Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c9.s1.23

v1.c9.s1.23

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.