commit any further hostility against Shivaji. So the Maratha army withdrew, instead of following up their success and capturing the whole of the stricken enemy force.
The Bijapuris with their numerous wounded, fell back on Tikota (13 m. west of Bijapur); but being reinforced appeared in the Panhala district again a few months later (Feb. 1674.) Shivaji sharply censured Pratap Rao for having let Bahlol Khan escape, when he could have easily crushed him and ended for ever his frequent menace to the Maratha possessions in the Southern Desh tract and the roads leading across the Ghats to South Konkan. Pratap Rao, immediately after the battle of Umrani, had dashed off to plunder parts of Golkonda, Telingana and Berar. On returning from this raid, which was utterly useless from the military point of view, he found Bahlol back near Panhala and received an angry message from his master saying, "Bahlol has come again. Go with your army, destroy him and win a complete victory. Otherwise, never show your face to me again ! "
Stung to the quick by this letter, Pratap Rao sought Bahlol out at Nesari, "in a narrow passage between two hills." Smarting under his master's censure, he threw generalship to the winds, and rushed upon Bahlol followed by only six horsemen, the rest of his army hanging back from the mad charge. The gallant seven were cut down by the swarm of foes, and much havoc was done among
