History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c79.s4: § 8. Arrival of Marathas.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c79.s4
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§ 8. Arrival of Marathas.
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But a new enemy now appeared to dash down their hopes and nullify their efforts. On 8th March [acc. to *M. A.*, but 26th acc. to *Akh.*] a Maratha force of five to six thousand horse under Dhana Jadav and Hindu Rao (brother of Santa Ghorparé) arrived near the fort to support their Berad allies, because the families of many Maratha generals had taken refuge there while Aurangzib had been capturing their own strongholds in Maharashtra. The only force that Aurangzib could spare from the siege-trenches to go out and fight the new comers numbered 8,181 men. [Akhbarat 27th March.]
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∗ The hillock occupied "for a time" by Kam Bakhsh's men is called in *M.A.* "the conquered hillock," which Khafi Khan takes to mean Lal Tikri. But we know that the Mughals were dislodged from this Lal Tikri the very day they surprised it, and also that it was in Berad possession when Nusrat Jang arrived there later. So, I take it that Talwargera, the hillock opposite the *peth*, is meant here.
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The first task of the Marathas was to remove their families safely from this fort, whose fall they believed to be certain, as not even the most powerful forts of Shivaji had been able to withstand Aurangzib's assault. [M. A. 500.] While the main body of the new comers kept the imperialists in play by a noisy feint against the siege lines in front of the fort, assisted by a heavy fire from the walls, another body of 2,000 picked troopers brought their women and children out by the back-door of Wagingera, mounted them on swift mares, and escaped, their rear being guarded by a body of infantry that sallied out of the fort.
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Pidia had promised the Marathas a daily subsidy of several thousand rupees as long as they would assist in the defence of his capital, but they advised him to make terms with the Emperor, as resistance to him was vain. The Berad chief, however, continued to subsidise and feed them, and they halted in the neighbourhood, and made frequent attacks on the Mughals. Though no decisive action took place and the Marathas retired from the field every evening, the imperialists suffered much loss and their hearts were shaken.
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The Mughal army itself was now thrown into a state of siege. Its activities ceased and it was confined to its own lines. "Though a strong wall had been raised round the imperial camp, the enemy used to make sorties every night and fire rockets and muskets into the camp, thus reducing the men there to extreme distress, so that no one could step outside. Grain and fodder became extremely scarce in the camp. The Emperor censured his generals, but it had no effect. They were distracted on seeing the enemy's large number and their own dangerous situation.' [Dil. ii. 150b.]
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§ 9. False peace proposals by Pidia Nayak.
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Pidia, as advised by his Maratha allies and also following his old policy, made proposals of submission to the Emperor. Aurangzib appeared to welcome these negotiations, but his real object was to gain time and call up heavy reinforcements from far and near for a supreme effort.
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Abdul Ghani, a glib-tongued lying Kashmiri pedlar, who used to hawk his wares in the camp and secretly in the fort too, one day brought to Hedayet-kesh (the chief of the imperial Intelligence Department) a letter from Pidia proposing peace, and told a story of his having gone near the fort wall to say his evening prayer when some Berads had suddenly seized him and taken him inside, where their chieftain had entrusted him with the letter. Aurangzib failed to detect the enemy's trick and the Kashmiri's worthless character; he gave a favourable reply to the letter and nominated his son Kam Bakhsh as mediator in the negotiations, so that in the official proclamations and histories the credit for gaining Wagingera might be recorded in that prince's name. Pidia next sent his brother Som Singh to the Mughal camp, offering to give up the fort and asking that the zamindari, the headship of the clan, and a *mansab* might be granted to his brother. Muhtasham Khan, an officer then living in the camp without employment and a debtor to the Kashmiri, was requested by Pidia to be sent in to take delivery of Wagingera. He was given a *mansab* by the Emperor and was admitted into the fort with some men [c. 20 March], while Som Singh stayed in the camp and spread the tale that Pidia had turned mad and fled with the Marathas. The Kashmiri next brought a message from the Berad chief's mother repeating this story and begging that Som Singh might now be allowed to return and undertake the management of his estate, while the fort would be vacated in seven days. The Emperor sent Som Singh back with a *mansab*, a robe of honour and an elephant for himself and some jewels for his mother. And Abdul Ghani, the great maker of this glorious treaty, was created a commander of 300 horse! "The fire from the trenches ceased, and the generals were recalled from their posts to the Emperor's camp." [*M. A.* 502.]
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And then the bubble burst. The whole thing was a fraud. Pidia was alive and sane and still within the fort; he refused to surrender it and renewed his attacks. The Emperor almost went mad with rage and shame.
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§ 10. Nusrat Jang's vigorous operations.
