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Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c9: Chapter IV

Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c9

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Chapter IV

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THE EASTERN PROVINCES, 1746-1756.

§ 1. Emperor promises chauth to the Marāthas

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The second and third quarters of the year 1746 passed in comparative tranquillity for Bengal and Bihār. In October, after the rains had ceased, active operations were renewed for the recovery of Orissā. But at this time the Nawāb was thrown into great perplexity. Early in November he received a letter from the Emperor Muhammad Shāh announcing that he had agreed to make peace with the Marāthas by promising to Rājah Shāhu 25 lakhs of Rupees as the *chauth* of Bengal and ten lakhs as that of Bihār. These amounts were to be annually transmitted by the *subahdār* from Bengal to Delhi and there handed over to the agents of the Marātha king. People hoped that such a permanent arrangement would save the province from disturbances in future and restore the security of trade. [Chandarnagar letter of 24 November, 1746 cited in Pondichery letter of 31 January, 1747 (N. S.); Calcutta to Company, 30 November, 1746.]

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At the end of this November, Raghunāth Jayārām, a Marātha agent at Murshidābād, demanded the *chauth* for Bihār in the name of the Peshwā,—that for Bengal having been promised to Raghuji by Shāhu. The Nawāb replied, "The Emperor too has sent me a *farmān* about the *chauth* for Bengal, stating that the *chauth* has been assigned to the Peshwā and that his money should be sent to the imperial Court. I am writing to the Peshwā making my own representation [on the points in dispute.] Patna is mine, Bengal too is mine. I ought to act treating both provinces as one. The *chauth* for the two is inseparable." The Marātha envoy objected, saying, "How can the Peshwā's *chauth* and Raghuji's be considered as one and an indivisible thing? The latter is your enemy; entering your realm he has plundered and destroyed ten times the amount of the *chauth*. The Peshwā, on the other hand, has been entirely your friend. He gave you armed help in the past, and since then he has been exerting himself to settle your affairs. He has done his work; you now do yours and regulate your realm. If you fully pay up the subsidy for Bihār, then there will be no delay in despatching your affairs." Alivardi closed the discussion by saying that all his trust was in the Peshwā, and that the business would be done after the Peshwā had considered the representation he was writing to him about the position of his Government. He evaded making any definite promise of payment. [S. P. D., xx. 29 and 49.]

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The inner meaning of the Nawāb’s policy was that he was not prepared to make a separate agreement for the Bihār *chauth* with the Peshwā, when there was no guarantee that the Peshwā on being satisfied as to his own gain would not leave Raghuji a free hand to raid and tax Bengal and Orissā, instead of defending the three provinces together,—which was the Emperor’s object in promising the *chauth*. The black-mail for the entire North-eastern country must be one charge payable to one authority and not two separate amounts payable to two mutually independent enemy chiefs.

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§ 2. *The controversy about chauth.*

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The point at issue between the Nawāb and the Peshwā comes out very clearly in the letters of Hingané, the Marātha envoy at the Court of Delhi, [S. P. D., ii. 4 and 10.] Following the Emperor’s *farmān* to Alivardi on the agreement made with Rājah Shāhu about paying to him the *chauth* for Bengal and Bihār, Hingané wrote to Alivardi : “By order of the Emperor, the Peshwā has settled the terms of peace concerning Bengal with King [Shāhu] and sent word to Raghuji forbidding him to enter the province of Bengal...Write to your officers to remain at their posts in composure of mind and send the imperial revenue in full, as contracted by the Emperor, to Rājah Shāhu through the Peshwā. Then the disturbances in your country will cease.”

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Alivardi replied to the Emperor: “Your Majesty has written to me to the above effect, and I have also received a letter from Bālāji saying that in case Raghuji invades Bengal the Peshwā’s generals [i.e., Holkar and Sindhiā] have been kept ready with their troops on the frontier of Bundelkhand to come to the Patna and Gayā districts for my defence. And yet I have been repeatedly getting letters from Raghuji to inform me that he is coming. Then, what kind of settlement is thus? If a definite agreement has been concluded with Rājah Shāhu, why should Raghuji come at all? And for what reason has Bālāji Rao written thus? Why is not this uncertainty yet removed? So long as this apprehension remains, I, too, cannot afford to disband my army and my realm cannot be cultivated. The districts on the [western] bank of the Ganges have been devastated and not a kauri is being yielded by them. If some five Rupees are realised from this side [of the river], it is spent on my troops. Whence is the revenue coming and from what source can I send it? In this state of things, if Raghuji or his army does not make any incursion this year, then at the end of the year my militia will be sent back to their homes, and whatever revenue is left [after discharging* their dues] I shall send to His Majesty's Court.''

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Alivardi also wrote to the same effect to Hingané: ''When terms have been settled with Rājāh Shāhu, why is there an apprehension of Raghuji coming here? He is the Rājāh's servant; a friendly agreement has been made [with the Rājāh] about this province; now call him back and restrain him. When a man like the Peshwā himself has apprehensions about Raghuji invading Bengal, how can I be expected to disband my army and hope to see my country populated again? Whence can I send the full revenue to the Emperor? Therefore, I am determined to remain prepared for war [with Raghuji.] If he comes, I shall fight him; if he does not come, I shall remit such revenue as may be collected at the end of the year. You should write to your generals that when Raghuji sets out to invade this country, they should come to Bengal by the Rāmgarh, Pachet or Orissā route. What will they do by taking post in the Patna-Gayā districts? When they hear beforehand that Raghuji has issued from Berār and is actually coming to Bengal, and have verified the news, they should march directly to Bengal without waiting to be summoned or written to. Then I shall join them and defeat him.''

