The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.s1.52

v4.c21.s1.52

The relief afforded to Bengal by the expulsion of Raghūjī Bhonsle in 1743 had been ephemeral. Bālāji Rāo Peshwā, having obtained his reward, had immediately entered into an agreement acknowledging Raghūjī’s right to collect *chauth* and *sardeshmukhī* in Bengal, Bihār and Orissa; and in 1744 an army of 20,000 Marāthā horse invaded Bengal. ‘Alī Vardī Khān craftily invited all the principal officers to an entertainment, which they were induced to attend by a false oath sworn by Mustafā Khān, an Afghān officer, on a brick wrapped in a cloth which was supposed to contain a copy of the Korān. On 14 April the twenty-one who attended were treacherously murdered and the single superior officer who had been left in charge of the camp tried to lead the army back, but the peasantry, exasperated by recent depredations, allowed few stragglers to escape.