History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c68.s8: § 9. Mines exploded, severe battles, 20th June.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c68.s8
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§ 9. Mines exploded, severe battles, 20th June.
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The next day (20th June) was fixed for the explosion of the mines and the delivery of the assault, which the Emperor went to supervise in person from Firuz Jang's trenches. The Mughal troops, as ordered, rushed out of their trenches and made a noisy feint against the undermined bastion in order to induce the enemy to crowd at this point and then to kill vast numbers of them by the explosion! Dense masses of Mughals—artillerymen, musketers and infantry,—stood in battle order in the plain below the glacis, ready to storm the breach when made.
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Early at dawn the signal was given; the fuse was lighted and then followed a deafening noise.
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But the force of the explosion was directed outwards; a vast mass of rock and earth from the glacis was hurled upon the Mughal ranks crowded below: "In a twinkle of the eye the flying splinters killed 1,100 imperialists, while the fort walls remained intact." A universal clamour rose from the Mughal army, the groans of the dying, the shrieks of the wounded, the wild cries of the terror-stricken, and the lamentation of the friends of the victims mingled in a dissonant tumult which "suggested the Day of Judgment." A cloud of smoke and dust covered the imperialists as with a pall.
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The enemy seized the opportunity by making a sally and attacking the confounded Mughals. No resistance could be made under the circumstances. The exultant garrison put to the sword the few survivors of the assaulting column whom the explosion had spared, and then seized the trenches and outposts which it had taken the Mughals four months to make and occupy. A force sent by the Emperor drove them out and recovered the position after a long contest and heavy loss. This had been hardly effected when the second mine was fired with the same disastrous consequences. Again the splinters of the blown-up tower fell on the Mughals, and killed more than a thousand of them. The enemy who had got news of the intended assault through their friends in the siege-camp, had vacated the undermined bastion the night before, leaving only a look-out man there. They now made a second sortie and fell on the unhappy imperial vanguard, doing the same havoc as before.
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Firuz Jang then hastened to the scene with a large force, but by the time he arrived from his distant quarters, the enemy were in possession of the Mughal field-works and shelters. A severe struggle for them now took place; the enemy alternately fired their guns and charged sword in hand; and Firuz Jang with all his efforts could not reach the lost ground and dislodge them. He himself was wounded with two other generals, Rustam Khan and Dalpat Rao Bundela, while vast numbers of his men were slain. "The men could not advance one inch in the face of the murderous discharge of muskets, rockets, chain-shot and bombs." (M.A. 295.)
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At the news of this serious check, coming as it did on the top of two disasters on the same day, Aurangzib himself, girt round by his staff, advanced from his station in Firuz Jang's tent to aid his hard-pressed troops. Cannon-balls began to fall near his portable throne (takht-i-rawan), and one of them carried away the arm of his body-servant (khawas.) But he coolly kept his position and cheered his soldiers by his example.
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While the battle was raging fiercely, the elements themselves seemed to mingle in the war of mortals. A tropical storm burst on the plain with all the violence of wind rain and thunder. The imperialists in the plain could not advance or even see their objectives distinctly amidst the blinding shower, while the Qutb-Shahi troops, safely sheltered in the fort walls and the captured Mughal trenches, plied their fire-arms with deadly precision on the crowded Mughals in the open.
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The rain continued to descend in torrents; the water in the field rose above the horses' breasts, the raised batteries were washed away, the dry nalahs and even low paths became rushing streams. The Mughals, assailed by men and the gods, gave way; and then the Decannis made their third sortie of the day. Sallying forth from the gates, they seized the trenches further off and the elevated gun-platforms, carried off as many guns as they could and destroyed the others. The big planks, beams and thousands of bags filled with earth which the Mughals had thrown into the ditch were quickly removed into the fort and used in repairing the breach caused by the explosion!
