About the end of this year (1670) Mahuli too was lost to the Emperor. Manohar Das, conscious of the inadequacy of the garrison and provisions of the fort to repel another attack of the superior Maratha forces, resigned his post in despair of getting reinforcements.Shivaji seized the opportunity, and about December captured Mahuli, slaying its new commandant Alawardi Khan and his garrison of 200 men. (Dil. 65.) By the end of April 1670*[1] he had looted 51 villages near Ahmadnagar, Junnar and Parenda.
The only officer who made an attempt to uphold the imperial prestige in the Deccan was Daud Khan Qureshi, who had been second only to Dilir Khan during Jai Singh's Maratha campaign of 1665. Leaving the province of Khandesh in charge of his son, Daud Khan arrived at Ahmadnagar on 28th March 1670. Six days afterwards he set out with 7,000 cavalry to expel Shiva's men who were roving near Parnir, Junnar, and Mahuli. They evacuated Parnir and Junnar and retired before him, while he occupied these two posts. Meantime, Shivaji had invested three Mughal forts in that region, and Daud Khan left Junnar to relieve them. But at the approach of his Van (under his gallant son Hamid and Ludi Khan) the Marathas raised the siege and fled away,
- ↑ * The text of Akhbarat here is doubtful. The year may be 1671. Z. C. asserts that Shiva recovered Mahuli about the middle of Aug. 1670.
