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Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c15.s12: § 18. Desultory warfare

Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c15.s12

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§ 18. Desultory warfare

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When the ten days of enforced truce expired, the faint-hearted and futile character of the fighting that followed can be best understood from the Court historian's narrative: "In the morning both sides stood to arms, but only light skirmishes took place, the guns continued firing till sunset, when the two armies withdrew to their camps." [59b.] Safdar Jang's cause was now manifestly hopeless. Every day saw some important officers leaving him, among them being his cousin Sher Jang (26 June) and Allah Quli Kh. Kashmiri (27 June.) They reported the utterly broken spirit of the rebel army and said how none was left there who could stand up to a pitched battle and that even Suraj Mal was hankering at heart to submit to the Emperor if he was granted a written pardon and the confirmation of his estates. Negotiations were immediately opened by Suraj Mal with the new wazir. Safdar Jang fell further and further back; the Marathas looted the rear of his huge camp and his straggling baggage and transport animals. On 1st July there was an artillery duel with many losses but no gain to either side. "Every day Safdar Jang appeared, morning noon or evening, skirmished a little, and then went back. The war was prolonged." [TAh. 60a-61b.]

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By this time (19th July) Safdar Jang had retreated to a position about 15 miles south of the city, between Badarpur and Faridabad. The imperialists advanced over the ground abandoned by him and stretched their lines from the Jamuna westwards to the hillock of Kālka-devi, near the Qutb Minar. A detachment from their army also sacked some villages near Tughlaqabad, bringing away money, property, cattle, men and women as spoils from them; but when besieging a mud-walled village named Garhi Maidan this force of Ruhelas was routed by a Jat army in the midst of a heavy shower (25th July) and all its guns and arms captured. [*TAh. 64a, 66a. Sujān Ch. Jang vi. 4.*] On 19th August there was a severe fight at certain points on the long line from Tughlaqabad to the Jamuna, but artillery predominated and in the evening the rebels retired baffled, after heavy losses on both sides, the Jats and the Ruhelas having been well matched. Next day the imperialists occupied Badarpur, Safdar Jang being encamped near Faridabad, four miles south. But a few days after, he fell back nine miles to Sikri (3 miles south of Ballamgarh), on 1st September, when Imād pushed on to Faridabad and beyond to two miles from the rebel position. "On the day of his entry into Faridabad, his soldiers plundered all the inhabitants of the place;

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the Mir Bakhshi forbade it, but none would listen to him." [TAh. 70.] Such is war. The poor innocent civil population was plundered by each side in succession as it passed through their villages.

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At this time the Ruhela Baluch and Gujar auxiliaries who formed the vanguard of the imperial army, starving from arrears of pay, left their posts and withdrew to Barapula (near the southern gate of Delhi) and sat down idly. "At the time of their coming they plundered the travellers on the road and the inhabitants of Barapula"—all loyal to their sovereign! Even the imperial heavy artillery men left their trenches and came back to the city in anger. Seizing this opportunity, Safdar Jang made a bold advance over the abandoned ground. On 6th September he delivered an attack "with a countless force" on the trenches, but was defeated as Imād pushed up fresh troops. His Jat allies plundered all wayfarers and grain merchants passing between the city and the imperial trenches, up to eleven miles of the walls of Delhi. Next day (8th September) the Jat rovers were out again. No grain could reach the royal army and Imād was filled with despair at this turn in the fortunes of his party. On 12th September he went from the trenches to the palace and pleaded with the Emperor and the Queen-mother for the granting of treasure to pay the troops and the sending up of reinforcements; but after three hours of fruitless discussion he returned to his mansion, saying in disgust, "I have done what I could up till now. Let the Emperor henceforth entrust his work to some one else." During his absence, Safdar Jang advanced and surprised and cut off the outposts left by him north of Faridabad, at Sarāi Khwājah Bakhtāwar, Badarpur and other places, and effectually stopped the conveyance of grain and traffic to the royal army on the south side of the city. [TAh. 70b-72b.]

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These struggles were strangely intermixed with peace overtures from Safdar and Suraj Mal to the new wazir, in order to spite Imād who was all for war. At last a treacherous night raid by the returning Jat escort of the wazir's peace envoys upon the imperial trenches from the north or Delhi side in concert with Safdar Jang's men who attacked the same section from the south or Faridabad side, caused such heavy slaughter as to turn the capital against the idea of making any peace with these false traitors. "Every noble and commoner abused the wazir for being the medium of peace with such a man . . . . The peace negotiations were cut short (22nd Sept.) amidst the curses and oaths of the Emperor's entire Court." [74.]

