Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c30: Chapter XXV. Shah Alam's Wanderings, 1758-1771
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c30
- Language
- English
Contents
- v2.c30.s1 § 1. Shah Alam II, his character — 4 parts
- v2.c30.s2 § 2. Cause of Shah Alam’s failure ; the moral decay of the Mughal nobility — 3 parts
- v2.c30.s3 § 3. Character of Shuja-ud-daulah — 51 parts
Chapter XXV. Shah Alam's Wanderings, 1758-1771
§ 1. Shah Alam II, his character
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When the Emperor Alamgir II fell under the assassin's knife (29 Nov. 1759), his eldest son and expected successor, Prince Shah Alam, was a homeless wanderer on the face of the earth, still lying under the public ban of imperial repudiation which the domineering wazir had extorted from his terrorised father. More than twelve years were to pass before his wanderings ceased and he entered the throne-city of his fathers as sovereign. During this period the capital remained kingless, but there was no interregnum, as Shah Alam had proclaimed himself Emperor and celebrated his accession in his camp (23 Dec.) as soon as he heard of his father's demise, and the legal rights of sovereign belonged to him, though he had not the means of exercising his full royal power in practice. There was no rival Emperor in the realm, except for the nine months (30 Nov. 1759—10 Oct. 1760) when a puppet of Imad-ul-mulk occupied the Delhi palace under the title of Shah Jahan II.
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Mirzā Abdullah, better known by his titles of Ali Gauhar (conferred on 16 Aug. 1754) and Shah Alam (conferred on 24 April 1756 and borne as Emperor), was the eldest son of Alamgir II. At the time of his father's death he had just completed his 30th year. Though he was not gifted with the extraordinary genius and energy required in the redeemer of a fallen monarchy, he was the ablest of the princes of Delhi then alive. The life of neglect and captivity that he had shared with his father till the age of 25 had prevented him from acquiring experience of men and affairs, or developing his latent faculties. But his character was as yet free from vice and sloth. He had learnt self-control in the school of adversity and was willing to improve himself by study and inquiry. Above all, he had not yet fallen under the deadly benumbing influence of that vacuity of life which springs from a sense of the impotence of one's position and the futility of all attempts to better one's lot, and which drives its victim into utter indolence and self indulgence as his only solace.
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He had tasted misery and hardship, not only during his first twenty-five years as the prisoner of a rival royal branch, but even after his father's accession, when he had to flee away from the jealous fury of the all-powerful wazir. Nor was he without some experience of office administration and warfare, though it was for too short a time and in too small a sphere. The French captain Jean Law, who was often with him from 1758 to 1761, draws a pleasing picture of the young prince.
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He writes, “The Shāhzāda passed for one of those who have had the best education and who have most profited by it. This education consists particularly in the knowledge of religion and of the Oriental tongues, of history, and the writing of one’s academic exercises well. In effect, all that I could perceive decided in his favour. He is familiar with the Arabic, Persian, Turki and Hindustani languages. He loves reading and never passes a day without employing some hours in it . . . He is of an inquiring mind, naturally gay and free in his private society, where he frequently admits his principal military officers in whom he has confidence.” [Mémoire, 329.]
§ 2. Cause of Shah Alam’s failure ; the moral decay of the Mughal nobility
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In short, Shah Alam’s character at this time was one of promise. Given proper instruments and favourable circumstances he might have succeeded in restoring the Delhi monarchy. But it was the tragedy of his life that he was called upon to set right a world that was out of joint morally even more than politically. Nowhere could he find a single faithful friend or able lieutenant. All the men who gathered round him during his struggle for a kingdom were selfish men, shady adventurers, or pretenders to baronies or public offices, whose one aim was to use his prestige as lawful Emperor to oust the men in possession of the coveted landed estate or Government post. Even an angel would have to beat his wings ineffectually in such a foul atmosphere, heavy with the inertia of an age-old decadent society and State. The character of the peerage that now represented Yamin-ud-daulah and Sadullah, Mir Jumla and Asaf Jah, filled every true friend of the Delhi monarchy with despair. As Jean Law spoke in the bitterness of disappointment to the historian Ghulām Husain Khān (in April 1759),—"I have travelled everywhere from Bengal to Delhi, but nowhere have I found anything from any one except oppression of the poor and plundering of wayfarers. Whenever I wanted that one of these famous potentates, like Shuja, Imad and their peers, out of a regard for honour and a desire for the regulation of the Government, should undertake to put in order the affairs of Bengal and suppress the English [usurpers of that province], not one of them felt any inclination to this task. They did not once weigh in their minds the praiseworthiness or shame of their conduct... The Indian nobles (umara) are a set of disorderly inconsistent blockheads, who exist solely for ruining a world of people." [Siyar, ii. 257.] Shah Alam himself, after years of bitter experience, came to the same conclusion. As he wrote in 1768: "Through the perfidiousness of the nobility and vassals this anarchy has arisen, and every one proclaims himself a sovereign in his own place, and they are at variance with one another, the strong prevailing over the weak... In this age of delusion and deceit, His Majesty, places no dependence on the services or professions of loyalty of any one but the English chiefs." [CPC. ii. 1101, 836. Shākir, 107.]
