Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c2.8

v1.c2.8

Such being the scope deliberately chosen for this work, the first volume has necessarily to treat its subject at a greater length than would be strictly proportionate to its time-extent. It takes up the narrative at the departure of Nādir Shah and ends with the fall of Ahmad Shah, (the last Emperor of Delhi who showed any independence and by the time of whose death all the great men of the former generation had disappeared.) The reign of his shadowy successor Alamgir II (1754—1759) and the rule of his wazir Ghaziuddin Imād-ul-mulk will receive a very brief treatment, because the historical stage of Delhi is now dominated by Ahmad Shah Abdali, whose career leading up to his crowning victory at Panipat (1761) deserves to be studied in greater detail from the wealth of original material not yet used by any writer. Then follows a period of dull chaotic ferment for some twelve years, with little to detain the historian long. A new scene opens with the rise of Mahadji Sindhia who bestrides the plains of Northern India like a Colossus for two decades. This heroic figure it is my intention to study at length from the records in various languages in an almost overwhelming mass which I have been able to collect.