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§ 19. *Grand battle of 29 September.*

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At last Najib Khan was paid a portion of his dues and induced to return to the trenches near Faridabad with his Ruhela contingent (24 Sep.) Gun munition was also sent there from the fort. Thus strengthened Imād issued from the city to meet the rebels once more. On 29th September, Suraj Mal and other generals of Safdar Jang in full force and with many big guns and smaller pieces, assaulted the trenches of the Marathas on the right wing of the imperialist position, which had no large artillery. A severe fight raged in which many Marathas were slain, but a constant stream of reinforcements sustained an even battle, till at last Imād and Najib arrived on the scene and made gallant charges. Imād fearlessly drove his elephant into the enemy ranks. One elephant carrying his banner was killed; the elephant he was riding had its tusks broken by shot. He then took horse, charged and routed the Jats. Vast numbers were slain on both sides; Ismail Khan was wounded with a spear thrust. Imād pursued the flying enemy for four miles and returned to his tents at sunset. [*TAh.* 75*b*-76*a*.] The victors followed up their success next day by driving the rebels further south and advancing close to Ballamgarh.

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§ 20. Emperor's cowardice prevents decisive victory.

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But though the imperialists repulsed every attack of Safdar Jang and steadily pushed him further away from the capital, they gained no decisive victory. Of this failure to reap the utmost fruits of their military superiority, the Emperor's cowardice was the sole cause. Imād, Najib, and other generals again and again urged him to order an attack in full force and to ride out to the field to personally hearten his troops. Such a bold offensive, they argued, would end the war at one blow, while the protracted and desultory struggle which a purely defensive strategy entailed was exhausting his treasury, damping the ardour of his army and leading to daily mutiny and abandonment of the trenches by his starving troops. But Ahmad Shah had not the heart to join a battle even from the safety of the rear. On 29th June Imād had come from his tent in the Idgāh trenches and told the Emperor and the Queen-mother, "I have spent all the accumulated hoards of my father and grandfather in paying my soldiers and they are now pressing me for their remaining dues. If the Emperor wishes to fight he must delay no longer. If he has decided on peace, let me disband my troops." He urged the Emperor to ride to his army; Ahmad Shah ordered his own escort to get ready and even put his armour on; the imperial generals stood all day under arms in their trenches in expectation, but the Emperor did not issue from the palace! [*TAh.* 60*b*-61*a*.] On 11th July Najib Khan Ruhela and Bahadur Kh. Baluch told Ahmad that a large army had gathered under his banners by that time and that trench warfare would greatly delay a decision and increase the cost of feeding the troops, and therefore a battle in the open was the best policy. As the result of the discussion, the 16th of July was fixed for such an attack. On that day Imad came to the palace and repeatedly entreated the Emperor to ride forth lest shame and loss should fall upon his arms; but Ahmad gave no reply up to noon, and thereafter dismissed the generals and soldiers so long standing ready armed! At this Imad taunted the new wazir with cowardice in wishing to remain in the safe shelter of the palace with the Emperor, while sending him (Imad) to fight unsupported. They took oaths to go into battle on 19th July without fail, but nothing was done even on that day. Again, on 26th July Imad came from the fighting front and urged the Emperor to the extreme to order a pitched battle and to join it himself. But the Emperor by advice of the wazir declined and "the Queen-mother sent Imād to his home with smooth speeches"! [*TAh.* 63*a*-66*b*.]

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This delay in achieving a military decision ruined the Emperor’s finances. The cost of the huge army (80,000 men at least) gathered round him and idly standing under arms month after month exhausted his treasures, jewels, gold plate, all his mother’s hoards, the property in the imperial stores and factories, and the spoils of the daily sack of Safdar Jang’s followers and suspected partisans in the city. Almost every day some regiment or other of unpaid soldiers left their trenches and rioted in the streets of Delhi. The imperial council was divided by the increasing jealousy between the wazir and the Bakhshi. All the credit of the organisation of the armed opposition to Safdar Jang and the actual fighting with him went to Imād, whose prestige grew apace, while the timid wazir, hiding in his closet, suffered an eclipse in public estimation and power. Intizām, therefore, tried his utmost to spoil Imād’s plans and brought the senseless Emperor and his mother to accept this policy. A peace at any price with the rebel was also urgently necessary for the Emperor if he was not to die of starvation. But on this question, too, there was a clash of interest and policy between Intizām and Imād. The Bakhshi wanted to crush Safdar Jang totally and take away his provinces for himself, while the wazir dreaded such an issue as the creation of a stronger rival to his pre-eminence than Safdar Jang and therefore wished to save the ex-wazir and preserve him as a friend in his future contest with Imād!

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On 12th September Suraj Mal had opened secret negotiations with the wazir, offering him twelve lakhs of Rupees if he could make peace. These overtures had failed at the time as we have seen. [TAh. 72b, 73b, 74b.] And now, about the middle of October, the Jat chieftain sent his envoys directly to Imād, proposing to pay a few lakhs of Rupees as tribute but demanding to be confirmed in all the lands he stood possessed of at this time. Imād wished to restrict him to the old territories of his father Badan Singh and make him disgorge his recent usurpations. So, these negotiations also failed. [TAh. 78a.]

