Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s10.16

v2.c27.s10.16

We shall now turn to the doleful story of the lordless city of Delhi. Immediately after the murder of Alamgir II (29 Nov. 1759), the wazir's agent in this atrocious deed, Mahdi Quli Khan, silently enthroned in the fort Muhi-ul-millat (the grandson of Aurangzib's youngest child Kām Bakhsh) under the title of Shāh Jahān II. But the new 'king of kings' was even more of a shadow than his luckless predecessor. The harem apartments of the palace were ransacked by the regicide wazir and the story went that fifty lakhs in cash and jewels were taken away, even the marriage portions of the princesses not being spared. But retribution was close at hand. Abdali was coming, and at the news of it an exodus from Delhi began on 8th December, even the princes being removed from the palace (in bullock-carts) to Hasangarh fort (in the Doāb.) * On 28th December the wazir returned from the army of Sindhia to Delhi and began to entrench the river bank by way of precaution. [DC.]