Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s10.18

v2.c27.s10.18

Then events moved apace. The baggage of the Maratha army set out from Delhi on retreat to Rajputana about 6th January, 1760, and two days later the remnant of their rearguard plundered the shrine of Nizām-ud-din Auliyā and carried off some rich men of the city for ransom,—thus making a last grab at the capital before abandoning it to the foreign invader. On the 9th Dattāji Sindhia fell in a battle ten miles north of Delhi and his army fled away in headlong rout to Rajputana, the wazir following their example. The victorious Durrani king encamped at Khizirabad, south of the city, and on 21 January made a pilgrimage to Nizam-ud-din’s shrine. Next day a foraging party from his camp went to the Old City and Paharganj, and carried away the beams and planks of the houses for firewood. [DC.] Yaqub Ali Khan, a cousin of the Abdali wazir, but long settled in India at the city of Shahjahanpur, was appointed subahdar of Delhi on behalf of the Shah (31 January.) This able and good governor applied himself to the pacification protection and relief of the ruined and distracted population of the city, enlisted a defence force of 600 men, mostly sehbandi or militia of little fighting value, from the Indian ex-soldiers and idlers, with only 25 or 30 Turks and Durranis to stiffen them, and appointed his own kotwal to re-establish police control over the capital and his superintendent of markets (karora-i-ganj) to ensure its food supply. [DC.]