Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c8.s2.27

v1.c8.s2.27

With 700 well-mounted Marātha horsemen, Mir Habib made a night march from Katwā and reached Dāhāpārā, opposite Murshidabad, in the morning of 6th May, burnt its bāzār, and then crossed over at the ferry of Hājiganj, to the city of Murshidābād, which had no wall around it. The city, denuded of troops, could make no defence, mainly owing to the cowardice of its governor Hāji Ahmad, the elder brother of the Nawāb. The greatest alarm and confusion raged in the capital of Bengal throughout that day and night. Hāji Ahmad fled to the fort, leaving the city to its fate. The Marāthas plundered from the house of Fathchand (surnamed Jagat Seth or the Chief Banker) in the suburbs nearly three lakhs of Rupees, and also several other richmen's mansions without the least check, and in the evening recrossed the river to Tirathkonā (west of Murshidābād), where they halted for the night.