Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c15.s3: § 7. Muin surrenders to Abdali

Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c15.s3

Language: English

§ 7. Muin surrenders to Abdali

v1.c15.s3.1

With the return of daylight Muin promptly took such measures of defence as were possible under the circumstances; he posted his most trustworthy soldiers to man the walls and dug trenches where the fortifications were weak. Abdali invited him to a conference for settling a peace. Muin fearlessly went there with only three attendants, namely two sons of Jan Nisar Khan and a eunuch. Two of the highest Afghan nobles welcomed him and presented him to their king. Ahmad Shah asked, "What would you have done to me if you had captured me?" Muin replied, "I should have cut your head off and sent it to my master the Emperor." Abdali asked again, "Now that you have held off so long from making a submission, what should I do to you?" The vanquished governor fearlessly gave the answer, "If you are a shopkeeper sell me (for a ransom), if you are a butcher kill me, but if you are a Padishah then grant me your grace and pardon." The answer highly pleased the Afghan king. He embraced Muin, called him his son (Farzand Khān B.) and bestowed on him a robe of honour, an aigrette for the crest, and the very turban he was wearing. (Miskin, 16-17, Husaini 33.)

v1.c15.s3.2

Then Muin begged that the favour shown to him might be extended to his people. At his request the Abdali released his Panjabi captives, and posted his provost-marshals in the city to prevent his soldiers from robbing or maltreating the citizens. The people within the walls were already starving through the stoppage of their grain supply on account of the war and siege. Next day Muin returned to his quarters and raised a few lakhs of Rupeès from the city which he presented to the Abdali as the price of a dinner to him and his troops. By the terms of this treaty the *subahs* of Lahor and Multan were ceded to the Afghan king. He left them to be governed by Muin in the same way as before, without disturbing the administrative arrangements in any way. Only the surplus revenue was henceforth to be sent to the Abdali and the final orders in the highest questions were to be taken from him.* He even yielded to Muin’s wise counsels and gave up his first thought of striking coins at Lahor in his own name (Miskin, 16.)

v1.c15.s3.3

Similarly the *subah* of Multān passed into the possession of the Abdali and was placed under an agent obedient to him. Large numbers of Saddu-zāi Afghans (fellow-clansmen of Ahmad) were planted here with gifts of land, so that this province became an Afghan colony. (*Husaini*, 33.)

v1.c15.s3.4

∗ To save the face of the Emperor, however, the letters of appointment of the governors of Lahor selected by the Abdali were to be issued from the Chancellery of the Delhi Emperor and these two subahs were to continue nominally as included within the empire!

v1.c15.s3.5

The victorious Afghan king halted at Lahor and sent his envoy Qalandar Beg to Delhi to secure confirmation of the gains of his sword. This man reached the Mughal capital on 1st April. The terrified Emperor and his ministers at once agreed to the formal cession of the provinces of Lahor and Multan to the Abdali, or in actual effect to pay him 50 lakhs of Rupees a year in lieu of their surplus revenue. On 13th April the Afghan envoy was given *conge* by the Emperor in the Hall of Select Audience and told, "I am standing firmly by my promises, but if your master deviates from his agreement I am prepared for fighting." The envoy placed the letter embodying the peace-terms on his head and assured the Delhi Court, "Whosoever is evil-minded towards this God-given State will be consumed by divine wrath." He and three of his companions received rich gifts and were sent away. [*D. C., S. P. D.*, xxi. 53,55; *TAh.* 33*b*.]

v1.c15.s3.6

The only noble who could have opposed such a tame breaking up of the empire and counselled manly resistance was Safdar Jang. But he was far away to the east, entangled in war with the Ruhelas at the foot of the Kumaun hills, and returned to Delhi on 25th April, too late to prevent the treaty. [D. C., TAh. 33b.]

v1.c15.s3.7

§ 8. Muin-ul-mulk's last year and death.

v1.c15.s3.8

After this signal success in arms, confirmed promptly by diplomacy, Ahmad Shah Abdali left for Qandahar at once at the approach of the Indian summer (April 1752.) Muin-ul-mulk turned again to his duties as subahdar and tried to restore the administration and public order which had been upset by the Afghan invasion. His most pressing task was to collect his dispersed fugitive and starving soldiery together. This done he went on a tour in the Batala district where he suppressed a Sikh band near Chak Guru Hargovind, slaying 900 of these desperadoes. At the end of this prolonged tour, he returned to Lahor and lived there for six months. But the Sikhs gave him no peace. The recent war had demonstrated to all the utter weakness of their governor and stripped the imperial Government of the last shred of prestige. With the coming of the cold weather (October 1753) their raids were renewed. Muin marched out of his capital to Malakpur, 40 miles north-east of Lahor and made a long halt there. From this base he sent out detachments to suppress the Sikhs wherever he heard of their risings. But his efforts to stamp out the epidemic of lawlessness were futile.

v1.c15.s3.9

On 2nd November 1753, after hunting in the forenoon, he took a heavy meal at midday, followed it by a *siesta*, and then in the afternoon while out galloping his horse over a field to join his troops, he was suddenly taken ill. The doctors could do nothing with all their devices, and he died in the night of the 3rd under symptoms which created the belief that he had been poisoned. His masterful widow, Mughlani Begam, "won over the soldiery by opening the doors of the treasury and paying the due salaries of the soldiers and officials for three days and nights." Then she brought his corpse to Lahor where it was buried in the tomb-enclosure of Miān Mir (Hazrat Ishān), close to the tomb of the late Nawāb Khan Bahādur.*

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Selections from the Peshwa Daftar — Marathi