The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.159

v4.c20.159

In the morning of 27 February, 1719, Sayyid ‘Abdullah entered the palace with Ajīt Singh and his own adherents and troops, occupied the gates, office rooms and bed-chambers, and placed his own guards on all sides of it. In the afternoon, Husain ‘Alī marched into the city from the suburbs, at the head of thirty to forty thousand men and strong artillery, while his Marāthā auxiliaries were posted outside the palace gates. Inside the palace there was a stormy scene between the emperor and the minister, the latter taunting him with ingratitude and perfidy and the former abusing his minister in uncontrollable anger. The rumour arose that the emperor had been deposed, and the city lay motionless in terror of a deadly outbreak.