The East India Company's force from Bombay consisted of about 3,900 men (about 600 Europeans, the rest Asian) accompanied by many thousands of servants and specialist workers. Mahadji slowed down the British march and sent forces west to cut off its supply lines. The Maratha cavalry harassed the enemy from all sides. The Marathas also utilized a scorched earth strategy, vacating villages, removing food-grain stocks, burning farmland and poisoning wells. The British force was surrounded on 12 January 1779. By the end of the next day, the British were ready to discuss surrender terms,