A History of the Mahrattas v1.c15.76

v1.c15.76

The loss of Panalla, the sack of Hooblee, the insurrections about Carwar, and the capture of all these forts, obliged Khowaus Khan to detach Abdool Khureem with an army to the westward. Abdool Khureem regained possession of the open country about Panalla; but Pertab Rao Goozur, having been sent off by Sivajee, appeared in the neighbourhood of Beejapoor, where he plundered with impunity. These depredations induced the regent to recall Abdool Khureem, but Pertab Rao intercepted him between Merich and Beejapoor, and both parties commenced skirmishing. As Pertab Rao outnumbered the army of Beejapoor, by threatening a general attack on one side, and cutting off foragers and stragglers with a part of his troops on the other, he so harassed them that Abdool Khureem applied for an armistice, and was permitted to return unmolested to Beejapoor. The terms on which this truce was granted are not known, but Sivajee was greatly displeased; and, to add to his mortification, Pertab Rao, on being severely censured, made a very distant excursion into Berar Payeen Ghaut contrary to Sivajee’s intention, who had previously commenced the siege of Ponda, which lay between his territory and his late acquisitions to the southward.¹