Battle of Dharmat: Difference between revisions

Battle of Dharmat (edit)

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 [https://archive.org/details/iB_in/1-3/page/n173/mode/1up?view=theater 158-159]}}.
-On the 5th February 1658, Aurengzeb left Aurangabad to contest the Mughal Throne. He proclaimed himself ruler and bestowed titles on his children. By the 5th of April he crossed the [[Narmada]] river towards [[Ujjain]]
+On the 5th February 1658, Aurengzeb left Aurangabad to contest the Mughal Throne. He proclaimed himself ruler and bestowed titles on his children. By the 5th of April he crossed the [[Narmada]] river towards [[Ujjain]].
+===The Charge of the Rajputs===
+It was a little over two hours from sunrise, of 15th April 1658 when the rival hosts sighted each other. The battle began with the usual discharge of artillery, rockets, and muskets at long range. The distance gradually decreased, as Aurangzib’s army advanced slowly, keeping its regular formation. The [[Rajputs]] were soon engaged in a close hand to hand combat. The Rajputs densely packed within their narrow position, were severely galled by the barqandazes and archers of the princes’ army from front and flank, without being able to manoeuvre freely and give an effective reply. Their losses began to mount up every minute. The Rajput leaders of the Van,— Mukund Singh Hada, Ratan Singh Rathor, Dayal Singh Jhala, Arjun Singh Gaur, Sujan Singh Sisodia and others, with their choicest clansmen, galloped forward. Shouting their war- cry of ''Ram Ram''  “they fell on the enemy like tigers, casting away ail plan.” The flood of Rajput charge first burst on Aurangzib’s artillery. {{sfn|Sarkar|1973|loc= 'Battle of Dharmat' pp.
+[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98676/page/n248/mode/1up?view=theater 226]}}
+The guns and muskets fired at point-blank range, woefully thinned their ranks, but so impetuous was their onset that it bore down all opposition. Murshid Quli Khan, the Chief of Artillery, was slain after a heroic resistance and his division was shaken; but the guns were not damaged.
+For one point of time the Rajput charge was seeming to overwhelm Aurengzeb's Vanguard but his Van was composed of his most picked troops, “eight thousand mail-clad warriors,” many of them hereditary fighters of the Afghan tribe, and their generals were reliable men. [[Muhammad Sultan (Mughal prince)|Muhammad Sultan]], Najabat Khan, and other commanders of the Van, on their elephants kept their ground like hills, while the flood of Rajput charge raged round and round them in eddies. Here the most stubborn and decisive fighting of the day took place. The close combat was so heavy that  “The ground was dyed crimson with blood like a tulip-bed.”{{sfn|Sarkar|1973|loc= ''Battle of Dharmat'' pp.
+[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98676/page/n249/mode/1up?view=theater 227]}}
+The Rajputs, being divided into many mutually antagonistic clans, could not charge in one compact mass; they were broken up into six or seven bodies, each under its own chieftain and each choosing its own point of attack. Thus the force of their impact was divided and weakened as soon as it struck the dense mass of Aurangzib’s Van.  {{sfn|Sarkar|1973|loc= ''Battle of Dharmat'' pp.
+[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98676/page/n249/mode/1up?view=theater 227]}}
+The Maharajah had chosen his position so badly that many of the imperialists standing on the uneven ground could not join in the fight, and many others could not charge by reason of their being cramped within a narrow space. Half the imperial Van, viz., the Mughal troops under Qasim Khan, rendered no aid to their Rajput comrades now struggling hard with Aurangzib’s Van ,they were suspected of collusion with the enemy or of antipathy to the Rajputs. The charge of Jaswant’s Vanguard was not followed up. Aurangzib’s troops, who had parted before the rushing tide, closed again behind them, and thus cut off their retreat. Jaswant, too, was not the Cool wise commander to keep watch on all the field and send reinforcements and the new development made his position untenable.{{sfn|Sarkar|1973|loc= ''Battle of Dharmat'' pp.
+[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98676/page/n249/mode/1up?view=theater 227]}}