Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c28.s12.35

v2.c28.s12.35

This sort of fighting continued daily till the first week of February. But though Delhi defied assault as on the first day, it was not impervious to famine. The scarcity of grain in the beleaguered city reached an extreme point, while the Jat and Maratha armies outside revelled in plenty, and even the Deccani mares in the Maratha camp grew fat on an unlimited supply of gram. Men left the city by the bridge and begged food in the Jat camp or migrated elsewhere. The Ruhela soldiers pressed Najib hard to let them make one sortie and die sword in hand rather than perish through famine. But he held grimly on, as he knew that Jawahir had more enemies inside his own camp than within the walls of Delhi. Malhar had secretly pledged himself not to let any real harm befall Najib, his 'adopted son'. He again received considerable sums from the Ruhela. Imad-ul-mulk, once a double-dyed traitor to his imperial masters, was now equally faithless to Jawahir, who had sheltered and protected him and was now risking his all to restore him to the wazirship of the Delhi empire. The two were constantly corresponding with Najib in secret, as one of their agents, Sayyid Nur-ud-din Hasan, has described in detail in his excellent Memoirs of Najib-ud-daulah. Even Suraj Mal's old captains were in collusion with these traitors and wanted the campaign to end in failure. At last Jawahir realized that he had nothing to hope for from the faith of Malhar, the prestige of Imad, or the arms of the Sikhs and Nagas. His spirit was finally broken by the signs of lukewarmness and covert opposition from his own servants. Negotiations for peace were set on foot on 4th February and brought to a speedy conclusion. On the 9th Najib paid a visit to Malhar and Jawahir, and "ponies laden with grain came to the city in large numbers" as the first fruit of the peace. Finally, Najib was reconciled to Imad, whom he visited on the 11th, and conducted into Delhi on the 22nd (which was the first day of the sacred month of Ramzan) for saying his Friday prayer in the Jāmi Masjid. Malhar was presented by Najib to the Heir in the palace and highly honoured; 120 of his officers received khilats. At last Jawahir, on 16th February marched away from the city, before the walls of which he had spent 160 lakhs of Rupees and incurred a further liability of 12 lakhs (due to the Marathas) without achieving anything at all. The peace was hastened and Malhar's desire to escape from the neighbourhood of Delhi was accentuated by the news that Ahmad Shah Abdali was about to cross the Indus and enter the Panjab for rescuing Najib. Malhar and Imad at once sent their families away to the middle Doab for safety, and themselves departed for that side on 25th February. "The Sikhs, on the day that they heard that Abdali had arrived near Lahor, went off all at once without asking leave of Jawahir."