Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c30.s2.3

v2.c30.s2.3

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.]