Siege of Purandhar
| Siege of Purandhar | |||||||||
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| Part of The Mughal-Maratha War | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Mughal Empire | Maratha | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Aurangzeb Dilir Khan Jai Singh I Prince Muazzam Jahan Khan Bahadur | Shivaji | ||||||||
The Siege of Purandhar in the summer of 1665 was initiated by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, after the Maratha leader Shivaji sacked the Mughal imperial port city of Surat. Shivaji continued to raid Aurangabad and even attacked Mughal ships in the Indian Ocean. In response Aurangzeb sent one of his most experienced commander Mirza Raja Jai Singh.
Encirclement of the Marathas
Mirza Raja Jai Singh knew the only way to advance against the Marathas was to warn the Sultan of Bijapur not to make any attempts to reconcile with their rival Shivaji. He then sent his envoys to inform the English and the Portuguese of an impending Maratha raids. He also gathered the Maratha rivals of Shivaji.
Immediately after gathering an army of Maratha auxiliaries, Rajputs and Mughals. Mirza Raja Jai Singh set out from Pune and established camp in Saswad. After fierce skirmishes and clashes the Marathas including their leader fled to Purandhar.
Siege
Mirza Raja Jai Singh ordered trenches to be dug around Purandhar Fort, As his forces fought the renegade Maratha's in the surrounding hills. Mirza Raja Jai Singh defeated the Maratha lines around Purandhar Fort, until his cannons were in the right position.
Murarbaji, the head of marathi group on purandar was a brave man.
Shivaji was, maybe at rajgad that time.
To halt Maratha retaliation he even ordered the Mughal cavalry to engage the pockets of Marathas, and also ordered the Mughals to forage and burn the countryside, because of the threats posed to his forces.
Dilerkhan, was successful in getting this fort only after getting surprised by bravery of murarbaji.