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In reply to the objections of Alivardi, the Emperor wrote the following letter of reprimand, under pressure from the Marātha agent at his Court:—"Assuredly Raghuji is not going to Bengal. Why then are you maintaining an army? Disband it and by properly reassuring your subjects cause that country to be populated fully. Why cling to your suspicions? Send the revenue here in full quittance. If there is any deficit in collection, exactly that amout will be debited from Bālāji Rāo's account. His subsidy (*tankhā*) has been assigned upon you, and I have also asked him to realise as my collecting agent (*sazāwal*) whatever surplus remains due to my Government. So, send the full amount quickly.''

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Hingané also reassured the Nawāb in similar terms: "By a hundred thousand paths has the Peshwā confined Raghuji to the Deccan. By 19 routes out of 20 he is prevented from entering Bengal. If ever he sets out by a single [unblocked] path, then as our generals [Holkar and Sindhiā] are posted on the frontier of Bundelkhand, in fear of them he will not go to Bengal. And even if he does go, they will hasten [after him] and chastise him. You remain watchful at your place and send the imperial revenue in full clearance.''

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In short, Alivardi chose the wiser and manlier part of basing the defence of his realm on a strong army under his own control, instead of depending upon a protective force, maintained at his cost, to be sent out by the Peshwā for supporting him in the event of Raghuji's invasion, probably after half the province had been desolated and plundered and his subjects kept in perpetual alarm by the palpably defenceless condition of their ruler.

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§ 3. Policy and plans of Raghuji Bhonsle in 1746.

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We shall now turn to the state of things at the Court of Bhonslé. Raghuji after leaving Bengal and Bihār (in April 1746) came to Nāgpur in September, and was beset by his creditors. Even when he received three *lakhs* of Rupees as the ransom of the deputy governor of Orissā (at the end of next December), he repaid no part of his debt. After the *Dasaharā* (13 Sep. 1746), he marched into Berār at the head of an army reduced to about 2000 *pāgā* and the same number of *silāhdār* horse, while his son Jānoji, who had been nominated to lead an expedition into Bengal, stayed at Nāgpur with only a thousand men under his banners.

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In the meantime, Mir Habib, dreading an attack by the Nawāb of Bengal in the coming cold weather, appealed piteously to Raghuji in October,—"If your army arrives here [at Katak] soon, so much the better. If not, write what I should do." He agreed to pay a subsidy of eleven *lakhs* of Rupees to Raghuji, and Raghuji in return promised to send his troops for the defence of Orissā in the month of Kartik (October). But it was very difficult for Raghuji in his financial distress to fit out an expedition. A news-writer in his camp in Berār reported on 8th December, "Raghuji is enlisting men, but is unable to pay them in cash. He has decided to send a force into Bengal under Jānoji with the contingents of some officers [named here], none of whom has actually more than 100 to 500 men under him. They expect to muster ten thousand, which is very unlikely." [*S. P. D.*, xx. 41 and 44.] Thus, there was delay in the Rājā's reinforcing Mir Habib in Orissā.

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§ 4. Mir Jafar defeats Maratha army at Medinipur, December 1746.

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Mir Jafar, the *Bakhshi* or Army Chief of the Nawāb, though appointed deputy governor of Orissa, could not march out in the middle of 1746 for expelling the Marāthas from that province, as he was forced to halt near the capital for strengthening his army with the new levies ordered by the Nawāb to replace the recently dismissed Afghān contigents of Shamshir Khān and Sardār Khān. At last, his ranks having been brought up to the necessary strength (about 7,500 men) and properly equipped, Mir Jafar marched into the Medinipur district in November, and after one or two minor skirmishes fought a decisive battle with Mir Habib's lieutenant Sayyid Nur, near Medinipur about 12th December 1746. The Sayyid, though reported as killed in an English letter from Balesar written four days after the battle, escaped towards Katak with the broken remnant of his army, but two of his head officers were killed. South of Balesar they were met and rallied by Mir Habib, who was returning after conquering Kanikā and dragging the Rājah of that place and his family into captivity. The general now hastened northwards to retrieve the situation. Arriving at Balesar, about 20th January 1747, Habib encamped two miles from the town, with 8,000 horse and 20,000 foot, and raised batteries along the Barā Bālang river to oppose the advance of the Bengal army. Jānoji, who had just reached Katak with his own army, started northwards in order to reinforce Mir Habib. [Bengal let. 22 Feb. 1747; letter from Pondichery, 31 Jan. 1747 (N.S.) S. P. D., xx. 29.]

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At this news, Mir Jafar, thinking that he was about to be outnumbered and enveloped by the Marāthas, lost heart, and without making any attempt to hold Medinipur, fled precipitately to Bardwān, abandoning some elephants and baggage of his army to the enemy (Feb. 1747.) Thus the year 1747 began with an unexpected reversal of fortune for the Nawāb. [Siyar, ii. 156-157.]

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Just then the Nawāb’s arms were paralysed by treason among his most favoured and trusted generals. Mir Jafar (his *Bakhshi*) and Atāullah (his *faujdār* of Rājmahal) formed a conspiracy to murder the Nawāb one day at their audience with him and then divide the thrones of Bengal and Bihār between themselves. But the secret reached the Nawāb’s ears, and Atāullah was forced to resign and Mir Jafar’s contingent was broken up and taken over by the Nawāb. [Siyar, ii. 157.]

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§ 5. Alivardi’s campaign against Janoji, March 1747.

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Thus Alivardi was left alone to face the united Afghāns and Marāthas. Mustafa Khān, Shamshir Khān, Sardār Khān and other veterans of note were gone with their forces, and now he lost the services of his two best war-experienced kinsmen and generals familiar with his troops.

