History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c22: Chapter XVI.

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c22

Language: English

Chapter XVI.

Shah Jahan had been staying at Agra since November, 1657. He was not his former self again, and still suffered from weakness and traces of his old complaint. As the summer season approached, the doctors feared that his malady would increase in the hot climate of Agra, which was subject to sand-storms and heat-waves from the Rajputana desert. So, they advised a change to Delhi as a cooler place, with breezes constantly blowing from the south in summer, and possessing fresh gardens, flowing canals, and more commodious palaces. The Imperial Court set out from Agra on 11th April 1658, and had reached Baluchpur, eighty miles north-west on the way to Delhi, when the news of the defeat at Dharmat reached it (25th April). All the hopes built on Jaswant were gone. If the rebellious princes were to be stopped Dara must hasten to Agra, equip a new force, and person-

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Shah Jahan hears of Dharmat.

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ally supervise the operations. Shah Jahan, though unwilling to turn back, was overcome by his favourite son's importunity, and the party came to Agra again on 2nd May.∗

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∗ A.N. 81-82 ; Kambu, 12a ; Aqil Khan, 32.

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A new Imperial army was assembled in all haste. Dara summoned the nobles and commanders from all the provinces and jagirs within easy reach of him, equipped their men with armour and weapons from the arsenal of Agra Fort, and lavished money from the Treasury to pay for new recruits and to bind the captains over to his side. The numerous guns and elephants of the Government were at his disposal. A force of about 60,000 troopers was assembled under his banner in a short time. But this army was formidable in appearance only : it was composed of a miscellaneous host of diverse classes and localities, hastily got together, and not properly co-ordinated nor taught to act in concert. Moreover, many of its commanders were carpet knights of the Court, having neither the experience nor the courage of the veterans from the Deccan. Dara's main reliance was on the Rajputs and Syeds, while the other Muslim troops of the Imperial army (especially the Mughals) were mostly traitors to him, or at least indifferent to his cause.[*] He had made the fatal mistake of sending away his trustiest adherents and ablest lieutenants with Sulaiman Shukoh to oppose Shuja, and now he felt sore need of such efficient instruments. Wherever he could not be present in person, his business was ruined by incompetent or faithless subordinates.

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And he was also hampered by Shah Jahan. Even now the Emperor urged him to avoid war; he still fondly hoped that the quarrel among his sons could be peacefully ended by diplomatic messages. His nobles, already corrupted by Aurangzib or caring for their own interests only, took advantage of this natural feeling of a father. They pointed out to the Emperor that it would be a family disgrace if the brothers fought with each other, and worse still if Shah Jahan identified himself with any of them. He should let his two sons visit him, and then use the awe of majesty and his personal influence to detach the ambitious nobles from their sides and send the princes, shorn of strength, back to their provinces. Shah Jahan approved of this advice, which echoed his feelings. But Dara taunted the givers of such counsels with cowardice and treason, and indiscreetly boasted that though they might not follow him, he would drive Aurangzib’s men back like hares with the help of Chhatra Sal Hada. The foreign Muhammadans (both Persian and Central Asian mercenaries) resented this speech. They withdrew their hearts from Dara* and secretly resolved to desert to Aurangzib at the first opportunity. Dara had professed no need for their services; well, then, they would not help him; they would leave him to his Rajput friends.

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∗ A.N. 82-83; Aqil Khan, 33; Isardas, 22b; Storia do Mogor, i. 265; Kambu, 9b.

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The advanced division of Dara’s army set out for Dholpur on 9th May, to guard the ferries of the Chambal. The rest of his troops were to march on the 18th under his own leadership. The

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Dara takes leave of Shah Jahan at Agra.

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∗ "Shah Jahan constantly advised Dara not to engage in war, and always recommended peace ;...but he had grown too weak and so yielded to Dara" (A.N. 84-85, cf. Kambu, 10 a.) Again, "Shah Jahan wrote to Dara [before Samugarh] urging him to make peace and give up the design of fighting, but in vain. At last the Emperor determined to extinguish the war by going in person to the camp, and make peace by his own exertions and speeches. So he ordered his advance-tents to be pitched between the two armies." (A.N. 86-87.) Khafi Khan, ii. 21, Masum, 56b, and Aqil Khan, 33-34, support the statement. Storia, i. 264-267. For the treachery of the Mughals (explained by Aqil Khan as "both Turanis and Iranis"), in the Imperial army, see Aqil Khan, 34 and Storia, i. 267, 263.

