A History of the Mahrattas v1.c22.41

v1.c22.41

Six days before Khan Dowran joined Sadut Khan, Bajee Rao, foreseeing that they would unite, was on his march to Delhi. Quitting the great road and skirting the hills of Mehwat, where they formed the boundary of the territory of Chooramun Jath, and keeping fourteen miles to the left of Oorlass,¹ where Kummur-ud-deen Khan was encamped, he advanced at the rate of forty miles daily, and pitched his camp close to the suburbs. Some elephants and camels coming out of the city were seized, and a party of Hindoos when going to a temple for the performance of a religious ceremony were stripped,² but the Peishwa prudently abandoned his first intention of plundering and burning; as he conceived the booty might retard his retreat, and that burning the suburbs would but show a disrespect and contempt which would impede his negotiations with the Emperor and Khan Dowran, both of whom he well knew were disposed to grant a large share of his demands. He therefore next day wrote two letters, one to the Emperor, and the other to Raja Bukht Mull. Their purport is not mentioned, but the Emperor requested that a wukeel might be sent, which Bajee Rao refused, unless a guard came out for his protection. He, however, returned a polite message, stating ‘that as he apprehended mischief to the city, from the contiguity of his troops, he was about to retire to the Jheel Tank.’ This moderation encouraged a party of eight thousand men from the city, under Muzuffir Khan, Meer Hoossein Khan Kokah, Raja Sew Sing, and other nobles of the court, to venture forth and attack the Mahrattas. Bajee Rao dispatched Suttojee Jadow with a few skirmishers to reconnoitre them;