New History of the Marathas v2.c28.s1.6

v2.c28.s1.6

Heavy rains had made the whole place muddy and movement was impossible. Najib utilised this circumstance to his best advantage. He was fully conversant with the situation and the surroundings, the range of rain, the country paths and the prominent people, to which Dattaji was an utter stranger. Najib Khan sent his secret personal agents to Shuja-ud-daula, to Hafiz Rahmat and the other Pathans and also to distant Afghanistan inviting Ahmad Shah Abdali quickly to India and giving him all possible details of the situation at Delhi and Shukratal and of the Sindia’s position. Thus he organized a formidable coalition against the Marathas with such secrecy that Dattaji soon became perplexed. Najib Khan represented to Shuja that to allow Dattaji passage to the east was suicidal, as he would soon wrest from Shuja his two Subahs of Oudh and Allahabad. If on the contrary he would help Najib in his distress and join the Muslim combination, Shuja could become Wazir and restore the prestige of the Mughal Empire. But Shuja knew Najib better than Dattaji, and did not at all put trust in the professions of one who was known to be so unfaithful. Besides in religious matters the Shia Shuja was no friend of the Sunni Najib. However, the only object which Shuja wished to secure was to resist by all possible means the cession of Prayag and Benares to the Marathas. That was indeed a sentimental point, but the surrender of these two places would spell disaster to Muslim prestige throughout India. With this view Shuja sent his two Gosavi captains with about ten thousand men to the Ganges opposite Shukratal to help Najib Khan and safeguard his own position.