314 W. Irvine —The Bangash Nawabs of Furrulchdbad. [No 4, 
The explanation of Nizam-ul-Mulk’s anxiety and haste would appear 
to be that he had heard of the defeat, on the 1st April 1731, between Baroda 
and Dobhoi in Gujrat, of his allies, Pilaji Gaekwar and others. Uda Ji 
and Chimna Ji Pandit were taken prisoners.* This defeat rendered futile 
all the negociations for a general alliance between the two leaders, 
Muhammad Khan and Nizam-ul-Mulk. But Muhammad Khan was benefit¬ 
ed indirectly, for Nizam-ul-Mulk was forced to take the field openly against 
Baji Bao, thus for one season averting from Malwa the full force of the 
Mahratta depredations. Baji Kao was forced to remain in the Dakhin on 
the defensive. 
Grant Dufff speaks of no open fighting between Baji Bao and Nizam- 
ul-Mulk from April 1731 till the time of concluding a treaty in August 
of that year. Nizam-ul-Mulk, however, in the last but one of his letters 
to Muhammad Khan, details what he calls his victories over Baji Bao. The 
latter had invested Baroda which was occupied by men of his own nation. 
But hearing of the approach of the Muhammadans, the Mahrattas raised 
the siege and made oft towards Surat, and when they thought they were at 
a safe distance, they turned oft to plunder parganah Auklah. 
Hearing of their movements, Nizam-ul-Mulk says, he left the ferry 
of Akbarpur and passed near the fort of Mando, sending his heavy baggage 
and large guns to Burhanpur. Making forced marches he soon reached the 
river, where finding much of his artillery in his way and difficult to get 
across, he left it behind. Then redoubling his haste he reached the port of 
Surat, and for the third time left more of his impedimenta at the village of 
Malwa. They pressed on though troubled by hunger and thirst, carriage 
became very difficult to procure, and for two or three days deaths were 
frequent. For most of the time they passed through desert and wilderness. 
After crossing the ferry they drew near to the enemy and caught them 
unawares. They took to flight, but the Bhils and Kolis captured numbers 
of them, mere especially at night when they had lost their way. The 
Muhammadan army had now come to the shores of an arm of the sea. This 
gives an opening to the Persian scribe to descant on serpents and the rod 
of Moses, Pharaoh and Pharaoh’s host. 
They had passed through the deserts and unoccupied country of Ivhan- 
desh, Surat, and Kokan, where from the thickness of the woods, it is diffi¬ 
cult to force a practicable route. When they reached Surat the enemy 
were driven towards Daman, £ which was under the sway of the Farangi, 
and thence to the Kokan, the western boundary of the Dakhin. They then 
were caught at a place where you go from the Tal Kokan to the country 
* Grant Duff, p. 225. 
f p. 225. 
t On the coast, 55 miles S. of Surat. 
