Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 2.13.8

2.13.8

Between the two armies was a spacious plain well adapted for them to engage. Aureng-Zebe felt impatient to finish the contest, and on the day after his arrival, leaving his baggage on the other side of the river, proceeded to the attack. The Emir-Jemla, erstwhile prisoner in the Decan, joined him on the morning of the action with the forces he could collect; the flight of the unhappy Dara having released his wife and children from captivity, and his own imprisonment being no longer necessary to the promotion of Aureng-Zebes designs. The battle was warmly contested, and the efforts of the assailants were almost incredible; but Sultan Sujah maintained his ground, repulsing every assault with great slaughter, and increasing Aureng-Zebes embarrassment by steadily adhering to his plan of not advancing into the plain. To defend the advantageous and well-fortified position he had selected was for the present his sole object, foreseeing that the heat of the weather would very soon compel his enemy to retreat to the river, and that it would then be the time to fall with effect upon his rear-guard. Aureng-Zebe was very sensible of the reasons which actuated his brother, and became the more intent on pressing forward. But a new and unexpected source of uneasiness now presented itself.