History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v1.c8.47

v1.c8.47

Some of the Indian nobles under orders to join him lingered at home or reached no further than Afghanistan. So the Prince had to fight his battles with less than 25,000 men, while the enemy were a nation in arms and outnumbered the Mughals as three to one.[*] True they did not fight pitched battles and had a wholesome dread of musketry-fire; but their "Cossak tactics" wore out the Mughals, and their superiority in number enabled them to bear easily a loss ten times as large as the casualties of the invaders. Against these light forayers the small Imperial army could not hope for a crushing victory.[†]