Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54.s5.1

v4.c54.s5.1

It is necessary to give the full topography of the scene of the war in order to enable the reader to follow the operations clearly. Daulat Rao Sindhia's main camp and family rested near Hāndiā, on the south bank of the Narmadā. On the north bank of the river, facing Hāndiā lay the town of Nimāwar, which served as the other bridge-head to his army. A broken plain stretched for 18 miles west of Nimāwar to the town of Satwās, and the route was intersected only by small *nālās* draining southwards into the great river. Fourteen miles north-west of Satwās stood Bijwāra, at the eastern end of a pass after crossing which and debouching on the plain at the village of Dhan-talāv at its western mouth, the road reached the town of Unchaud, another thirteen miles from Bijwāra. Sixteen miles north-west of this Unchaud lay the city of Newri, and sixteen miles further off in the same direction lay Dewās. Ujjain was 22 miles north-west of Dewās and Indore 32 miles south of Ujjain. It will be seen that Daulat Rao had to avoid the country due south of his capital Ujjain, because it was very hilly, broken, and covered by Holkar’s possessions. He had to make a long detour from Burhānpur *north-eastwards* to Hāndiā and then from the Narmadā *north-westwards* to reach Ujjain. His capital lay blocked by enemy territory on the south and the west, while in the region north of it Holkar’s roving light horse had driven Sindhia’s unprotected officers and posts entirely into the defensive.