Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s13.3

v2.c27.s13.3

The conquest of Kunjpurā was absolutely necessary if the Bhāu was to cut Abdālī’s communications with his country and bring him to an action on the west bank of the Jamunā. The Maratha chief’s plan was to capture Sarhind (as had been done in Raghunāth’s campaign in March 1758), join Alā Singh Jāt and other Indian zamindars of the cis-Satlaj region and rouse them against Abdālī, as the first step towards driving the foreign invaders out of the Panjab. Such a policy required at its very outset the destruction of the enemy depot at Kunjpurā. But the strongest allurement of Kunjpurā for the starving and bankrupt army of the Bhāu was that this place was stored full with provisions and money belonging to Abdālī and his partisans, and yet the flooded river would defeat every attempt of Abdālī or Najib to come to its aid.