The sacking of Burhanpur (31 January 1681 - 2 February 1681) refers to the looting of the wealthy city of Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh by the Maratha ruler Sambhaji. The Maratha army commanded by Sambhaji maharaj and Sersenapati Hambirrao Mohite attacked and plundered the city for three days. The Marathas got a huge loot and returned to Raigad by evading Mughal forces. Marathas also sacked Aurangabad after this sack. This event caused the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to turn his expedition towards the Deccan, which caused the capture and execution of Sambhaji.[1]
Sacking of Burhanpur
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Hambirrao Mohite reached the forests near Burhanpur with a 15,000-strong cavalry force. Kakar Khan gathered civilian forces and decided to attack Hambirrao at midnight. As he came out of the city gates, Sambhaji himself attacked from the old trenches with a cavalry force of 4,000. Sambhaji's force routed the ill-prepared Mughal garrison. Sambhaji then left 200-300 soldiers at the main city gate and left for Bahadurpura, the richest suburb of the city. Sambhaji started to loot the houses of the richest merchants which were shown to him by his spies. Hambirrao's force soon joined Sambhaji and the combined Maratha force started looting the city. Hambirrao, then sealed the city's entrances to ensure that the word of the attack did not spread. Marathas looted the city consecutively for three days. Marathas earned a loot estimated to be around 2 crore rupees.[2][3][4]
Maratha Empire
Mughal Empire