Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c8.s7.4

v1.c8.s7.4

During the rainy season of 1746, Marātha roving bands interrupted the coming of grain to Murshidābād by the northern route. The Nawāb ascribed it to the negligence or treacherous collusion of the two Afghān generals whom he had posted to guard the roads. Their slackness in the fight with Raghuji on the Son river in November 1745 had shown how false and unreliable servants they were, and now they were said to have formed a secret alliance with Raghuji for overthrowing Alivardi and sharing the three subahs with the Marātha Rājah. So, in June 1746 the Nawāb dismissed Shamshir Khān and Sardār Khān, his highest Afghān generals after Mustafa, with their six thousand men and ordered them to return to their homes in the Dārbhangā district of North Bihār. They refused to go away before their due salaries were fully paid. When the Nawāb sent a serjeant-at-the-mace (chobdār) to tell them to wait for some time for the money, they ill treated this messenger. After some skirmishes they were forcibly ejected, but they next encamped at Sakrigali (the gateway between Bengal and Bihār), insisting on being paid. Finally they retired to Dārbhangā, but were destined to create a revolution in Patna a year and a half afterwards. [Siyar, ii. 154, 156.]