Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s3.27

v2.c27.s3.27

The fog of war hid the entire eastern bank of the Jamunā, where the Marathas had not a single friend or news-reporter. There was no knowing what step Abdāli would take next, or where he would cross the river. The Maratha general posted small parties to watch the fords of the Jamunā; seven hundred men under Sābāji holding the Barāri-ghāt, nearest to Dattāji's own position, with other bands at two or three places further down the river and nearer Delhi. In the depth of winter the river level was at its lowest and the Jamunā opposite Barāri had been parted into two channels by a broad island; the main volume of its water flowed by the eastern bed, while a shallow stream running along the western or Delhi bank had dried and left a marshy nālā behind it. The island was covered with a jungle of the *jhāu* shrub and tall reed-bushes, “so dense that one horseman could not see another” in it.