Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c25.s5.12

v2.c25.s5.12

After neutralizing Vital Rao with a large bribe, the wazir at last on 19th May, 1758, got all his troops under arms on the pretext of escorting him during a pilgrimage to Qutb-ud-din Auliya's shrine, but sent the force under Bālābāsh Khan to invest Ali Mardan's house and arrest the prince. * The battle raged from 3 P. M. throughout the night, Shah Alam making a spirited defence under his own command and checking the assaults with the fire of long flint-locks from the roof. The big guns of Salimgarh cannonaded the besieged house. One division of the wazir's army, led by Sayyid Jamil-ud-din, was routed. But numbers at last told on the small body of exhausted defenders ; several captains of the prince were slain, and next morning (20th May) the wazir's troops forced their way in. But Shah Alam with only a hundred devoted followers charged them sword in hand, slashed right and left, cut his way out through the mansion of Jafar Khan, Qudsiabad and Jaswantpurā, and found safety in Vital's camp. A charge of the Marathas drove his pursuers back, but all his property and war material left in Ali Mardan's house were plundered by the wazir's men and he was reduced to absolute penury. Next day, the wazir, yielding to Vital's threat, restored the small portion of the plunder which had reached his hands, or could be traced by the police in the city, and also paid Vital the six lakhs promised. Then the wazir, through his helpless tool the Emperor, proclaimed Shah Alam a rebel in arms against the lawful Government!