Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c26.s2.6

v2.c26.s2.6

At the same time, the rigour of the blockade of Nagor began to press its garrison hard. In March 1755 one tank of water within that fort dried up and there remained only one other to keep the defenders and other inmates alive. Famine raged in the beleaguered city; salt sold at 1½ seers per Rupee, rice at 13 seers, and opium—so indispensable to the Rajput, at Rs. 20 per seer, while firewood and grass were totally unobtainable. Men began to escape from Nagor whenever they could. Bijay Singh opened negotiations for terms through a holy abbot, Gosain Bijay Bhārati, but Jayapa demanded the impossible sum of fifty lakhs. At the same time, Jayapa finding his own water-supply failing with the approach of summer, wrested from the enemy's possession a well-watered village, Tausar, seven miles south of the fort, and shifted his camp there.