History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c21.58

v2.c21.58

No time was to be lost. In the very evening after the arrival near Gwalior (21st May), while the main army halted, a strong division under three generals and some artillery made a forced march all night, reached the ford next morning, and crossed safely to the other bank. That day Aurangzib himself set out from Gwalior, covered the interval in two long marches and crossed the river at the same place with the rest of his army (23rd May). In these two marches, "the path was rough, the soldiers underwent much hardship before arriving at the ford; and on the way nearly 5,000 men died of thirst,"—these last being probably camp followers. But Aurangzib’s unrelenting firmness overcame every obstacle and carried the army through, regardless of loss.[*] The military advantage of the movement compensated for the heavy death-list, equal to that of a pitched battle. By one stroke he had turned the enemy’s position and rendered Dara’s elaborate trenches and batteries useless. The road to Agra now lay open before him. It was now Dara’s turn to abandon the line of the Chambal and fall back on the capital, if he did not wish to be intercepted. In the hurry of his retreat he had to abandon many of his heavier guns on the river bank, and thus weakened himself in artillery in the next battle.∗