Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c28.s10.44

v2.c28.s10.44

Suraj Mal sent a strong force to capture Agra. Their first assault was easily repulsed by fire from the impregnable walls and they then laid a regular blockade to the fort, after plundering the houses immediately under the fort-walls and arresting the wives and children of the garrison who used to lodge there. Within a month (Wendel says, 20 days) the qiladar opened the gates on 12th June 1761, on being promised* one lakh of Rupees in cash and five villages. "It is calculated that Suraj Mal carried away 50 lakhs in this pillage. Enormous stores of artillery, munitions, and articles of the royal wardrobe had accumulated in Agra for a long time past. Most of the artillery and all the effects were removed to Bharatpur and Dig. In 1765 Jawahir Singh razed most of the houses in the environs of the fort for the unobstructed fire of the guns on the walls. A garrison of some thousand Jat musketeers was put in."