Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c22.s4.6

v2.c22.s4.6

In August 1757 a large Maratha army under Raghunāth Rao with Malhar Holkar and some other generals had arrived near Delhi as the ally and master of the wazir Imād-ul-mulk. They fought and drove Najib-ud-daulah out of Delhi (6 Sep.), and for the next four months roved through the country round Delhi plundering the markets and exacting contributions from the landowners. Their success in taking away Najib’s jagir of Saharanpur emboldened them to talk of advancing to Lahor and wresting that province from Abdali’s son. On hearing of it, Abdus Samad Khan Mohmand, a native of the Peshawar district and Abdali’s faujdar of Sarhind, collected a large force and advanced to Thāneshwar, where he was joined by Najib’s son; but the Deccanis shrank from advancing into the Panjab or even fighting him where he was (Oct. 1757.) Then, after raiding many places in the Gangetic doab, Malhar recrossed the Jamunā (end of December) and laid siege to Kunjpurā (75 miles north of Delhi), plundering the country from Delhi up to Thāneshwar.