Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c33.s4.3

v3.c33.s4.3

Ramchandra Ganesh advocated exactly the opposite policy: the Jāt Rajah having been effectually crushed, he could be safely left behind to be squeezed by Maratha tribute-collectors with exorbitant demands, and the Maratha army should enter the Doab in alliance with Najib, wrest all the Jāt possessions there by this combined Maratha-Ruhela attack and share them with Najib. He was reluctant to face a long and costly campaign by attacking Najib, who was sure to be supported by the Bangash, the trans-Ganges Ruhelas and the Nawab of Oudh. The dreaded spectre of a pan-Muslim coalition against the returned Marathas, like the one which had triumphed in the Panipat campaign, cowed his spirit. As he told his colleagues, "We have come here after ten years, and if we do not first make friends with Najib, then all would join him against us, and with such a combination of enemies opposing us we shall have to fight a hard fight, the result of which no man can foresee." Tukoji Holkar was the hereditary rival of the house of Sindhia. Najib's very astute Hindu agents visited him, and by bribing his ministers induced them to persuade their young master to follow Malhar's policy of always backing Najib's interests in the inner council of the Maratha leaders. The Peshwa approved of Ramchandra Ganesh's plan, and about the 24th of April the Maratha army began to cross into the Doab. [SPD. xxix. 254-262, 246, p. 307.]