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The highest noble in the land and hereditary claimant to the imperial Chancellorship was Imad-ul-mulk. But apart from the deadly malignity which he bore to Shah Alam and his kin, Imad had fallen off from the high standard of capacity that he had displayed in the struggle with Safdar Jang six years earlier. He seems to have now taken after his maternal grandfather, the former wazir Qamruddin Khan Itimad-ud-daulah, and found the highest wisdom in letting matters drift and doing nothing himself. But he lacked that gay toper's uniform courtesy, geniality of spirit, and aversion to bloodshed. Though his intellect was very keen, his capacity for action seems to have been paralysed. To the licentiousness and sloth which he shared with most other nobles, he added a deceitfulness, cowardice and sadistic love of cruelty all his own. Jean Law, who often met him, writes, "I have not seen in his conduct anything but much deception and a cruelty that revolts. He has almost always the rosary in his hand, but his devotion is nothing but hypocrisy. He caused to be inhumanly massacred those in whom he appeared to have the greatest confidence and to whom he was actually indebted for his elevation." [Memoire, 179.]
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Thus, by an irony of Fate, though Shah Alam was the lawful Padishah of Delhi, his hereditary wazir was his mortal enemy, and this wazir was the nominee of the two strongest Powers in India, the Peshwa and the Jat Rajah. But the blood of his murdered father and slain followers ran as an impassable stream between Shah Alam and Imad. Najib-ud-daulah was probably strong enough to instal and uphold him on the throne of Delhi, provided that Imad did not bring the Marathas again to oust him and he could be sure of securing in time the rather expensive aid of Abdali in such a danger. But Najib was not prepared to make any sacrifice or run any risk of entanglement for the sake of his fugitive sovereign. Nor could Shah Alam be entirely free from suspicion regarding the Ruhela chieftain. During Ahmad Shah’s invasion of 1748, the Afghans all over India had openly talked of expelling the Turki dynasty of Babur from Delhi and restoring the Afghan sovereignty that had yielded place to the Mughal. Abdali’s defeat at Manupur had averted that catastrophe in 1748, but now after their crowning victory at Panipat, what Power was left in Northern India to make even an hour’s stand against such a design of the exultant Afghan race? What protection had Shah Alam from the extermination of his family if he put himself helplessly within the reach of Najib? [CPC. iii. 270.]
§ 3. Character of Shuja-ud-daulah
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Thus the facts of the political situation drove Shah Alam into the arms of Shuja-ud-daulah, and as Shuja was the actual manager of all their joint-enterprises for reconquering lost provinces and subduing rebellious vassals, and Shah Alam merely the sleeping partner who lent the legality and prestige of his name,—but no other capital,—to these undertakings, the result was determined by Shujā's character and secret policy.
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Shujā-ud-daulah as a choice for the wazirship was even worse than Imad-ul-mulk. As Jean Law characterises him from personal observation, "Shujā is the most handsome person that I have seen in India. He towers over the wazir [Imād] by his figure,—the latter being small,—and I believe also by the qualities of his heart, but he has to yield to him [Imād] in all that relates to the spirit. He is occupied in nothing but pleasures, hunting and the most violent exercises." Such was his character in 1758-1761. Later, a not unfriendly English observer sketched it thus: "Shuja-ud-daulah was not endowed with the genius of a soldier. He wanted that valour, or courage, which is ever shown in the event of common danger. He evinced throughout the Ruhela war a marked pusillanimity, sheltering himself in the rear and betraying evident signs of fear. He had acquired an extensive knowledge in the practice of every species of deceit, and could perform with facility every character that was necessary to conduct the various purposes of delusion or treachery. Generosity did not form a fixed part of his disposition. He was equally rapacious in acquiring, as sordid in preserving wealth. His excesses in venery, which knew no control, led him to commit actions derogatory from his station, as well as pernicious to his health. His harem was filled with wives and concubines, to the number, it is said, of eight hundred, from whom were born to him fifty children.”*
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§ 4. Shah Alam’s adventures, after escape from Delhi, May 1758.
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We have seen in Chapter 17 § 13-16 how Prince Shah Alam’s attempt to carve out a fief for himself in the Rohtak district even under the Emperor’s letter patent had failed, how he had defeated the jealous wazir’s plan for arresting him in his Delhi mansion (19 May 1758), and how after cutting his way through the ring of assailants he had made a fresh attempt to secure a foothold in the Rohtak-Hisar region, and then, on being abandoned by his Maratha ally Vital Shivdev and even his Delhi retainers, he had “turned his face to the path of the wilderness in sole reliance on God,”
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∗ Law, Memoire, 181. G. Forster Journey, i. 183-185. But Shujā’s fairly successful conduct of revenue and war after he had secured English protection, which so favourably impressed George Forster, was due entirely to the band of able and devoted generals and civil administrators that clung to his house. Ahmad Shah Abdali, a shrewd judge of character, at once saw through Shuja’s despicable character and, therefore, before leaving India in March 1761 nominated his enemy Imād as wazir of Delhi instead of his partisan Shujā. Shujā drunken (Shakir, 88); licentious Imad-us-sadat 66. SPD. xxvii 191. xxi. 127. 128.
