Battle of Salher

1670 India, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja once again waged war against the Mughals. The chieftain of swarajya started defeating the Mughals. The forts that the Maharaja had given to the Mughals in the Treaty of Purandar were included back into the Swarajya one by one. The armies of the Swarajya were entering the Mughal lands and looting the cities. The armies of the Swarajya were wreaking havoc in the provinces of Baglan, Khandesh, Varhad, Berar and the sound of victory was ringing in the every directions. Forts like Salher and Aundh in the Baglan province were newly included in the Swarajya.

The situation in the Deccan was getting out of Aurangzeb's hands. At that time, the viceroy of the Deccan was Prince Muazzam and he was accompanied by Raja Jaswant Singh and Dawood Khan. But even they were not getting any success. Aurangzeb sent Mahabat Khan, a famous chieftain, to the Deccan against Swarajya. When it was known that Mahabat Khan also fails to defeat Maharaj, Aurangzeb sent an order to Bahadur Khan and Diler Khan, the viceroy of Gujarat, to go to the Deccan. Bahadur Khan and Diler Khan left for the Deccan. They went through Baglan and laid siege to Salher. The siege was left in the command of Ikhlas Khan and Bahadur Khan and Diler Khan proceed to Aurangabad. From Aurangabad, Diler Khan attacked Pune and Bahadur Khan attacked Supya. Diler Khan committed a lot of atrocities in Pune. The Maharaja had to expel Diler Khan and Bahadur Khan from Pune.

Maharaj send the letter to the commander-in-chief Prataprao Gujar and Peshwa(Chief Minister) Moropant Pingle. Prataprao Gujar was wreaking havoc in Khandesh. His allies were chieftains like Anandrao and Suryaji Kakade. Moropant was in Konkan. Maharaj asked both of them to take their respective armies and break the siege of Salher. Moropant started marching from Konkan and Prataprao from Khandesh towards Salher. Both the armies started approaching Salher and reached Salher at sunrise. The Mughal army had besieged Salher. The cannons were aimed at Salher, the Mughal guns were firing at Salher but Salher was not ready to fall. Prataprao attacked the Mughal army from one side and Moropant from the other side. The Mughal army found itself in the clutches of the armies of Prataprao and Moropant. Both the armies clashed and clouds of dust rose. The roar of Har Har Mahadev reached the sky. In this battle, Moropant and Prataprao were successful. But Suryaji Kakade fell in this battle. 10000 people died on both sides. Ikhlas Khan and 30 Mughal chieftains were taken prisoner. 6000 horses, 6000 camels, 125 elephants and countless other properties were obtained. Rao Amar Singh and some chieftains and a large number of Mughal troops were killed. The Mughal troops suffered a lot. Diler Khan and Bahadur Khan left Pune. The Mughal army was peaceful for the next 6 months. Moropant also captured Mulher in a few days. One by one, all the forts in Baglan joined Swarajya and the entire Baglan came under the control of Maharaj. Mahabat Khan was called back to Delhi and after a month prince Muazzam, also left for Delhi.