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leave-taking of the Prince from his father was most pathetic. To the aged Emperor it seemed "indeed as the parting of life from the body." He presented Dara with jewelled ornaments, robes, arms, horses, elephants, and a chariot, which last is held in Indian belief to be the most lucky conveyance for a prince to ride in starting for a campaign in the southern direction. In excess of love the father held the son to his bosom long and tightly, "like his own life and soul." Dara replied with bows and thanks and begged leave to go. Shah Jahan, moved to uncontrollable emotion, turned his face towards Mecca and lifting up his arms prayed for Dara's victory and recited the prescribed texts of the Muslim scripture (fatiha) for his safety and success. As a mark of special favour he ordered the Prince to mount his chariot at the steps of the Hall of Public Audience, to beat his drums and march out in full regal pomp from that very spot.

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Shah Jahan's grief. Leaving his father, Dara entered his car, which he afterwards changed for an elephant. The nobles and officers surrounded him in due order of precedence. On his right and left were massed captains with their cavalry beyond count, while the rear was formed by footmen, retainers, spearmen, and rocket-throwers. So the procession set out. Behind them, in the half-deserted Hall of Forty Pillars stood a thin old man, with a long fair face and grey beard, leaning on his mace and gazing pensively on the scene till the cavalcade filed out of the gateway of the palace quadrangle. What was his long and glorious reign to end in? What would be the fate of his beloved son and chosen heir? "He knew not that Heaven's will was adverse or that the issue of the contest would be other (than what he had hoped for) and that he would lose his throne". Little did either father or son imagine that this was destined to be their last meeting on earth.*

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Dara reached Dholpur on 22nd May, and with the local zamindars for his guides he seized all the fords of the Chambal in the neighbourhood. Throwing up earth-works and mounting guns on the bank, he commanded the roads and crossing-places. His aim was to retard Aurangzib's advance without precipitating a battle and thus to gain time for Sulaiman Shukoh's army to join him. But he had underrated his rival's genius for military organisation and far-sighted plans. After passing a few days in a state of expectancy, he learnt to his consternation that Aurangzib had crossed the Chambal at Bhadaur, forty miles east of Dholpur, on 23rd May. Dara's rear was now threatened; he hurriedly fell back towards Agra. Eight miles east of the city he encamped close to the plain of Samugarh to offer battle to the enemy. Here Aurangzib arrived from the bank of the Chambal, on the 28th.

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∗ The parting scene is very graphically described in Kambu, 12a, Storia, i. 267. Masum, 57a, is brief. Isardas describes the farewell (26b) but wrongly places it in the night following Samugarh. For the march of Dara's army Manucci has left a most vivid picture. (Storia, i. 268).

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That day, Dara on hearing of Aurangzib's approach, drew up his troops and rode out as if to fight. But a short distance in front of his camp he came to a halt, refusing to advance any further and waiting to let the enemy take the offensive. It was a most unwise step: Aurangzib was numerically inferior and his troops were worn out by a ten mile march in the sun over a waterless dusty plain, while Dara's army was fresh. As their general hesitated to engage, the soldiers lost confidence in Dara, and Aurangzib, without striking a blow, gained a moral victory over his foolish brother. The victor of Dharmat was a foe to be dreaded, even by the lord of 50,000 horse.

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Then, again, as Dara’s army stood to arms in battle formation hour after hour throughout that May afternoon, the fierce sun overhead, the sandy plain under foot, and the scorching wind around, dealt havoc among his steel-clad troops and horses. “Many perished from the heat, thirst, and lack of drinking water.” While the prudent Aurangzib rested his men all the evening and night for the morrow’s contest, Dara’s soldiers were worn out and his horses and elephants were prostrated by the extreme heat. As one of his men narrated his experience, “With all our armour on, we were dried up even as we stood. Our feet could not move. The field seemed a blazing hell to us.” At sunset Dara retreated to his camp,—a movement prophetic of his defeat in battle. His soldiers lost heart, because his genius had quailed before that of his rival in the sight of both the hosts.∗

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∗ A. N. 85—91; Aqil Khan, 42-43; Masum, 57b—60a (for the heat); Storia, i. 271—273; Khafi Khan, ii. 22.

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All that night Aurangzib’s officers patrolled round their camp, while their master heartened his followers by a spirited harangue: “Tomorrow is the day of valiant deeds. My capital (Aurangabad) is very far from this place. It is necessary that with one heart and with your faces turned one way, you should attack the enemy and, with the blows of your keen blades, seize the records of the office of Fortune and make your names famous in the world for victory and (power of) breaking up enemies."*

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At last the eventful 29th of May arrived. Long before the early dawn of the Indian midsummer, there was the stir of preparation and movement in both the camps. Squadron after squadron was formed in battle array and marched out to take up its appointed position. Hearing of Aurangzib's advance, Dara marshalled his ranks on a wide sandy plain, two miles in front of his camp, His army numbered about 50,000. Its backbone was composed of the Rajput contingent and Dara's own retainers, all devoted to his interests. But nearly half of his army belonged to the Emperor's service, and these could not be relied on. Most of their captains made a show of fighting, but took care not to put forth earnest effort or to run into danger, and several of their chiefs, notably Khalilullah Khan, were rightly suspected of having been corrupted by Aurangzib.

