History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v1.c18.52

v1.c18.52

At last Murad's period of impatient and irksome waiting ended. Early in February, 1658, Aurangzib, then starting from Aurangabad, wrote to him to march out of his province about the time when he himself might be expected to reach the Narmada.* For a long time Murad had been uncertain as to which route the Imperial army would take in approaching Guzerat,—whether by way of Ajmir in his north or from Malwa in his east. At the end of January his spies brought him news that Jaswant had arrived near Ujjain with only three or four thousand troopers. So, Murad made light of the enemy and set out from Ahmadabad (25th February) north-eastwards by Modasa, crossed the frontier of his province on 13th March, and reached Mandesor on the 14th, occupying the villages of Malwa on the way.† We next hear of him a good deal southwards at Dohad, on 4th April. In the meanwhile he had learnt that Jaswant's force was many times stronger than his own, and so he had hurriedly retreated towards his own territory to wait for news of Aurangzib, of whom he had not heard anything during the entire month of March.‡