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But nothing daunted, this old man of seventy-one personally took command of his army, marched out of his camp, and after fighting a severely contested battle near Bardwān (March 1747) defeated Jānoji and the entire Marātha army with heavy loss. Thereafter the Marāthas had not the heart to face him again in the field. They once more tried their old game of slipping past the Nawāb's flank and making a dash upon Murshidābād in his absence. But so quick was Alivardi's return behind them that they were prevented from doing any damage to the capital, though they sacked and burnt some villages near it as usual. So, the baffled raiders fled back to Medinipur, the Murshidābād and Bardwān districts were temporarily cleared of them, and at the approach of the rainy season the Nawāb returned to his capital. [Siyar, ii. 158.]

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During the whole of this year, 1747, the Marāthas remained in undisturbed possession of Orissā up to Medinipur. Their stay in and about Balesar, according to a Calcutta letter of 24 Feb. 1748, "has in a great measure prevented the currency of trade and occasioned a scarcity of all sorts of grain, the country people flying from their habitations upon every trifling rumour of their entering into this province."

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§ 6. *Patna governor enlists Darbhanga Afghans.*

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We have seen how six thousand Afghān troops under Shamshir Khān, Sardār Khān and other generals of that race, had left the Nawāb’s service in June 1746 and gone to their homes in North Bihār. Zainuddin Ahmad Haibat Jang, the governor of Patna, had pressed on Alivardi the bold strategy of offensive which had led to the expulsion of Bhāskar from Katwā in September 1742, and he had also defeated the formidable assault of Mustafa Khān upon Patna city in March 1745 and afterwards (in June) had slain him in battle in the Shāhābād district. These achievements had given him boundless conceit about his own capacity and he dreamt of seizing the throne of the three provinces by overthrowing the aged Alivardi, whose vast wealth and lavish gifts to his other kinsmen Zainuddin had seen with his own eyes in Murshidābād when invited to Sirājud-daulah’s marriage. For such an enterprise there could be no better instrument than these Afghān veterans of many a former war of the Nawab and their generals who enjoyed the highest military repute through the entire province. Moreover, their hearts were sore against Alivardi and they would readily join any scheme for overthrowing him.

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Zainuddin became eager to enlist these Afghāns in his own army. He wrote to Alivardi that so many able-bodied and expert soldiers, fretting idly at home in Dārbhangā with no means of livelihood in sight of them, constituted a formidable menace to the peace of his province. And yet it was beyond the Bihār governor's armed strength to drive them out of the province. The best solution of the problem, therefore, was to keep them out of mischief by taking 3,000 of their men and all their officers into his service, if the Nawāb would meet this additional military expenditure out of the revenue of Bengal. Alivardi grudgingly consented; and Zainuddin sent his agents to Dārbhangā to invite the Afghāns to come to Patna and enter his army.

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They wanted to know the terms of pay and service first, and were moreover not free from the suspicion that this invitation was a ruse of Alivardi to get them into his power and then crush them with ease. To settle the question more quickly and also to reassure their minds, Zainuddin asked them to come to Hājipur, opposite Patna and on their side of the Ganges. Leaving Dārbhangā on 10th December, 1747, they reached Hājipur on the 16th and remained encamped there for a fortnight, while negotiations were being constantly exchanged with the governor in Patna. Zainuddin, blinded by his eagerness to secure these valuable soldiers and make friends with their powerful leaders, visited them in their camp at Hājipur quite unattended, and when early in January 1748 they came over to Patna and halted in Jafar Khān’s garden, he ordered the guards to be removed from their path and also from his palace of *Chihil satun*, in order to leave no ground for suspicion in the minds of the Afghāns.

§ 7. Afghan soldiers murder the governor, seize and plunder Patna

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The terms were at last settled and 13th January was fixed for the ceremonial presentation of the Afghān chiefs and their retainers. During the Court held for the purpose, there was an immense and boisterous crowd of three to four thousand Afghān soldiers fully armed, under Shamshir Khān, in the street leading to the palace, while the Audience Hall (*Chihil satun*) was thronged with another band of 500 Afghāns under Murād Sher Khān, who had come first and who after presenting his followers one by one, told them to take leave of the governor in order to make room for Shamshir Khān’s men. At this farewell ceremony, one Abdur Rashid Khān, according to their preconcerted plan, stabbed at Zainuddin with his waist-dagger, but his hand shook so much from nervousness that the weapon had no effect. Then Murād Sher Khān started up and with one tremendous blow of his sword cut Zainuddin into two from the shoulder-blade to the pelvis.

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Then followed a general assault and plunder of the governor's officers and attendants, many of whom were slain or wounded, some after an attempt at self-defence and others helplessly. A few escaped after being stripped of their robes and arms. The whole palace and city were now in uproar and alarm; but the surprised and out-numbered royal troops could do nothing without a leader or known plan of defence. The porters and guards fled from their posts in the harem, but Zainuddin's widow promptly closed the gates and thus saved the women's quarters from an immediate sack. No stand was made against the Afghāns, who seized the murdered governor's aged father Hāji Ahmad and tortured him for seventeen days to make him divulge the place of his buried treasure, till at last (on 30th January) death released him from his sufferings. Guards were placed round the palaces of the two murdered nobles and thus Zainuddin's wife and children became prisoners. The entire city passed into the hands of the Afghāns, and the people were subjected to frightful oppression and insult for the sake of extorting money. The news that a king of their own race had again risen in Afghanistan and had captured Kābul and Qandahār almost unopposed, and was advancing victoriously upon Delhi, had emboldened the Dārbhangā Afghāns to do these acts of violence and usurpation. They dreamt of a return of the days of Sher Shah, another Afghān of Bihār who had driven out the Mughal from the throne of Delhi and given the sovereignty of India to an Afghān dynasty once again.

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For three months (13th January to 16th April, 1748) Bihār tasted Afghān rule. But it was a quite different type of Afghān rule from the strong orderly and beneficent administration which Sher Shāh had given to the province of his birth two centuries before.