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and crossed over to the Barha Sayyids' country at Miranpur in the middle Doab, about 12th August. Here Najib waited on him on the 19th with costly presents and furniture and undertook to feed his household and troops. The rainy season was now fully on, and the prince had to halt here for some months. Here he added a Sayyid girl to his harem under the title of Mubārak Mahal. But Najib was not prepared to provoke a war with the wazir and his Maratha backers by supporting the prince in any attack upon the imperial dominions; he merely advised him to seek the help of Shujā-ud-daulah, who was the hereditary enemy of Imād and the strongest noble in Hindustan.
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During this halt at Mirānpur, Shah Alam received an invitation from Muhammad Quli Khan, (popularly called Mirzā Kuchak), the first cousin of Shujā and the imperial governor of Allahabad, to come to him, with promise of support in the attempt to conquer Bihār. Leaving Mirānpur at the end of November, with a large number of the out-of-work Sayyid warriors, he crossed the Ganges into Rohilkhand, and rapidly marched south towards Lucknow, taking many Ruhelas into his service on the way. Shujā dutifully waited on him twelve miles outside his capital, on 7th January 1759 and offered him many costly presents and a lakh of Rupees. Without delaying longer than a week here, the prince started for Allahabad by the advice of Shujā, who promised to come quickly behind him after making his preparations.
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Reaching Jhusi, opposite Allahabad, on 23rd January, Shah Alam halted for 18 days and resumed his march on Bihār about 10th February, accompanied by Md. Quli’s contingent and also fresh levies * raised by himself with Shuja’s money or mere promises. By way of Mirzapur (18 Feb.), Mughal Sarai, Sayyid Rāzi, the Karmnāsā river (6 March) and Dāudnagar, he reached Phulwāri, seven miles west of Patna on 18th March.
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§ 5. Shah Alam's first invasion of Bihar, 1759.
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Meantime, the report of the coming invasion and the prince’s letters demanding tribute and homage from the governors of Bengal and Bihar had caused consternation in Patna. Rajah Rām Nārāyan, the deputy governor of Bihar, was regarded as an enemy and marked out for spoliation by Mir Jafar Ali Khan, the new Nawab of Bengal, and he had wisely secured Col. Clive’s protection. He sent off frantic appeals to Calcutta for armed aid. At first the Bengal authorities knew not how to lawfully oppose the Emperor’s son. But the malicious wazir Imād-ul-mulk, in order to frustrate Shah Alam once again, forced the puppet Emperor to appoint another prince, Hedāyet Bakhsh, subahdar of Bihar and issue letters denouncing Shah Alam as a rebel, 26 February. [TALS. 199b.]
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There was a great delay in fitting out an army from Bengal, as the soldiers' pay had run into arrears for several months and the new Nawab's treasury was empty after the enormous bounties extorted by his English creators. But Clive realized the nature of the crisis at Patna and at last started with an army from Bengal, writing to Ram Narayan to hold out and to Shah Alam that as a proclaimed rebel he would be opposed by the English.
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∗ Shah Alam raised a vast army by enlisting every man who came to him. TALS. 198b.
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Before this, in the middle of March, when the prince arrived so close to Patna and no movement of a relieving army from Bengal was reported, Mr. Amyatt, the Chief of the English factory in Patna, vacated the city with his officers, after advising Ram Narayan to play for time and finally act as he received reinforcements or not. So, the Rajah, after taking assurances of safety, humbly waited on the prince and made presents. Through Md. Quli four *krores* of Rupees and all the artillery in Patna fort were demanded from him [*TALS.* 204*b*.] He had not even a hundredth part of this money. So, he went back to Patna after promising to collect the tribute there. The prince's supreme manager Md. Quli Khan was brave, but a fool and a pleasure-seeker. He now plunged into dissipation and the prince into daily hunting, as if the province had been already won.
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On 21st March the prince removed his camp to Jafar Khan's garden, east of Patna city. Ram Narayan, being now informed of the English army's approach under Clive himself, turned out the prince's tribute-collectors and shut the city gates in defiance. Immediately Md. Quli Khan marched out to assault the city (23rd March), but returned at the end of the day after doing nothing. The shots from the fort-walls, also, passed over the heads of his crowded ranks hitting none! This siege of Patna ended in total failure. On 3rd April M. Jean Law, invited from Chhatrapur, reached Shah Alam’s camp. Next day, the prince made a desperate assault on Patna, but it was repulsed with a loss of 200 slain, though one old bastion of the city wall (near Mahdiganj) collapsed. Next morning during a council of war, Md. Quli Khan became highly angry with the prince, who was secretly trying through Yahiya Khan (son of Zakariya Khan of Lahor) to make terms with Ram Narayan. The prince personally went to his general’s tent and pacified him. But next day news arrived that an English army was on the way, and had already crossed the frontier post of Bihar (Sakrigali.) An advanced detachment from it by rapid marching entered Patna on the 5th. So, the prince decamped towards the south. On the 20th he learnt that Shujā had seized Allahabad fort by treachery four days earlier. Md. Quli immediately (23rd) set out for his province, leaving the prince, who sought the help of Pahlwān Singh, zamindar of Bhojpur (27 April.) But Ram Narayan with the Bengal army under Miran raided Pahlwān Singh’s country (10 May) and after a long fight defeated him and his patron, putting both to flight.
