Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c7.s7.9

v1.c7.s7.9

Hedāyet Ali could not maintain himself against a nation in arms. His hired Afghān retainers turned against him and invested him in his house at Barily for their arrears of pay, while Ali Muhammad arrived within 20 miles of that town. He escaped from the difficulty by paying off his troops, abandoning most of his property, and falling back on Delhi (middle of April). By this time the Emperor Muhammad Shāh was dead; the interregnum (as always happened in Mughal India), had let loose the forces of disorder, and Hedāyet Ali had great difficulty in making his retreat in the midst of the lawlessness and highway robbery that were now raging through this tract “worse than ever before.” (*Siyar*, iii. 23) Thus the fruits of the Bangarh campaign of 1745 were undone in a month’s time in 1748.