New History of the Marathas v1.c18.41

v1.c18.41

During all this time the miseries and hardships which the Emperor and his troops had to suffer went on increasing. They had to trudge through knee-deep mud and raging streams, dragging heavy guns, baggage and ammunition to hills and ramparts, thousands of feet high, not for one or two years but conducting such warfare in a foreign land continuously for a quarter of a century. This would have proved a feat of uncommon heroism if it had had an element of sentient reason in it. History finds in it only a comic picture of obstinacy with tragic results both to Aurangzeb's Empire and the humanity of India. Towards the end, the Emperor's fighting machine broke down; risings became common, which required his attention and once more he moved to the south, into the Raichur Doab against the Bedar Chief of Wakinkheda and Surapur. After two years of vain struggle in that quarter he realized that his whole life had been entirely wasted and returned north in utter weariness and despair to Ahmadnagar, in the midst of severe molestation and mortification caused by Maratha arrogance. Here he finally gave up his ghost on 20 February 1707. It is against the background of these moves of the Emperor, that the Maratha struggle can be properly understood.