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130 diverted to that side (the north-west.) Leaving Puna they halted at Chinchwad (10 or 12 miles north) on the 4th and reached Lohgarh on the 5th. When the Mughal skirmishers arrived near the fort, 500 Maratha horse and 1,000 infantry sallied forth and attacked them. But the imperialists held their ground, were soon reinforced, and routed the enemy with heavy loss after a severe fight. Then they burnt the houses on the skirt of the hill, taking many prisoners and cattle. The villages enclosed by the four forts, — Lohgarh, Visapur, Tikona, and Tangai, — were devastated, and much of Balaghat (highlands) and Painghat (lowlands) harried. Thereafter they returned, Qutbuddin Khan and his party taking up an outpost near Puna, and Daud Khan and his comrades rejoining the main army on 19th May, after a fortnight's absence.

Meantime the Maratha captains had not been idle, but tried hard to harass the Mughals and raise the seige. Early in April, Netaji Palkar, Shiva's kinsman and cavalry leader, made a dash on Parenda, but a Mughal detachment from Supa hastened in pursuit, and the Maratha host melted away at the news and offered no fight. Late in May, Qutbuddin Khan had to advance up to fort Urouda,*