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∗ Aqil Khan, 43.

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All his artillery was drawn up in one row along his entire front. Behind it, as if sheltered by a wall, stood a dense body of foot-musketeers, numbering several thousands. Next were placed 500 camels carrying swivel-guns on their backs, and, further behind, the elephants clad in barbs of steel. Then came masses of cavalry formed in the conventional divisions of an Indian army.

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In the Van were contingents of Rajputs,—Hadas, Rathors, Sisodias, and Gaurs, led by Chhatra Sal, the chief of Bundi, whose firmness in battle had passed into a proverb in the entire Mughal army,—and also Dara's own retainers, consisting of 4,000 Afghans under the doughty fighter Dilir Khan, and 3,000 choice cavalry under his Paymaster Askar Khan. It was the most efficient and reliable portion of Dara's army, the edge of steel which he hoped would cleave a way for others through the hostile ranks. But so far as we can see, this division had no artillery specially attached to it. The Left Wing was commanded by Dara's second son, Sipihr Shukoh and the renowned Deccani hero Firuz Jang, popularly called 'the Rustam of the age'. Here were posted a band of the Syeds of Barha, famous throughout India for their obstinate valour and love of fight,—together with macebearers and troopers of the Imperial escort,—their total strength being from ten to fifteen thousand. An Advanced Reserve was stationed between the Van and the Centre as a sort of flying column, ready to follow up the success of the Van or the Wings, and to succour them in distress. It was composed of ten thousand troopers, partly Rajputs and partly Dara's Muslim retainers. Their commanders were Kumar Ram Singh, the heir of Jaipur, and Syed Bahir Khan.

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In the Centre sat Dara himself, on a lofty elephant visible from all parts of the field, with other elephants carrying his musical band in charge of his retinue. Immediately under his orders were 3,000 of his best cavalry and most devoted followers, besides many Imperial troops, the whole numbering 12,000. The two flanks of this division were led by his intimate followers Zafar Khan and Fakhar Khan.

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The Right Wing was placed under Khalilullah Khan, an old courtier and a noble of the first rank, but destined to earn a shameful notoriety by his treachery on this day. Here stood many mercenaries from Central Asia and a few Rajputs. These five divisions completed the army; there was no Main Reserve and no Rearguard, for the small unserviceable and miscellaneous body left in charge of the camp took no part in the battle.

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To a superficial observer Dara's army looked like a magnificent host, as it moved to the encounter with its noisy music, fluttering banners, gaily caparisoned elephants and horses, and warriors clad in polished or ornamented armour and flowing vests of embroidery and many-coloured cloth. But as an instrument of war it had some fatal defects. Apart from Dara's incapacity and Khalilullah's treachery, there was first, the mutual jealousy, lack of co-operation, and even positive ill-will between Dara's own followers and the Imperial troops under his banner; he had had no time to weld the two into one harmonious whole. The cleavage was widened by the Rajputs being an important element of the host, for they always formed a class apart, fighting in their own style and obeying their own chiefs, but incapable of carrying out the supreme commander's tactics implicitly, readily and efficiently, or of acting in exact concert with Muslim and foreign troops. Secondly, Dara's artillery was less mobile than Aurangzib's and all posted in one place. His horses and transport animals were out of condition; many of them, having been overfed in the

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Causes of the true weakness of his army.

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Imperial stables, were more fit for a showy procession than for the stern tasks of war, and all were half dead with yesterday's futile manœuvring in the sun.*

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In opposition to this host stood Aurangzib's hard-bitten troops, seasoned veterans on seasoned horses, and his excellent train of field-pieces handled by the European gunners of Mir Jumla and well supplied with munitions. There was absolute unity of command in his army, and all the officers had been taught to obey without hesitation or question that master will which brooked no disobedience or delay in a subordinate.

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His Van was formed by some 10,000 troopers, all Musalmans, commanded by his eldest son Sultan Muhammad, who acted under the guidance of the experienced general Najabat Khan, recently created Khan-i-Khanan. Its front was protected by artillery in its divisions.

