Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c14.s5.3

v1.c14.s5.3

The wazir remained some twenty miles in the rear of the fighting line and at a later stage of the war came back to his residence in Delhi. The brunt of the fighting was borne by his allies. First the Marātha light horse, 20,000 strong, made a dash and fell "like a sudden calamity" upon Shādil Khan, the Bangash governor of Koil (Aligarh) and Jālesar, who had only 4,000 horse and the same number of unreliable foot under him. Unable to oppose such odds, he fled away across the Kālī Nadī and the Ganges towards Farrukhabad. Many of his Afghāns were slain* or taken prisoner and much property seized by the victors (c. 20 March), and the whole of this large tract was cleared of the Bangash agents at one push. At the news of this disaster, Ahmad Khan at once raised the siege of Allahabad and returned to Farrukhabad with only a small remnant of his army, the mercenaries having disappeared during his retreat.*