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The baffled prince evacuated Bihar, and arrived near Mirzapur on 16th May. Leaving that place on 27th June, he reached Rewā, at the invitation of its Rajah, on 20th July. Here he halted for the rainy season.
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§ 6. Shah Alam crowns himself. Second invasion of Bihar and raid into Bengal, 1760.
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Towards the end of October 1759, Shah Alam left Rewā, and by way of Mirzapur (12 Nov.) marched to Saseram in South Bihar (7 Dec.), and thence to Ghotauli, (5 miles north of Son East Bank railway station) (20 Dec.) At this last station he received the news of his father's murder at Delhi (on the 29th November before), and sat on the throne, proclaiming himself Emperor under the title of Shah Alam II, on the 24th, though his regnal year was ordered to be counted from the day (1st Jamadi-ul-awwal=21 Dec.) on which he heard of his father's death. He sent his trusted officer Munir-ud-daulah to Abdali to beg for his support, and offered the wazirship to Shujā. Kāmgār Khan, an Afghan of the Main clan, and zamindar of Nurhat (in the Gaya district) joined him with five thousand men, and proved a much abler and more faithful adherent than Md. Quli Khan.
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Without any regular treasure or trained army of his own, Shah Alam in his three Bihār campaigns only raised raw levies and attracted shady adventurers to lead them. Unluckily for him, these scratch troops were pitted against English-trained and English-led sepoys, and the genius of Clive, great in war, greater still in diplomacy. The prince's sole strength lay in cavalry, of which the Company's army had none, and the Bengal Nawab's army an inferior class, fit only for pursuing broken fugitives. But the Delhi cavalry was powerless for offence against British sepoys so long as their munition was not exhausted, and broke in utter rout before the well-handled English guns, to which Shah Alam had nothing to oppose. Hence even Law's Frenchmen,—a handful, could not turn the tide of Shah Alam's defeat.*
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∗ Shah Alam's expeditions into Bihar, in 1759, 1760 and 1761,—(1) Ghulam Ali's *Muqaddamah-i-Shah Alam namah*, most detailed in names and dates, authentic official history from imperial records. (2) Muna Lal merely copies this book and has no independent value. (3) *TALS* and (4) *DC*., though very brief, are absolutely contemporary, original, and correct, and useful for supplementing G. Ali. (5) *CPC*. i., an invaluable primary source for dates and English movements and policy ; becomes detailed after 1761, but too meagre before. (6) Ironside's *Narrative* of 1760 and 1761, in *Asiatic Annual Register*, vol ii. (1800), "Miscellaneous Tracts," pp. 7-28 and (7) Caillaud's Evidence in the First Report, are first-rate original authorities from the English side. (8) Broome's *History of the Bengal Army* is a very lucid and useful compilation, though requiring correction in the light of the Persian sources not known to him, his sole reliance being on *Siyar*. (9) Jean Law, *Memoire sur l'Empire Mogol*, ed. Martineau, and (10) *Siyar-ul-mutakhkharin* valuable for what the authors personally witnessed,—the former for military operations and the latter for the diplomatic moves and events in and outside Patna; but both were present on the scene for limited periods only. (11)
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The new Emperor whiled away precious days in holding grand ceremonies and coronation rejoicings and lavishly bestowing hyperbolical titles and inflated *mansabs* which had not the remotest chance of ever being translated into reality by the engagement of any corresponding military force or grant of fiefs capable of maintaining them. Ram Narayan used this respite in completing his defence, summoned the local zamindars to his aid, and assembled a body of 40,000 men, according to rumour. These were untrained rustics, without the backbone of some expert squadrons and several experienced captains that stiffened the Emperor's army. Lord Clive sailed for Home on 5th February 1760, but he had already despatched to Bihar two complete battalions of sepoys, 300 European infantry and 6 field pieces (served by 50 European gunners) under Major Caillaud, backed by 15,000 indigenous horse and foot and 25 guns under the Nawab's son Sādiq Ali Khan (populary called Miran.) This force started from Murshidabad on 18th January, and after crossing the Sakrigali pass resumed its march on Patna on 7th February.
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Meantime, Ram Narayan without waiting for these reinforcements, had issued from Patna and given battle to the imperialists at Masumpur on 9th February; but three of his divisional commanders treacherously
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*Ibratnamah* is a later compilation and has no independent value before 1766. The Marathi records are naturally silent.
