History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c29.78

v2.c29.78

First, Shuja's admiral, Shaikh Abbas, seized a hilly tract named Paturah,[*] 5 miles south of Rajmahal. From this base he began to make boat-raids into the water-girt city. Then on 22nd August, Shuja suddenly attacked Rajmahal with his flotilla. The commandant, Zulfiqar Khan, was too ill to ride. Rajah Indradyumna alone offered a gallant opposition to the invader. The other Imperial officers wavered, held a council of war, could not agree to anything, but quarrelled with each other, and fled at night for Mushidabad, evacuating all their positions,—the city on the bank, the upland, (a spur of the hill), midway between old and new Rajmahal, which was their main camp, and the causeway leading from the hill-side to the new town. All their property was seized by Shuja, who thus recovered his capital and re-established himself on the western bank of the Ganges.[†]