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62 and during the panic the Maráthá, horse charged the fugitives, and breaking through the square which had been formed, commenced an indiscriminate slaughter. Seeing that all was lost, and that the enemy were engaged in plundering his camp, Haidar escaped alone and unattended to Seringapatam, a distance of eleven miles, and was soon after followed by Tipú in the disguise of a fakír or mendicant. The only officer who behaved gallantly on the occasion was Fazl Ullah Khán, who, cutting his way through the enemy, with a small body of men, forded the Káveri and reached Seringapatam in safety. This disastrous affair occurred on March 5, 1771.

Melukote, being a richly-endowed shrine and the headquarters of the sect of Srí Váishnava Bráhmans, offered an irresistible allurement to the greed of the Maráthás, and as the place was deserted they did not hesitate, after pillaging the precincts, to set fire to the temple cars, which involved the destruction of the sacred buildings. The delay caused by the inveterate habit of plundering which characterized the Maráthás enabled Haidar to take measures for the effectual defence of his capital, which Trimbak Ráo besieged with no result. The Maráthá host continued however to hold the greater part of his territory for more than a year. Haidar, despairing of getting rid of the enemy, then sued for peace, which was concluded in June, 1772, on his agreeing to pay at once fifteen lacs, and a like sum afterwards, some of his richest districts being given in pledge. During the course