A History of the Mahrattas v1.c18.108

v1.c18.108

A.D. 1700.—Turbeeut Khan undertook to mine this angle, and at the end of four months and a half had completed two mines. So confident were the Moghuls of success that the storming party was ready formed, but concealed as much as possible under the brow of the hill from the view of the garrison. Aurungzebe was invited to view the spectacle, and a stratagem was formed to draw all the garrison towards the bastion, by the Emperor's moving off from that side in grand procession, so that when the match was ready to be applied, hundreds of the Mahrattas, attracted by this splendid retinue, crowded to the rampart, and amongst others Pryagjee the commandant. The first mine was fired, it burst several fissures in the rock, and occasioned so violent a concussion, that a great part of the masonry was thrown inwards and crushed many of the garrison in its ruins. The storming party, in their eagerness, advanced nearer; the match was applied to the train of the second and larger mine, but, being improperly constructed, it burst outwards, with a dreadful explosion, and upwards of two thousand of the Moghuls are said to have been destroyed on the spot. Pryagjee, the Mahratta commandant, was buried in the ruins by the first explosion, close to a temple dedicated to the goddess Bhowanee, but was afterwards dug out alive. His escape was considered a happy omen, and under other circumstances might have been of much consequence in animating the Hindoo garrison to prolong the defence, but Azim Shah could no longer be induced to connive at the transport of the grain; proposals for surrendering were therefore made through him, and the honour of the capture, which he so ill-merited, was not only assigned to him, but the place received his name and was called by the Emperor Azim Tara.