Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c22.s4.14

v2.c22.s4.14

At about nine o'clock next morning, 500 Maratha horsemen and a hundred Mughalia troopers of Khwājah Mirzā under ‘Āshur Ali Khan, appeared at the Delhi gate of Lahor. Miskin at once opened the gate and entrusted the city to their care. A day later Khwājah Mirzā himself arrived with 1,000 Mughalia and 10,000 Maratha horse. But early in that morning Timur Shah had marched away from his camp towards Kābul, after setting fire to the heaps of apparel and other things that he could not carry off, and leaving behind him a small rear-guard under Mir Hazār Khan. Khwājah Mirzā crossed the Rāvi and attacked this force, which fled while fighting, but was enveloped by the cloud of Maratha light horse and its leader taken prisoner. At this Timur quickened his pace. Jahān Khan at first halted at Sarāi Kānchi, 36 miles north-west of Lahor; but Khwājah Mirzā, whose force had now been trebled by reinforcements from Lahor, came up with him. Lack of artillery prevented him from storming the sarāi, and taking advantage of this respite, Jahān Khan slipped out of the place, and found safety by crossing the Chenāb near Wazirabad. The depth of the river and the hurry of the flight prevented Timur Shah from taking to the other side any but his Durrāni clansmen. All his other troops,—Uzbak, Qizilbāsh and Afghan, as well as his entire camp and baggage, were left behind on the eastern bank of the Chenāb and fell into the hands of the Marathas and their Panjabi allies. "The spoils were shared between the Marathas and Adina Beg. Khwājah Mirza and his troops thus became very rich. Every day some Central Asian horses came to hand. He enlisted the captured Uzbak and Qizilbāsh soldiers and officers in his own army." [Miskin, 179.]