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Hāji Ahmad’s buried treasure was dug out from beneath the stone of the Prophet’s footprint where he used to keep it concealed. Sixty to seventy *lakhs* of Rupees in gold and silver coins besides jewellery were secured in his house. Zainuddin’s house yielded about three *lakhs* according to popular report, but only a few thousands according to another statement. “During their few days of power the Afghāns robbed and dishonoured the people of Patna to an unspeakable extent.” (*Siyar*, ii. 159—163.) “In the same way they surrounded the houses of the great men of the city and robbed them.

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Plunder and sack by the Ruhelas raged in the city and its environs ; the life, property and family honour of multitudes were destroyed, and the signs of Doomsday appeared.'' (Salimullah, 129a.)

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§ 8. Gathering of Afghan army under rebel chiefs.

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After seizing the Government of Patna, Shamshir Khān encamped outside in Jafar Khān's garden, leaving Murād Sher Khan in charge of the city. Knowing that Alivardi was sure to come and call him to account for his misdeeds, he prepared himself for the coming contest by increasing his army with feverish haste and lavish expenditure of money on Afghān recruits and summoning his tribesmen from all sides to his standard. ''This year Afghāns swarmed out of the ground like white ants. Every day the citizens of Patna were roused by the noise of kettle-drums five or six times, and on inquiry learnt that an Afghān captain named so-and-so had come from such and such a place with his contingent of so many men to enlist under Shamshir Khān or Sardār Khān'' and was marching through the town to the camp in full military pomp. (Siyar, ii. 162). In this way nearly 40,000 horse and a somewhat smaller number of infantry were gathered round the Afghān leaders in the course of three months,—the cavalry were almost entirely Pathāns and the foot consisted of a strong body of Bahelia musketeers under a *bakhshi* of their own. In addition to these, the Marāthas, then in Bengal, were repeatedly written to for coming to Patna and joining the Afghān army in an attack on Alivardi. When the news came that the Nawāb was advancing from his capital towards Bihār, Shamshir Khān and Murād Sher Khān had the Nawāb’s daughter, Amina Begam (the widow of Zainuddin), and her little daughter and son taken out of their palace in Patna, placed them in a bullock cart without a roof or awning over their heads, and thus carried them in public exposure and humiliation through the streets of the city to their camp outside it. It only made the citizens condemn and curse these shameless miscreants.

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§ 9. *Alivardi marches into Bihar against the Afghān rebels.*

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The news of the tragic death of his son-in-law and brother, the widowhood and humiliation of his daughter, and the loss of the entire province of Bihār threw Alivardi into the deepest grief and depression of spirit. The Nawāb held a council and offered everyone of his followers a free choice between staying at home or accompanying him in that dangerous enterprise. As for himself, he told them, his heart was set on death in honourable fight rather than bearing such sorrow and humiliation any longer. They all vowed to follow him to the death. Loans were hastily raised from far and near, and the soldiers’ dues were cleared in part. Efficient arrangements were made for the protection of Murshidābād during his absence. (Siyar ii. 164-165.) Fifteen hundred men from Purniā joined him on the way. In the meantime the Peshwā Bālāji Rāo had been appealed to for aid and was reported to be approaching Patna from the west.

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On February 29, Alivardi issued from his camp at Amāniganj and marched towards Bihār. At Komrāh (25 miles north of Murshidabad, on the way to Rājmahal) he was brought to a long halt, as his troops refused to go further unless they were paid more money. The Nawāb, however, satisfied his troops, resumed his march, passed through Sakrigali (c. 17 March) and reached Bhāgalpur. Here the Marāthas under Mir Habib, who had hastened behind him from Bengal, issued from the shorter and unfrequented jungle path that they had taken, and on the nālā of Champānagar attacked the rear of the Nawāb’s army, but were put to flight after doing some loss to the camp-followers. They then hastened westwards in advance of the Nawāb and joined the Afghāns some distance east of Patna, as also did the party of Jānoji. At Mungir the Nawāb halted for some days to give rest to his wearied troops and then pushed on to Bārh on the Ganges, 34 miles east of Patna (c. 14 April.)

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The Afghāns at Patna after inviting Mir Habib, Mohan Singh and some other Marātha officers to an interview, confined them, demanding 30 to 40 lakhs of Rupees as their pay, on the ground that they had been led into this rebellion at the instigation of the Marāthas, who had promised to pay their expenses. The generals were released only after Mir Habib had given bankers' security for two lakhs of Rupees. Then the allies advanced towards Bārh to oppose Alivardi.* The Afghān army was about 35,000 strong; the Marāthas were reported as 30,000 (Siyar, ii. 167), but 12,000 is a more probable number. All the artillery of Patna fort accompanied the rebels; the Nawāb's army is estimated in Siyar, (ii. 164) at 15,000 horse and 8,000 barqāndāzes (foot musketeers.)

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∗ Shamshir Khan left his diwan Ahmad Khan Qureshi (misspelt in the Bengal Consultations as Hamed Khan Carachea) with 2,500 men behind him in charge of Patna. (Beng Consult, 8 March and 26 April, 1748). This Ahmad was the grandson of Daud Khan Qureshi, the founder of Daudnagar. (Siyar, ii. 129.)

§ 10. Battle of Rānisarai or Kālādiārā

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Alivardi had conducted his march keeping the Ganges close on his right hand, so as to have that flank naturally protected and also to assure his water and food supply. Immediately west of the city of Bārh, the Ganges divides itself into several branches, which enclose between them a vast island or group of islands, now called the "Rāmnagar diārā." The main volume of the river water flows through the northernmost channel, while nearly two miles south of it lies the old or deserted bed of the Ganges forming a very thin shallow stream in the dry weather. The Mughal military road from Sakrigali (the eastern frontier post of Bihār) to Patna runs close to the south bank of the Ganges and is intersected by many smaller streams, which after running northwards drain themselves into that great river.

