New History of the Marathas v2.c28.5

v2.c28.5

From Attock to the Bay of Bengal stretches a vast plain of enormous extent unimpeded by any natural obstacles except the numerous rivers all easily fordable in the dry season, and unless some special arrangement was made at Attock or Lahore to hold a strong enemy in check, any conqueror from beyond the Indus valley could easily sweep down the whole north Indian region, as had been exemplified times without number ever since the day of Alexander. The Wazir and the Marathas failed to make proper provision in this respect. Raghunathrao left Poona in October 1756 and should have reached Delhi in time to face Abdali and compel him to return. But moving slowly and having no strength to enforce his own judgment, he reached Indore on 14th February 1757, when Abdali had sent out parties against Mathura. Raghunathrao and Malharrao occupied themselves in exacting tributes from the Rajput thereby contracting their ill-will, and reached Agra in May, where Ghazi-ud-din welcomed them with all his heart. In the absence of Abdali, Najib Khan felt terribly afraid of Maratha vengeance and proposing the following terms of submission, thus wrote to Malharrao :