The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c19.10

v4.c19.10

With great judgement, Shujāʻ tried to make up for his hopeless inferiority in numbers by drawing up his troops not in the usual six divisions of Mughul battle-array but in one long line behind his artillery and taking the offensive himself. His right wing under Sayyid ʻĀlam charged the imperial left and after scattering it fell upon the centre, driving in front three furious war elephants, each brandishing a heavy iron chain with its trunk, before which no man or horse could stand. At the same time the imperial right wing was assailed and partly dispersed by Shujāʻ’s vanguard and left under prince Buland Akhtar. A false rumour spread through the field that Aurangzīb himself had been slain, and many of his followers fled away. One of these Bengal elephants, maddened by wounds, approached the emperor’s elephant. If the latter had turned back, the entire imperial army would have broken and run away at the sight of it. But in the crisis, Aurangzīb's cool courage and power of quick decision saved the situation: he stood like a rock, chaining the legs of his elephant to prevent its flight, and soon the attacking beast's driver was shot down and it was brought under control by an imperial *mahout*. Sayyid ʿĀlam was at last repulsed with wofully thinned ranks. His centre thus saved, Aurangzīb turned to succour his hard-pressed right wing, which on being rallied and reinforced made a counter-charge and swept away the enemy divisions before it with great carnage. Meanwhile, the imperial vanguard had advanced, shaking the front line of Shujāʿ. And now, emitting a thick shower of cannon-balls and bullets, Aurangzīb's entire army made a simultaneous advance and enveloped the centre, which alone remained of Shujāʿ's host. That prince saved his life only by dismounting from his elephant and galloping away on a fleet horse. His army at once broke and fled, giving up its entire camp and baggage, artillery (114 pieces) and elephants to the conqueror.