Battle of Umrani

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Battle of Umrani
Part of the MarathaBijapur Wars
Prataprao Gujar.jpg
Statue of Prataprao Gujar
DateMarch-April 1673
Location
Bijapur district
Result Maratha victory [1] [2]
Belligerents
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Marathas Bijapur Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Prataprao Gujar
Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Anandrao
Bhalol Khan  White flag icon.svg
Mahammad Barqi 
Strength
10000-15000 12000

The Battle of Umrani was a 1673 battle between the Bijapur Sultanate and the Marathas 45km west of Bijapur. [1] [3] [4]

Contents

Background

Capture of Panhala by Shivaji in 1673 alerted Bijapur. Bhopal Khan set out with 12000 army to check Maratha offensive and reached Umarrani(45 KM west from Bijapur). Shivaji, who was at Panhala learnt about the advance of Bijapur army and despatched his Commander in Chief Prataprao Gujar with 10,000 to 15,000 army. [1] [5] [2]

Battle

Maratha Army reached Umarrani within 2 days, cut off enemy form their water supply. According to Basatslin-us Salatin Marathas numbering from 10,000 to 15,000 in strength encircled Bholal Khan while other sources do not quite mention anything about this event. [1] [6]

The battle which followed was confined for sometime to shoot arrows and firearms. Khan was at great disadvantage as Marathas had cut off his water supply and the heat effect of April began to show its effects. At sunset Khan made an effort to break out , this resulted in hand to hand fighting with Marathas in which Adilshahi officer Mahammad Barqi was killed and an elephant was captured. [1] [4]

In the same month [i.e April-March] battle was fought between Bhalol Khan[at one side] and Prataprao Gujar and Anandrao [on other side]. Victory was attained near Bijapur. One elephant was captured.

Jedhe and Despande Chronicle

Prataprao allowed Bhalol Khan to retire as he begged that he will never raise a war against Marathas. When Shivaji learnt about this he taunted Prataprao for making peace with enemy. [1] [5]

Aftermath

The Marathas entered Hubli on 16th April, made company's House its target and started plundering it. The clothes were brought to Prataprao. While plundering Marathas accidentally set fire to a workshop and with an explosion 20 Marathas were killed. [1]

The suffered several losses including various goods like copper plates, lead, paper, cloth, etc., with some cash. Besides this they suffered a loss of 5200. [1]

While plundering Marathas learnt about the march of Muzaffar Khan with 4000-5000 cavalry and they departed with what they already packed up. [1]

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References

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  2. 1 2 Jaques, Tony (2006-11-30). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity through the Twenty-first Century [3 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 1053. ISBN   978-0-313-02799-4.
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