Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c16.s7.8

v1.c16.s7.8

After sunset, the Emperor’s palace superintendent Khwājah Bakhtāwar Khan went from the fort to the wazir’s house to arrange for some means of paying these soldiers. When returning, he borrowed five light guns from the wazir by way of defence and carried them in front of his party. When he arrived near the Jama Masjid the Badakhshis by a rush seized these guns, and his handful of guards was borne down by the superior number of the mutineers, many of them being slain in offering resistance. The wazir sent up reinforcements under his artillery officer Mir Barkhurdār Khān, who fired on the rioters, but finding the street blocked cut his way with his Mughalia followers through the crowd and entered the Jama Masjid for safety. The Badakhshis, finding that he had escaped, stood in force in the Faiz Bazār nearby. But they were subjected to a double fire, by Bakhtawar and Barkhurdār, from the houses on the two sides, as they lay unprotected in the street below. The thatches of the shops in the Khās Bazār before the gate of the Jama Masjid caught fire from the discharge of muskets and guns, and at last the Badakhshis fled away losing many men and abandoning the wazir’s *rahkala* they had seized. Bakhtāwar then re-entered the fort, and coming out in full force bombarded the Barādāri house where Aqibat had taken post. The thatched roofs projecting below that building were burnt down by artillery fire and the wall of the Barādāri was breached. Aqibat left it and went to his men on the river bank. Here the Badakhshis attacked a party of imperialists under the eunuch Basant Khan standing below the *jharoka* window, but fire was opened on them from the fort walls and they fled away. At last Aqibat admitted defeat, evacuated the city two hours before dawn, and retreated to Jaisinghpura, after sending a letter protesting his loyalty to the Emperor and pleading the excuse that the rising was due solely to the Badakhshi troops who were starving at not getting their pay. Then the Emperor ordered his men to cease fighting.