New History of the Marathas v1.c18.39

v1.c18.39

4. The Emperor's movements.—The Maratha tactics quickly upset the Emperor's plans, of which the student must take note. The removal of the Maratha Court to the distant Jinji created fresh problems for him. To watch the affairs of Jinji and concert measures for putting down the growing Maratha power became his immediate concern. He left his camp of Koregaon on 18 December 1689 and removed to Bijapur and after a few months stay at that place, moved still further south and pitched his camp on the Krishna at Galgale, 34 miles south-west of Bijapur. Here he spent nearly three years visiting Bijapur at intervals. By that time the Maratha pressure had increased in Mahārāshtra; and the Emperor in 1695 moved his camp back to Brahmapuri on the south bank of the Bhīmā not far from Pandharpur. This place he renamed Islampuri, and here he stayed for over four years from May 1695 to October 1699. By the end of this time Rājārām had returned to Mahārāshtra, the fort of Jinji having fallen to the Mughals; but as the Marathas sheltered in their strong western forts proved practically invincible, the Emperor took the fatal resolve of personally marching against them and demolishing these inaccessible haunts of his enemy.