History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c77.s8: § 12. March to Khelna.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c77.s8
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§ 12. March to Khelna.
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When the campaigning season reopened in October 1701, the Emperor set out for the conquest of Khelna (or Vishalgarh). This fort stands thirty miles west of Panhala, on the crest of the Sahyadri hill, 3,350 feet above the sea and overlooking the Konkan plain lying on its west. The district is wet and cool, and the hills were thickly covered with trees and dense underwood in the 17th century.* Even now, though most of the timber has disappeared, there are still fine groves and stretches of hill-side closely covered with brushwood. The scenery is wild and picturesque. The fort stands on an isolated spur jutting into Konkan and is joined to the Sahyadri range by a narrow neck of land. The easiest means of reaching it is by the Amba pass, five miles north of it, and some 35 miles n. w. of Kolhapur. [Bombay Gaz. xxiv. 2—5.]
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The road to Khelna passes through Malkapur, fifteen miles north-west of Panhala. Eight miles further on begins the head of the Amba pass. These eight miles leading to the defile were very difficult ground. There was in that age no road here for wheeled traffic and the ups and downs were so sharp and the path so narrow that even horses could not use it with ease or safety.
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∗ The *Masir-i-Alamgiri* (458) writes, "The hills and soil of this tract are wonderful: there is no trace of hill or land, you only see herbs and flowers...There is not a tree that does not cause some gain [to man.] It has no flower that does not charm the brain with its fragrance. Every particle of this wide plain can supply the revenue of kingdoms from its fruits and aromatic roots...It was a frontier fort,...and the vast provinces of Konkan Upland and Lowland were annexed to the empire through its conquest." Khafi Khan, as usual, gives a mere paraphrase of the *Masir*.
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Leaving Wardhangarh (8 m. n. w. of Khatau) on 7th Nov. 1701, the Emperor arrived near Malkapur* in 12 marches. Here he halted for a week, while pioneers were set to make a road ahead. Bidar Bakht, who had cantoned for the rainy season in the Gokak-Hukri region (Belgaon district, in the south-east), here joined the Emperor, after taking some Maratha forts and burning some enemy villages on the way. On 6th December [23rd ?] the Emperor encamped on a high and broad open space on the side of the Sahyadri, seven miles north of Khelna.
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But the Amba pass itself had yet to be made fit for the passage of an army. This was a formidable task. "In all the paths of this hilly region there are impregnable forests and dense thorny jungles through which the sun cannot peep. Lofty and stout trees abound on all sides. The branches were so intertwined that even an ant could hardly pass through them. The track was difficult even for footmen. The defiles and pits were deep, the rocks firmly rooted in the soil." [M. A. 448-449.]
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But Fathullah Khan after one week's incessant toil with an army of pioneers and stone-cutters, made a broad level road through the pass. Then Asad Khan was detached on 26th December to begin the siege. His vanguard under Fathullah and Hamid-ud-din forced the defile before sunrise. A hillock overlooking Khelna had been fortified by the enemy and was held in force. Fathullah charged up its side and drove the defenders away from the top. In their attempt to escape to Khelna through the valley on the left, these Marathas fell into a Mughal ambuscade planted there and were forced by its matchlock fire to run into the woods, where most of them were captured and put to death by being flung into the chasms with stones tied to their waists. Next day the Mughals captured another hillock from which arrows could be shot into Khelna. Guns were mounted here and began to set fire to the houses of the garrison. A covered lane was also begun.
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∗ On 15 Dec., according to *Akhbarat*.
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On 16th January 1702, the Emperor's tent was pitched a mile from Khelna. His followers suffered terrible hardship and loss in crossing the pass and bringing his camp and equipage to the foot of the fort.