Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s1: § 1. Dattaji threatens to attack Delhi and oust Imād

Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s1

Language: English

§ 1. Dattaji threatens to attack Delhi and oust Imād

v2.c27.s1.1

We have seen in Chapter 18 how Dattāji, with his young ward Jankoji Sindhia, had left Rajputana and reached Najafgarh, south-west of Delhi on 26th December, 1758. His arrival at the capital effected a complete reversal of Maratha policy in Hindustan. The smooth-spoken conciliatory practical politician Malhar Rao Holkar, who had so long guided Maratha diplomacy in the North, was replaced by the rough impatient hustling soldier Dattāji Sindhia. In addition, while Malhar had publicly befriended Najib Khan as his adopted son, Dattāji was under orders to crush Najib altogether as the sole remaining thorn in the path of Maratha predominance in the northern empire,—after which the Marathas would be free to send their main forces into the Panjab and Bihar and realize untold amounts of tribute from these provinces, in order to remove the Peshwā's crushing burden of debt which had been only increased by Raghunāth's barren expedition of 1757-1758. Dattāji was not the man to tolerate the delay or evasion of payment, which had now become a habit with the Delhi officials. Besides, every friend of Malhar was a suspect and every arrangement made by Malhar was a mistake in his eyes. *

v2.c27.s1.2

Arrived within four days' march of Delhi, Dattāji sent word that he had been appointed by the Peshwā to replace Malhar as the subahdar of Agra, and that the capital must pay its tribute or be put to plunder. Imād in great alarm strengthened the guards at the gates of Delhi in order to keep the Marathas out; the residents of the southern suburbs (or Old Delhi) took refuge within the city of Shah Jahan. The wazir opened negotiations with Dattāji, offering to pay 7 or 8 lakhs if he avoided the capital and made a detour round it in his march to Lahor. On 4th January 1759 the Maratha army reached Barāri Ghāt, some ten miles north of the city, and here the wazir had a long talk with Dattāji two days later. After 2 or 3 days a Deccani corps crossed over to the eastern bank of the Jamunā and raided Luni and the country around. The wazir protested to Dattāji against these acts of hostility "at a time when there was friendship between your sovereign and mine," and Dattāji recalled his men. He next detached a large force to the Saharanpur district, which was Najib’s jagir, ordering them not to molest any village on the way. On 14th January, Dattājī came southwards, close to the northern gate of Delhi, but refused to see the wazir and spoke scornfully about him. So the wazir guarded the city more vigilantly than before, entrenching in the environs and posting artillery to meet any assault. Roving bands of Marathas threatened Shāhdara (from which all the rich men fled away) and robbed the villages in the north-west of Delhi and the wayfarers. The sturdy peasantry retaliated, “in many places lonely Maratha soldiers were robbed of their mares and bullocks by the villagers.”

v2.c27.s1.3

∗ Aiti. Patren, 166, 167. TALS. 192-198. DC. Nur-ud-din, 21b. Jankoji being the legal successor of Jayapa, all official letters were issued in his name and under his seal, and the writers of the time used the word Jankoji where Dattaji was the person really concerned. I have made the necessary change of name throughout as Dattaji was the executive head of the Sindhia's army and affairs in the north. The Peshwa aptly characterized Dattaji thus in a letter of 30 Aug. 1755, "Dattābā's nature is that of a [mere] soldier; hence he presses violently on at the wrong time and place." [Aitihasik Patren, 139].

v2.c27.s1.4

The Maratha headquarters had been shifted from Barārī Ghāt to Takia Majnun (19th January.) From this base, a large detachment appeared near Kālī Pahārī (beyond the Idgāh) and attacked the outposts of Phatak Misri Khan and Jinsi Topkhānah (near Sarāi Ruhelā.) The imperial troops in the trenches here made the mistake of sallying forth, with the result that they were defeated and driven back, suffering heavy losses. The exultant Marathas pursued them up to the city gate, burnt the carriage of the largest imperial cannon (named Attock), and plundered Sarāi Ruhela and other suburbs outside the Delhi Gate, “where the traders had stored grain and other merchandise beyond calculation.” This sort of irregular fighting and plunder of the western suburbs went on for four days, small Maratha bands and stragglers being occasionally cut off by the wazir's troops. On 23rd January Dattāji sent Antāji Mānakeshwar, Purushottam Hingané and other mediators to renew the peace negotiations, but no agreement was reached.

