dominions by the Satara-Panhala route. If this strategic move had succeeded, the road for Shiva's return from Kanara through the Southern Desh country would have been closed, while the Portuguese
State of Goa would have barred the land-route west of the Ghats, and he would have been compelled to make the journey in ships or make a wide detour eastwards and try to force his way between Miraj and Bijapur and run the risk of an attack on both flanks by the large Adil-Shahi forces at these two places.
Pratap Rao Gujar, the Maratha commander-in- chief, was detached with a slightly larger force and artillery, to meet the danger. He tried to envelop Bahlol's army near Umrani, between Miraj and Bijapur, cutting him off from his water supply. The battle raged all day with intense ferocity. Many were slain on both sides, the Marathas suffering less than the Bijapuris. After sunset, Bahlol induced Pratap to grant a truce, while he promised not to
is at least 200 miles. It is very far away from Bijapur, off the usual track of campaigns, and occupying an out-of-the-way hilly nook. I cannot imagine any motive that could have brought Bahlol to this place; there was no rich city in this region for him to plunder, no Maratha outpost to break up. If the battle-field was correctly named Nesari, it must have been some other Nesari, nearer to Panhala and connected with it by a frequented road. Is Nesari a copyist's error for Nigva? There are two places of the latter name near Kclhapur (Sh. 40 S. W.)
