The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.275

v4.c20.275

Early in April ‘Alī Vardī Khān marched from Patna for Murshidābād. Sarfarāz Khān was surrounded by traitors who kept the news of his enemy’s movements from him as long as they could, and it was not until he had reached Rājmahāl that Sarfarāz Khān heard of his advance. He marched from Murshidābād on 19 April, and two days later reached Giria, on the eastern bank of the Bhāgīrathī, about twenty-five miles north-west of his capital. ‘Alī Vardī Khān encamped on the opposite bank of the river and succeeded by protestations of fidelity supported by a false oath sworn on a brick wrapped in a cloth, which was supposed to be a copy of the Korān, and by the treacherous assurances of false counsellors in persuading Sarfarāz Khān that he had come to do homage. The simple Sarfarāz paid no heed to warnings uttered by the very few servants who remained faithful to him and ‘Alī Vardī was able to surprise him shortly before dawn. Notwithstanding the surprise and the treachery of many of the troops as well as the counsellors the battle was fiercely contested, but Sarfarāz Khān was ultimately shot in the forehead by one of his own men and killed, and ‘Alī Vardī Khān entered Murshidābād on 12 May, 1740, as viceroy of Bengal, Bihār and Orissa.