v2.c27.s1.5

In the course of three or four days, the food supply of the Maratha camp failed altogether, "as the traders ceased to convey grain there for fear of plunder, and extreme scarcity appeared. Nine or ten thousand Deccani troopers, crossing the Jamunā, went to Ghaziabad, but the inhabitants opposed them with artillery and matchlocks. The Marathas, baffled here, went on and looted Dāsna, belonging to the wazir . . . They sent the captured grain and other provisions from that place to their own camp [near Delhi.] . . . The wazir protested to Dattāji against this outrage during peace negotiations, and the raiders were recalled. On 29th January, the Maratha army, which lived only by foraging, recrossed the Jamunā and went towards Shāhdara and Patparganj. A force sent by the wazir effectually guarded the markets in these two places, but some traders who were bringing grain to Delhi were intercepted on the way and robbed of their goods. Next day an agreement was reached as to the amount of money contribution payable by the wazir, and on 1st February Dattāji began his northward march, and peace returned to Delhi." [TALS. 197b-198b.]

v2.c27.s1.6

§ 2. *Dattaji's policy after returning from the Panjab.*

v2.c27.s1.7

The Sindhias next entered the Panjāb, and after effecting the reconquest of that province returned towards Delhi in May 1759. Crossing the Jamunā at the Rāmrā Ghāt (east of Pānipat), they halted at Shāmli and opened negotiations with the wazir. At the end of this month, Dattāji proceeded south to Bāghpat and induced Najib to pay him a visit.* It was at first agreed that Najib would support the Marathas with his troops in the invasion of Bihar by way of Oudh, if the Sindhias respected his possessions. It was necessary for Dattāji to keep Najib in hand, because he had decided to overthrow the false and incompetent wazir Imād, and take over the administration of the empire, in order to secure a more regular collection of tribute. On 1st June he sent Abdul Ahad Khan and Antāji Mānakeshwar to the wazir with an ultimatum calling upon him to resign his post and place the empire under his (*i. e.*, Dattāji's) control, as "Imād was unfit for the management of the empire and all his comrades were peculators." In case of refusal, the Maratha chief threatened war. But after some days, he was induced in return for a bond for the payment of an indemnity, to turn back from Bāghpat, and Delhi escaped an attack.

v2.c27.s1.8

∗ Dattaji reaches Kairana, 23 May [*SPD.* xxvii. 239.] Najib's visit to him and rupture described in Nur-ud-din 22 and *TALS.* 208*b*. Dattaji's detailed plans for the future (letter to Peshwa, *c.* 15 May), *SPD.* ii. 104. *TALS.* 209*a*. *SPD.* ii. 102 (*c.* 22 April) gives important details.

v2.c27.s1.9

§ 3. Rupture between Dattāji Sindhia and Najib.

v2.c27.s1.10

But there could be no real union of hearts between Dattāji and Najib. The Ruhela chief was naturally unwilling to go away with his troops on the distant Bihar expedition, leaving his territories in the upper Doab within easy reach of the greedy and faithless Maratha local officers posted lower down that tract. An example of their unscrupulous rapacity had occurred in March 1759, when Govind Ballāl Bundélé in his northward march from Etāwa had wrested the outpost of Sikandrabad from Najib’s agent, though the two sides were then at peace. On this occasion Dattāji had been induced (by Antāji) to restore the usurped territory, so as not to antagonize Najib, whose services he was then proposing to utilize. A shrewd observer like Najib could not but suspect the secret intentions of the Marathas in the Doab. He also came to fear that Dattāji, angry at his refusal to cede his jagirs, was planning to arrest him during a friendly interview. The plot failed before it could be attempted, because Najib’s chief officers forced their way into Dattāji’s tent along with Najib, brushing aside the opposition of the guards at the gate. The Marathas were cowed into quiescence and terminated the interview very quickly. On returning to his own camp, Najib remarked, “It is not safe to visit these men ; their looks seem malignant to me.” So, he marched away to his own territory.

v2.c27.s1.11

From Shāmli Najib returned to Saharanpur, while Dattāji advanced to Mirat, and near that city attacked a fort built by Jetā Gujar. "The garrison, overcome by superior numbers, fled away. Thence Dattāji went and encamped near the home of the Barha Sayyids,* who were the hereditary enemies of the Ruhelas [end of June.] He asked Najib to cede some parganahs of Saharanpur, but the Ruhela offered to pay the fixed tribute only if the Marathas vacated his country, and he refused to alienate any of his villages. Dattāji did not agree to this; he sent detachments to the outposts of Najib, from which the Ruhela's agents retired without a blow." [TALS. 209, Nur-ud-din 22.] Thus, at last open war was precipitated by Dattāji's hustling tactics.

Linked texts (1)

Selections from the Peshwa Daftar — Marathi