Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c16.s2: § 2. Imād's conquest of the district south of Delhi; murder of Balu Jat
Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c16.s2
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§ 2. Imād's conquest of the district south of Delhi; murder of Balu Jat
v1.c16.s2.1
Imād's chief agent Aqibat Mahmud Khan opened the campaign of reconquest in the Faridabad district, south of Delhi, which lay in the Bakhshi's *jāgir*. Here the leading disturber of law and order was Balu Jāt. When Aqibat went with 500 Badakhshi and 2,000 Maratha troopers and demanded the revenue of the district and the tribute due to the Emperor, Balu resiled from his promise and showed fight. Imād sent 7,000 more troops and 30 pieces of light artillery with rockets to Aqibat to match the guns of Ballamgarh. After some fighting Balu made his submission, saw Aqibat and agreed to pay the rent and tribute due from him. Then Aqibat advanced to Palwal, 14 miles south of Ballamgarh, but found the peasants afraid to pay him rent lest Balu should demand it again. The revenue-collector of the place, whom Balu had ousted, told Aqibat that unless he captured Ballamgarh and killed Balu he would fail to get control over the administration of the district. A *thānahdār* sent by him to Fathpur village was turned out by the *ryots* at Balu's bidding. Aqibat, therefore, marched back to a plain near Ballamgarh and asked Balu to come and settle the revenue demand. Balu arrived with his *diwān*, one son and an escort of 250 men. Aqibat demanded payment, saying that as Imād had made the peace for him and the Emperor was pressing Imād for the tribute, Imād in his turn was censuring Aqibat for negligence at this delay in collecting the money. The Jāt chief replied defiantly, "I have not brought the money in my pocket. I only promised to pay the tribute after collecting the rents. If you want to wrest this tract from me, you will have to fight for it." High words were exchanged and Balu in anger laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. But the Badakhshis surrounding Aqibat’s *pālki* fell upon him and slew him with his son, his *diwān* and nine other men* (29 November, 1753.) The garrison of Ballamgarh kept up a fire till midnight, after which they evacuated the fort. Aqibat took possession of it with all its artillery and armament and gave the other property within up to plunder by his soldiers. The district was conferred upon Imād.
v1.c16.s2.2
Aqibat quickly followed up this success. In the following week he sacked the walled villages of Mitnaul and Hathin (12m. s. and s. w. of Palwal), the refractory peasants of which had offered fight all day and fled away at night. He then attacked the small mud-forts of the Jāts all around Palwal and brought them under his rule. Then after a visit to Delhi, he started (27 December) again for the Faridabad district, taking Khandoji Holkar and his troops to assist him in the campaign. But he could not control the Faridabad district, as his soldiers refused to obey his agents, and the Jāts seized this opportunity to expel the outposts set up by him at Garhi Hathin and other newly conquered places. So, he appealed to his master to come in person, and Imād issued from Delhi to Ballamgarh.
v1.c16.s2.3
∗ *TAh.* 89a-92a. Khwājah Aftab Kh, the jamadar of Badakhshis, who had cut off Balu’s head, was rewarded with the two pearl pendants taken from the Jat’s ears. The head was exposed on a pillar by the roadside near Faridabad (92b, 98b.) Ballamgarh was named *Nizamgarh* after Imād’s new title Nizamulmulk Asaf Jah. (106b.)
v1.c16.s2.4
Khandoji encamped at Hodal (17m. s. of Palwal) and sent detachments which plundered the Jāt villages all around, even as far as Barsāna and Nandgāon (12 and 17 miles south), ousting Suraj Mal’s son from them and establishing Marātha posts there (end of December 1753.) This strengthened Aqibat’s position and he sacked the Jāt village of Ghangaula (9m. s.w. of Ballamgarh) belonging to a brother of Balu and planted his own thānah there (5 Jan. 1754.) On 8th January, Imad advanced from Ballamgarh to Palwal and got into touch with Khandoji at Hodal. The fort of Ghāsera (15 miles due west of Palwal) had been wrested by Suraj Mal from Bahādur Singh Bargujar on 23 April 1753, after that chieftain had slain his women and rushed to death in battle at the head of 25 desperate followers. Imād appointed Bahādur’s son Fath Singh master of his father’s fort, which the Jāt garrison had now evacuated in terror. Thus a mortal enemy of the Jāts was planted there with orders to attack their hamlets around. In short, most of the Jāt homes on both banks of the Jamunā now fell into Imād’s hands and his rule was established even as far south as Mathurā and Agra, from which the Jāt usurpers fled away. Another officer expelled the Jāt force that had seized Koil (Aligarh) and Jalesar. Imad sent his men to restore the civil administration in all these long-disturbed places and to induce the peasants to return to cultivation (middle of January.) Soon afterwards the Marāthas laid siege to Kumbher and Khandoji was called there. [TAh. 93b, 94b, 102a, 104b-107a.]