Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 32.5.3

32.5.3

Those men whom the severities of Nadir-shah had driven from their homes, and who were floating at random upon the Ocean of incertitude and despair, were glad to hear of a place of refuge and shelter, and they resorted in shoals to a man who had already acquired so much renown under the name of Rohillah, which was that of one of their clans. The man no sooner saw himself so strongly supported, than he cast a piercing eye upon the state of things in Hindostan. The weakness of the Empire, the effeminacy of its Generals and Grandees, who all aspired to independence, and the inattention of the first Minister, who, wholly engrossed by his pleasures as well as by Court intrigues, spent his time in intemperance and in the company of the handsomest youths he could procure from all parts of the Empire — all these vices of administration — could not escape the sight of so keen a man. He availed himself of so many favourable circumstances to build his own grandeur; and after having remained a long time crouching, he raised his head at once, and setting up for himself, he became refractory, and neglected sending the usual remittances to the Treasury.