Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c22.s7.40

v2.c22.s7.40

The same scene of slaughter and rapine met the eye in the region south of Delhi after Antaji Manakeshwar's opposition had been crushed at Faridabad on 1 February. A traveller who reached Delhi from Agra on 8 Feb. reported, "All the nobles of Delhi who had fled to Agra, have migrated from that city also, on hearing rumours of the coming of the Durrāni troops; all places from Delhi to Faridabad are without a lamp, the Jāts are plundering the caravans of the fugitives, and near Faridabad 2,000 corpses are lying on the ground stripped of all their clothing." [*DC.*] From each halting place of the Afghan vanguard lines of skirmishers spread out, right left and in front, in the shape of a fan.* Their superb Khurāsāni horses easily covered 50 or 60 miles a day, and after scouting and foraging they fell back on their camp in the evening. Thus the path of advance was cleared for the invaders.