Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c34.s1: § 1. The tasks before the restored Shah Alam
Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c34.s1
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§ 1. The tasks before the restored Shah Alam
v3.c34.s1.1
When the Sun first rose over Delhi after Shah Alam's entry into the capital as Emperor, it beheld a scene of universal rejoicing, because this was the first day of the blessed month of Shawwāl. The thirty days of fasting and prayer had come to an end, and the *Id* festivities were taking place in every mosque, public square and private house. But, besides this happy coincidence, the citizens of all classes expected a new time of prosperity from the return of the Government and the pomp and expenditure inseparable from the residence of the Sovereign and the nobility in their midst. The twelve years of decay depopulation poverty and humiliation borne by the imperial city during her master's exile were over, and Delhi might now proudly raise her head once more as the metropolis of India.
v3.c34.s1.2
But the Emperor was in no position then to fulfil these expectations. Indeed, he did not as yet know how to subsist himself. His treasury was empty, his Crownlands were gone out of his possession, his palaces were stripped of their furniture, all the royal stores exhausted long ago, the public buildings were out of repair and even the fort walls were cracked. To add to his burdens, he had run into heavy debt and let the pay of his troops fall into arrears by maintaining a large force during the past ten months for escorting him to Delhi; and over everything else hung the dark cloud of the large subsidy promised to the Marathas for their recent military aid and still unpaid. The task before Shah Alam II in January 1772 was nothing less than the reconquest of a dismembered empire with an empty treasury and in the teeth of powerful usurpers who were entrenched in their provinces by long years of possession and formidable for their veteran armies, well filled treasuries and the prestige of past victories.