhammad A'zam were displeasing to His Majesty, and his division of the army was in a bad state; so that, although he had shown great diligence and enterprise in the reduction of the fort of Parnala and other forts, he was sent, in order to appease the troops, to be Governor of the province of Ujjain. In the same way, several officers of the army were sent to their jágírs at ten or twelve days' distance, to Bíjápúr, and to other places in the vicinity. Prince Bedar Bakht was directed to lay siege to the fort of Parnala, and Zu-l fikár Khán and Tarbiyat Khán received orders to follow him with the artillery.
110.4
As many men had been lost in the reduction of the fortresses, strict orders were sent to the Súbahdárs of Burhánpúr, Bíjápúr, Haidarábád, Ahmadábád, and other provinces far and near, to raise (each) a thousand men, well horsed, to advance them six months' pay out of the State revenues, and to send them to the royal camp. Aurangzeb, with the intention of giving his men rest, went to Khawáspúr, a place well supplied with grass and hay, and fruit-trees and water. At the end of Rabí'u-l awwal the royal camp was pitched at that place, and the abundance of provisions soon restored the spirits of the army. * * But here also the army was to suffer hardship. The camp was pitched by the side of a nala containing only a little water, and, as the rainy season was over, there was no expectation of a heavy fall of rain. But rain which fell out of season in the hills and distant places sent down a flood of water, which inundated the camp, * * causing confusion and distress which defy description. The fort of Parnala had been (formerly) taken by Prince Muhammad A'zam, and had remained for some time in the royal possession. But in the thirty-fifth year of the reign the enemy regained possession of it. * * On the 10th Shawwal the (royal) army reached Pun-garh, a fort connected with Parnala.