Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s17.6

v2.c27.s17.6

Moreover, the stoppage of treasure supply from his distant agents soon turned him bankrupt at a time when every seer of grain, every bundle of grass, and every service whether of bringing in intelligence or carrying a despatch outside had to be paid tenfold its normal price and paid in cash, if it was to be at all secured in that beleaguered city. And that city was utterly unfriendly to him. Panipat being the seat of many famous Muslim saints' tombs, the population was predominantly Muhammadan,* and most of these residents claiming descent from the holy men or their servitors and in consequence living on rent-free land grants from the Mughal Government, resented the Maratha intrusion more bitterly than the ordinary peasants and labourers of their faith elsewhere. The Bhāu's military necessities had justly deepened their antipathy. As a noble of the city, Shākir Khan (the son of Nawāb Lutfullah Khan Sādiq Ansāri), who was present there during the siege, writes about the sufferings of the local population :