New History of the Marathas v2.c30.57

v2.c30.57

Oppressed by the Wazir Ghazi-ud-din’s vulgar ambition and relentless ferocity, the Crown Prince Ali Gauhar was compelled to flee from Delhi in May 1758 and seek safety in exile. The Wazir’s foolish measures brought down on his head and on his Maratha confederates the wrathful invasion of Ahmad Shah Abdali, and led to the prolonged contest between the two for the mastery of the Punjab and the paramountcy over Hindustan. It finally culminated in the Maratha rout at Panipat two years later. This absorbing contest made it impossible for the Wazir and his Maratha allies to take note of the political revolution that had come over Bengal by the battle of Plassey and its sequel. The English merchants were thus enabled to make a successful bid for the position of King-makers in Bengal and Bihar, and to use the power thus acquired to cleverly throw their net of supremacy over the whole land. The ignorant and mutually quarrelling Indian chiefs failed to realize the significance of these British activities and the meaning of their political and territorial ambition. Ali Gauhar, Shuja-ud-daula, Surajmal, Ghazi-ud-din, Najib Khan, Raghunathrao, Malharrao Holkar, each and all unaccustomed to take long views, could not appreciate the trend of the epoch-making events that were happening in Bengal and in the Karnatak. They all wasted their energies in personal squabbles at Delhi.