Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54.s7.13

v4.c54.s7.13

At the very outset as Jaswant Holkar approached the Marātha homeland, the Peshwā sent frantic appeals to Daulat Rao Sindhiā to save him by despatching a strong army to the Punā district. Sindhiā could not immediately comply; his hands were full of the campaign he was waging in the north to capture all the strong places of Holkar in Mālwā, and the army he assembled at Burhānpur under Gopāl Bhāu and Sadāshiv Bakhshi was at first forbidden to advance south and assume the offensive. Nor could these generals stir from their base, because of their utter want of money and the refusal of their soldiers to march unless their arrears were cleared. The two generals also quarrelled and pulled different ways; Gopāl Bhāu engaged himself profitably in robbing the baron of Asirgarh of his possessions in that region. However, in the middle of September, Sadāshiv did reach Ahmadnagar, as we have seen. He was reinforced by another corps near the end of that month, and got ready to march to the defence of Punā.