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went over to the enemy in the heat of the action, the imperial army displayed superior spirit and leadership, and Ram Narayan had to retreat to his fort defeated and wounded. Four companies of English sepoys were cut off with all their three European officers, including Captain Cochrane. The Emperor came close to Patna on the 17th, but did not venture to attack it. Major Caillaud pushed up and on the 22nd completely defeated him at Sherpur. The refusal of the Nawab's cavalry to obey the English commander enabled the Emperor to retire unbroken to Bihar city (28 Feb.) *
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∗ Masumpur, Mussimpour, 4 m. e. of Fatua and close to Baikunthpur, in Rennell's B. Atlas, Sh. 3. Sherpur, 4 m. s. e. of Bakhtiarpur railway station, and south of the Mahani river which runs here south of and parallel to the Ganges. Another Sherpur, 5 m. west of Dinapur is not the place. The Emperor's route to Bengal is thus given by Ghulam Ali (i. 144-151):—Bihar city, 28 Feb.—Shaikhpura (18 m. e. of Bihar), 1 and 2 March—Salimpur (? Islamnagar, 20 m. n. w. of Gidhour), 3-5 March—Ghātikoh (? Cowah ghat, 18 m. due west of Gidhour), 10 Mar. Jakai(= Chaki or Fort Hastings, 25 m. s. of Gidhour), 11 Mar.—Asarda (? Operbanda, 30 m. s. of Deoghar) 19 Mar.—Jamgaon (20 m. n. e. of Pachet and s. of the Ajay), 20 Mar.—Balia (5 m. n. e. of Garh Bishnupur and s. of the Dalkishor river), 29 Mar.—Bishnupur—Damodar crossed, 5 April—Belkhas (6 m. w. of Burdwan, Rennell Sh, 7), 7 Apr. Return :—Jamgaon, 14 Apr. Deoghar—Rani Sarai (near Patna), 30 April. Broome gives his outward route thus :—Bihar—junction of the Ganges and the Mahani (i. e., near Shaikh-pura)—Malhipur (10 m. n. of Gidhour)—Deoghar—Operbanda—Lakar konda—Okera—Mankar—Belkhas, 6 Apr. The pursuing army of Caillaud and Miran followed this very route, but after Okera turned eastwards to Mangalkot, to join the Nawab.
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Here, under Kāmgar Khan's able guidance he followed the bold and original plan of sending his artillery and baggage back, pushing on through the unknown hills and jungles of south-eastern Bihār with a lightly equipped body of select horse, and surprising Murshidabad, which now lay utterly defenceless. The thrust penetrated, by way of Deoghar and Mānkar and across the Dāmodar river, to Bishnupur, where a Maratha force under Sheo Bhat Sāthé joined him. But the raiders hesitated, gave up their original objective, the Bengal capital, and lost precious days. The raid failed, for Caillaud, undergoing indescribable hardships, followed close on the Emperor's track, effected a junction with Nawab Jafar Ali Khan and a detachment from Calcutta at Mangalkot (20 miles north of Burdwan) and blocked the road to Murshidabad. On 7th April, there was a skirmish and some exchange of gun fire between the Emperor's vanguard which had crossed the Dāmodar and the full English force advanced to Belkhas. Kāmgar lost heart, set fire to his tents, and beat a hurried retreat with the Emperor by the same route, and arriving again before Patna, which was now totally denuded of English troops, attacked it from a distance. But on 28th April, Captain Knox by an incredibly rapid march came up from Bengal and relieved the city. The Emperor raised the siege, and fell back on Rāni Sarāi (30th April), where he was joined by M. Jean Law. But it was too late for his success. After lingering for two months more in South Bihar and being further disheartened by the defeat of his partisan Khādim Husain (the usurper of Purnia) by Knox at Hajipur (19 June), Shah Alam retired from the province and reached the bank of the Jamuna in August, 1760.
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§ 7. Shah Alam and Law invade Bihar again, 1761.
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At the end of the rainy season, Shah Alam invaded Bihār for the third time, accompanied by Jean Law and his Frenchmen. But his army was now without money, discipline, heavy guns, or even an adequate munition supply. In spite of this heart-breaking handicap, Law served him truly to the last. The end came on 15th January 1761, when at the village of Suān (6 miles west of Bihār city) Col. Carnac defeated the imperialists and captured Law and his French officers. All his hopes of independence crushed, and in utter penury and lack of supporters, the sovereign of the Delhi empire now sued for the mercy of the English. They, on their part, were eager to placate him and remove the taint of illegality from their late measures against him. On 6th February Shah Alam visited Carnac at Gayā and was highly honoured by him and escorted to Pātna, where he lodged in the fort and began to hold Court. Here the new Bengal Nawab Qāsim Ali Khan waited on him (12 March), paid his tribute and humbly sought imperial confirmation of the high office to which he had been lately called (20 October 1760) by the grace of the English. Kāmgār Khan was defeated by Captain Champion, and the Emperor under pressure from the English dismissed him from his service. The English settled upon the puppet sovereign an allowance of Rs. 1,800 a day, in return for confirming their political arrangements in Bengal and Bihār.
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Meantime, the battle of Pānipat had been fought, Delhi had been cleared of the Marathas, and the Durrāni conqueror had set out on his return home after nominating Shah Alam as Emperor and writing to him to come and occupy Delhi. So, the Emperor issued from Patna fort (12 April) at the invitation of Shujā-ud-daulah who undertook to escort him to his capital. The English refused to proceed with him beyond the western boundary of Bihār, and took a courteous leave of the Emperor on the bank of the Karmnāsā (22 May.) Shujā met his sovereign at Sarāi Sayyid Rāzi on 19th June and the two reached Jājmau on 23rd July, where the Emperor went into cantonments for the rainy season.
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§ 8. Shah Alam's Bundelkhand campaign, 1762. March towards Delhi fails, 1763.
