Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c44.s2.70

v4.c44.s2.70

No time was to be lost in breaking up the relieving Marwar army posted at Mertā before it could be doubled by the arrival of the reinforcements which were gathering at Nāgor, only 40 miles away. This strategic move was immediately put into execution by the Marathas. Leaving two thousand Deccani horse and a small body of trained musketeers to hold the siege trenches before Ajmer and prevent any succour from reaching the beleaguered fort, the main army of Sindhia under Gopāl Hari Raghunāth (popularly known as Gopāl Bhāu Chitnis) set out for Mertā on 4th September. The Marātha horse moved one march ahead, forming a screen before the more slowly moving guns and trained infantry under De Boigne, and arrived at Netāriā four miles east of Mertā, on the 7th. De Boigne had to take a more circuitous route, south of Ajmer, then west and finally north, by way of Pisāngāon and Govindgarh, to Alniāwās, on the southern bank of the Luni, and ploughed his way across the broad, sandy bed of that river on to the town of Riān, 15 miles south-east of Mertā, on the 8th. His arrangements were perfect; a large number of camels carried skins of water for his men over this dry region, and others transported his infantry to lessen their fatigue. At midnight between the 8th and the 9th, De Boigne resumed his march and next dawn arrived at the Marātha camp in Netāriā.