Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c8.s3.23

v1.c8.s3.23

About a mile above the western or left wing of the Marātha camp the Nawāb had gradually collected a number of smaller boats unsuspected and unopposed by the enemy, by following the cunning device of sending them to creep from the Ganges up the Ajay river one at a time. With these boats a bridge was swiftly and silently completed at midnight by the strenuous exertions of his engineers, and then the Nawāb’s troops began to cross over to the Marātha side of the Ajay. A boat in the middle of the structure broke down and sank under the weight of the passing men and beasts, and before the moving troops could be halted 1500 of the Bengal soldiers were drowned. The Nawāb immediately extinguished all his lights and prevented any alarm from reaching the Marātha camp. The damage was repaired in a few hours and the crossing was resumed. By the earliest streak of dawn some 2,500 of his men had reached the south bank of the Ajay. They waited no longer for the rest of the army to cross over, lest the growing light should reveal their small number to the Marāthas and defeat their attempt. Quickly crossing the intervening mile of ground, the Bengal army charged the Marātha camp with loud shouts. The surprise was complete. The Marāthas fled without waiting to ascertain the strength of the attacking force or strike a blow. "There was little loss on either side", as the English factory letter reports; but the Nawāb's victory was complete, the Marāthas had to leave all their tents, equipment and property behind. In the course of the morning the Nawāb pushed up reinforcements from the other side of the Ajay in boats, and himself arriving on the scene took up the pursuit of the enemy for some distance, and then came back to their deserted camp. [Siyar, ii. 124—126; Maharashtra Puran; Salimullah 121a—122a.]