The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.44

v4.c21.44

In 1754 Shāh Nawāz exacted 500,000 rupees as tribute from Raghūjī of Nāgpur, and arrested Surjā Rāo, the rebel officer of Nirmal. Next year he sent the Nizām to Mysore and levied over five million. Early in 1756, he repulsed Jānojī Bhonsle’s officers who were raiding Bīdar, and by a friendly alliance with the Peshwā reduced the Pathān Nawābs of Bankāpur and Savanūr to obedience. A year later he subdued Rāmchandra Nimbālkar, the Marāthā grantee of Bhālkī. The imperial forts of Asīr and Daulatābād—the greatest in the Deccan—were gained for the Nizām by bribery. But his attempt to rid his master of French domination led to Shāh Nawāz Khān’s fall. These foreign troops had been constantly troubling the Government for their pay of 2,900,000 rupees a year. They now demanded the great fort of Bīdar in addition to holding vast districts in Chicacole and Rājahmundry. Bussy’s chief of artillery, Ibrāhīm Khān Gārdī, was seduced by Nizām ‘Alī, and Shāh Nawāz induced Salābat Jang to dismiss the French corps. Bussy took leave to go to his grants in Chicacole, but on the way he seized the city of Hyderābād, and stood at bay in the Chaumahalla palace (14 June, 1756). Here he received from Pondicherry a reinforcement of 300 Europeans and 2000 Gārdī troops under M. Law. Salābat and Shāh Nawāz failed to dislodge Bussy after a two months’ siege, and at last had to make peace with him (August).