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∗ For the divisions of Dara's army, *A.N.* 95-96; Aqil Khan, 44; *Storia*, i. 275. Its inherent defects, (*Storia*, i. 266-267, 273, 282). The numbers engaged are differently estimated: Dara's force is given as 60,000 troopers (*A.N.* 82); 70,000 (*Adab*, 166b, 133b); "70 or 80 thousand" (Khafi Khan, ii. 24); "about a hundred thousand" (Aqil Khan 33, but on p. 44 he gives a total of 45,000 excluding the Right Wing under Khalilullah, which on p. 46 he estimates at 15,000.) Manucci gives 1,20,000 (*Storia*, i. 265 and also 275.)

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two divisions under Zulfiqar Khan and Saf Shikan Khan.

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The Right Wing was commanded by Islam Khan. Here fought Indradyumna of Dhamdhera, Champat Rao Bundela, Bhagwant Singh Hada, besides many Muslim captains. Murad with his own men, probably under 10,000, formed the Left Wing. The Advanced Reserve under Shaikh Mir was a small body, about 5,000 strong, but all good men and true, ready to press into the thickest of the fight and restore the wavering battle. In the Centre, as usual, rode Aurangzib on a towering elephant, supervising the whole field. His right and left flanks were placed respectively under Bahadur Khan and Khan-i-Dauran (known to us as Nasiri Khan in the Deccan wars). Tall and fierce elephants, covered with barbs and steel-plates, and having many sharp instruments tied to their trunks, were stationed here and there amidst the dense masses of horse and foot, to stiffen the ranks. With their steel-coated *hawdas* they looked like towers rising out of the sea of human heads.[*]

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[*] For the divisions of Aurangzib's army, *A.N.* 91-94, Aqil Khan, 44; Khafi Khan, ii. 23; *Storia*, i. 274. His total strength is given as 40,000, plus about 10,000 under Murad (Aqil Khan, 44), 60,000 men besides the camp-guards (*Storia*, i. 274.) Manucci's numbers and positions are unreliable, when opposed to the *Alamgirnamah*, as he wrote from memory long after the event.

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By eight o'clock the marshalling of ranks was complete, and Aurangzib's army was set in motion. The few miles' interval was covered in about three hours as the mighty host moved slowly and in good formation towards its adversary standing on the plain of Samugarh. Towards midday, "the steel-ball standards and crescent-marked banners of Aurangzib appeared in the distance." Dara at once took up the offensive. He discharged all his artillery, making a frightful noise, and "covering the air with a think cloud of smoke, like the mantle of dark night," but doing little damage to the enemy at that long range. Aurangzib gave a very short reply, and wisely reserved his powder and shot for closer range.

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Distant cannonade.

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An hour passed in this kind of cannonade. Dara misjudged the effect of his own fire and the silence of Aurangzib's guns. He was deluded by the smoke or by his own ignorance of war, and decided to follow up his seeming success by a charge upon the timid enemy. The gun-fire ceased; pipe and trumpet pealed forth; kettledrums and big brass drums struck up, and amidst the deafening clanguour of musical instruments, the rattle of musketry, and the trumpeting of excited elephants, the battle joined.∗

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∗ For the description of the battle our chief authorities

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It was already past noon. Suddenly a multitudinous shout was heard on Dara's left, and then, out of the dark curtain of smoke hanging between the two armies, burst the sheen of ten thousand swords and lance-heads as a whirlwind of cavalry swept down upon Aurangzib's host. It was Dara's Left Wing, led by Rustam Khan. Filing out through the spaces between his guns, it formed a mass and attacked the opposing artillery with flashing blades and wild battle-cries. Aurangzib's chief of artillery, Saf Shikan Khan, and the musketeers behind his guns stood their ground well and received the charge with one deadly volley from the guns and a shower of bullets, arrows, and javelins. The flood of onset could not reach and overwhelm the guns; its speed slackened as the cannon balls ploughed up its ranks. So Rustam Khan swerved to his right hand in search of an easier prey, and galloped towards Aurangzib's Van, leaving a cloud of dust behind. But Bahadur Khan with the right flank

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are A.N. 96—105; Storia, i. 296—282; and Aqil Khan, 45—48. Kambu (13b—15a) loses his usual fulness and accuracy of detail. Isar-das (24a—25b) is meagre and unsatisfactory. Masum (58a—64b) is invaluable for the closing scene. Khafi Khan, ii. 24—30. Adab, 133b, and Dilkasha, 27, (both meagre.) Tod, ii. 1341, (for Chhatra Sal of Bundi.)

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of Aurangzib's Centre had hurried up to the front into the gap between the on Aurangzib's Van and the Artillery, and Right. barred the path of Rustam Khan.