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This old bed of the Ganges has to be crossed a short distance to the west of Bārh town. The ford over it was strongly entrenched and defended by the Afghān army with their big guns placed carefully in position and trained beforehand on the road by which their enemy would have to advance. But Alivardi Khān, "who in generalship had no equal in that age except Asaf Jāh the Nizām" (Siyar, ii. 166), at the first view realised the strength of the Afghān position and took no wild chance. After leaving Bārh, instead of risking a frontal attack on such a strong and prepared position across a river, he turned it by making a detour to the left, *i.e.*, southwards and away from the Ganges and the public highway, under the guidance of a local zamindār, crossed the same stream two miles further west at a ford unknown to the Afghāns, regained the Patna road and threatened to cut the enemy's communication with that town. This unexpected manoeuvre, which the Afghāns could ascribe to nothing but magic, forced them to make a hurried change of front deserting all their guns *in situ* and running westwards to a place opposite the Nawāb's new position. Thus they lost the use of nearly all their artillery—which fact had a decisive influence on the next day's battle. That night the two armies lay facing each other. The Nawāb spent it in strict vigil and precaution against surprise. Early on the following morning he cast himself down on the ground in abasement before his Maker, rubbed his forehead with the hallowed earth of the grave of Imām Husain at Karbalā, and with tears in his eyes prayed to God to give him either victory or death in the coming battle.

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It was the 16th of April 1748. Alivardi advanced to the village of Rānisarāi,* eight miles west of Bārh, and marshalled his ranks on the plain. His big artillery (*top-i-jinsi*) was posted in front, the lighter pieces (*top-i-dasti*) behind these, and then came the horse and foot of the vanguard in support. As usual, the Nawāb took his post in the centre.

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The Afghāns had also drawn up their army in the customary fashion of that age. They had, however, taken advantage of the ground by adopting a novel device. Their army formed a long line of two miles or more from Rāni-sarāi eastwards to Kālā-diārā, but their left wing under Hayāt Khān, with some large guns, was pushed across a small stream that here runs into the Ganges, and ordered to fire on the Nawāb’s right wing when it would come up opposite. The Marāthas could be seen on the left hand some distance behind, waiting to plunder whichever side should lose the day.

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∗ *Siyar*, ii. 167. Rennell gives *Ranny Chock*, about 10 miles w. of Barh, on the highway to Patna, and very close to the Bakhtiarpur Railway station. *Bengal Consult.*, 26 April, records a letter from Qasimbazar dated the 23rd, reporting the news that "the Nawab had killed Shamshir Khan and Murad Sher Khan in battle at *Cullodee*". Rennell gives *Colla derrah* (Kaladiara) six miles s. w. of Barh and four miles e. of Ranny Chock. Babu Ram Lal Sinha, B.L., tells me that the village Kala-diara still stands on the south bank of the Ganges north-east of the Khusrupur Rl. stn. Salimullah (130 *a*) places the battle at Punarak, which is absurd.

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Ignoring the Marātha light horse as beneath his notice and pointing to the Afghāns as "There are my enemies," the Nawāb advanced upon their massed ranks. The battle began with a discharge of guns. In this Alivardi had a decided superiority, as the Afghāns had abandoned most of their heavy pieces at the ford four miles eastwards the day before. At the first cannonade Sardār Khān's head was blown away. He commanded nearly half the rebel force and his death on the back of his elephant, visible from far and near, shook the men of his division. Alivardi's youthful captains were eager to charge the enemy at once, but the cool-headed veteran pulled them up short, letting his musketeers do their work first. His barqāndāzes fired volley after volley into the enemy ranks crowded on the sand bank, "darkening the bright day with smoke." Seeing the enemy now really hard pressed, the Nawāb ordered two officers to make a charge, but the order met with no immediate response. During this confusion the Marāthas and Mir Habib's Afghāns (the former retainers of Mustafa) made an attack on the Nawāb's baggage in the rear, and driving a crowd of servants before them approached the centre. But the Nawāb, never giving these enemies a thought, ordered his vanguard to charge the main Afghān army in front and advanced on his elephant with his guards, in support of the vanguard, his band playing the music of victory. His generals vied with one another in driving their elephants into the enemy's ranks. The engagement now became close and general all along the line. Murād Sher Khān fell back into his hawdā wounded by a musket-ball; two Nawābi officers jumped on his elephant and cut off his head. In another part of the field, during the confusion of the fight Shamshir Khān fell down from his elephant and was beheaded on the ground. The Afghān army now helplessly broke and fled; the Marāthas also quickly disappeared from a field where they had contributed nothing to the fight and found no chance of securing booty. The Nawāb's victory was complete. He occupied the enemy's deserted camp, and then marched to Baikunthpur, 12 miles west of the battlefield, where he halted for a few days, and finally entered Patna in triumph. A great cloud of terror was lifted up from the hearts of the people of Patna, high and low alike, and life returned to their bodies, as it were. [Siyar, ii. 165—168.]

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§ 11. *Alivardi halts at Patna for six months, 1748; condition of Bengal.*

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He consoled his bereaved daughter and other relatives, restored the administration of the province and in a most generous spirit of chivalry sent away with every care and honour the widow and daughter of Shamshir Khān, who had been captured, to their homes, even giving them some villages for their livelihood, as he did not make war upon women. One day before this battle the Emperor Muhammad Shāh had died at Delhi. Alivardi passed the next six months in Patna trying to make some satisfactory arrangement for the Bihār governorship and watching the course of events at the imperial Court, the policy of the new Emperor and his ministers towards the *subahdar* of Bengal, Bihār and Orissā, and the movements of Ahmad Abdāli, who was expected to make an incursion into India during this change of rulers at Delhi. After appointing Sirājud-daulah as absentee *nāib nāzim* of Bihār, with Rājah Jānakirām as his deputy and acting ruler, the Nawāb left Patna about 6th November and arrived at Murshidābād on the last day of the month. [Siyar, ii. 171; French factory letter of 10 September 1748 (N. S.); Bengal letter, 22 December, 1748.]

