Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c24.s4.27

v2.c24.s4.27

On 4th July the princes started from Farrukhabad on return to Delhi, in the same humble guise and abject poverty in which they had set out from the capital on 15th March. By way of Aligarh (15 July) and Sikandrabad (21 July) they arrived within eight miles of Delhi on the 23rd, but by that time so great was the Maratha predominance along the Jamunā that Najib had to issue from the capital and make a demonstration of force on the west bank to ensure the safe crossing over of the princes! They had absolutely nothing to show as their achievement. Within a few weeks of their starting from Agra they had lost even that imperial city. When Abdali set out on his return, Suraj Mal finding the field clear, re-established all his outposts by sending back his men, who had fled away before the Afghan advance, to occupy them. The Jat detachments even re-entered their old posts on the eastern bank of the Jamunā, along the edge of the Doab. And the Marathas, secure in the friendship of the Jats in their rear, asserted their predominance in the Doab once again. This second expansion of Maratha power will be treated in the next chapter.