Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c21.s5.6

v2.c21.s5.6

The first and most pressing problem of Alamgir II’s reign was how to keep the wazir’s word to his Maratha allies. They had been induced to come to Imad’s help, leaving the profitable Jat enterprise in which they were engaged, only by the promise of a large reward, in addition to the subsidy already due for their support during the late war against Safdar Jang. The Peshwa’s lack of money was daily growing more and more unbearable. The Jat campaign had yielded only two lakhs in cash after keeping the entire Maratha army of the north* locked up in that kingdom for over four months. In Malhar’s surprise of the imperial camp at Sikandrabad, the gain of the Marathas had been insignificant, a few elephants only, as all the other property had been quickly seized and carried away by plunderers, especially the Jats, whose homes were nearer and who were present there in vaster numbers than the small Maratha contingent detached on this raid under Malhar. Therefore, after that surprise, Malhar refused to release the captive ladies of the imperial harem, unless the outstanding dues of the Marathas were paid. Imad and Aqibat Mahmud stood security for this money, amounting to forty lakhs, as the only means of saving the honour of the imperial family. [SPD. xxi. 60, xxvii. 90.]