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During the Pathān usurpation of Bihār the news spread over the land that dismemberment had begun in the Nawāb’s dominions, his authority had ceased, and there was none to enforce order or control the realm. Lawless men raised their heads everywhere without any fear of check or punishment. On 15th February the Qāsimbāzār factory of the English despatched a fleet of boats laden with the Company’s goods (mostly raw silk) to the value of Rs. 3,95,031 and private treasure and merchandise worth Rs. 35,000, to proceed to Calcutta in charge of Ensign English and a small party of soldiers. His way lay by Katwā, which was then the chief station of the Marāthas and where Jānoji was present in person. The Marāthas plundered the goods and treasure in the fleet without any opposition from the escort (17th February).

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At the approach of a detachment of the Nawāb’s troops under Fath Ali, the Marāthas left Katwā, carrying everything away from thence. For some time after, their main body remained near Bardwān, while several straggling parties of them were scattered about the country. (Bengal Consult, 25th Feb., 8th March, 1748). But on the Nawāb leaving his capital for Patna (29th Feb.), they returned to Katwā, a large party of them being reported at Kātālia, ten miles from that town, in a factory letter of 14th March. They also captured Thānā fort near Calcutta. However, soon afterwards the entire Marātha force in Bengal hastened to Bihār to join Shamshir Khān, especially as the Peshwā was reported to be on his march to these eastern provinces to support Alivardi Khān, as he had done in 1743.

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After the crushing defeat of his Afghān allies at Rāni-sarāi (16th April), Jānoji with Mir Habib and all their troops slipped past the Nawāb and turned towards Murshidabād. But on the way he heard of the death of his mother, and himself with a few men took the road to Nāgpur, sending Mir Habib with the bulk of the troops towards Medinipur. After Jānoji's arrival at home Raghuji sent his younger son Sābāji* with a Marātha force to strengthen Mir Habib.

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For a year after the victory of Rāni-sarāi, Bengal and Bihār enjoyed a respite from the Bargi visitation; but Orissā from Medinipur southwards remained in the undisputed possession of the Marāthas.

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∗ *Siyar*, ii. 175, wrongly calls him Mānāji. But Raghuji had no son named Mānāji. *SP.D.* xx. 55 mentions Sābāji Bhonslé as returned from Bengal to Nāgpur in 1749.

§ 12. Alivardi recovers Katak

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About the middle of March, 1749, Alivardi went to Katwā and there began to assemble an army for the recovery of Orissā. Some months before this he had detached a column, eight thousand strong, to Bardwān to block the usual road of the Marāthas from the south. When the Nawāb himself reached Bardwān, the men of his portable artillery (*topkhānah-i-dasti*) mutinied for their arrears of pay and created a tumult. The Nawāb in anger dismissed them all and set out against the enemy without any artillery whatever. A few of his officers also ran away at this time, to avoid the hardship and dangers of campaigning in that barren country in the hot weather. But nothing daunted, Alivardi, now 73 years old, advanced towards the enemy in Medinipur. At the news of his approach, Mir Habib set fire to his encampment and fled southwards. The Nawāb, without entering the town of Medinipur, skirted it, crossed the Kānsāi river, and halted on the further side. Then getting intelligence of the enemy being present in the jungles of Medinipur, he sent a detachment which made a night attack and routed them.

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Alivardi continued the pursuit. Advancing to Balesar he learnt that Sābāji and Mir Habib, finding their soldiers powerless to stand up to a fight with the Nawāb’s forces, had fled far away through the jungles of Katak. Alivardi pushed on towards Katak, crossed the two branches of the Baitarani river at Bhadrak and Jājpur, and took post at Barā about 36 miles north of Katāk. Here he received letters from Sayyid Nur, Sarāndāz Khān and Dharmadās (the Captain of the musketeers), who had gone over to the Marāthas and had been left by them in charge of the fort of Barābāti and the district round Katak town, offering to submit to Alivardi whenever he would arrive there.

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But the Nawāb was too old a general to act in heedless haste. He first searched the dense jungle for Mir Habib for some time; but no trace of the Marāthas having been found, he issued from the jungle, left a force to watch the pass leading out of it, and with 2,000 men made a forced march from Barā to Katak, riding all that night and half of the next day, suffering terribly from the heat of the May day sun along a treeless road. At the end of eighteen hours of continuous exertion, with his escort reduced to three hundred worn-out horsemen, the Nawāb arrived before Barābāti at noon (c. 17th May, 1749). No baggage or tent had been able to keep up with him. The garrison agreed to capitulate the next day.

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Next morning, when the officers of the fort came to interview the Nawāb, Sayyid Nur and Dharmadās were made prisoners by previous order of Alivardi, while Sarāndāz Khān who resisted arrest was cut down. The garrison shut the gates and showed fight, and so the Nawāb had to invest the fort. He entered the city of Katak (c. 18 May), and fifteen days later received the surrender of Barābāti. Thus, the reconquest of Orissā was complete. But to the ruler of Bengal Katak was easier to conquer than to hold, with the Marāthas permanently in occupation of its southern and western flanks, innumerable tracks through the jungles leading out of these places, and a single long and difficult route connecting Katak with Bengal which was closed by floods during half the year. Noble after noble declined the governorship of Orissā offered to them by the Nawāb, as they knew that with the small provincial contingent they would not be able to hold out against the Marāthas for a week after the Nawāb had set out on his return to Bengal with his army. At last a thoughtless beggar named Shaikh Abdus Subhān, who was serving in Durlabhrām's squadron, jumped at the prospect of becoming a Deputy Nawāb, and was appointed governor of the province. Alivardi quickly left Katak and hastened towards Bengal, in order to avoid the coming rainy season which would render the innumerable streams across his path impassable. [Siyar, ii. 175—177.]

