Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/305

CHAP. XI.] to his trenches before Kaliani, his brows adorned with victory.

The siege was pressed with vigour, but the defence by the Abyssinian Dilawwar was equally heroic.

The sap had reached the moat on 11th May, and by the 23rd of the month three-fourths of the ditch had been filled up, under the guidance of Mir Jumla, with thorny plants. The garrison, by hurling down lighted gunpowder and burning naphtha and grass, reduced these plants to ashes; the work of bridging the ditch had to be begun anew; the assault was delayed. Stones and earth were now thrown into the ditch, but progress in this task was necessarily slow. During this period of enforced idleness detachments from the besieging army were usefully employed in capturing the forts of Nilanga and Chincholy. —

Since their defeat in the great battle of 28th May, the Bijapuris had not interfered with the siege for nearly two months. At the end of