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§ 21. Madho Singh comes and makes peace.

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In the meantime the Emperor in utter helplessness had appealed to Mādho Singh the Rajah of Jaipur, as the greatest of his feudatories, to come and save him, while this quarrel between his wazir and Bakhshi was threatening to ruin his State. Mādho Singh started with a large army, took bonds on the way from the zamindars of Rewāri for 50 lakhs (afterwards reduced by the Emperor to four lakhs) for the expenses of his troops, and arrived at Nagla on the Jamunā, south of Delhi city and due east of Raisina, on 10th October. He interviewed the Emperor during a ride on the 15th. Then, Mādho Singh, seated on the same elephant with the wazir, was led to the Diwān-i-khās and had audience of the Queen-mother, receiving a fringed pālki and the māhi and marātib decorations. On the 18th he and his officers were formally presented to the Emperor in the Diwān-i-khās, the Emperor advancing on foot to the door of that hall to welcome him. On 23rd October, Mādho Singh paid a business visit to Ahmad Shah and the two held a long and secret consultation. The Emperor appealed to him, "In view of the loyal services of your forefathers, it is the duty of an old hereditary servant like you to save the empire in such a crisis; otherwise, nothing but dust would remain on earth as its name and mark." He then complained of the ingratitude of the three—Safdar, Intizam and Imad, who had been brought up by Muhammad Shah as his children, but were now working against him. Mādho Singh, being a man of experience, consoled the Emperor. [TAh. 80, S. P. D. xxvii. 83.]

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But peace could not be so easily made. The Emperor's secret plan of coming to terms with Safdar Jang behind Imād's back was betrayed. On 23rd October, Safdar Jang gave to Aqibat Mahmud copies of the letters formerly written to him by the Emperor asking him to make peace through the wazir. Aqibat showed these to Imād who sent them to the Emperor. But Ahmad Shah in fear and trembling wrote to Imād to say that these letters were forged by Safdar Jang! "The wazir tried his best to make peace with Safdar Jang and thus rob Imad of the fruits of his recent great exertions and expenditure. Owing to this disagreement between Intizam and Imad, the Emperor's affairs were ruined. Seeing the Emperor so bent on peace, Imād himself opened negotiations. Then the wazir, in order to spoil Imād's plan, arranged that the Emperor should go on a visit to the garden of Khizirabad and Madho Singh should bring Suraj Mal there to secure his pardon. This was done on 25th October, Suraj Mal being represented by his agent. The wazir rejoiced that the peace was not made by Imād. Suraj Mal from his camp south of Ballamgarh came with a few men to Mādho Singh's tent and saw him as well as the wazir who was waiting there by previous arrangement. In the evening the wazir returned to his own mansion; Suraj Mal remained in Mādho Singh’s camp for that night and the next five days. [TAh. 81b-83a.]

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A settlement was made with Safdar Jang also, but in the same secret and confused fashion. On 5th November, Mādho Singh’s officer Fath Singh conveyed to Safdar Jang an imperial farmān, a robe of honour, an aigrette, a jewelled crest-ornament, a pearl necklace and a horse from the Emperor. When Imād protested against this act, Ahmad Shah replied, “I know nothing of this. I never sent these things to him.” The wazir too professed equal ignorance. Some courtiers said that it was the Emperor’s khilat lately presented to Mādho Singh which that Rajah had sent to Safdar Jang! But whatever the truth of this matter might be, the war with Safdar Jang was formally ended, all the same. Mādho Singh’s work as peace-maker being done he was permitted to return to his kingdom without being required to come to the Emperor’s presence for taking formal leave. His reward was the imperial fort of Rantambhor which his father and elder brother had begged in vain from Muhammad Shah. [TAh. 83a-84b.] On 7th November, Safdar Jang broke up his camp near Sikri (three miles south of Ballamgarh) and set out on his march towards Oudh. He still carried with himself, surrounded by scarlet screens, the bogus prince whom he had enthroned as Emperor in May last, but from the way sent him to Agra in charge of Amar Singh. Crossing the Jamuna at Mathura (17th November), he took the route to Oudh. [T Ah. 84b-89b.]

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This final withdrawal of Safdar Jang from the capital completed the process by which the ablest and most experienced of the elder peers, who could possibly have reformed the administration if properly supported by the Emperor, gave up the task in despair and retired to some distant province where they could at least achieve something really great and good, though in a smaller sphere. The practical independence of these provincial governors and their scornful unconcern with the affairs of Delhi in Bengal Oudh and the Deccan, coupled with the Maratha seizure of Gujrat and Malwa and the Afghan annexation of the Panjab, contracted the Empire of India into a small area round Delhi and a few districts of the modern U. P., where small men only fought and intrigued for small personal ends.

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