Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c21.s6: § 14. Imad's quarrel with Intizam ended
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c21.s6
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§ 14. Imad's quarrel with Intizam ended
v2.c21.s6.1
The Maratha forces having retired from Delhi at the beginning of February 1755, Imad was free to settle his score with his enemies near at hand. His first dread after becoming wazir was lest his deposed predecessor Intizām-ud-daulah* should intrigue successfully for the recovery of the chancellorship. This possibility had kept Imād’s heart throbbing with anxiety throughout Raghunāth Rao’s stay near Delhi with Intizām as a refugee in his camp. On 2 September 1754, Intizām had posted musketeers round his own mansion and that quarter of the city to resist the wazir’s levy of a property tax for paying the Marathas. On 4 Oct. Holkar’s diwan, Gangādhar Chandrachuḍ, made an unsuccessful attempt to effect a compromise between the two rivals. About this time Raghunāth, in despair of getting the promised subsidy from Imād, discussed the alternative of making Intizām wazir again if he was more likely to yield the money, but he soon saw that it would not be a change for the better.
v2.c21.s6.2
On 22 November Imād sent a message to Intizām, who had absented himself from Court ever since the accession of the new Emperor, saying, “If you are a servant of the State, come to the darbar. If you are not, vacate your official mansion.” Intizām’s reply was to go away immediately to the Maratha camp south-west of Delhi and take up his residence there, while his house in the city was guarded by his mother Sholāpuri Begam. But the Maratha chiefs declined to go to war with the Emperor and his wazir for Intizām’s sake and even censured him for this rash act of defiance.
v2.c21.s6.3
∗ TALS 17b, 38b-39a. DC.
v2.c21.s6.4
On 12 December Imād’s agents opened negotiations with Raghunāth and Malhar, requesting them to make a settlement between him and Intizām in any way they could. At last Malhar’s pacific efforts bore fruit, and on 17 January 1755 (the day of the Hindu spring festival) Imād paid a visit to Intizām’s tents at Bādli, and induced him to return to his own house in Delhi and to attend Court a few days later.
v2.c21.s6.5
§ 15. *Expedition against Qutb Shah.*
v2.c21.s6.6
So, this trouble ended. The Marathas being gone and Intizām pacified, the wazir turned to reassert the authority of the Government on its own subjects. The first rebel to be attacked was Qutb Shah, who was not a Ruhela by birth, but was popularly known as such by reason of his being a constant associate and honoured religious guide or *pir* of the Ruhelas, (whence his title of *Shah* or Lord Spiritual). He had, soon after Alamgir’s accession, obtained an imperial grant for some lands in the Saharanpur and Mirat districts, east of the Jamunā. But when six months later the wazir transferred these villages to the Marathas, Qutb crossed the river, entered the Sarhind district, and began to seize villages there without any legal title. The wazir sent his Sindāgh regiments to drive him away, but these lawless soldiers merely plundered the innocent people of Panipat and other towns as they advanced. On 11 March 1755, they reached a place four miles north of Karnal and attacked Qutb.* The small rebel force (about 2,500) was on the point of being routed by the superior numbers of the Turks (11,000), when a sandstorm blew into the faces of the Sindāgh men, the Afghans promptly charged the confused enemy ranks and signally defeated them. The wazir's men fled away in panic to Sonipat, abandoning their baggage and tents to plunder. The victorious rebel, laden with his spoils, marched towards Thāneshwar, putting a strong garrison in Karnal and taking tribute from the richer villages on the way. At his approach, Sadiq Beg Khan, the faujdar of Sarhind, was deserted by his Afghan troops, and fled away to Adina Beg in the Panjab. Qutb by a forced march reached the masterless city and established his own rule over it and the surrounding district. "He did not molest the poor, but repressed the strong refractory men, so that within his jurisdiction the roads became safe and his followers were held back from practising oppression." [TALS. 44b.]
v2.c21.s6.7
Then he crossed the Satlaj above Rupar and attacked Adina Beg (11 April), but was signally defeated by superior numbers and put to flight, himself being severely wounded and most of his captains slain. Adina Beg advanced to the east of the Satlaj and took over the administration of the Sarhind district, as far as Thāneshwar, Mustafābād and Kohram. The wazir recognized his rule in return for a tribute. Meantime, the news of the rout of the Sindāgh troops on 11th March had reached the wazir in Delhi two days later. He pressed the Emperor to start with him at once against the rebel. Though there was no equipment transport or servant fit for an imperial march and no money to provide these, he dragged the Emperor with himself to one stage north of the capital (15 March.) "No servant, no tent had arrived there. The Court underwent great hardship. The Emperor's food was sent to him there after being cooked in Delhi fort. The unpaid servants of both Emperor and wazir were starving and refused to go out of Delhi." [TALS. 43b.]
v2.c21.s6.8
∗ I here follow Mux. 107-108, against TALS. 42b, which says that Qutb attacked the Sindagh by surprise after keeping them deluded with peace talk.
v2.c21.s6.9
But the wazir was a coward; with fourfold odds in his favour he merely discussed plans for recovering the lost territory without fighting. He halted outside Delhi for four weeks, and called to his aid Kāmgār Khan Baluch (of Farrukhnagar) and Najib Khan, both of whom urged him to advance and make a demonstration of force against the rebel, but in vain. At last the wazir began his onward march on 13 April and reached the garden of Fakhru, outside Sonipat, where he learnt of Qutb's defeat at the hands of Adina Beg, and then moved on with the Emperor to Pānipat (19 April.)