Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c16.s8.1

v1.c16.s8.1

The civil war had left Imād as indisputably the most powerful and renowned noble at the Court of Delhi. His large and seasoned personal contingent and his close and staunch alliance with the Marathas (who now stood aloof from the Emperor) would have made his power irresistible if the Jāt Rājah could be crushed and the fabulous wealth hoarded in his strongholds seized by the Bakhshi, because the Jats now remained as the only people capable of opposing Imād’s overgrown strength. Nothing could then prevent him from deposing the house of Timur and taking the throne himself. Intizām, who was an intriguing politician, though no soldier, therefore contrived from the outset to save Safdar Jang from total annihilation, maintain the Jāt power intact, and rally these two and the Rājput Rajahs in a coalition under the Emperor’s banners for expelling the Marathas from Hindustan and effectually guarding the imperial dominions from their encroachments in future. If Imād persisted in allying himself with these enemies of the State, he was to be crushed. The sword-arm of this new imperial defensive policy was to be the Hindu princes of Rajputana ‘‘whose lands were every year worse ravaged by the Marāthas than the imperial territory’’ [Muz. 88], and the Jats of Bharatpur, whose accumulated hoards had excited the envy and greed of the professional spoilers from the South. This bold plan of action was to be stiffened by the adhesion of Safdar Jang’s long experience, eminent position in the peerage, and command of a body of veterans. For building up this coalition it was necessary for these late enemies to meet together, exchange personal assurances and oaths with the Emperor, and settle the terms quickly at a conference. Intizām, therefore, arranged that the Emperor should go out of Delhi (where he was no better than a prisoner of the soldiery), to Sikandrabad on the plea of hunting and visiting the State gardens, and there meet Suraj Mal and Safdar Jang to whom secret letters of invitation had been sent, and then their combined forces would open the campaign. For this the imperial heavy artillery was to be taken out of Delhi, ostensibly for the Sovereign's escort, but really for giving the necessary support to his attempt to recover the Crownlands on that side from the hands of the rebels who had seized them.