Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c13.s5.10

v1.c13.s5.10

A few months after this settlement of dispute, the wazir became deeply entangled in Rohilkhand which kept him busy from November 1749 to September 1750, and again from February 1751 to April 1752. During the second period of his absence from Delhi, he lost his chief supporter at Court. Salābat Khan, the Head Bakhshi, returned from his Rajput expedition at the beginning of November 1750, a ruined man. His huge army of 18,000 men besides a corps of artillery, kept together for a full year, cost him 60 *lakhs* of Rupees at the lowest estimate, and he had not been able to collect more than five *lakhs* in cash as contribution from Rajputana. As a financial speculation, this adventure had utterly failed. His subahdari of Agra and Ajmir yielded him no revenue, thanks to his fatuous policy of antagonising the Jats, who alone could have kept that region in order. His repeated applications to Government for assistance were shelved by the all-powerful eunuch. The imperial treasury had not the means and Jāvid Khan had not the wish to help him out of his difficulties, because he did not owe his appointment to Jāvid Khan’s favour, and, as a hereditary peer whose family had given two daughters and one grand-daughter in wedlock to the Emperors of Delhi, he scorned to pay court to that upstart slave.