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A close hand to hand combat now ensued; sword and dagger were freely plied. But superior numbers bore down the gallant defenders; Bahadur Khan fell down wounded; two of his captains, Syed Dilawwar and Hadidad Khan were slain; and his division seemed at the point of being routed, when Islam Khan came to its aid from the Right Wing and Shaikh Mir with the Advanced Reserve. It was now the turn of Rustam Khan to be outnumbered: assailed in front, right and left, plied with musketry-fire and a heavy discharge of arrows, he still maintained the combat on even terms. While the engagement was at its hottest, and (to borrow a hyperbole of the Persian history) "the blood had mounted waist-high," a bullet lodged in Rustam Khan's arm and he felt that his end had come. Quickly changing his elephant for a fleet horse, "he set his heart on the last voyage", and with a dozen other desperate men hewed his way to the centre of the enemy's ranks and there fell amidst a heap of the slain. It was a glorious end for the scarred veteran of many battles in

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Rustam Khan slain.

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diverse lands. Islam Khan cut off his head and flung it on the ground before Aurangzib as a token of his victory. The small remnant of Dara's Left Wing fled back under Sipihr Shukoh.

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At the same time a more terrible fight was being waged on Aurangzib's left. There Khalilullah Khan had made a dash forward with his Uzbak contingent and assailed with a discharge of arrows Murad, who had impetuously advanced to the front. Beyond this demonstration Khalilullah seems to have done little. But the Rajputs of the Imperial Van under Chhatra Sal slipped through the interval between Zulfiqar Khan's artillery and Murad's division and attacked that Prince with fierce vigour. They drove a wedge separating Murad from Aurangzib's army. An incessant discharge of arrows darkened the air.

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War is as the breath of his nostrils to the Rajput. To war he goes forth dressed as a bridegroom to a marriage. His favourite colour in battle is yellow,—the dye of the Indian Spring carnival. Rajah Ram Singh Rathor, wearing such a robe and with a string of priceless pearls tied to his turban, fell on Murad's elephant, crying out in derision, "You want to wrest the throne from Dara!" Shouting to the driver to make the elephant kneel down if he valued his life, the Rajah flung his spear at Murad, but it missed the aim, and the Prince shot him dead with an arrow. Other Rajputs fell as they swarmed round Murad's elephant, and with their robes "made the ground look yellow like a field of saffron"! The Rajput horsemen could not reach the Prince on his lofty elephant; but Murad received three wounds in his face; his driver was killed, and the *hawda* of his elephant bristled with arrows like the back of a porcupine.∗ The Prince defended himself with the valour and skill which he never lost in battle. But he was also attacked by Daud Khan's hardy clansmen, and borne backwards by the combined onslaught; his officers Yahya Khan, Sarfaraz Khan and Rana Gharib-das were slain, and his men scattered.

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∗ This *hawda* was long afterwards preserved in the storerooms of Delhi Fort as a memorial of the valour of the race of Timur. (Khafi Khan, ii. 29-30). Manucci (*Storia*, i. 280) gives a slightly different account of the death of Ram Singh Rathor.

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The victorious Rajputs pressed on to the Centre and fell on Aurangzib who was hastening to the aid of Murad on hearing of the disaster on his left. The clash between these two powerful forces was terrible. Rajput and Pathan grappled together in deathless hate. The fight that raged here is spoken of as without a parallel in the annals of that age. The Rajputs forced their way to Aurangzib himself, but that Prince's guards offered an opposition equally heroic, and being themselves in fresh condition they prevailed over the Rajputs who were half worn out by the struggle with Murad and whose ranks had been greatly thinned by this time. Enveloped by superior numbers, shot down with arrows, bullets, and rockets, to which they could not reply on equal terms, the Rajputs fought on with the wonted valour of their race, "in utter contempt of life". Even Aurangzib's court-historian praises them for "their very heroic fight." But it was of no avail against overwhelming odds. One by one all their leaders fell,—Chhatra Sal Hada, Ram Sing Rathor, Bhim Singh Gaur and Shivaram Gaur. But the remnant only made a more frantic struggle, "like ravening dogs", as a European eye-witness describes the scene. Rajah Rup Singh Rathor in reckless audacity jumped down from his horse, with his drawn blade hewed a way to the elephant of Aurangzib, and tried to cut the girths of the hawda in the hope of hurling the Prince down to the ground. He slashed the beast's leg,

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but perish after a frantic fight.

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but was himself cut to pieces by the bodyguard, though Aurangzib, in generous admiration, shouted to them to spare such a hero's life. The rest of the Rajputs "perished like moths in the fire of the hostile blades."

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Thus both the Left and Right Wings of Dara had been annihilated by this time. We now turn to see how that aspirant to the throne had employed himself so long.

