Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c15.s9.5

v1.c15.s9.5

But he lost Imād-ul-mulk. This youngman had hitherto professed to be a *protege* and follower of Safdar Jang and had been sent by the wazir on the day of the first alarm (17th March) as his envoy to Intizām's house to negotiate for a compromise with that chief. Imād spent a day and a night there as Intizām's guest, outwardly discussing terms but secretly making a pact with him for concerted action in the coming war against the wazir. [*TAh.* 48*b*, *Muz.* 66, *Imad.* 63.] Three weeks after Safdar Jang’s issuing from Delhi, Imād threw off the mask, and began to actively organise the forces of the Court party. The Queen-mother gave him two *krores* from her own treasury, which was supplemented by 70 *lakhs* from his father’s hoards, for levying troops. He summoned the Maratha envoy Bāpu Mahādev Hingané and told him to concentrate the Maratha soldiers from different places at Delhi, so that there was soon a force of 4,000 there under Antaji Mankeshwar. His agent, Mahbub Rām, was sent to call Malhar Holkar from Aurangabad, but this man was intercepted by Suraj Mal on the way. The two sides began to bid against each other for Maratha support. In return for Bāpu Rāo’s promise to bring 5,000 Deccani horse and place them under the Emperor’s orders, he was given two *farmāns* granting the *subahdāri* of Allahabad and Oudh to the Peshwa on condition of his defeating the wazir. Against this, Safdar Jang offered *jāgirs* yielding ten *lakhs* of Rupees a year and appealed to his old association with Malhar Holkar in the Doab campaigns, but in vain. With unerring instinct Bāpu Rāo backed the Emperor, because the one constant aim of the Peshwa was to secure as *subahdar* of Mughal Deccan a noble who would be subservient to him, so that the Marāthas would be *de facto* rulers of the South. For his active exertions in assembling Maratha troops in Delhi and posting them in force to guard the gates of the city, against a surprise by Safdar Jang, Hingané was created a 6-*hazāri* (11th April.)* Intizām attended the Court on 14th April, for the first time after the murder of Jāvid Khan.