The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.s1.39

v4.c21.s1.39

The condition of the Punjab now appeared to offer Ghāzī-ud-dīn an opportunity for its recovery. Its governor Mu'īn-ul-Mulk, whose appetite might have vied with that of Sultān Mahmūd Bigara of Gujarāt and Shaikh Abu-'l-Fazl, died in November, 1753, from an internal injury caused by riding hard immediately after a surfeit. Ahmad Abdālī permitted an infant son to succeed, the management of affairs remaining in the hands of his mother. Though the son died, his mother made herself feared. She was, however, not fitted to govern a large and impoverished province, and the administration was left to underlings who, beside enriching themselves, levied cruel exactions from the people, thus driving many to join the warlike sect of the Sikhs, who were able to protect their adherents. Anarchy prevailed throughout the Punjab when Ghāzī-ud-dīn, taking with him his puppet emperor, marched from Delhi to regain the lost province.