History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c75.s3.4

v5.c75.s3.4

The Marathas besieged the fort on all sides, being confident that hunger would destroy its defenders. On the day of entering the fort, the soldiers, high and low, were all given bread of millet (*jawari* and *bajra*) from the local stores, while the transport cattle fed on the old and new straw-thatching pulled down from the roofs of houses. On the second day no food was left for either man or beast. Many of the cattle of the army had been carried away by the Marathas, many others had perished from hunger,—"They chewed each other's tails, mistaking them for straw," as the graphic exaggeration of a Persian writer well describes it;—and the remaining oxen 'lean like the ass's tail,' were now eaten up by the Muslim soldiery. Then they faced utter starvation. Qasim Khan was a great eater of opium; his life depended on the drug, and the lack of it caused his death on the third day. [M. A., 378; but many suspected that he committed suicide to escape disgrace at the hands of the enemy and censure by the Emperor.] Of the common soldiers, many in the agony of hunger leaped down from the fort walls and sought refuge in the enemy's camp, who took away the money they had concealed in their belts, and turned them adrift. The traders of Santa's camp-bazar used to come below the wall of the fort and sell fruits and sweets at fancy prices to the starving Mughals on the top, who threw down money tied in rags and drew the food up by means of ropes. [K. K.].