Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c39.s3.11

v3.c39.s3.11

However, Rayaji at last arrived on the scene and opened the siege. Jahangir Khan boldly assumed the offensive, as the best form of defence ; he made repeated sorties and attacked the Marathas. On 20th July he sallied forth from the walled city of Koil,—three miles distant from the fort of Aligarh,—and fell upon the Maratha army. Rayaji, after a desperate hand to hand fight, in which he lost 400 men in killed and wounded, repulsed the attack and advancing stormed Koil, from which the disheartened garrison fled away, abandoning all of their forty pieces of cannon and other war material. This city now became the besiegers' base and they advanced closer to Aligarh, running trenches towards its walls. The situation in early August is thus described in a Marathi despatch, "The fort is blockaded ; our piquets are posted one kos off all around it. But it is a strong place and can hold out for a long time." The exceptionally heavy and ceaseless rain of this year's monsoon troubled the besiegers worse than the summer heat had done before. The Jamuna rose in high flood, interrupting the boat traffic between Mahadji's camp and the besieging army. Jahangir Khan continued to make sallies and raid the siege trenches. Sindhia retaliated by confiscating his property and imprisoning his relatives wherever found. [Ibr. ii. 148.]