Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/202

160 Prince Mu'azzam besieged the capital in a half-hearted way in 1685, and then, to his father's disgust, consented to a treaty of peace. Nevertheless, Aurangzib resolved to make an end of the Kutb Shah dynasty. Under cover of a pilgrimage to a holy shrine, he marched to Kulbarga, half-way to Golkonda. His hostile intentions were unmistakable. The wretched king, Abu-l-Hasan, knew that his fall was at hand. In vain he sent submissive messages to the emperor and laid his humble protestations of obedience at his feet; Aurangzib was relentless, and seeing that there was no hope of mercy the King of Golkonda prepared to die like a soldier. He cast off his sloth and luxury of life, and set about ordering his army and making ready for the siege of his citadel.

In January, 1687, the enemy took ground at gunshot range, and the leaguer began. Abu-l-Hasan had forty or fifty thousand horse outside the walls which continually harassed the engineers, and the garrison plied their cannon and rockets with deadly effect upon the trenches. The defence was heroic; frequent and furious were the sallies; the fortress was well found in ammunition and provisions, and a ceaseless fire was kept up night and day from the gates and ramparts. At last the lines were pushed up to the fosse, and Aurangzib himself sewed the first sack that was to be filled with earth and thrown into the ditch. Heavy guns were mounted on earthworks to keep back the defenders, and an attempt was made to scale the walls by night. Some of the besiegers had already gained the ram-