Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c21.s4.4

v2.c21.s4.4

The course of the negotiations for the military contribution will be detailed later along with the history of the events inside the capital. We shall here briefly follow the movements of the Maratha army outside. From Patparganj, Raghunath recrossed the Jamuna and by way of the south and west sides of Delhi, removed to the Shalimār garden, some 6 miles north-west of the Lahor gate (June 17.) From this place he sent off (23 June) Jayapa Sindhia with 4,000 Government troops, besides Jayapa’s own contingent, to Marwar for assisting Ram Singh against Bijay Singh. In the northern suburbs of the city Raghunath spent three months, roving from the Shalimar garden to Basai, the Idgah, the hermitage of Majnun faqir, and Wazirabad, till the middle of September, when he removed his camp to the south of the city and lived there from Sep. 17 to December 9, ranging over the country from the Badarpur *nala*, to Tughlaqabad, Kishandas’s tank, Islampur (3 m. w. of Humayun’s tomb), Mehrauli, Parapula and Chaharbagh. When changing camp from the western to the northern suburbs of Delhi (August 31), the unruly Maratha soldiers plundered and molested the villagers on that side. The suffering yeomen-farmers of the Dahiya clan (a branch of the Jats) living in Jalalpur and other villages near Narela, retaliated, often surprised the foraging parties of the Deccanis, and carried off their mares and other property. So, Malhar fought them, and assaulted and sacked three villages,—Jalalpur, Nahra and Nahri—where their leaders dwelt. But many innocent villages shared the same fate, and the booty carried off from them was offered by the Marathas for sale in Delhi. "The aggrieved villagers assembled under the jharoka window of the palace and complained to the Emperor, who sent them to the wazir, but they got no redress."