Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 33.16.8

33.16.8

Such was the fate allotted to it by the All-knowing Disposer of events ! The General appointed Tara-shungur, a Brahman, to command in that fortress, and he gave him a sufficient garrison. This Brahman had been sent several times to Shudjah-ed-dowlah, on the part of the Marhattas, with proposals of peace, and as often had been refused. This particular I was told of by the Poet Mir-gholam-aaly, the Belgramite, who assured me that Shudjah-ed-dowlah at last answered the envoy in these terms: "That the Marhattas, and especially their Brahmans, having acquired so much power in Decan, had become overbearing, and withal so covetous, that they could not bear that any one but themselves should enjoy any character in the world, or a corner of land that might afford him a subsistence; that their faithlessness and eternal disregard to treaties, had tired the patience of mankind; and that the time was now coming to punish them for their eternal injustices, and their daily violations of the most sacred ties amongst mankind; That it was to save their honour, their families, and their subsistences, that the people of Hindostan had applied to the Abdaly-king for protection and assistance; and that the latter had come for that sole purpose, and in the full hope that to inflict a condign chastisement upon the Marhattas would prove but a small affair; to talk, therefore, of peace now, to him looked quite preposterous." The Marhattas, receiving no better answer, prepared for battle.