Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/183

 CHAP. VIII.] SIEGE COMMENCED. 153

Lakah; his Chief of Artillery, Qasim Khan, south of the fort, with orders to drain the ditch dry; Sadullah's position was south-east; while in the extreme north-west, facing the Forty Steps, lay Rajah Rajrup with his Kangra hillmen. Four other generals, occupying the intervening spaces completed the investment.*

The work of sapping necessarily took time. Meanwhile attempts were made to capture some of the outlying defences by sudden assault. Mahabat Khan and Rajah Rajrup, in charge of the northern line of attack, dragged two heavy guns to their trenches and bombarded the two towers on the Forty Steps, doing some damage to the works. But the position was impreg-

north, to the east and south:-
 * Waris, 65a., Adab-i-Alamgiri, 12b. The following was the distribution of trenches, going from the west, by the

Opposite Lakah Fort-Aurangzib, Qalich Khan, Shah Nawaz Khan, Rajah Pahar Singh Bundela. Opposite the Ali Qabi Gate-Baqi Khan. the Forty Steps-Rajah Rajrup. 39 the Baba Wali Gate-Mahabat Khan and Rajah Anurudh. the Waisqaran Gate-Najabat Khan. }) the Khwajah Khizir) -Qasim Khan (Chief Gate to the Mashuri of Artillery). Sadullah, Gate and Jai Singh. the Earthwork Bastion-Rustam Khan.

The Adab-i-Alamgiri places Rustam Khan opposite the Mashuri Gate, but his real position was at the south-west corner of the fort. Qasim Khan's position was also shifted by Sadullah. This explains the slight differences between the two authorities quoted above.