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At the very beginning of the battle, as soon as Rustam Khan and Chhatra Sal had charged with his Left Wing and Van, Dara quitted his position in the Centre, rode through his artillery, and went towards Aurangzib's Right Wing in order to support Rustam Khan. No more fatal mistake could have been committed. Enveloped in a cloud of dust and smoke, whirled along with a dense body of cavalry within range of the enemy's guns, he virtually abdicated his position as a general and became a mere divisional commander. He could no longer survey the whole field and control the battle. His troops at once lost the one supreme leader who could have directed their movements aright with every fresh development of the action, given unity to their efforts, and sent reinforcements where most needed. At once “everything fell into confusion”.

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Secondly, by advancing in front of his artillery he obstructed their fire, while Aurangzib’s guns continued to mow down his ranks without any chance of reply. When Dara discovered his mistake and made frantic signals to his gunners to bring their pieces up to him, it was too late; all the artillery servants had in the meantime abandoned their position and scattered to loot, because there was now no force behind the fighting line to punish such acts; the transport animals had perished of heat and fatigue, and there was none to drag the guns forward.* This mistake ruined Dara far more than all other causes put together. The contemporary historians† condemn him for this unwise step. The Italian Manucci, then a captain of his artillery, clearly describes Dara's successive movements and the evil consequences of his action thus:

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∗ I follow the graphic account of Manucci who was in charge of some of Dara’s guns. Storia, i. 277-278.

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† “Dara, who was ignorant of the rules of war and lacked experience in command, foolishly hastened with the Centre and the Advanced Reserve in person, after the charge of Rustam Khan, and placed his own Van and Artillery behind himself.” (Alamgirnamah, 99.) “Dara, in great excitement and helplessness, forgetting true generalship, foolishly drove his elephant beyond his own artillery, charged with a party of Syeds of Barha and Mughals, and thus forced his own guns to be silent.” (Kambu, 15a.) “Dara like an inexpert fighter disordered his own arrangement of troops and advanced beyond his artillery.” (Aqil Khan, 47).

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Dara, punished by Aurangzib's artillery,

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Issuing from his Centre, Dara advanced by his left side towards Aurangzib's right front, beating all his drums as if the victory had been already achieved by Rustam Khan's charge and nothing was left but to follow it up and annihilate the enemy. But he was soon undeceived. Aurangzib's artillery had, as we have seen, already repelled Rustam's cavaliers, and stood calmly reserving their fire "until Dara had come quite close. Then all of a sudden the enemy discharged his cannon, musketry, and swivel pieces, which struck us and frightened numbers of our men, who scattered this way and that." Finding himself in imminent peril, Dara did not yet lose heart but turned to the right, to avoid the enemy's artillery, rallied his men, and fell upon Shaikh Mir's division.

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Aurangzib had pushed up so much reinforcement to the front and so many of his men had dispersed before Dara's advance, that for a time he was left without any guards. If Dara could then have forced his way to his rival's side, the victory would have been his. "But he made a

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turns aside, halts, short halt, owing to the difficulties of the ground and to the fatigue that overcame him.” His force lost its growing momentum, the rate of its progress and the vigour of its onslaught greatly slackened, and the golden chance was lost for ever.* For, in the meantime Aurangzib had dressed his ranks and made new dispositions, and Dara was soon afterwards called upon to abandon his forward movement straight on his rival's elephant and to turn aside towards his own Right Wing in order to back the troops of Chhatra Sal. Thus Dara made a long movement across his entire front from the extreme left to near the extreme right. The frightful heat struck down his men and horses during this unprofitable manœuvre, while the artillery stationed in the enemy's front fired volleys straight into his left flank. Those who still kept up with him were exhausted by this long and toilsome march over loose burning sand, amidst suffocating dust, and under a blazing sun which made their armour blister the skin, while not a drop of water could be had to quench their thirst. By the time he arrived behind his Van, now acting as his Right Wing, his party was more dead than alive.

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∗ Manucci's Narrative, Storia, i. 277—279.

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And they were assailed by a fresh body of the enemy. During these early stages of the battle, Aurangzib's Van, in obedience to his rigid discipline, had kept its proper position, where it had not been attacked either by the enemy's Left or by the Van. Seeing Dara's two Wings and Van overthrown, and his Centre in disorder and out of its proper place, Muhammad Sultan sprang forward with his own division (viz., the Van) to attack Dara. At the same time Aurangzib's victorious Right wheeled round to envelop Dara's division, while the right batteries under Saf Shikan Khan and the left ones under Zulfiqar Khan alike assailed it without the fear of a return of fire.

