Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c7.s4.7

v1.c7.s4.7

Nādir Shāh's invasion, by temporarily annihilating the Government of Delhi, presented an opportunity of expansion which Ali Muhammad was not slow to seize. He raided and occupied territories right and left. On his aggressions being reported to Court, the wazir,—who held the district of Murādābād in fief,—ordered his local deputy, Rājah Harnand Arora, to expel the Ruhela brigand. But at the village of Asālatpur-Jarrāi, on the Aral river, the Rājah was defeated and slain in a night attack (1741) and all his property and war equipment captured by the Afghāns. This far-resounding success immensely increased the resources and fame of the Ruhela upstart; the country lay helpless at his feet, and thousands of Afghāns flocked to his victorious standard. [Siyar, ii. 9-10, Imād, 42, G-i-R, 16; Forster, i. 106.]