Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s13.6

v2.c27.s13.6

The Bhāu halted at Kunjpurā for seven days, celebrating the Dasaharā festival (19 Oct.) with great exultation and pomp, and digging up the floors of houses in search of buried treasure.* Besides Abdus Samad Khan who had fallen in the plain outside, Nejābat Khan died of his wounds in captivity. A sterner fate waited on Miān Qutb Shah, who had fled wounded to the city and been seized. Nine months ago, when Dattāji Sindhia lay wounded and writhing on the field of Barāri-ghat, Qutb Shah had severed his head and carried it away in triumph to the Afghan camp. He had shown no mercy to a fallen foe, and in his day of defeat he could expect none. So, he opened his mouth in abuse of the Marathas when brought as a prisoner to their camp, and was sentenced to death,—with torture, according to one account. The severed heads of Samad and Qutb were placed on lances and paraded in triumph through the Maratha camp, and, as we can easily imagine, specially in the bazar of the Sindhia contingent. Two sons of Nejābat were captured in the fort and taken with the Maratha army to Panipat. Only one son, Dilir Khan, who was absent, escaped and lived to recover his father's seat.