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From this place Shah Alam, entirely moved by the leading strings of Shujā-ud-daulah, started on 7th Nov. 1761 for the recovery of his dominions in Bundelkhand. Here, as well as in the adjacent tract of North Mālwā, the Maratha dominion had been shaken to its foundations by their defeat at Pānipat. All the local zamindars south of the Jamuna and the Chambal—Jat, Rajput, Ahir, Bundela and Ruhcla—had risen against the Marathas, stopped the payment of revenue and tribute, and even occupied the villages belonging to the latter. Not a pice could be collected; the garrison of Gwalior fort had received no salary for two years. The evil was aggravated by the dying Peshwa's inability to send reinforcements and the treason of several local officers (notably Ganesh Sambhaji) who went over to the imperialists. Into this defenceless and distracted country Shuja entered early in January 1762, crossing the Jamuna at Kalpi. That post surrendered without opposition. Then Moth was taken, and Jhansi itself (1 Feb.) after a short resistance. The Bundela chiefs of Urchha and Datia sent tribute to their sovereign. Shuja, whom Shah Alam had appointed his wazir in the preceding June, at last put the wazir's robes on and first signed official papers in that capacity on 15 Feb. 1762. Then, by way of Jalalpur (31 March), he marched upon Mahoba, but could not subdue its Rajah Hindupat, the great-grandson of the famous Chhatrasal. So, the expedition returned across the Jamuna, and the Emperor encamped for the rainy season at Sheorajpur, in the Cawnpur district. [SPD. xxvii. 272, xxix 13. G. Ali ii. 112-140. Muna Lal, 28-53. Imad, 86.]
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Early next year (1763), the Emperor, escorted by the wazir, marched to Sikandrabad in the middle Doab, summoning the Ruhela and Bangash chiefs to join him and conduct him to Delhi. Ahmad Bangash had reason to fear Shujā’s ambition and so proved recusant. Shujā was about to go to war with him, when Hafiz Rahmat, Dundi Khan and Najib arrived (April), interviewed the Emperor and forced Shujā to give up his designs against the Nawab of Farrukhabad. But these designs had alienated all the Afghans from Shujā. To make matters worse, a sectarian riot with bloodshed broke out between the troops of Shujā and Najib, who were respectively of the Shia and Sunni faith. The plan of installing the Emperor at Delhi by a united Muslim force broke down, the Ruhelas returned to their homes (middle of May) and the Emperor to Allahabad for passing the rainy season.*
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§ 9. Shah Alam makes peace with the English 1765.
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Early next year, 1764, a new opening for the invasion of Bihar presented itself, when Nawab Qasim Ali Khan, deposed and expelled by the English from the province (in Dec. last), visited the Emperor (February 1764) and bought his support and that of his wazir in a war for the recovery of his own, by paying them 10 and 17 lakhs respectively. The invasion of Bihar that followed and which the helpless Emperor’s apologists truly ascribed to the greed of Shujā, ended in the wazir’s crushing defeat at Buxar (23 October 1764) and finally at Korā (3 May, 1765), and the complete prostration of Oudh at the feet of the English. The derelict Emperor, who had been insulted by Shujā before the battle of Buxar and abandoned after it, took shelter with the English and was honourably lodged by them in Allahabad fort, which they took in his name on 11 February, Benares and Chunar having been previously occupied.*
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∗ Nur, 59-60. Ghulam Ali, ii. 145-167. Ibrat 112-116. Imad-us-sadat, 87-91 (imp.) Muna Lal, 54-60.
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Lord Clive returned to India on 3rd May and speedily marched up country, meeting the penitent Shujā at Benares (2 Aug.) and the grateful Emperor at Allahabad (9 Aug.) He concluded formal treaties with both. By the Treaty of Allahabad, dated 16th August, the English restored to Shujā-ud-daulah all his dominions with the exception of Chunār (which was retained by the English), the districts of Korā and Allahabad (which were ceded to the Emperor), and the zamindāri of Benares including Ghāzipur (which was reserved to the family of Rajah Balwant Singh, under English protection, though legally subordinate to the Nawab of Oudh.) Shujā agreed to pay fifty lakhs to the English to cover the expenses of the recent war, and to bind himself with the English in an alliance of mutual armed support. After the battle of Buxar the English general had promised to give the Emperor all the territories of the fugitive Shujā. But he was now given only the districts of Kora and Allahabad, with an estimated revenue of 28 lakhs a year, and assured of the Bengal tribute of 26 lakhs per annum (from which two lakhs were reserved in writing for Mirzā Najaf Khan.) An English force was to be posted at Allahabad for the protection of the Emperor as long as necessary. In return for these the Emperor, by a *farmān* signed on 12th August (with an addition on the 19th), confirmed the English East India Company in all the possessions they held in his territories, and also granted them the *diwāni* of Bengal, Bihār and Orissa (the last subah now comprising the Midnapur district only.) This grant meant that the English were legally empowered to take all the revenue proceeds of these three subahs, after deducting 26 lakhs for the Emperor, the expenses of the administration of Bengal and the maintenance of the Nawab family of Murshidabad (50 lakhs), and the cost of the military defence of these provinces.
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∗ Shujā's Bihar campaign (1764) and English advance to Allahabad (1765) :—CPC. i. (best), Broome (compilation, but well-written), Siyar, Chahar Gulzar, Ghulam Ali, ii., Ibrat. The best account of the battle of Buxar; a contemporary ms. in the India Office, London, printed by Oldham in Journal, B. &. O. R. Society 1925. Treaties of Aug. 1765,—Collection of Treaties & Engagements (London 1812), pp. 43-54 ; Broome, Appendix liii—lvi.