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§ 13. *Katak reconquered by Marathas, June 1749.*

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But the result was as every body had foreseen. Six or seven days after Alivardi had marched out of Katak, Mir Habib reappeared before that town, defeated and captured the seven days' *nāib-nāzim*, who, however, fought most gallantly against tenfold odds and was severely wounded,—and so the Marāthas recovered the capital of Orissā. Thus, Alivardi's work was undone within a week. But the Nawāb was in no position to return to Katak and expel the Marāthas. His troops had been suffering unspeakable hardship and privation in their homeward march. The June sun was fierce overhead, with no avenue of trees along the roads; then the monsoon burst and it rained heavily day after day, the *nālās* across the road turned into raging torrents; no food could be procured locally. Under such circumstances, the draggled Bengal army reached Balesar on 6th June. It was in no condition or mood to face a new campaign and repeat this labour of Sisyphus. The Nawāb's health was breaking down under his recent exertions. So, he set his face homewards, and reached Murshidābād at the beginning of July. [Siyar, ii.

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178; *Beng. Consult.*, 24, 27 and 29 May, 17 June, 1749.]

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§ 14. *Alivardi at Medinipur.*

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Alivardi’s reconquest of Orissā in the summer of 1749, coming so soon after his recovery of Bihār in April 1748, was a splendid achievement, but it was destined to be his last. The forced march that ensured the fall of Katak without a blow, the blistering sun that had to be endured overhead for weeks together, the muddy roads and rain-swollen streams that had to be crossed, and the scanty and coarse food that a poor jungly province solely yielded, all told upon the body of an old man of 73 who had scorned delights and lived laborious days throughout a long life, and had almost every year since his accession had to meet and defeat some enemy at home or abroad, from the bosom of his family and the circle of his lieutenants as much as from across the frontier. Soon after his return from Orissā, the Nawāb had a serious illness which continued well into October 1749. [*Bengal Consult.*, 18 Oct. 1749.]

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But there was no rest for Alivardi. On recovering from this illness, he disported himself for a few days, by deer hunt at Mihirpur (24 miles due east of Palāshi), and then marched to Katwā. After assembling his army here, he advanced *via* Bardwān to Medinipur (December, 1749). Meantime, Mir Habib had come to Balesar about 15th October, with Mohan Singh and the Marātha force, while the Pathāns (under Mustafa Khān’s son Murtazā) who formed his rearguard, arrived two days later, making a total of 40,000 men. [Bengal Consult., 26 Oct. 1749; Siyar, ii. 179.]

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This year Alivardi decided to form a permanent cantonment at Medinipur, so as to keep the path of Marātha raids into Bengal from Orissa always closed. In the camp at Medinipur the Nawāb tried to check abuses in his army, with the consequence of alienating his troops. There was gross peculation through collusion between the captains and the pay-clerks. A muster was held when it was found that in general only one-fourth of the troops paid for by Government were actually kept in service. In one officer’s command the robbery of public money was so outrageous that out of the 1,700 men for whom he had been drawing pay regularly year after year, only eighty were really present and all the rest were “dead musters”. When the Nawāb cut down the allowances of the officers to the actual strength of their contingents, they became highly discontented, and the reform had to be stopped. (Siyar, ii. 180.)

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While this internal trouble was raging in the Medinipur cantonment, towards the end of February 1750, a body of several thousand Marāthas slipped past him and plundered the country as far as Rājmahal, whence they turned towards Murshidābād. About 6th March, Mir Habib at the head of 12,000 horse arrived four miles from that city, and had a skirmish with Mir Jafar’s troops, who were driven back nearer to the capital. For some days the two armies lay facing each other, but the Marāthas continued to send out parties daily to burn and plunder all around them. (Qāsimbāzār factory letters, 4th and 9th March 1750.) At this news, Alivardi quickly fell back from Medinipur to Bardwān, but on hearing of his march the raiders turned aside and took refuge in the jungles of West Bengal. The Nawāb halted at Bardwān, in diwan Mānikchānd’s garden outside the city, for some time, and then returned to Medinipur (April 1750.) The baffled Marāthas had shown themselves here, but disappeared before the Nawāb’s arrival. Permanent quarters for the officers and men and mansions for the Nawāb were now built here and the ladies of the harem were summoned from Murshidābād, as no officer would undertake the perilous post of *faujdār* of Medinipur and the Nawāb was therefore compelled to stay there in person.

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§ 15. Sirājuddaulah assaults Patna city, June, 1750.

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But a fresh trouble was brewing for Alivardi. His darling grandson and intended heir, Sirājuddaulah, was instigated by Sayyid Mahdi Nisār Khān (the paternal uncle of the historian Ghulām Husain and a discontented ex-officer of the Nawāb’s army), to make a dash on Patna, seize the government of the province from the Nawāb’s agent, and make himself independent. The foolish and capricious lad, took leave from the camp at Medinipur, on the pretext of visiting the palaces and gardens at Murshidābād, and slipped out of that town with his wife. Arrived at Patna, he with Mahdi Nisār Khān delivered an attack on the city. The defenders hesitated to fire on their future master and the apple of the eye of their present sovereign. Some of the assailants got inside through an old drain for rainwater near the western gate, called the khirki of Begampurā, threw the gate open and admitted Sirājuddaulah. In the fighting in the narrow streets of Hājiganj the loyal troops were steadily driven back and Sirāj’s followers seemed to be on the point of capturing the entire city, when first Amānat Khān, then Mirzā Madāri Beg Deccani, and finally Mahdi Nisār were killed. At this fall of their leaders the rebels lost heart and fled out of the city. Sirāj took refuge in a private house safe and sound, to the intense relief of Rājah Jānakirām and the garrison of the city, (c. 27 June, 1750.) [Siyar, ii. 182—185.]

