Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54.s7.8

v4.c54.s7.8

In the meantime, the Peshwā had got together a scratch force of 2500 men, slowly and in driblets, and sent them under Pāndoji Kunjar with his gold-embroidered banner to Gār-Dond, to block the eastern approach to Punā. No fighting was expected, as he hoped that the prestige of his State banner would awe the rebel into retreat, because all this time Jaswant Holkar had been writing to him, professing that he was a loyal subject and had come not to fight his master but to wait on him and secure his order for the restoration of the House of Holkar to its former dignity and estates. To this the Peshwā had replied by ordering him to go back beyond the Tapti, and promising to make a settlement of his feud with Sindhiā. But a clash could not be long avoided. In the night between 20th and 21st August, Māné's troops from the north bank opened fire on the sleeping camp of Pāndoji Kunjar at Gār, and threw it into a wild consternation.