Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c29.s1.28

v2.c29.s1.28

As a Maratha agent in Rajputana reported to the Peshwa in May 1761, "All the Rajahs and Rajwadas have turned against us . . . The Rajputs are showing too much cheek." [SPD. xxix. 81.] But Malhar on return from Panipat, recouped himself at Gwalior for a short while, rallied other bands of fugitives from that fatal field, and then came to his capital Indor. He found it necessary to set out immediately for restoring his authority in the border tract between Malwa and Rajputana. A Chandrawat baron had seized Rāmpurā, which was in Malhar's jagir; but early in May, before Malhar's arrival, Krishnaji Tandev (an officer of Shantaji Wagh and revenue collector of Mahantpur) had defeated the Chandrawat and retaken Rāmpurā, slaying six or seven hundred Rajputs and capturing there the Rajput's diwan as well as Mir Baqā (a son of Qamr-ud-din Khan of Delhi, whom the Chandrawat had been holding to ransom in that fort.) Three days after this success, Malhar reached Gahukhedi in the Hada country, and then advanced to Ganguri (120 miles north of Indor) where Abhay Singh Rathor, an officer of the Rao of Kota, had seized the fortalice, driven out the Maratha collectors and was causing disturbances. Malhar at once invested the place; but twenty days passed away without any result, and then he received the artillery he had sent for from Indor, bombarded the place, and took it promptly (early in June.) These rapid successes had the immediate effect of overawing the whole province of Malwa, and Malhar moved on to Kakdā in Mewar territory in order to put pressure on the Maharana and secure payment of the old tribute of 1½ lakhs a year that he had repudiated.*