Later Mughals v1.c6.s6.10

v1.c6.s6.10

* The movements of the rivals before the battle are thus described by Bhimsen, who was present in Azam's army and was wounded in the company of his master Dalpat Rao Bundela (Dil. 164) :—"On the fifteenth [Rabi I., Bahadur Shah from the garden of Dhara near Agra] set out to punish Md. Azam Shah, and leaving Jajau on his left hand set up his royal tents and engaged in marshalling his forces. He filled with artillery the uneven pass (guzar) of Jajau. Md. Azam Shah, having reached Nurabad on the 14th, halted for one day; under the guidance of the zamindars he left Jajau on his left hand and on the 17th arranging his troops marched out to battle.... At this time Shah Alam learnt that Azam had arrived at a distance of two kos from Jajau....and had plundered the imperial advance-tents which had been pitched close to the garden of Jajau...and that Prince Azim-ush-shan had hurriedly formed line of battle [to oppose him.] The following are the details of the incident: when the army of Azam Shah arrived two kos from Jajau, they sighted the tents and standards of the camp of Bahadur Shah; the Left Wing under Zulfiqar Kh. charged at the gallop. ...the defender Rustam Dil Khan fled, and the men of Azam engaged in plunder." There are two serious mistakes here: (i) Shah Alam's advance-tents could not have been pitched close to Jajau and four miles from that village at the same time, and (ii) that Emperor in marching south from Agra must have left Jajau on his right and not on his left. The battlefield was clearly 4 miles north-east of Jajau. [J. Sarkar.]