Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c25.s2: § 2. Plan for ousting Najib Khan from Delhi
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c25.s2
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§ 2. Plan for ousting Najib Khan from Delhi
v2.c25.s2.1
Najib had been the right-hand man of Abdali during the late invasion and had been left by the conqueror as his supreme agent in Delhi, thus replacing the official wazir as the Emperor’s keeper. "The Emperor, after Abdali’s departure, had placed all the districts round the capital under Najib, authorizing him to appoint any collector he liked, provided that the rents came to the imperial exchequer. But Najib appropriated everything, even the yield of the princes' estates and gave their owners one-fourth or one-fifth of what he collected.” For instance, for the *sāir* (transit) duties of this rich and important region he paid only Rs. 25,000 per annum into the public treasury. [*TALS.* 120*b*, *DC.* under 11 May.] The Emperor found that he was no better off under Najib’s dictatorship than under Imad’s, while the Ruhela upstart treated him with a roughness unknown to the nobly-born wazir. He sighed for his old bondage. Imad, too, after the collapse of his recent anti-Maratha coalition under the Abdali’s blessings, humbly made peace with the Marathas and turned them against Najib. The plan of the newly reconciled allies was to expel Najib from Delhi and restore Imād to power there as a creature of the Marathas, so that the imperial Government would again be subservient to every Deccani plan of expansion in North India. Moreover, half the indemnity promised by the imperial Government in June 1754 still remained unpaid, while the annual cost of 13 lakhs for Antaji’s subsidiary troops had fallen into arrears. Therefore, Raghunath himself turned his face towards Delhi. On 7th June, Bapu Mahadev Hingané, the Peshwa’s resident wakil at Delhi, at last came back from his hiding place in Kumbher; he was presented to the Emperor and given the superlative title of *Mahārājā-dhirāj* (15th June.) The Delhi Court thus openly abandoned the recent anti-Maratha policy, and made ready to welcome Raghunath for expelling Najib. [*DC. SPD.* xxi. 120.]
v2.c25.s2.2
§ 3. *Raghunath Rao marches from Rajputana to Delhi.**
v2.c25.s2.3
While Sakhārām Bapu took post at Patparganj, facing Delhi fort, (middle of July) and thus dominated the eastern bank of the Jamuna, Raghunath at last began his march upon Delhi at the end of July. Shamsher Bahadur with the artillery and the advanced division reached Rewari (*c.* 27 July.) His orders were to hold this city to ransom and occupy the Crownlands in the district around, but he found that the land was not in the possession of the Crown but "everywhere under Jat control, with the exception of a few villages held by Kamgar Khan Baluch and Sitārām of Kaliānā’s widow Satbhāni,—both of whom were already on the side of the Marathas." Prince Ali Jah (the Emperor’s second son), who had come a few days earlier to Rewari for wresting the district from the hands of usurpers, was invited by Shamsher Bahadur to a meeting in a garden outside and treacherously made prisoner with his women, (30 July.) The attempt to levy contribution from the Baluch zamindars of this district was fruitless. Raghunath and Malhar, who had left Jaipur territory at the end of July, moved rapidly to Rewari, absorbed Shamsher’s contingent, crossed the Najafgarh *jhil* to Kharwā (7 August), and arrived at Khizirabad (south of Delhi city) on 11th August, and the investment of the imperial capital immediately began.
v2.c25.s2.4
∗ This section is based upon *TALS.* 121*a*, 124*b*-125*a*, 129*a*-130*a*. *SPD.* xxvii 193, 197, 158.
v2.c25.s2.5
Meantime, when the dreaded Abdali was known to be out of India and the prospect of his return seemed remote, Raghunath from Jaipur had called upon Najib Khan (*c.* 10 June) to pay the customary *chauth* as in the reigns of Muhammad Shah and his son, on the ground that the lands assigned to the Marathas in lieu of *chauth* having been occupied by Najib he was responsible for the amount in cash. This letter was accompanied by the arrival of their vanguard consisting of detachments from the contingents of Naro Shankar (from Jhansi) and Sakharam Bapu (from Jaipur) in the Agra district. These men, on coming to the fort of Wer, demanded tribute from Suraj Mal, who agreed to pay it. The subahdari of Agra had been given by the Peshwa to Malhar Holkar, who nominated Vital Shivdev as his deputy there (*c.* 27 May.) From Agra as a base, the Marathas crossed the Jamuna and sent a network of detachments to occupy the Doab up to the bank of the Ganges (June and July), as we have seen in Ch. 16. Though the Marathas avoided Delhi at first, their coming caused great trembling and scarcity of grain in the capital. The wazir joined them. To the demand for *chauth* the Emperor had replied that the Afghan plunderer had left him nothing for payment to the Marathas. Najib advised him to prepare for boldly opposing the Marathas if they offered force.
Linked texts (1)
- Selections from the Peshwa Daftar — Marathi