Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c14.s4.3

v1.c14.s4.3

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.]