Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c12.s2.47

v1.c12.s2.47

But the higgling continued and no mutual agreement was arrived at in ten days, after which the Bakhshi decided to try force. Insolently rejecting Bakht Singh’s advice, Salābat Khan sent his vanguard on to make a direct attack on Rām Singh’s front lines, where all his big artillery was planted. When the Mughals arrived close enough, the Rajputs who had been hitherto perfectly quiet, delivered a sudden volley, killing many of them. The imperialists halted and began an exchange of gun-fire (14th April, 1750.) After four hours’ waste of munition in this kind of indecisive battle, nature asserted her supremacy over man; the summer sun of the Rajput desert proved intolerable; the Mughal soldiers turned frantic with thirst, as the only wells in that region were in their enemy’s possession. “Many of these troopers at noon, in search of water, went up to the Rajput position; the Rajputs very chivalrously gave water to them and their horses till they were sated and then told them,—‘Go back now. There is war between you and us.’ ” [Siyar, iii. 39.]