History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c66.s6: § 7. Battles near Malkhed.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c66.s6
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§ 7. Battles near Malkhed.
v4.c66.s6.1
The Mughals deposited their baggage at Malkhed and their Van again advanced under Khan-i-Jahan to hack a way towards Haidarabad. The Deccanis outnumbered this force as three to one; but the Mughal troops, especially those under Himmat Khan and Sayyid Abdullah Khan of Barha, fought with obstinate bravery, and, in spite of heavy losses, always succeeded in beating the Deccanis back at the end of the day. Khan-i-Jahan himself was attacked by a Golkonda captain named Bari Khan, who was celebrated for his skill in throwing stones with the accuracy of a musketeer marksman; but the Mughal general shot him dead with an arrow. On one occasion a Mughal defeat is said to have been averted only when an infuriated elephant of Rajah Ram Singh was driven into the enemy's ranks, with a three maund iron chain swinging from its tusk, which unexpected charge caused the horses of several Deccani captains to rear and overthrow their riders. Each such encounter was followed by a halt of three or four days on the Mughal side. (K.K. ii. 296-298.)
v4.c66.s6.2
∗ *Dil* 187 says that Shah Alam started from the imperial camp at Sholapur after Khan-i-Jahan had been checked at Malkhed and had reported it to the Emperor. But *M.A.* 260 distinctly states that the Prince received marching orders on 28th June and Kh. J. about three weeks later. Ishwardas (89b) makes a mess of the whole campaign.
v4.c66.s6.3
It was already August, and the heavy rain caused great hardship to the Mughal troops and impeded their advance, while the Deccanis were reinforced by 10,000 fresh horsemen of Madanna's own contingent. Jan Nisar Khan, who had taken the mud-fort of Serum, was invested there by the enemy, but held out gallantly. In the daily fights that followed, both sides suffered heavy losses in killed and wounded. The Mughals, worn out with the day's murderous contest, had to rest content with a bare victory and had no strength left in them to pursue the vanquished. They were, besides, weakened by quarrels among their generals, by the resentment of Khan-i-Jahan at the Emperor censuring him for slackness, while younger officers like Itiqad Khan and Khwajah Abul Mukaram were openly praised for energy and courage, and finally by the tame and unenterprising spirit of their supreme commander, Shah Alam. It is also evident that these daily losses at last took the heart out of the Mughal soldiery. So, the imperial generals halted and wasted two months in the neighbourhood of Malkhed without fighting, their camp being occasionally fired upon by the enemy with rockets at night.
v4.c66.s6.4
Then a stinging rebuke from the Emperor and an unusually audacious act of sniping on the Prince's camp, roused him to seek battle again. After a very bloody contest the Deccanis were pushed back to their camp at noon, when the Prince very chivalrously granted them a few hours' respite to remove their women to a place of safety, as it was a war between men on both sides. Thereafter, the battle was renewed; but at sunset the Deccanis retreated, after Shaikh Minhaj and Rustam Rao had been wounded and both sides had suffered heavy losses. Next morning it was learnt that they had fled towards Haidarabad. The cause of this sudden break-down of the Deccani resistance was dissension between the commander-in-chief, Mir Muhammad Ibrahim, and his second in command, Shaikh Minhaj, and the seduction of the former by the Mughals. The Prince, being now unopposed, rapidly marched towards Haidarabad. It is said in some histories that Ibrahim’s intended treachery was suspected by the Golkonda Government and a plan was formed to arrest him, but he forestalled it by escaping to the Prince’s camp when the Mughals arrived in the vicinity of Haidarabad, in the beginning of October, 1685. (K.K. ii. 298-306; Dil. 189; Ishwardas, 91a.)
v4.c66.s6.5
The flight of the commander-in-chief paralysed the defence of Haidarabad. Though more than half the army and several generals were still loyal, Qutb Shah did not know whom to trust. Shaikh Minhaj told him that as Mir Ibrahim was Madanna’s protege the desertion of the general must have taken place with the consent of the prime minister, who also would take the same step soon. Losing faith in his long accustomed guide and all-powerful minister, the weak imbecile king thought only of securing his own safety. He fled to Golkonda, an impregnable fort, which had baffled Aurangzib thirty years ago and might do so now. Madanna very wisely advised him not to shut himself up in Golkonda, but to go to Warangal or some other distant fort, so that, in the event of Golkonda being besieged by the Mughals, he would be free to move about and reinforce its defenders. But this advice only deepened the king's suspicion of his wazir's sinister design as suggested by Shaikh Minhaj. (Dil. 190.)