Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c21.s7.1

v2.c21.s7.1

In this last-named city the worst mutiny of the unpaid soldiery took place. The Badakhshi captains had been severely censured for their cowardly flight before Qutb's handful of men and they had been sent to Delhi in disgrace. They were now recalled from Delhi to Pānipat and ordered to bring their troops to the muster and receive payment according to the actual number of the men under arms. To this they had a rooted aversion as it would stop their dishonest gains. On 3rd May some two hundred and fifty of these Turki soldiers* gathered before Imād's residence (the family mansion of the late Nawab Lutfullah Khan Sādiq), made a row, and seized the gate. When the wazir on hearing the noise came out of his harem to inquire, they suddenly made a rush, mobbed him, and dragged him on foot, half-dressed as he then was with only a waistcoat on, amidst every kind of insult and abuse, through the bazar and streets, exposed to the gaze of high and low. When they reached the tent of their captain Hasan Beg Khan, two miles away, further insult was heaped upon the chancellor. Thousands of Badakhshis crowded round him, tore his garment to pieces, and even dealt some blows to his person. They forced him to sit down and shouted to him to call for their due salary from his house and pay it then and there. The infuriated soldiery would not listen to the messengers repeatedly sent by the Emperor entreating them to desist. After he had undergone this torment for two hours, the wazir was taken out of their hands by Hasan Beg Khan, who seated him on an elephant and conveyed him back to his mansion.