Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c8.s7.2

v1.c8.s7.2

At the beginning of March 1746, the Nawāb sent a strong force under Atāullah Khān to Bardwān, who drove the Marāthas out of the district, in consequence of which Qāsimbāzār island was freed from their menace. The Nawāb himself went to Bardwān, but the enemy having been expelled from Bengal, he returned to his capital in April. Thus Bihār and Bengal enjoyed peace for a time, but Orissā remained entirely in Marātha possession. Mir Habib continued at Medinipur the whole season, and looted Hijli at the mouth of the Ganges and its neighbourhood; and in June his troops were encamped about Faltā, where, as the French factors remark, "Alivardi appears to leave him to enjoy the Nawābship of Katak in tranquillity." In fact, the Nawāb put off the reconquest of Orissā till the next cold weather, and utilised his enforced leisure at Murshidābād during the second and third quarters of 1746 in celebrating the marriage of his grandson and chosen heir, Sirājuddaulah, with the most lavish pomp. [Siyar, ii. 154.]