Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c28.s12.24

v2.c28.s12.24

Jawahir, finding that Najib’s ditch south of Delhi prevented a closer approach to the city, and losing faith in the sincerity of his Maratha allies, changed his plan of operations. Early in the morning of the 16th he sent Balaram with Ram Krishna Mohant (his own guru), Sawāi-rām a Brahman of Jodhpur (who led a contingent of 150 Rathors) and 8,000 Jat horse, to ford the Jamuna at the Amlighat, with orders to drive out the small patrol of Ruhela horse posted on the left bank, overpower the hundred Ruhela musketeers holding the eastern head of Najib’s bridge of boats, and then charge over the bridge and penetrate into Najib’s trenches from the rear. At the same time Jawahir attacked these trenches from the front to keep Najib’s main army in play. The scheme could have succeeded if only there had been a complete surprise; but the Jat horse lost time by stopping to plunder Patparganj, a very rich grain mart, their march was detected by the cloud of dust they raised, Najib’s 500 Turki horsemen from Shahdara and a reinforcement of 600 Afghan cavalry under Nasir Khan Darrati, boldly advanced and fought desperately to stem the Jat advance but were swept away by numbers. Meantime, Najib from his seat on a high bastion had seized the situation on the eastern bank with the help of a field glass. He strengthened the defence of the bridgehead, kept his trench-officers on the alert, and sent a thousand picked Ruhela soldiers by boat to the eastern bank to block the path of the Jat advance to the bridge, for if the enemy’s thousands reached the bridgehead the momentum of their advance would sweep away all obstruction and Najib’s defence would be hopelessly broken.