History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c74.s14.28

v5.c74.s14.28

Early in April 1695 one of his chief officers, Sarafraz Khan, quarrelled with him and marched away to the Court without his permission. We read in the Court news-letters reports about other desertions from his army. Nothing was achieved by the Mughals during 1695, while the scarcity of grain which raged there for the entire year intensified their sufferings. Siege was laid to Vellore in October, but it held out for many years. Early in December came the alarming news that a large Maratha army of 15,000 men under the dreaded Santa and Dhana was marching to the Eastern Karnatak and that they had already crushed Qasim Khan, the governor of the uplands of Mysore, (capital Sera). On hearing of this disaster, the imperialists took fright and prepared to decamp and send their families to places like Madras for protection. [Mad. Diary, 5 Dec. 1695.]