The battle was fought on the open plain of Dharmat on the hot Summer day of 15 April 1658 in which Aurangzeb won a decisive victory due to advantage in artillery and tactics.

On April 13 he learns that Murad was just near him and Aurangzeb summoned him to come fast and on the next day they camped at Dharmat by the western bank of the Gambhira River.

Jadunath Sarkar aptly summarises the dilemma faced by Jaswant Singh in his words: At all times, a subject opposing two princes of the blood, a servant fighting for a distant master against two chiefs who acknowledge no higher authority than their own will, is severely handicapped.

In Jaswant's case the natural inferiority of his position was aggravated by the commands he had received from Shah Jahan—Jadunath Sarkar [11]Moreover, his army, too, was an ill-knit group of discordant elements.

One historian asserts that Jaswant had deliberately poured water on 200 yards of ground in front of him and trodden it into mud, evidently to arrest the enemy's charge.

He failed to send timely succour to the divisions that needed it most, and the battle once begun, he lost control over his forces as if he were a mere divisional leader and not the supreme commander of all.

The Rajputs densely packed within their narrow position, were severely galled by the barqandazes and archers of the princes’ army from front and flank, without being able to manoeuvre freely and give an effective reply.

Murshid Quli Khan, the Chief of Artillery, was slain after a heroic resistance and his division was shaken; but the guns were not damaged.

For one point of time the Rajput charge was seeming to overwhelm Aurengzeb's vanguard but his van was composed of his most picked troops, "eight thousand mail-clad warriors," many of them hereditary fighters of the Afghan tribe, and their generals were reliable men.

"[15]: 227 The Rajputs, being divided into many mutually antagonistic clans, could not charge in one compact mass; they were broken up into six or seven bodies, each under its own chieftain and each choosing its own point of attack.

[15]: 227 The Maharajah had chosen his position so badly that many of the imperialists standing on the uneven ground could not join in the fight, and many others could not charge by reason of their being cramped within a narrow space.

Jaswant, too, was not the cool wise commander to keep watch on all the field and send reinforcements and the new development made his position untenable.

[15]: 227 By this time the watchful eye of Aurangzib had taken note of the situation his advanced reserve had been pushed up to reinforce the van, and he himself moved forward with the centre to form a wall of support and refuge close behind them.

Above all, Shaikh Mir and Saf Shikan Khan with the right and left wings of the centre struck the Rajputs in the waist from the two flanks, while they were engaged with Aurangzib's van in front.

At the sight of the annihilation of their brave vanguard and a triumphant forward movement on the part of Aurangzeb, desertion appeared in the Maharajah's ranks.

[16] Even though the imperialists were close to defeat, there stood 2,000 Rathors under the banner of Marwar, ready to live or to die with their chieftain, besides many other Rajput and Mughal auxiliaries; and they offered a stubborn opposition.

The entire camp of Jaswant and Qasim Khan with all their artillery, tents, and elephants, as well as a vast amount of treasure, became the victorious princes' spoil, while their soldiers looted the property equipment and baggage of the vanquished array.

Long strings of camels and mules, laden with various articles, were seized as prize or pillaged by the common soldiers and camp followers.