Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c33.s2.1

v3.c33.s2.1

Ratan Singh had seen war at the head of a Jāt corps against the Marathas in Bundelkhand and North Malwa early in 1768; but immediately after coming to the throne he gave himself up entirely to pleasure and pomp. As the new lord of Brajamandal, he made a pilgrimage to Vrindāvan and held the grandest and most costly entertainments on the bank of the Jamunā, at which 4,000 dancing girls were assembled. He had picked up Gosain Rupānand, a Brahman monk reputed to be a master of alchemy, and engaged him to procure the Philosopher's stone. The sharper, after draining the Rajah of money for some time, at last found no other way of avoiding punishment for his imposture than to murder his dupe during an experiment for the transmutation of metals in the privacy of his tent. He was instantly cut down by the Rajah's servants and "sent to Vishnu's heaven", while Ratan Singh lingered on for some hours (8 April, 1769). The leading Jāt general now surviving was Dān Shāh, the brother-in-law of Nawal Singh, and he was entrusted with the regency on behalf of Ratan Singh's infant son Kesari Singh.*