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Meantime, immediately on hearing of Sirāj’s flight from Murshidābād towards Patna, Alivardi had started from Medinipur after him, though the rainy season had begun and the roads were becoming impassable. Halting only one day at Murshidābād, he hastened to Bihār, and when arrived at Ghiyāspur (midway between Bārh and Fatuā) heard of the attack on Patna and Sirāj’s lefeat. With infinite tenderness he soothed the mind of the young rebel and restored him to all his favour, and then set off with him back to Murshidābād. At Patna the old Nawāb was seized with a high burning fever, but he could not stop there, in view of the threat of the Marāthas to Medinipur and the incompetence and cowardice of the agents left by the Nawāb there. So, the sick Alivardi glided down the Ganges in a boat, attended by physicians, and after reaching Murshidābād and undergoing further treatment recovered (in September.)

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All this time despair and consternation had been raging in the camp at Medinipur. The Nawāb’s illness was believed to be fatal in view of his extreme old age. In fact, Mir Jafar and Rājāh Durlabhrām, who had been left by the Nawāb in command at Medinipur, were utterly incompetent and thoroughly shaken in spirit by their previous unfortunate encounters with the Marāthas. The situation at Medinipur became so critical, that the Nawāb had to set out for that place soon after his recovery from the fever, though he was still weak and far from having regained his normal health (December 1750). Here he fought Mir Habib and drove him into the western jungles. After some pursuit the enemy were compelled to flee towards Katak. The Nawāb then returned to Katwā (February 1751), putting off the recovery of Orissā to the next winter. [Siyar, ii. 187.]

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§ 16. Peace treaty with Marathas, 1751.

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Both sides were now eager for peace. Mir Habib and the Marāthas realised that it was useless to continue such a harassing war, which brought them no ultimate gain. Raghuji was more involved in debt than ever before; as a financial speculation his invasion of the eastern provinces had failed. Even Orissā, which he had now been occupying for some years, was such a poor province and the Marātha occupation of it was so often interrupted by their expulsion from it, that his income from the conquest had not covered his expenses. When in 1749 his son Sābājī beat a hurried retreat from that province to Nāgpur, his soldiers pressed Raghuji hard for their heavy arrears of salary, and the Rājah had not the means of satisfying them or any other creditor. A friendly arrangement with the Nawāb would give the Marāthas an assured income without the expense of collecting it fitfully and by force.

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Alivardi Khān was now 75 years old, and felt the weight of age and the approach of death. His troops were thoroughly worn out by their incessant campaigns and forced marches against domestic and foreign enemies; his subjects in Western and Southern Bengal had been utterly impoverished by the yearly raid and destruction of the Bargis. His Government was wellnigh bankrupt, and both he and his subjects required years of peace to recuperate. So, he listened to his well-wishers and permitted Mir Jafar to act as an intermediary and open peace negotiations with the Marāthas, (March 1751.) Mir Jafar sent two of his men to Habib, who welcomed the proposal and despatched his own agent Mirzā Sālih with the Bengal envoys to Mir Jafar, who introduced him to the Nawāb, then at Katwā. The party proceeded in the Nawāb's train to Murshidābād where the terms were settled. The draft treaty was referred to the Court of Nāgpur and finally in May or June 1751 a peace was signed on the following conditions :

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(1) Mir Habib would now become a servant of Alivardi and act as *nāib-nāzim* (deputy governor) of Orissā on his behalf. He should pay the surplus revenue of the province to Raghuji’s army as their salary.

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(2) From the Bengal revenue twelve *lakhs* of Rupees a year would be paid to Raghuji as *chauth* for that province.

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(3) The Marātha Government agreed not to set foot in Alivardi’s dominions again. The frontier of Bengal was fixed at and including the river Suvarnarekha* near Jalesar, and the Marāthas bound themselves never to cross it again. Thus the district of Medinipur was once more joined to Bengal. (*Siyar*, ii. 188).

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§ 17. Murder of Mir Habib, 1752.

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Now at last Mir Habib, after long years of ceaseless toil, bloodshed, plunder and devastation of these provinces, attained to his life’s ambition ; he became the master of a province. But he did not long enjoy his new power and dignity. In his speedy and tragic downfall the author of *Siyar*- *ul-mutākhkharin* sees the hand of divine justice. As he writes, "When poor Mir Habib, after so much exertion was on the point of eating the fruit of the tree of his oppression, he was seized with retribution for his cruelty to the innocent multitudes who had been ruined in the raids of his troops and the Marāthas, and he passed away in irretrievable disappointment and loss." (ii. 190). A year after the conclusion of the peace, Jānoji arrived at Katak as his father's representative and took charge of the Marātha army. The Marātha Brāhmans were chafing under Mir Habib's rule, and refused to take their orders from him any longer as he was now Alivardi's officer and not Raghuji's. Habib as a good administrator could not have allowed the extortion and peculation dear to the hearts of Marātha officers in a newly conquered province, and his honesty and care for the people made him hateful to these blood-suckers. They pressed Jānoji to call upon Habib to render an account of the income and expenditure of the province and of the division of the *chauth* of Bengal between the Marātha and Afghān soldiers, during his fourteen or fifteen months of stewardship. Jānoji agreed, as he could not brook a rival to his authority in the person of Alivardi's agent. So, a plot was formed to get rid of Habib. Jānoji invited Mir Habib and his chief followers, to the number of 40 or 50, to his tent, conversed with them pleasantly for the rest of the day, and about sunset took leave to go out and perform his evening *pujā*. Immediately afterwards, the Marātha soldiers crowded into the tent, encircled Mir Habib, and told him that he would not be allowed to leave the tent before he rendered accounts and gave bonds for the money that he had misappropriated. Habib argued with them for some time, and then at last realised that the whole thing was a plot for killing him. So, about midnight he and his followers drew their swords and tried to cut their way through the Marāthas, but were all killed,* (24 Aug. 1752.)

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