Siege of Purandhar
| Siege of Purandhar | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of The Mughal-Maratha War | |||||||||
| 200px | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Mughal Empire
| Maratha | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 AurangzebJai Singh IPrince MuazzamDilir KhanJahan Khan Bahadur
| Shivaji | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 50,000 Sepoys 15,000 Sowar and Zamburak 90 Cannons 4000 Matchlocks 250 War elephants | 10,000 men | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 1000 killed or injured | 14,500 killed | ||||||||
Siege of Purandhar, (Summer of 1665) was initiated by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, after the Maratha leader Shivaji sacked the Mughal imperial port city of Surat. Shivaji continued to raid Aurangabad and even attacked Mughal ships in the Indian Ocean. In response Aurangzeb sent one of his most experienced commander Mirza Raja Jai Singh.
Encirclement of the Marathas
Mirza Raja Jai Singh knew the only way to advance against the Marathas was to warn the Sultan of Bijapur not to make any attempts to reconcile with their rival Shivaji. He then sent his envoys to inform the English and the Portuguese of an impending Maratha raids. He also gathered the Maratha rivals of Shivaji.
Immediately after gathering an army of Maratha auxiliaries, Rajputs and Mughals. Mirza Raja Jai Singh set out from Puna and established camp in Saswad. After fierce skirmishes and clashes the Marathas including their leader fled to Purandhar.
Siege
Mirza Raja Jai Singh ordered trenches to be dug around Purandhar Fort, where the Maratha leader Shivaji took refuge. As his forces fought the renegade Maratha's in the surrounding hills. Mirza Raja Jai Singh defeated the Maratha lines around Purandhar Fort, until his cannons were in the right position.
To halt Maratha retaliation he even ordered the Mughal cavalry to engage the pockets of Marathas, and also ordered the Mughals to forage and burn the countryside, because of the threats posed to his forces.
These harsh actions halted relief Maratha advancements and the continued bombardment Purandhar Fort forced Shivaji to concede defeat. The reasons for his surrender according to Maratha accounts is that "The goddess Bhawani warned Shivaji in a dream that he could not defeat a Hindu prince so notable as Mirza Raja Jai Singh."[1]
The demoralized Shivaji immediately began to negotiate his surrender to the 60-year-old Mirza Raja Jai Singh. Shivaji himself accompanied by six Brahmans arrived in the massive tent of the Mughal-Rajput commander Mirza Raja Jai Singh and officially surrendered 23 fortresses he had captured and kept only 12 for himself, furthermore Shivaji also returned all lands that he had annexed from the Mughal Empire.