Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c24.s2: § 6. Afghans sack and massacre at Mathura
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c24.s2
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§ 6. Afghans sack and massacre at Mathura
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The Hindu Bethlehem now lay utterly prostrate before the invaders. Early at dawn on 1st March the Afghan cavalry burst into the unwalled and unsuspecting city of Mathurā, and neither by their master's orders nor from the severe handling they had received in yesterday's fight, were they in a mood to show mercy. For four hours there was an indiscriminate massacre and rape of the unresisting Hindu population,—all of them non-combatants and many of them priests. Even the few Muslim residents could not always save themselves by taking their trousers off and showing that they were really followers of the Prophet. "Idols were broken and kicked about like polo-balls by the Islamic heroes." [Husain Shahi, 39.] Houses were demolished in search of plunder and then wantonly set on fire. Glutted with the blood of 3,000 men, Jahān Khan laid a contribution of one lakh on what remained of the population and marched away from the smoking ruins the same night.
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∗ TALS. 106a. Raj. i. 63 quotes a report from Delhi *via* Aurangabad, “A Jat force of 5,000 came out of Mathura and fought Abdali’s army stoutly, but was defeated by superior numbers. Three thousand Jats fell and 2,000 fled away.” *DC.* oes not record this battle.
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After the tiger came the jackal. "When after the massacre Ahmad Shah's troops marched onward from Mathurā, Najib and his army remained there for three days, plundered much money and buried treasure, and carried off many beautiful females as captives." [Nur-ud-din Hasan, 15b.] The blue waves of the Jamunā gave eternal repose to such of her daughters as could flee to her outstretched arms; some other happy women found a nearer refuge from dishonour in the dark depths of their household wells. But for those of their sisters who survived there was no escape from a fate worse than death. A Muslim eye-witness thus describes the scene in the ruined city a fortnight later: "Everywhere in lane and bazar lay the headless trunks of the slain, and the whole city was burning. Many buildings had been knocked down. The water of the Jamunā flowing past was of a yellowish colour, as if polluted by blood. The man [a Muslim jeweller of the city, robbed of his all and fasting for several days] said that for seven days following the general slaughter the water flowed of a blood-red colour and then the water had turned yellow. At the edge of the stream I saw a number of huts of Vairāgis and Sannyāsis (i.e., Hindu ascetics), in each of which lay a severed head with the head of a dead cow applied to its mouth and tied to it with a rope round its neck."*
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Issuing from the ruins of Mathurā, Jahān Khan roamed the country round, slaying and plundering everywhere as directed. Vrindāvan, seven miles north of Mathura, could not escape, as its wealth was indicated by its many temples. Here another general massacre was practised upon the inoffensive monks of the most pacific order of Vishnu’s worshippers, (c. 6 March.) As the same Muhammadan diarist records after a visit to Vrindāvan, "Wherever you gazed you beheld heaps of slain; you could only pick your way with difficulty, owing to the quantity of bodies lying about and the amount of blood spilt. At one place that we reached we saw about 200 dead children lying in a heap. Not one of the dead bodies had a head . . . The stench and effluvium in the air were such that it was painful to open your mouth or even to draw breath."
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∗ Massacre and sack of Mathura,—Samin in *Ind. Antiquary*, 60-62. *Husain Shahi* 38-39, *TALS.* 106a and 109b. *DC.* Nur-ud-din. *SPD.* xxi. 107; xxvii. 152. *Raj.* i. 63.