Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c53.s3.19

v4.c53.s3.19

Bālā Rao then promised to Lakhwā to cease hostilities, evacuate Mālwā to his rival, and fall back on Gwalior (end of February). But Lakhwā knew the proposal to be a mere ruse for gaining time to let reinforcements reach him. On 8th March, Lakhwā defeated and broke up the troops of Bāpu Sindhiā and Satvāji Patil, who were advancing to join Bālā Rao. When Lakhwā turned aside to attack Bālā Rao himself, the latter took up a strong position at Bārāpanti in a hilly terrain where his enemy’s cavalry could not operate. Thus all Mālwā lay open to Lakhwā’s pillage. In the third week of March he was forty *kos* north of Ujjain, and his light horsemen had been strengthened with “a good train of artillery.” The defeated Bālā Rao Inglé fell back from Mālwā to Kotā, giving up his camp to pillage by the Grāsiās in the pay of Lakhwā, who next moved to Mandesor to levy contribution on that rich trade centre.