Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c28.s7: § 16. Najib's death and character
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c28.s7
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§ 16. Najib's death and character
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About 27th September, Najib held a private discussion with the Jat envoys and reached a friendly settlement. On 8th October he called the two sides before him, fixed by his arbitration the tribute to be paid by the Jat Rajah, and thus concluded a peace between him and the Marathas. Then knowing his own death to be near, he placed Zabita Khan's hand in Tukoji Holkar's, praying to the latter to be as kind to the son as Malhar had been to the father, and then sent the Maratha sardars away, escorted by Zabita, and himself set out for his home to die. By way of Chandausi (12 Oct.), Najib entered Sikandrabad (16 Oct.) He had only reached the district of Hapur, when death overtook him on 31 October. His last act, characteristic of his life, was to issue an order to his troops not to molest or rob the pilgrims who had assembled for the Ganges fair at Garh Mukteshwar close by his camp. [DC. Miskin, 272. Nur. 123a incorrect.]
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∗ Nur. 122b. Muna Lal, 108, confirms it but more briefly: Najib giving harsh replies, cried out in a loud voice to the Maratha sardars, "If you are thinking of seizing my mahals knowing me to be ill, know that so long as the breath of life remains within me, I shall not leave even one among you alive. If you desire battle at this very moment, I say Bismillah [i. e., I am ready to begin.]" So saying, he leapt up from the stretcher in which he was being carried. The Maratha sardars thereafter spoke to him most softly.
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Thus ended the career of the most powerful personality in India during these ten years. A poor illiterate Afghan of the Umr-khel clan, sprung from the humblest home and without a friend or patron in India when he migrated to this country as a grown-up man with a son, and sought his bread by entering Ali Muhammad Ruhela’s service in the capacity of a despised foot soldier, Najib Khan rose by sheer ability and strength of character to the highest position in the realm and guided the fortunes of the empire of Delhi as its supreme regent for a full decade. In the combination of first-rate military and administrative capacity, diplomatic skill, and tact in dealing with others, and above all in his instinctive perception of the realities of the politics of his day and concentration on the essentials, he had no equal in that age except Ahmad Shah Abdali. His defence of Delhi against the Jat-Maratha-Sikh army of Jawahir Singh, his running fight in grim pursuit of the Sikh invaders, and his storming of the mud-fort of Buana with mere dismounted cavalry and no guns, illustrate his consummate generalship in three different types of battle. The historian does not know what to admire most, his capacity as a leader of men in action, his unerring perception of the realities of every situation, or his inborn opportunism in instinctively seizing amidst darkness and confusion the course that would prove most advantageous to him.
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The last eight years of his life were one long struggle with painful illness and new foes,—such as the Jats and Sikhs,—and during these years he was not once aided by Durrani arms, but held his own to the last. The peace and mild government which he gave to his territories, enabled him to accumulate a vast treasure, not by plunder but from the surplus revenue of a prosperous estate, and to leave his successor Zabita Khan the richest prince in Northern India after the Jat king.
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CHAPTER XXIII
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THE JATS, DOWN TO 1768.