Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c24.s4.1

v2.c24.s4.1

This sudden change of plan needs explanation. We have seen how Ahmad Shah had reached Mahāvan (opposite Mathura) about 15th March. His track had been marked by the same desolation and havoc.* "From Agra to Delhi not a man was left in any hamlet . . . Along the route by which Abdali has come and gone back not two seers of grain and fodder can be had." [SPD. xxi. 99, 111.] The Muslim eye-witness thus describes the Afghan atrocities :—