A sanguinary battle then ensued, in which Durgautti displayed the greatest courage. After a long and obstinate conflict, the Mahommedans were routed, with a loss of eight hundred slain. The queen pursued the flying enemy till night put an end to the contest. She then halted, and gave orders for the soldiers to wash and refresh themselves, preparatory to a night attack on the camp of Asaf Khan; but her vizier and the remainder of her generals refused to aid in a night assault, and seditiously demanded permission to inter their fallen comrades. She unwillingly consented; and when the bodies of the slain had been burned, she entreated the chiefs, one by one, to assist her in an assault on the Mogul camp. But all in vain. Not one would second her in this daring enterprise.
Asaf Khan, seeing what kind of enemy he had to do with, advanced next morning with the heavy guns, which, on account of the bad state of the roads, he had not been able to use in the previous action. Durgautti posted her men at a narrow pass, and prepared to meet the enemy once more. Asaf, with his cannon, soon opened a lane into the open ground beyond, where the forces of Gurrah were drawn up. The Rajah Beir Shaw, Durgautti's son, a young man of great promise, displayed great bravery in a charge. Twice he repulsed the Moguls; in the third attack he was severely wounded. He was falling from his horse when the queen, who was in the front of the battle, mounted on her elephant, perceived that her son was expiring, and called to some of her attendants to carry him to the rear. Several crowded round him, glad of some excuse to quit the field. The death of this young man and the retreat of so many of her soldiers struck terror into the queen's army. Durgautti was soon left with only three hundred men on the field; yet she held her ground, determined to conquer or die. At last her eye was pierced by an arrow. She tried to extricate it, but it broke off near the end, leaving a piece of the steel barb sticking in the wound. At this moment another arrow pierced her neck. This she pulled out; but a mist swam before her eyes, and for a few moments she was seen to rock to and fro in her howdah.
Adhar, a brave officer of her household, who drove her elephant, repulsed numbers of the enemy. Perceiving that the day was irretrievably lost, he entreated the queen to let him take her from the field, but Durgautti would not hear of it. She begged of him to stab her to the heart. He refused, and Durgautti, suddenly leaning forward, snatched a dagger from his belt, plunged it into her heart, and immediately expired.
With her death the triumph of Asaf Khan was complete. The queen's youngest son, a mere infant, was trodden to death soon after, at the capture of Chouraghus, and the whole country submitted to the Moguls.
About this time, another warlike queen, Khunza Sultana, was Regent of Ahmednuggur. During the minority of her son, Murtuza Nizam Shah, she transacted the affairs of the state, while he was engaged in amusements suitable to his age. In 1566, Ally Adil Shah, King of Bijapur, having invaded the neighbouring state of Bijanuggur, Venkatradry, the Hindoo chief of that country, applied for assistance to Khunza Sultana. She marched at the head of a large force against Bijapur, and obliged the king to return and defend his own dominions. However, peace was soon re-established between the two Mohammedan states, and a league formed against the Peishwah of Berar. The united forces of Ahmednuggur and Bijapur entered that country, plundered it, and marched home again, laden with booty. On the homeward march, Ally Adil Shah treacherously endeavoured to seize the young King of Ahmednuggur. But Khunza Sultana, learning his designs, decamped during the night, and a river, which intervened, having swelled, the two armies were effectually separated before morning.
The sultana, however, gave great umbrage to the nobles by providing for her own relations at the expense of more deserving men. In 1567, several rajahs formed a conspiracy against her, and induced the young king to join them. But the latter, afraid of his mother's ire, betrayed the plot to her, and the ringleaders were all seized.
In 1569, the dowager queen, with her son, marched against Kishwur Khan, the Bijapur general, who had invaded the state of Ahmednuggur. When they reached D'hamungam, Murtuza Nizam Shah resolved to free himself from his mother's trammels, gained over the principal nobles, and sent one of them to inform her that it was his royal will she should no longer meddle in public affairs. Furious at this unlooked-for audacity, Khunza assembled her attendants, threw a veil over her face, and rode out of the palace on horseback, armed with a sword and dagger. She was seized after a short struggle, and her people took to flight. Thenceforth, Khunza Sultana lived in retirement, never again interfering in public matters.
In 1594 died Burhan Nizam Shah, King of Ahmednuggur. His son, Ibrahim Nizam Shah, who succeeded him, was slain in battle, and the vizier, Meean Munjoo, raised to the throne a boy named Ahmed, said to belong to the royal family. The nobles refused to acknowledge the new king, and besieged the vizier in the capital. Unable to contend with them, the vizier solicited aid from the Moguls, promising to put the fort of Ahmednuggur into their hands.