History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c66.s6.3

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.