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By this time the plain of battle had been turned into a lake of mud. The Mughal generals continued to charge the enemy, but to no effect. An imperial elephant worth Rs. 40,000 was killed on the spot, and many men were shot down by the Deccani musketeers and the incessant discharge of artillery from the bastions of the fort. Towards evening the prime minister Asad Khan and Prince Kam Bakhsh brought up fresh reinforcements, but could not restore the battle. (*Dil.* 207, *M.A.* 295.) Advance was impossible, and to hold the position was to face a gradual but sure destruction. Therefore, at sunset the defeated Mughals retired to their quarters; the Emperor spent the night in Firuz Jang’s camp.
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§ 10. Mughal failure; famine and pestilence.
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Next morning (21st June) he issued forth again to fire the third mine and try his fortune by another assault under his own eyes. The mine did not explode at all. It was then learnt that the enemy had discovered the three mines, countermined them by digging with incredible labour in the solid rock of Golkonda, removed all the powder from this (third) mine, and partially emptied the other two and flooded their chambers with water on the fort side, so that only the powder at the Mughal end was dry and the explosion had, therefore, been driven outwards. After some futile exchange of blows, the Mughal soldiers returned to their camp in utter disappointment. The baffled Emperor stole back to his own tent “without ceremony.” “Various other plans were tried, immense wealth was spent, but the siege dragged on.” (*M.A.* 295.)
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The morale of the imperial army was utterly gone. True, reinforcements soon arrived (10 July) under Prince Azam and Ruhullah Khan, the governors of Malwa and Bijapur respectively. True, Shaikh Minhaj, "the best servant of Abul Hasan" (M.A. 296), deserted to the Emperor's side (28th May), and Saf Shikan Khan, restored to liberty and the Mir Atish-ship (22nd June), began to do his utmost to erect a new gun-platform very quickly. But all these were of no avail. The famine grew worse than before, and pestilence appeared as its inseparable companion. "The scarcity of grain and fodder was so great that even rich men were reduced to beggary, while the condition of the poor baffled description." (K. K. ii. 336.) As the official history records it, "Wheat, pulse, and rice disappeared. The city of Haidarabad was utterly depopulated; houses, river, and plain were all filled with corpses. The same condition prevailed in the Mughal camp. At night piles of the dead used to accumulate, and next day the sweepers used to fling them, without funeral, on the bank of the river. This happened day after day. The survivors in the agony of hunger ate the carrion of men and beasts. For miles and miles around, the eye rested only on mounds of corpses. Happily, the ceaseless rain melted away the flesh and the skin, otherwise the rotting carcases would have poisoned the air and despatched even the men spared by the famine. After some months, when the rains ceased, the white piles of skeletons looked from a distance like hillocks of snow." (M.A. 292.)
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"Many of the Mughal soldiers, unable to bear the pangs of hunger, deserted to Abul Hasan; others, in secret league with him, gave help to the besieged." (K. K. ii. 337; M.A. 295.) The reinforcements brought by Ruhullah Khan and Prince Azam only added to the scarcity of food.
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"The siege was protracted." All hope of taking Golkonda by escalade or breaching was gone. And there was no course left but to sit down before the place with grim tenacity and starve it into surrender. And this Aurangzib did. "The Emperor decided to build a wall of wood and earth round the fort of Golkonda. In a short time it was completed and guards were placed at its doors, ingress and egress being forbidden except on the production of passports." (M.A. 296.) A new lofty gun-platform was also constructed opposite one of the bastions, and the Emperor reconnoitred the fort from it on 7th July. Prince Azam, on his arrival, was appointed commander-in-chief in the place of the wounded Firuz Jang. (M.A. 299; K. K. ii. 358.) At the same time, to prevent the garrison from getting fresh supplies, Aurangzib issued a proclamation annexing the kingdom of Haidarabad. He appointed his own magistrates and revenue-collectors for all places in it, saying "How long can Abul Hasan remain hidden in the fort, when his towns villages and corn-fields are in our hands?" The *khutba* was read in the Emperor's name and a Censor of Public Morals (*muhtasib*) was posted by him at Haidarabad to put down all the Hindu usages and deviations from Islam which Abul Hasan had tolerated, to demolish the temples, and to build a mosque. (K. K. 358; Waqai, 134.)