Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c24.s4.17

v2.c24.s4.17

Ahmad Shah Abdali was throughout life determined not to make India his home, nor to personally conduct the government of Delhi. He therefore sincerely desired to restore the Mughal Emperor to real power and wealth by winning his provinces back from the refractory governors and placing them in charge of loyal officers who would support their sovereign with the provincial revenue and troops. Shujā-ud-daulah, who held the rich *subahs* of Oudh and Allahabad, was the hereditary enemy of the Emperor, his wazir Imād and Abdali's agent Najib Khan alike, and the hereditary ally of the hated Marathas and the ever-rebellious Jāt Rajah. He had kept aloof from Abdali during this invasion of 1757. His dominions also barred the way to the still richer lost provinces, Bihar and Bengal. Abdali's first scheme of wresting Shujā's provinces by means of Ahmad Bangash was dropped on account of Ahmad's manifest incapacity and military impotence. Then, by the advice of Imād, it was decided to transfer these eastern provinces to two of the Emperor's sons* and send them with a small Afghan force to occupy the country, because it was hoped that the prestige of the blood imperial would deter rebellious chiefs from opposing them by arms.