History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c79.s4.12

v5.c79.s4.12

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.