The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.8

v4.c20.8

A fresh Mughul offensive was launched at the end of September, 1683; Aurangzīb himself advanced from Aurangābād to Ahmadnagar, while strong divisions were posted at Poona, Nāsik and Akalkot, and the Sīdī cruised off Vingurlā to watch Akbar's movements. But the main attack was entrusted to a grand army led by Shāh 'Ālam into the south Konkan by the Rāmghāt pass (between Goa and Belgaum). After conquering many places in the Belgaum district, this prince crossed the pass and descended into Sāvantvādi. At Bicholim (15 January, 1684) he destroyed the mansions and gardens of Shambhūjī and Akbar and then moved to the neighbourhood of Goa, the invasion of which was immediately abandoned by the Marāthās. But the prince, coming as a deliverer, plotted to seize Goa by treachery; this fatal policy set the Portuguese against him and they stopped his grain supply by sea. The prince next marched northwards, sacking and burning Mālvan, Kudal, Bāndā and Vingurlā in this region, and then returned to the river bank north of Goa. Famine stopped his further progress. No corn could be procured locally and none was allowed to come to him by sea from Surat. So, the baffled prince returned to the Rāmghāt pass on 1 March. Here a pestilence of such virulence spread that in one week a third of his men died, besides an even larger proportion of transport animals. This failure of transport led to a second famine, and more men perished of heat and thirst. The miserable remnant of the army crossed the pass and reached Ahmadnagar (28 May) without having done anything except burning a few villages and robbing a few towns, at the expense of half its strength.