The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c15.127

v4.c15.127

He left Lahore on 23 March and at Thānesar enjoyed a spectacle even more exciting than his *battue* near Lahore, and equally repugnant to the opinions which he afterwards developed. Near the town is Kurukshetra, the legendary site of the great battle between the Pāndavas and the Kauravas, and here were assembled two bands of devotees, Sanyāsīs and Jogīs, who, it appears, were wont to celebrate the anniversary of the battle by a mock combat. On this occasion they had arranged that the combat should be fought in earnest, for there was a quarrel due to one band having occupied the site claimed by the other. Akbar sanctioned the proposal and ordered or permitted some of his own infantry to reinforce the Sanyāsīs, who could oppose only 300 men to the 500 mustered by the Jogīs. The miserable fanatics laid on and after a fierce contest in which, to Akbar's delight and amusement, many lives were lost, the Sanyāsīs were victorious.