Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s1.2

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.”