Later Mughals v1.c8.s15: Sec. 15.—Sayyid Abdullah Khan Finds a Ford and Crosses the Jamuna.
Later Mughals v1.c8.s15
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Sec. 15.—Sayyid Abdullah Khan Finds a Ford and Crosses the Jamuna.
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At this point things seemed to have come to a deadlock; Jahandar Shah would not and Farrukh-siyar could not cross the Jamuna. Not a boat could be found anywhere. After three days' delay, the patience of Abdullah Khan was exhausted. Making over charge of the main body to Husain Ali Khan, he marched up the left bank in the hope of finding a ford. When he had gone four or five miles, he came to a place where he saw some villagers wading through very shallow water. Forthwith (9th Zul Hijja 1124 H., 6th Jan. 1713) he crossed with the five hundred horsemen then in his retinue.† Messengers were sent to Farrukh-siyar, and Abdullah Khan's men passed the long winter night shivering from the cold, while they held their bridle reins in their hand and watched for the daylight to appear. The 10th (7th January, 1713) was passed by Farrukh-siyar at Mewatpur, where he sacrificed for the Id. During the night of the 11th, the Prince crossed the river on his elephant.‡ The rest of the army preceded or followed him; and although the night was dark, no lives were lost. Camp was pitched at Sarai Roz Bahani* near Akbar's tomb at Bihishtabad Sikandra, five miles west of Agra fort, with the front facing Agra and the rear towards Dihli. For a time Husain Ali Khan and Chabela Ram Nagar were left behind on the left bank of the river as a rearguard, with the view of protecting the army from any sudden pursuit on the part of Jahandar Shah. They, too, crossed the river twenty-four hours after the rest of Farrukh-siyar's army. The next day, the 12th Zul Hijja (9th January 1713), the rain being less heavy and the mist less thick, was spent in rest and in drying such articles, cannon, muskets, and rockets, as had been wetted in fording the river.†
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∗ Ijad, 88b, 89a; Mhd. Qasim Lahori, 157, 158; Khafi Khan, ii. 700, 719. Lutfullah Khan Sadiq is said to have aided in seducing Jahandar Shah's officers from their allegiance, Khush-hal Chand 392b.
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† Iradat Khan (J. Scott, II. Pt. iv. 91) says the counter march was one of twenty miles, and the place of crossing the ford of Gao Ghat, some miles above Agra. Khafi Khan ii. 720, fixes it on the night of the 11th (i.e., the night between the 10th and 11th); the water, he says, was up to a man's chest, and the place, near Sarai Roz Bahani, four kos from Agra on the road to Dihli. The Ahwal-ul-khawaqin 56a, also calls it the ford of Roz Bahan.
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‡ Khafi Khan, 720, says this crossing was 3 or 4 pas, i.e., 9 to 12 hours after that of Abdullah Khan.
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† Ijad, 90; Warid, 141 a; Khafi Khan, 720; Yahya Khan, 120b.