Storia do Mogor 354.5.6

354.5.6

[136] It will be about five years ago that I went to visit Nawãb Dã,ud Khãn to carry out some negotiations, as I have stated in my Fourth Part (IV. 88). One night while I was in conversation with him there arrived a letter from the court containing a strict order that immediately on perusal he was to place in prison the captain, Bader Kam (Bahadur Khãn). In execution of this order, the Nawãb sent for the officer under the pretext that good news had come from court which he required to communicate at once. The officer believed this was the truth [137], and came at once to his superior's presence without even a single follower. There he was seized suddenly and bound, without being able to have recourse to his arms. He was removed to a house in the fortress of Arkãt, where he lay with irons on his feet, watched by vigilant sentinels. This Bahadur Khãn was a subordinate of Dã,ud Khãn, had the command over three hundred cavalry, and possessed many elephants. He was sent to prison on the pretext that he was a traitor to the crown, in secret correspondence with Shivã Jī (i.e., the Mahrattahs) and the other allied princes who had revolted. In fact, we are obliged to believe that this was truly the case, owing to the numerous methods in which they (the Mahrattahs) tried to get him released, and to obtain his services on their side. In these attempts they succeeded.