Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c29.17

v2.c29.17

At Lahor Abdali halted for the rest of the year, wishing to put the affairs of the Panjab in order, settle the question of the government of Delhi, and conquer Kashmir. He was sincerely anxious to ensure a general peace in Northern India by making a permanent friendly settlement with the Peshwa. From Sarhind he had sent letters calling to his side Najib and Yaqub Ali on behalf of the empire and they promptly joined him. The Maratha envoys at Delhi, Bāpu and Purushottam Hingané, were invited by three or four letters in succession to come to Lahor. Bāpu went there soon (c. middle of March) and Purushottam some two months later after writing to the Peshwa and securing his approval. Diplomatic parleys opened. The Maratha envoys naturally wanted to resume the negotiations from the point of agreement reached between the Bhau and Shah Wali Khan in the days before Panipat, but no officer of Abdali knew anything of the terms proposed by the two sides at that time. Shah Wali Khan, the wise and pacific Durrani wazir, pleaded for the claims of the new Peshwa, and induced his master to recognise Madhav Rao Ballal by presenting to him, by the hands of these envoys, the tikā of Rajaship, the impression of his palm dipped in saffron (keshar-pānja), robes, jewels, horses and an elephant, and deputed his own envoy to accompany them to the Court of Puna (June. 1762.)*