306 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book II.
A.D?'i60i. were tlms employed when they received an urgent recall. The Mahrattas, who had never entirely desisted from their guerilla warfare, ha^l become emboldened by partial successes, and were mustering strong in various quarters. Scarcely any district in the Deccan was secure from their incursions ; and whenever the chout was withheld, nothing was to be seen but fire and devastation. Two Mah- ratta leaders, Santajee Gorpara and Danajee Jadu, particularly di.stinguished themselves. By intercepting convoy.s, and attacking isolated detachments, they spread such general alarm that Aurungzebe felt the necessity of endeavouring, by decisive measures, to revive the spirit of his troops. ZuJfikar Khan was .still
Siege of bcforc Gingee, and unable to make any progre.ss because the reinforcements which he required had been withheld. When they were at last despatched, Aurungzebe gave the chief command to his son Cambaksh, but at the same time, adhering to his suspicious system, controlled his operations by sending along with him Assad Khan, Zulfikar Khan's father. As might have been expected, all parties were dissatisfied with this arrangement. Cambaksh com- plained that, while he bore the responsibility, the authority which he possessed was only nominal ; Assad Khan and his son, on the other hand, complained %vith equal reason that, while the burden of conducting the war lay on them, all the fame which might be acquired was reserved for another.
Its slow While the leaders were thus at variance, the combined operations nece.ssar}'
progress.
to insure success could not be adopted. It is even said that Zulfikar Khan carried his resentment so far as to enter into treasonable correspondence with the enemy, and furnish them with intelligence which enabled them to frustrate all the efforts of the besiegers. No wonder that, in such circumstances, the siege was protracted for yeajs. Meanwliile Santajee and Danajee, the two leaders above mentioned, were not idle. Their partizans were spread over the whole country, and they could, on the shortest notice, gather thousands around their standard. Thus feeling their strength, they resolved to make a gi'eat effort for the relief of Gingee. The force provided for this pui'pose amounted to 20,000 chosen horse. It was commanded by Santajee, who came upon the besiegers so suddenly that one of their divisions was completely surprised. An attempt to check his progress only led to a second overthrow, and the Moguls, cut off from their supplies and confined within their intrenchments, became, instead of besiegers, besieged. They adopted the best course which remained to them in the circumstances, and made an arransrement which allowed them to retire to Wandivash, about twenty miles distant. Capture During the greater part of the siege, Aurungzebe had remained in permanent
of Gingee. o o a o o
cantonments near Punderpoor, on the Beema, but on hearing of this disgi'ace, advanced to Bejapoor. While strongly condemning the conduct of his generals, ► he inconsistently conferred the sole command on Zulfikar Khan, the only one
who was truly to blame. After a number of desultory operations, the siege was resumed, and again began to linger till Zulfikar Khan, aware that Aurungzebe's
