Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c25.s3.4

v2.c25.s3.4

The rest of the month of July and the first week of August passed in this state of watching for developments. Then, at the report of Raghunāth’s near approach to the capital, the Marathas on the east bank of the Jamunā began to cross over to the Delhi side by boat near Okhlā in small parties and formed another post some 20 miles south of the city. Patrols sent out by Najib had a brush with their most advanced foragers and drove them back with loss (6th August.) But the invaders returned in greater strength and plundered the neighbourhood of Safdar Jang’s tomb and the Mānkhān quarter of the Old City, and advancing still further looted the houses of Jaisinghpurā and even the horses of Bāpu Hingané. Najib, at the same time, sent his wakil Meghrāj (4th August) to Imād and the Maratha generals at Patparganj, proposing terms, but the latter obstinately demanded the removal of Najib’s troups from the fort and his own evacuation of the city, saying that they had no quarrel with the Emperor himself. So, there was nothing left for it but to fight it out.