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Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c14.s4: § 8. Bangash invasion of the Lower Doāb; siege of Allahabad

Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c14.s4

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§ 8. Bangash invasion of the Lower Doāb; siege of Allahabad

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In the meantime, the battle of Rām Chatāuni had shaken the wazir’s dominions to their foundations, as all the Doāb east of Delhi and the province of Oudh including the fort of Allahabad now lay defenceless. Ahmad Bangash followed up his victory by taking possession of the country from Aligarh to Akbarpur-Shāhpur in the Cawnpur district, and then returned to Farrukhabad, while he sent one army under his son Mahmud to invade Oudh and another under Shādil Khan to conquer the Doāb southwards to Allahabad. His governors occupied Phāphund, Shamsābād and Chhibrāmau. Shādil Khan’s progress having been stopped by his defeat at the hands of the wazir’s local agent Baqāullah Khan near Korā (Fathpur district), Ahmad himself marched with a vast army and laid siege to Allahabad. [Far. Gaz. 164-165.]

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This redoubtable fort offered a long and gallant defence under Baqāullah Khan, who was joined by a strange ally, the Hindu warrior-abbot Rājendra-giri Gosāin with his ferocious followers called Nāgās,—utterly naked savages with ash-smeared bodies and long matted locks. This man refused to remove to the safety of the fort-walls, but continued to live in his hut below the fort, close to the temple standing at the junction of the two rivers (Prayāg.) Twice or three times everyday, whenever he noticed any negligence or weak point among the besiegers, he would make a lightning raid into their camp at the head of his sixty followers sword in hand and mounted on swift ponies, madly slash at the Afghāns right and left, and as quickly return to his place. Baqāullah threw a bridge of boats across the Jamunā under shelter of the fort-guns and thus secured his supplies and communication with the country south of that river. From his headquarters at Jhusi (opposite Allahabad), on the left or Oudh side of the Ganges, Ahmad Khan sent detachments eastwards towards Jaunpur, Azamgarh, and Benares. Rajah Prithipat Somvanshi of Partābgarh presented himself and joined the invader with his contingent. The chief bankers of Benāres waited on the Afghān general on the way and averted his visit to Benares by paying a large contribution (Imād, 50.) No part of the Benāres district was occupied by the invaders.

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The Afghān force had neither the capacity nor the material necessary for taking such a fort as Allahabad. The siege dragged on for four months of desultory fighting, after which the Marātha threat to Farrukhabad led to its hasty abandonment (early in April 1751.) But before leaving the place, Ahmad’s soldiers, “all fearless and bloodthirsty Afghāns, looted the entire city of Allahabad, from the gate of Khuldābād to the foot of the fort, burnt it down, and dragged away 4,000 women of respectable families into slavery. They only spared the quarter (dāira) of Shaikh Afzal Allahabadi and the Dariyābād ward, whose inhabitants were all Afghāns”. [Siyar, iii. 34; Muz. 53, Imād. 64, S. P. D. ii. 29.]

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§ 9. Bangash invasion of Oudh fails, 1751.

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The invasion of Oudh had been equally a failure. Mahmud Bangash (a son of Ahmad) with a vast force reached the western side of Bilgrām (32 miles s.-e. of Farrukhabad) on 1st February 1751. Here he encamped, while his men began to plunder that famous town. The inhabitants, many of them highly connected and soldiers by profession, offered fight; and a few people were wounded on both sides and about two hundred animals of the invading army were carried off. In anger Mahmud got his troops ready for assaulting the city, but was pacified by the holy men of the place, (evidently for a money consideration.) Thence he marched south-east towards Phāphāmau (opposite Allahabad and on the north bank of the Ganges), while one of his generals with 20,000 horse and foot was detached towards Lucknow.

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The latter halted on the way and sent a body of 5,000 men onwards to occupy Lucknow (56m. s. e. of Bilgram), from which Safdar Jang’s agents had fled away. The Afghān commander occupied the defenceless city and appointed his own police prefect to administer it. This man’s oppression drove the citizens to desperation; they rose under the leadership of some Shaikh-zādas, expelled him and restored Safdar Jang’s authority. The Afghān advanced guard tried to enter the city and sack it in revenge, but it was opposed near the Ismailganj suburb (on the east side of Lucknow) and defeated. At the news of this unexpected reverse, both detachments of the invading army fled away to their chieftain. Their despair infected Mahmud and he beat a hurried retreat from Phāphāmau. All the magistrates and tax-collectors of the Bangash usurper were now expelled from Oudh. [Siyar iii. 35, Imād 50-51, Muz. 53-54.]

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