Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c14.s2.25

v1.c14.s2.25

The Oudh vanguard having been thus paralysed or dispersed, Ahmad Khan fought his way steadily towards the wazir in the centre. Then followed a period of confused struggle with the initiative entirely in the hands of the Afghāns and heavy odds against the wazir’s remaining troops, who had now entirely denuded themselves of artillery. A compact body of Afghans, consisting of some 3000 infantry in front with a few horsemen behind them, advanced in a wedge-shaped formation ("conical", *Siyar*, iii. 33) from the wazir's left side. When checked by Muhammad Ali Khan and his musketeers, they wheeled a little and turned towards the centre. Here the wazir was sitting on his elephant, with only a few staunch followers around him, while the field was covered with scattered groups of his fugitive soldiery. The Afghans fired a volley at the elephant-riders and then rushed upon the wazir's force sword in hand. Safdar Jang's *mahut* was shot dead, and he himself received a bullet in the neck and sank down into his brass-plated *hāuda* in a swoon. The driverless elephant wandered unrecognised by the Afghāns and thus the wazir's life was saved.