Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c14.s2.15

v1.c14.s2.15

Arrived at Mārhara (in the Eta district, 13 miles north-west of Eta city), at the beginning of August, he heard of the disaster at Khudāganj. So a halt of one month was made here in order to call up more troops. The state of indiscipline in his army and the cleavage between the population and the soldiery who were to defend them are painfully illustrated by the sack of this loyal village in the wazir's presence. "A camel-driver in the service of a Mughal captain (i.e., a Persian-Turk soldier of Safdar Jang) cut down a tree growing before the gate of Ināyet Khan, an officer of the wazir and an inhabitant of this place, who chastised him severely for it. That captain sent a party of men to seize Ināyet Khan. The other Mughalia troops, imagining that the wazir had ordered a general looting of the village, armed themselves, plundered the village in the evening, and levelled it to the dust. Ināyet and his young son were killed besides 58 other people of the village. The women of many Sayyids, Shaikhs, and Kambuh and other respectable men, as well as of the common people, were dragged away into slavery.” (Siyar, iii. 32; Khazin-Am. 81.)