Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c34.s7.2

v3.c34.s7.2

The Marathas at once accepted the offer, and on 16th March Pathargarh was vacated. "The Marathas took their stand at the gate of the fort. At first the poorer people came out; they were stripped and searched and let off almost naked. The rich people threw caskets full of gems and money from the ramparts into the wet ditch for concealing them. Many noble Afghan families, after coming out of the hands of the Marathas, sought asylum within the circuit of the imperial halting place. But the plunderers of the camp and the Turāni Mughals robbed them of the clothing on their persons which even the Marathas had spared, and they dragged away the women by the hand towards their own tents!" Najaf Khan rescued them and after some days sent them away under escort of his own followers to Jalalabad-Luhari in the north Muzaffarnagar district, which was a large and as yet safe Afghan colony.*