A History of the Mahrattas v1.c28.1

v1.c28.1

A.D. 1760. (1754.)—THE revolution at the fallen court of Delhi, which took place in the year 1754, did but increase the troubles and confusion in the northern parts of India. The new vizier,¹ after evincing much hardihood during a mutiny of his troops, which he quelled by a merciless attack and plunder of all the body in which it broke out, having left Alumgeer the second, an Emperor he had raised to the throne, in the capital, departed with the Emperor's son, the Prince Ali Gohur, towards Mooltan and Lahore; provinces which he proposed to re-annex to the imperial throne. These vast tracts of territory were conquered, as has already been mentioned, by Ahmed Shah Abdallee; (1758.) and Meer Munnoo, who first defended them against him, afterwards accepted the government of them from the Abdallee king. Meer Munnoo died suddenly²; his son, though still a child, was confirmed in the government by Ahmed Shah, under the guardianship of the widow of Meer Munnoo. Great mismanagement ensued; universal poverty and misrule drew many to swell the numbers of a sect which had subsisted for a considerable period under the name of Seiks,³ and whose rapid increase tended to augment the confusion of the country. The son of Meer Munnoo died; and the widow, who, still as guardian, claimed the right of governing, after being confined for a time by one of her own officers, at last submitted to a compromise, and shared the authority with him. Under these circumstances, Meer Shahabodeen, the vizier, reasonably concluded that to obtain possession of the country would not be difficult; but he did not extend his views to the defence which it would be necessary to prepare against the coming of the Abdallee to recover them. It appears that a daughter of Meer Munnoo had been betrothed to Meer Shahabodeen. To aid his projects, he first gained the traitorous Adina Beg, who had been the first cause of the Abdallee invasion; and, in consultation with him, Meer Shahabodeen, on his arrival in her neighbourhood, sent to the widow of Meer Munnoo, applying for his affianced bride, a request from the vizier, which, on the part of the widow, was received with much satisfaction, and with which she readily complied. But Shahabodeen seized the government, conveyed the widow of Meer Munnoo to Delhi, and appointed Adina Beg to the charge of the provinces.