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Dara nearly hemmed round by the enemy.

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This was the beginning of the end. Dara had learnt of the death of his best generals, but he set his teeth and for a time exerted himself to stem the disaster. "He now utterly despaired of victory, but made a stand with outward firmness and encouraged his men. But Aurangzib's troops, like the waves of the sea, approached him with countless guns in front of them." So heavy and well-directed was the enemy's fire that every minute Dara's diminished host met with heavy Dreadful destruction by Aurangzib’s guns.

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losses: “Near him the deadly fire fell so thick that Wazir Khan and some other newly created peers who stood in front of him were slain. Cannon balls carried off heads or limbs; shots weighing 16 lbs and 20lbs flew (through the air.)” A number of rockets from the artillery accompanying Aurangzib’s division fell in quick succession amidst Dara’s followers and around his elephant. His friends and servants cried out to him to “dismount from his elephant which had become a target” (for the enemy’s guns.) There was no help for it. The wretched Prince hurriedly got down from his elephant and took horse, “leaving his armour, weapons, and shoes behind” in the hawda.*

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Dara’s troops flee on his leaving his elephant.

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At once all was over with him. A little before this, while he was busy trying to force his way to Aurangzib’s side, “during the hottest of the fight, some Imperial commanders who had stood idle and many who by hiding themselves in holes had received no hurt in the battle, had fled." And now his remaining troops, scattered far and near over the field, saw that his *hawda* was empty and concluded that their master had fallen. For whom should they fight any longer? Already they were half dead with yesterday's fruitless toil in the field, today's march and fight in raging thirst and under a burning sun from dawn till near sunset. To fill up the cup of their misery, a desolating hot wind sprang up and struck Dara's fainting troops in the face. "Most of his officers and men, without strength to ply arrow or spear, with thirsty lips and parched tongues cried *Oh the thirst! Oh the thirst!* and gave up the ghost on all sides of the field." Staying in such a place was no longer possible. The Imperial army had been only waiting for a decent pretext for flight, and the sudden disappearance of Dara from the back of his elephant gave them the wished for opportunity. At once the whole army broke up into small confused groups and fled from the field in the utmost disorder.

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∗ That Dara dismounted from his elephant at a time of extreme danger, when he had lost all hope of victory, is asserted by A. N. (104), Aqil Khan (48), Masum (63b), and Kambu (15a, bottom.) These contemporary and first-rate authorities refute the bazar gossip reproduced by Manucci and Bernier that Dara changed his elephant for a horse at the treacherous advice of Khalilullah Khan at a time when he had almost completely defeated Aurangzib, and that this act on the part of Dara turned his assured victory into a rout. (Storia, i. 281-282, Bernier, 53-54, also Isar-das, 24b-25a.)

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Dara stood almost alone, deserted by all save a few hereditary followers and friends whose fidelity was stronger than love of life. Just then one of his body-servants, in strapping his quiver to his belt, was shot down. To delay any longer there was to court a fruitless death. Dara was distracted, and his son Sipihr Shukoh was crying. But some of his close attendants seized the bridles of the two and turned their horses' heads towards Agra.[*]

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The fugitive Prince galloped for 4 or 5 miles and then sat down utterly exhausted under a shady tree, in the hope of talking breath and unlacing his burning helmet. But there was no rest for him. The roll of kettledrums was heard. Dara's attendants started up in alarm, and urged him to mount again and flee, if he wished to avoid capture. The Prince in utter prostration refused to move, saying, "Let what is destined to happen (to me) happen now. What can be better than this that one (of the enemy) should come and release me from this life of shame?" At last with much entreaty he was induced to mount again, and reached Agra at 9 p.m. in an unspeakably wretched condition.[†]

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† Masum, 64b—65a.

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Meanwhile, in the field, as soon as Dara had left his elephant, Aurangzib sounded the music of rejoicing and pressed forward as to an accomplished victory. His soldiers heartened by the joyous notes advanced from all sides. Dara's remaining troops at once submitted to the victor or took to flight. The last trace of resistance vanished; but there was no pursuit: the victors were as much worn out as the vanquished by that long midsummer day's life and death struggle.

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∗ The last stage is described on the authority of Masum, 62b—64b ; Aqil Khan, 47-48 (esp. the hot blast) ; A. N. 104-105 ; Khafi Khan, ii. 28.

