Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c8.s3.21

v1.c8.s3.21

Katwā stands at the junction of two rivers, the Ganges running from north to south, and a smaller stream called the Ajāy flowing into it from the west. The Nawāb, coming from Murshidābād, would have to cross the Ganges only if he attacked Katwā from the south, and both the rivers if he tried to reach the place from the north and the west. The presence of an armed sloop of the enemy in the Ganges alongside Katwā and the alertness of the Marātha troops on that river-face made it impossible for him to cross the Ganges at that place. He had entrenched the eastern bank of the river facing Katwā and fired for eight days upon the Marātha position across with no result. So, he decided on a wide detour by the north and west in order to reach the enemy in secrecy and attack their unprotected western flank by surprise. Some miles above Katwā both banks of the Ganges were in the Nawāb’s possession, with no Marātha band in sight. Here the Nawāb built a bridge of large boats across the Ganges at Uddharanpur and transferred his “storm troops,” ten thousand picked men, to the north bank of the Ajay.