Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/306

276 this interval,

having repaired their losses they began to assemble in order to oppose the Mughals. So, on 22nd July, Aurangzib sent a large division under his eldest son and Mir Jumla to break up their forces before they could gain formidable strength. This Mughal corps advanced forty-eight miles, and then, sighting the enemy's camp at a distance, charged and broke their formation, and pursued them for four miles. The victors proceeded, laying the Bijapuri villages waste with fire and sword, and leaving no vestige of habitation or tillage in their path. They reached the un- protected hamlet near the fort of Kulbarga, the old Bahmani capital, where they reverently spared the tomb of Syed Gisu Daraz, a famous saint of Southern India.

At last the end of the siege came in sight; the ditch was filled up with stone and mud, the parapets demolished by artillery fire, and on 29th July the Imperialists scaled a were