THE BATTLE OF PARDHARI

meanwhile been joined by the detachments of the allied
Jadejas. The Kachh army consisted of nearly thirty-five
thousand men, and on seeing the forces arranged against
him Bhawan Khawas ordered a retreat of the Nawanagar
forces to Jhilaria, eight miles to the Westward, at the
same time asking Jaswantsinhji Jhala to mediate with
the enemy with the object of inducing Fateh Mahomed
to return to Kachh. The retreat of the Nawanagar forces
was fast resembling a rout when Raghunathji (son of
Dewan Amarji) pointed out to Bhawan Khawas the
danger he was running, and before a mile of the journey
had been completed the retirement was stayed.

The Nawanagar army now formed up in line of battle,
Raghunathji commanding the right and Bhawan Khawas
the left and centre. The fight commenced with an attack
on the right by a large force of Kachh infantry, who were,
however, beaten back. Fateh Mahomed now ordered
an attack with the whole remaining force on the Nawanagar
left, with such success that the whole army of Bhawan
Khawas was crumpled up and destroyed. The Khawas
fled to Jalia and the Gondal contingent plundered his
camp, while Fateh Mahomed moved to the attack of
Jaswantsinhji Jhala, whose forces had so far not been
engaged. But the Dhrangadhra troops withstood the
onslaught and succeeded in extricating themselves credit-
ably. The Kachh army now plundered the country as
far as Khambhalia, but avoided Nawanagar, where
Meraman Khawas was securely entrenched. In spite of
this victory, however, the plans of the allies had so far
miscarried that Jam Jasaji still remained entirely subor-
dinate to Meraman Khawas, and he besought the Jadejas
and the Rao of Kachh to make one more effort to release
him. Meraman heard of this, and by way of deterring
any from plotting against him in future, cut off the nose
and ears of all who were discovered to have taken any
part, however small, in making the fresh overtures.

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