Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/265

CHAP. X.] sorties of the defenders. Battles took place with the Golkonda troops hovering round, on 11th and 12th February in the environs of the fort, and on 13th March at a place 20 miles from it. The Deccanis, as usual, retired after some exchange of fire, being unable or unwilling to stand the charge of the dreaded dreaded Mughal cavalry. Their mode of warfare was Parthian, and their aim to wear out the enemy and cut off his supplies.

These skirmishes were varied by the almost daily arrival of presents and offers of peace from the beleaguered king to the invader's camp! But Aurangzib steadily refused to make terms. He coveted the whole kingdom and nothing less. The fertility of Golkonda, the world-wide fame of its diamond mines, the wealth of its kings, the skill of its artisans, had roused his keenest greed. Soon after crossing the frontier, even before he had seen "the rich populous and flourishing city of Haidarabad," he had written to his father, "What shall I write about the beauty of this country—its abundance of water and population, its good air, and its extensive cultivation,—which I saw on the way? At every stage after crossing the frontier I met with many large tanks, springs of sweet water, run-