The siege of Basavapatan was a military engagement between the

Mughal Army The army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 16th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselve ...

and the Maratha troops led by

Santaji Ghorpade Santaji Ghorpade (Santaji Mhaloji Ghorpade, ; 1660–1696) was a Maratha (caste), Maratha general and statesman who served as the 7th Senapati of the Maratha Empire during the reign of Chattrapati Rajaram I. He is widely regarded as one of the ...

, the Marathas were defeated and Basavapatan was relieved.

Background

In November 1695, the Maratha general,

, defeated the Mughal general, Qasim Khan. The Mughals retreated to their fort at

Dodderi Dodderi, also known as B.Dodderi or Brahmana Dodderi is a village in Soraba Taluk, Shimoga District in the state of Karnataka, India. The village has a primary school, a post office, a registered group of women called 'Radhika Mahila Mandali'. ...

, the Marathas chased them and began besieging them from all sides, confident that their hunger would destroy the defenders. Many of the cattle had been captured by the Marathas. Qasim Khan died during the siege, with many suspecting he committed suicide. After he died, the command was left by General Khazand Khan, who sent Santaji terms of surrender. Santaji kept his word and allowed them to leave the fort and buy supplies from Maratha camps. Meanwhile, the

Mughal Emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

, in Islampur, 280 miles north of Dodderi, hearing the danger of Qasim Khan, dispatched his general Hamid-ud-din Khan along with Rustam-dil Khan to support him. They stationed themselves in

Adoni Adoni or Adavani is a city in the Kurnool district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Adoni mandal, administered under the Adoni Revenue Division. In the 2011 census of India, Adoni had a popul ...

, but were too late to do anything and waited to receive Khazand Khan.

Siege

Less than a month after their defeat, Himmat Khan Bahadur, who had been deputed to cooperate with Qasim Khan, fled to Basavapatan, 40 miles west of Dodderi, with a force of 1,000 cavalry. Santaji planted his garrison in Dodderi and ordered two divisions of his army to watch and oppose Hamid-ud-din Khan from the north and Himmat Khan from the west. On January 20, 1696, Santaji appeared before Himmat Khan's position with a force of 10,000 cavalry and the same number of infantry; the Maratha Karnataki musketeers took position from the hills; Himmat Khan advanced to that position and dislodged them from it, killing 500 of them; then he drove his elephant towards the position where Santaji was standing; however, he was shot by a bullet and fell unconscious; Santaji received two arrow wounds; the leaderless Mughals retreated back to their trenches, where Himmat passed away. After months of campaigning, Santaji troops were exhausted. The Mughal general, Hamid-ud-din Khan, was dispatched against Santaji and inflicted a defeat on the Marathas on February 26 near Chakargola, 26 miles north of Basavaptan. Another Mughal general,

Bidar Bakht Muhammad Bidar Bakht (; 4 August 1670 – 20 June 1707) was a Mughal Empire, Mughal prince. His father, Muhammad Azam Shah, briefly reigned as Mughal emperor in 1707. Bidar was noted for being a gallant, skilful and successful general and was ...

, was ordered to relieve Basavaptan, but before he could arrive, Santaji had already withdrawn from the area.Pratik Gupta (2014), Maratha Generals and Personalities, A gist of great personalities of Marathas, p. 9

/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basavapatan, Battle Sieges involving the Maratha Empire, Basavapatan involving the Mughal Empire Conflicts in 1696 1696 in India 1690s in the Mughal Empire