Hambirrao had reached Yelburga near Lingasagara. Suddenly they saw dust clouds on the horizon! The enemy! It was clear what would happen to the Marathas in front of this vast army. Miyana was not a common warrior. Very powerful. Excellent swordsman and cruel. Like another Bahlaul. He himself was fighting from atop an elephant. Hambirrao saw a huge mighty wall of warriors approach. All the Marathas saw it. Even Nagoji did so. That giant crusher of a wall, which anybody could have been terrified of, was running towards them. But nobody got frightened. Hambirrao in fact decided to mount a counterattack. He signaled to everyone. The Maratha swords were instantly drawn out. Spearpoints were aligned. And with a mighty roar, the Maratha force fell upon Khan’s force to break its ranks with a fierce passion. Nagoji had a spear in his hands. Hussein Khan was shocked and stunned seeing the Marathas, instead of getting frightened, had mounted a counterattack. Marathas wrought a terrible slaughter and broke Khan’s ranks!
And then they literally began a wholesale massacre of Khan’s army. Khan could see clearly that the Maratha army was not manageable. He got frightened. The moment he realised, there was no easy escape, he ordered his Mahout to bring his elephant outside the main crowd. The fight was going awry! All his style had been done to dust! Pathans were blown away. Mahout turned the elephant back. Khan began running away from the battlefield! Defeat! Slaughter! Crushing defeat! Nagoji Jedhe saw that Hussein Khan was running away. He swiftly brought his horse to bear upon the elephant, and attached the elephant’s forehead with his spear. The elephant went down. But the attention of Hussein Khan, who was sitting above, was quickly drawn ahead of him. He felt it was Death Himself sitting on a horse! An extremely terrified Khan aimed at Nagoji with his bow and arrow, and suddenly shot his arrow. Khan’s arrow went straight and pierced Nagoji’s head. A terribly injured Nagoji crashed down from horseback. The arrow was deep inside the boy’s head. Sarjerao Jedhe was fighting in this same battle somewhere else.
Khan’s elephant had been injured. Still, he kept trying to run away. But Khan’s fortune itself had been injured! How would he run away. Dhanaji Jadhav and Hambirrao surrounded Khan’s elephant. Khan was captured alive! His complete force was simply blown away. Countless Pathans died. Got injured. Dhanaji proved the might of his sword at this difficult juncture. Hambirrao captured two thousand horses, some elephants, and great plunder. Miyana himself was captured (January 1677).
Nagoji’s head had been pierced by an arrow. His father Sarjerao Jedhe himself had been informed and was near his son. What that father’s heart must have felt seeing his youthful son standing on the threshold of Death? It was difficult to remove the arrow from Nagoji’s wound. Finally, it was removed, but Nagoji died! A fresh kid from Rohida basin proved his prowess and offered his own life as sacred oblation.
He had a very young bride at home. Nagoji’s wife was named Godubai. She was a daughter of the Ghorpade family. The news of Nagoji’s death in the battle reached his home. The mansion at Kari was drowned in sorrow. Nagoji’s wife Godubai readied up to commit Sati. Her meeting with her husband before he had left for the campaign turned out to be the final one. The next meeting would be in the heaven! Her pyre was arranged in one of the orchards of the village Kari. Godubai committed Sati. Godubai and Nagoji ended their family life right in the middle of their youthful days. Just to ensure the countless families in Koppal were freed from the clutches of Pathans and making them happy!
Sarjerao was sad because of his son’s death. Even the daughter-in-law had committed Sati. But Sarjerao did not turn back. He continued further on the campaign along with Hambirrao to meet Maharaj.
To be continued…
NDHistories 