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The result of it all was that the Emperor became an English pensioner, and Shujā a protected British vassal in effect, though disguised under the title of an equal and independent ally, who had afterwards to reduce his army and secure English approval in appointing his ministers, but merely as instances of the purity of his friendship with the English. In July 1766, Lord Clive held a "Congress" at Chāprā (in north Bihar), which was attended by Shujā-ud-daulah in person and the envoys of the Emperor, the Jāt Rajah and the Ruhela chiefs. Here a treaty was entered into by them for mutual defence against any Maratha aggression. The Emperor, who had conferred the wazirship of the empire (as distinct from the subahdāri of Oudh) upon his son on being abandoned by Shujā at the end of 1764, now under pressure from Clive restored the Chancellorship to Shujā. [CPC. ii. 1044.]
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§ 10. Why Shah Alam was eager to go to Delhi.
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Now began for Shah Alam a long period of settled and comfortable residence (1765-1771) at Allahabad. He was a sovereign without a capital or any hand in the administration no doubt, but he was also saved from starvation and guarded from attack, thanks to the English. Of this uneventful period in his life a detailed account would be out of place in our history. But it was impossible for him to cease hankering for a return to Delhi, as a visible symbol of his full sovereignty. This natural desire had been recognised by the English who had promised as early as 26 May 1761 to escort him to Delhi with their forces. This promise had been repeated year after year, and even by Lord Clive in 1765; it still stood at the end of 1767; but it was never fulfilled; at one time the war with Haidar Ali absorbed all the English forces, in other years the pledge was to be honoured "after the rains."* At last Shah Alam became convinced that these rains would never end, for the English persisted in advising him, through their devoted instrument at his Court, Munir-ud-daulah, that it would be a danger and loss to him to leave the security of Allahabad and venture on to Delhi. Munir-ud-daulah's success in keeping his English patrons pleased and securing the regular payment of the Emperor's pension enabled his policy to triumph in the council of the royal exile. The pro-Delhi party, led by Hisam-ud-daulah, would probably never have gained the upper hand there but for the utter break-down of Najib's health and spirits, which forced him to resign the guardianship of the Delhi palace and the royal family within it, when faced with the irrepressible and ever-increasing Sikh forces. As early as October 1765, Najib had asked the Emperor to come personally to Delhi, and now in February 1768 he definitely tendered his resignation. This development threw Shah Alam into the greatest perplexity: who would guard his mother and Heir in that city after the withdrawal of Najib? And, if he recalled all his family from Delhi, the Sikhs, who were now officially masters of Sarhind and practically supreme over Hariana and the upper Doab, would take unopposed possession of the capital, and it would be impossible for Shah Alam to recover it from their strong hands. The holder of the capital was naturally in the position of a king-maker. What was there to prevent the Sikh lords of Delhi from crowning a puppet from among the swarm of beggarly vagrant Shahzadas, and under cover of his legal authority conquering the empire for themselves?*
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∗ CPC. i. 1186, 2688. ii. 660. iii. 399.
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The question of the Emperor's residence in Delhi thus became a live issue from 1768 onwards. Just at this time the Indian world at last became convinced that Ahmad Shah Abdali would not come to India again, and all hopes and fears from that quarter definitely ceased. Now was the time for all loyal vassals to unite and restore their suzerain to his capital. A Maratha agent suggested (in Nov. 1767, *SPD.* xxix. 192) the project of such action by the English, the Peshwa, the Rajput Rajahs and the Ruhelas in concert (but despite probable Jat opposition). The Jat power ceased to count in North Indian politics after the death of Jawahir Singh in July 1768. The last ray of the hope of getting armed aid from the English in the journey to Delhi flickered and died out in the course of the next year. And the Emperor looked out for new friends to help him in carrying out his heart's desire. The Ruhelas were eliminated as openly hostile to his house. Shujā, nominally the first minister of the Crown, when called upon to support his master, evaded compliance as long as he could, and finally (in 1771) compounded for his abstention from personal participation in the march on Delhi by contributing to its expenses. For his tools the Emperor, therefore, had none but the Marathas to turn to.
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∗ *CPC.* i. 2735, 2735 A, ii. 1101, 846, 847. Jassa Singh, the Sikh sardar, had invited the Emperor (Jan. 1768) to come to Delhi, "assuring him that the whole empire would be again united and restored to him." Shah Alam had replied that he could not take that action unless the *whole body* of Sikh sardars formed a binding confederacy to escort him and sent a written pledge to that effect. (ii. 849.)
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§ 11. Shah Alam makes an agreement with the Marathas to escort him to Delhi, 1771.
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They had come to the north once more in full force, under an accredited plenipotentiary of the Peshwa (Ramchandra Ganesh) and great sardars like Sindhia and Holkar, at the beginning of 1770. They had first humbled the Jat and set about restoring their authority in the Doab and the country near Delhi. [Ch. 22 § 12-14.] Najib's death a few months later (30 Oct. 1770) forced the Emperor's hands; now or never must he make effective arrangements for holding Delhi, as Najib's successor was too young and inexperienced to make any stand against the Sikhs. So, on 27th December Shah Alam sent Saifuddin Md. Khan to negotiate with the Maratha sardars then in the Doab for an alliance to restore him to his capital. The envoy entered the masterless city on 7th February 1771, opened the Delhi Gate (which had been closed in fear of the Maratha and Gujar bands then out on the east bank), reassured the citizens, and from the Jāmi‘ Masjid proclaimed the authority of Shah Alam.