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Nor was any pursuit needed. No victory could be more complete. On the vanquished side ten thousand men had fallen, besides horses and transport animals beyond count. The fierce sun and the waterless plain had been as fatal to them as the enemy's blades. All over the ten miles from the field to Agra a sickening spectacle met the eye when the sun arose next morning on the horrors of this day's war. Every few steps the road was bordered with groups of wounded men, who had dragged themselves away from the field in the vain hope of reaching home and nursing and then died of exhaustion and agony, and with fugitives struck down by the murderous hot blast but unscathed by the enemy's sword. Mingled with the men, in the field and the roadside, lay the carcases of the dumb victims of war,—oxen, mules, camels, horses, and elephants. Many of the soldiers also died after entering the city.*

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Among the commanders who poured forth their life-blood in the service of the throne, nine Rajputs and nineteen Muslims are mentioned by name. Bravest among so many brave men was Rao Chhatra Sal Hada, the chieftain of Bundi and the hero of fifty-two fights. "With his Hadas clad in their saffron robes, the ensigns of death or victory, the Bundi prince formed the vanguard of Dara on this day....A panic ensued, which was followed by confusion and flight. The noble Hada, on this disastrous event, turned to his vassals, and exclaimed, 'Accursed be he who flies! Here, true to my salt, my feet are rooted to this field, nor will I quit it alive but with victory.' Cheering on his men, he mounted his elephant, but whilst encouraging them by his voice and example, a cannon-ball hitting his elephant, the animal turned and fled. Chhatra Sal leaped from his back and called for his steed, exclaiming 'My elephant may turn his back on the enemy, but never shall his master.' Mounting his horse, and forming his men into a dense mass, he led them to the charge against Prince Murad, whom he singled out, and had his lance balanced for the issue, when a ball pierced his forehead.” With Chhatra Sal fell also his youngest son Bharat Singh, his brother Mokim Singh, three of his nephews, as well as the choicest of his clansmen. “In the two battles [of Dharmat and Samugarh] no less than twelve princes of the blood, together with the heads of every Hada clan, maintained their fealty even to death. Where are we to look for such examples?” Tod asks in generous admiration.* Four Rathor and three Gaur chieftains were slain on Dara’s side, and one Sisodia of note on Murad’s.

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∗ A.N. 105-106; Adab, 167a, 133 b; Isardas says that 15,000 were slain (26a.) Storia, i. 282.

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The most renowned victim of the day, however, was Rustam Khan, surnamed Firuz Jang, the hero of the Uzbak and Persian wars, and the main prop of Dara’s power. Muhammad Salih, the *diwan* of Dara, two sons of Ali Mardan Khan, a brother of Dilir Khan Ruhela (second only to the latter in martial renown), besides five Syeds of Barha,—a clan whose tried valour gave them the right to stand in the van of Mughal armies in the post of the greatest danger and honour,—swelled the death-list on Dara’s side.

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∗ Tod's *Rajasthan*, ii. 1341.

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The army of Aurangzib lost only one chief of the first rank, Azam Khan, formerly known as Mir Khalil, the active Inspector of the Deccan Artillery—who died of the excessive heat, and three minor officers,—Sazawwar Khan, Syed Dilawwar Khan, and Hadidad Khan. Eight others, including Zulfiqar Khan and Bahadur Khan, were wounded.[*] The Right Wing suffered the heaviest portion of the loss, as it bore the brunt of the enemy's attack in the earlier stages of the contest and had long to defend itself againt superior odds.

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Dara's plan of battle was extremely simple and primitive: he would penetrate his enemy's line at any point found vulnerable to cavalry attack, then force his way to his hated rival, and by killing him end the war at one blow. With Aurangzib dead or captured, his army would submit as a matter of course. So he sent on wave after wave of cavalry in successive charges. Aurangzib, on the other hand, like Wellington at Waterloo, kept himself strictly on the defensive: he reserved his power patiently but firmly,

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[*] For the casualties in the three armies, A. N. 105—107; Khafi Khan, ii. 28, 30; Isar das, 24a, 26a.

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waited to let Dara exhaust himself,* and met the enemy’s onset stage by stage as it developed itself. Unlike his tactics at Dharmat, he did not here assume the aggressive. Dara’s folly and inexperience alone contributed to the victory of the defensive game of his rival. The general advance of Aurangzib’s army and the utter dissolution of Dara’s vast host at the close of the day afford another parallel of the final defeat of Napoleon, though here there was no newly arrived Blucher to carry on a relentless chase of the vanquished. Lastly, the Imperialists ascribed their defeat to the treachery of Khalilullah Khan, just as the French after Waterloo raised the cry *Nous sommes trahis*.

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∗ *Storia*, i. 279, 276-277; Kambu, 13b.

Linked texts (2)

ʿAmal-i Ṣāliḥ — Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Kambōh 1659, Persian
Tārīkh-i Shāh Shujāʿī — Muḥammad Maʿṣūm 1659, Persian