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Meanwhile he had summoned his ablest generals from all sides,—Nusrat Jang (the captor of Jinji and Raigarh), Daud Khan Pani (the wild Afghan fighter) and many brave qiladars and faujdars with their choicest troops. Nusrat Jang arrived on 27th March and the others soon afterwards. [Akhbarat.]
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The day after his arrival Nusrat Jang rode out in full force to reconnoitre the fort,—Dalpat Rao's Bundelas forming his Van and Ram Singh Hada's clansmen guarding his rear. After viewing the gate of Wagingera, he went to the side where two mounds were held by the imperialists, and galloped up to the hillock of Lal Tikri from which the Mughals had been dislodged in the early days of the siege. The Berads in a large body offered him battle, firing at him from behind the boulders. Nusrat Jang charged them, climbed the hill, and drove out the enemy, who ran into the village of Talwargera at its foot, and began to ply their muskets from behind its mud wall. Many Rajputs fell in the attack on Lal Tikri and outside the village. Rao Dalpat on his elephant came to the Van and, with the blind impetuosity of a true Rajput, wanted to storm the village, though it was walled round and held by such good shots. But Nusrat Jang turned away the hot-headed Bundela to a neighbouring hillock which was still in the enemy's hands. Here, too, many Rajputs, with only sword and spear, blindly advanced to the very edge of the fort ditch, only to be shot down by the garrison. Fifty Rajputs were slain and more than a hundred wounded in this part of the field; their loss in horses also was very great. "Most of the Rajputs now turned aside to pick up their dead and wounded brethren, and Dalpat was left with a very slender force, but he bravely went to the right wing of the Khan where the fighting was then hottest. The enemy fled from the second mound too and hid in the village of Dhedpura. On this day twenty-one bullets and one rocket hit Dalpat Rao's elephant. The historian Bhimsen, sitting behind him on the same elephant, was struck by some musket shots, but his armour saved him. Even the driver of the elephant was wounded, though clad in steel. The banners of Nusrat Jang were pitted with shot-holes like a crocodile's hide, and two of his elephant drivers were wounded and one killed. Similarly, there were heavy casualties in the centre and rear of the Mughal general's force." [Dil. ii. 152a.]* Jamshid Khan of Bijapur was killed by a cannon ball, but Nusrat Jang kept hold of the position he had gained with so much blood near the wall. Hamid-ud-din Khan, Tarbiyat Khan and other officers were pushed up by the Emperor to strengthen the point won here, while Chin Qalich Khan guarded the line of communications from behind some hillocks between Lal Tikri and the Emperor's camp.
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∗ The battle is thus described in *Akh.* "Spies report that the Berads, having issued from the fort, had occupied different points of the [now deserted] outposts of Sultan Husain [Kam Bakhsh's lieutenant], Md. Baqar and others. So, Nusrat Jang, on 31st March, after placing Dalpat in his Van and Ram Singh Hada in his rear-guard,...had gone to the top of a hillock and stood there. He had sent word to Chin
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Next day Nusrat Jang rode to the back of the fort to select a site for his own trenches. A large enemy force attacked him, but was defeated with heavy loss and driven back to the hill by Dalpat Rao. A few days later the Khan captured some wells situated on the skirt of the hill whence the enemy used to draw their water; he then strengthened the position in front of the gate by entrenching and mounting guns on the two hillocks in front of the gate which were now in Mughal hands. Under the protection of walls of bags* and
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Qalich Khan to guard his rear, while he was fighting the Berads in the front. Then N. J. advanced quickly and attacked the Berads with arrows and bullets. The enemy in Sultan Husain's trenches were killed. Then N. J. hastened against the Berad forces near the fort, who fled pursued by him to the fort-gate. Just then Dhana and Hindu Rao came to the rescue of the Berads, and there was a severe fight at close quarters. About 400 Berads were slain or wounded. The Marathas fled. The Mughals too lost heavily...Then N. J. came back to his own quarters and sent a message to the Emperor that he would try to force the fort gate the next day."
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∗ M.A. 503 (the text is obscure.)
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head-covers his men advanced and made a lodgement close to the fort wall. The Berads now offered submission with greater earnestness than before, but Nusrat Jang, without heeding their words, delivered an assault on Talwargera on 27th April. His own contingent under Daud Khan, Dalpat Rao, and Ram Singh Hada, with imperial troops under Hamid-ud-din, Tarbiyat and some other generals, formed two parallel columns of attack, while he stood on horseback to support them from behind. The imperialists eagerly charged on foot. The enemy fought while fleeing, but could not stop the onset. The Mughals entered the peth (walled village), slaying all who resisted, and the rest fled. The village was thereafter firmly held in the teeth of a hot fire from the fort above it.