night he silently scaled the walls of Junnar with
rope-ladders, and after slaughtering the defenders
carried off 11,000 hun, 200 horses, and much costly
clothing and jewels.[1] Bands of Maratha light
horsemen spread in all directions, cutting off
provision trains and foraging parties, plundering
the smaller towns and flourishing villages, rendering the roads unsafe, and carrying devastation
and alarm to the very gates of Ahmadnagar, the
seat of the Mughal administration in that region.
An attack on the town (pettah) which nestled
under shelter of the fort of Ahmadnagar was
frustrated by a timely sortie of the garrison. But
so great was the alarm it caused that the Mughal
governor made the citizens remove their property
to within the fort as a precaution. Two other
Marathas, Minaji Bhonsla and Kashi, where
notably successful in their raids.
Aurangzib orders reprisals against Shivaji, Aurangzib learnt of these disturbances and hurried reinforcements up to Ahmadnagar, with strict orders to punish Shiva. He chastised with his pen those officers who were slow in marching to the scene. His letters to his officers
- ↑ The history of the contest with Shiva is given in Grant Duff, i. 162—164, Kambu 3b, and Adab, 110b—112a (Aurangzib's letters to Shaista Khan), 147a—149a (to Multafat Khan), 153a—157a (to Nasiri Khan).
