Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s10.24

v2.c27.s10.24

The garrison was very small, the Hindustani militiamen disappeared, and only a handful of Turks and Durrānīs kept up the defence with their muskets. From their small number they had to leave large portions of the walls undefended, while the flood of Maratha light horse swarmed round the fort on all sides. Seizing this confusion, while the garrison's attention was fixed on the Khiziri gate, about a hundred men of Vital Shivdev, followed by groups from Holkar and Sindhia's contingents climbed the wall on the side of the Asad-burj and entered the palace unperceived. But they had no leader and no foresight. Instead of first opening the gates to their brethren outside, they recklessly dispersed for plunder through the royal apartments, each man blindly seizing what he could and throwing the booty down from the ramparts to his comrades on the sandy bank below. The alarm soon spread to the garrison, and some fifteen Durrānīs came up from the Salimgarh side and advanced against the dispersed Maratha looters, shooting down a dozen of them and then charging sword in hand. The rest fled away and leaping down from the walls in abject terror fell on the sand bank with broken limbs. Thus, a captured fort slipped out of the Maratha hands, through the selfish greed and thoughtless cowardice of their soldiery.