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1665] Jai Singh then dismissed Shivaji to enable him to gather his contingent of 9,000 men and make the necessary preparations for the coming campaign, offering him two lakhs of Rupees from the imperial treasury for the purpose. Shiva promised to join Jai Singh the day before he started.

At last, on 20th November, 1665, Jai Singh set out on the invasion of Bijapur,* from the fort of Purandar. The Maratha contingent, 9,000 strong, under Shiva and his kinsman (khwesh) Netaji Palkar, — "whom the Deccanis regard as a second Shivaji," — formed the Left Centre of the Mughal army.

During the first month of the campaign, Jai Singh's march was an uninterrupted triumph. From Purandar to Mangalbirah (Mangalvedhe), a fort 52 miles north of Bijapur, the invaders advanced without meeting with any opposition ; the Bijapuri forts on the way were either evacuated in terror or surrendered at call to Shiva's troops, who had been sent ahead by Jai Singh to capture them. Phaltan, about forty miles south-east of Purandar, was entered on 7th December; Thathora, 14 miles south-west of