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Two days later (9th Feb. 1771), early in the morning the Marathas bombarded Delhi from four sides, so that the Asad Burj of the fort was demolished. There was none to resist, and at noon the capital opened peace parleys. At sunset the smaller gate of the fort was opened. Next day Bālā Rāo entered the fort by capitulation, established his own control, and posted his guards at the gates. Saifuddin, who had not expected the Maratha appropriation of the capital, went off to complain to the Maratha chiefs; so also did Shaikh Qāsim, the imperial qiladar. On the 15th Yaqub Ali held a long private talk with Ramchandra Ganesh. The following terms were agreed upon: (i) The Marathas were to be paid 40 lakhs of Rupees and assigned Mirat and seven other mahals. (ii) The Emperor would cede the districts of Karra (Jahanabad) and Kora to the Marathas, or in default give them equivalent territory near Delhi. (iii) The Marathas undertook to escort the Emperor to Delhi in two months. (iv) The Emperor would pay ten lakhs (out of the forty) in twenty days, on receiving which they would restore Delhi fort to his agent, and then he would come. (v) After arriving at Delhi;
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Shah Alam would grant them 15 lakhs worth of mahals, thus leaving a balance of 15 lakhs which was to be cleared in seven months. To a memorandum containing these terms the Heir affixed his seal on behalf of the Emperor. [*SPD.* xxix. 89.] The terms were ratified by Shah Alam from Allahabad and all the Maratha sardars were presented (on 22 March) to the Heir and given *khilats*. A part payment made, Delhi fort was handed back to Saifuddin by the Maratha troops, who vacated it (2 August.) [*DC. CPC.* iii. 717.]
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§ 12. *Shah Alam marches from Allahabad to Delhi, 1771.*
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In the meantime, the Emperor had advanced from Allahabad (13 April) to Sarai Alamchand (20 miles to the west.) Here he halted for 19 days, planning his march on Delhi and waiting to be joined by Shujā. At the first talk of leaving the British protection, civilised comforts and regular income so long enjoyed by his family and entourage at Allahabad for the privations, danger and poverty of Delhi, a universal lamentation broke out in the exiled Court and among its dependants. But the Emperor, led by Hisam-ud-daulah, held firmly to his purpose, Munir-ud-daulah having entirely lost his hold on his master. As a last chance, the miserable courtiers clung to the hope that when Shuja came, his voice would overbear that of Hisam and the march on Delhi would be abandoned. But Shuja did not object; he supplied 12 lakhs in cash, besides carriages, tents and other necessary articles, and thus secured excuse from personal attendance in the campaign. He detached a body of 10,000 horse and foot of his own to attend the Emperor.
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Leaving Sarai Alamchand on 2nd May, Shah Alam marched by way of Shujaetpur and Kora to Jajmau (23 May), where Shujā who had borne him company so long took leave for his own province (3 June.) Then, by way of Cawnpur the imperial camp reached Bithur, where General Sir Robert Barker refused to proceed any further, bade formal farewell to the Emperor on 28 June, and came back with his two English battalions to Cawnpur and Benares. So, also did Munir-ud-daulah, who had persistently opposed this undertaking. The Emperor continued his progress to Qanauj and then to the neighbourhood of Farrukhabad, whose Nawab, Ahmad Khan Bangash, had died on 17 April. An imperial demand was made for escheating all his property to the State, but the late Nawab's man of business Bakhshi Fakhruddaulah replied to it by gathering a large force of Ruhelas from the neighbourhood and preparing for war. The helpless Emperor appealed to Mahadji Sindhia, who approached with a vast army, the report of which cowed Fakhruddaulah and he agreed to pay six lakhs (two lakhs down) on condition of Ahmad's son Muzaffar Jang being recognised as Nawab of Farrukhabad and confirmed in his father's estates. This success achieved, the Emperor moved on to Nabiganj, 19 miles south-west of Farrukhabad, and there encamped for the rains.
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Three months later, Saifuddin Muhammad and other officers came from Delhi fort and interviewed the Emperor on 15th November, at Nabiganj, and Mahadji Sindhia did the same on the 18th. The royal progress to the capital was resumed shortly after, and the Court reached Surajpur (15 m. n. w. of Sikandrabad) on New Year's Day, 1772. The Empress Mother, the Crown Prince and other princes came out of Delhi to Gharroli (4½ miles south-east of Shahdara) and welcomed the Emperor in advance (3rd January.) Accompanied by them, he rode into his capital at a quarter past eight on Monday, the sixth of January, and entered the palace fort by the Delhi Darwaza. The day on which the monarch's exile ended happened to be exactly the close of the Muslim month of fasting and the eve of the Id rejoicings.*
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∗ DC. and CPC. iii 693-810 (best.) Ibrat. 196-281. G. Ali, i. 267-282. Muna Lal 109-120. Siyar, iii. 84-85 (meagre.)