The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.299

v4.c20.299

On 18 March, 1745, Muhammad Shāh left Delhi to attack the rebel, but his movements were leisurely. 'Alī Muhammad Khān did not venture to meet the imperial army in the field, and withdrew to his fortress of Bangarh, 14 miles north-east of Budaun. Even here he could not hold out, for the emperor had been joined by Rājā Nawal Rāi with the contingent of Safdar Jang and by Qāim Khān, the son and successor of Muhammad Khān Bangash, with his contingent from Farrukhābād. On 3 June he submitted, using the services of Qamar-ud-dīn Khān as a mediator. His life was spared but Qamar-ud-dīn Khān was ordered to keep him in custody. The death of Zakarīyā Khān, governor of the Punjab, furnishes an example of the emperor's impotence in administrative affairs. Zakarīyā's eldest son was in the camp and the minister, Qamar-ud-dīn Khān, who was both his uncle and his father-in-law, sent him off post haste to Lahore to settle his father's affairs. After his arrival the minister for the first time announced his brother-in-law's death and later persuaded the emperor to confer the provinces of the Punjab and Multān on himself. Before long Shāh Nawāz Khān, a younger but more capable nephew, dispossessed his elder brother and became governor of the Punjab.