Page:Shivaji and His Times.djvu/393

1679] of 500 men only. But the Peshwa Moro Trimbak dissuaded Shivaji from falling into the power of Masaud by entering the fort. So, on 4th November, 1679, the Maratha king divided his army into two bodies: he himself with 8 or 9 thousand troopers started by the road of Muslah and Almala, and Anand Rao with 10,000 cavalry by way of Man (? probably Jat) and Sangula, to raid the Mughal dominions and recall Dilir from the environs of Bijapur. But Dilir Khan, to whom the capture of Bijapur seemed easy, paid no heed to the Maratha plunder and devastation of those provinces, which was a familiar annual evil, and hoped for the highest rewards from the expected conquest of the Adil-Shahi capital. So, he pressed his attack on it, without retreating.

But his siege of Bijapur was a failure. After vainly trying to make peace with Masaud, he left the environs of the city on 14th November and marched westwards, intending to invade the Miraj-Panhala region and create a diversion there, which would quickly recall Shiva home. The scheme seemed promising, as Shambhuji bragged of his ability to capture forts quickly with 1 his Maratha followers and thus make the progress of the imperialists easy, while the petty chiefs (Nayak-Wars) of Miraj had been already won over by a Mughal agent.