Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c36.s1: § 1. Court intrigues for setting up Zābita Khan against Mirzā Najaf
Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c36.s1
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§ 1. Court intrigues for setting up Zābita Khan against Mirzā Najaf
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While Mirzā Najaf Khan was engaged in war with the Jats from May 1775 to January 1777, his rivals at the imperial Court were busy plotting his overthrow. But so despicable was the character of these intriguers, that their plans proved utterly futile, and the natural reaction of their failure was to leave the Emperor even more dependent upon the Mirzā than ever before. We have seen how Hisām-ud-daulah, envying the rise of a mere youth and new-comer like Najaf, had induced the Emperor (in January 1773) to reject Najaf’s advice and appoint Zābita Khan Mir Bakhshi. By this single stroke of policy he hoped to placate Zābita’s patron Tukoji Holkar and also to baulk Najaf of the second highest office in the Empire.
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But Zābita Khan was now the mere shadow of a great name. The sack of Shakartāl and Pathargarh in 1772 had robbed him of all his wealth and prestige and broken up his father’s famous veteran corps. The son of Najib-ud-daulah had acted as the henchman of the Marathas in Holkar’s Rohilkhand raid of March 1773. Instead of being, as Najib had been in his lifetime, the acknowledged leader and protector of all the Afghans settled anywhere in North India, Zābita used to make frantic and futile appeals for aid to the trans-Ganges Ruhelas everytime that the least danger threatened him. The consciousness of his own military impotence also kept him back from siding with these Ruhelas in their fatal war with Shujā in 1774. And yet his weak and inconstant character led him to listen secretly to proposals for a pan-Afghan coalition against Shujā. The secret leaked out, and after Shujā had crushed the Ruhelas at Miran Katra (April 1774) he kicked away the timid double-dealer and coolly annexed all the trans-Ganges dominions of Najib's house, including Najibabad itself. Thereafter Zābita Khan's possessions were confined to the Saharanpur district and certain places in the Mirat district, which he held as jagirs from the Emperor and for which he had to promise regular tribute like any ordinary mansabdār. Though he still retained the title of Imperial Paymaster-General, the functions of that high office were performed by Mirzā Najaf, so that Zābita had absolutely no share in the actual administration of the Empire.
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In May 1773, Hisām fell, and his place as the regent and keeper of the Emperor was taken by Abdul Ahad Khan, who at first pretended to be an ally of Najaf Khan, but soon followed Hisām's example by secretly trying to thwart and weaken Najaf. While that general was absent on the Jat war, Ahad brought Zābita to Court, entertained him in his own house, and presented him to Shāh Alam, exerting his boundless influence in favour of the Ruhela. Ahad counselled Zābita to unite all the Afghans under himself and put down the upstart Persian adventurer and his Mughalia clientele, who had become supreme in the State. Zābita was thus to be the sword-arm of the cowardly Kashmiri intriguer in removing his rival. But Zābita had suffered many a blow of adversity in his short life. He knew his own weakness. The veteran Afghan armies, both of Ali Muhammad Ruhela’s colony and of his late father, had by now been completely broken up and dispersed, and a wholesale transplantation of the respectable families from Rohilkhand to the south beyond the Jamuna had been carried out by Shujā, while the remnant of the male fighters of this race had entered Najaf Khan’s service for a living. The dreaded Durrāni conqueror was dead; and even the magic of Najib-ud-daulah’s name could no longer call up an Afghan horde. Zābita’s sole defence now was the hired sword of the Sikhs and he stooped to every humiliation to secure their aid. He, therefore, declined to become Abdul Ahad’s cat’s paw. This disappointment made the omnipotent favourite furious; his former patronage of the Ruhela chief turned into a deadly hatred, and he schemed to ruin him.
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§ 2. *Zābita defeats imperial army under Abul Qāsim and persists in contumacy.*
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As Zābita had obstinately defaulted in paying the annual revenue of his jagirs (most of them former Crownlands), Abdul Ahad easily persuaded the Emperor to send a force against him. The leader chosen was Abul Qāsim Khan* (surnamed Azam-ud-daulah), the younger brother of Ahad. He was endowed with great administrative capacity, personal bravery, and political wisdom. In spite of his reluctance and repeated protests, he was appointed faujdar of Saharanpur district, and sent from Delhi in October 1775, "to regulate the crownlands and other mahals there" now in Zābita's possession. His force consisted of a body of Mughalia horse and two battalions of disciplined sepoys under Gangarām and Bhawāni Singh commandants. Qāsim left the Court prophesying "My brother is sending me to my death." Arrived in the upper Doab he gained unopposed possession of Mirat and some other forts as the Ruhela agents withdrew before him; but for four months he carefully avoided an armed conflict and kept negotiating with Zābita for a peaceful settlement by the payment of tribute. Qāsim knew that his Mughalia mercenaries were traitors at heart and not dependable in action.
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∗ *DC.* Ghulam Ali iii. 62-71, Muna Lal 169-171. *Ibrat.* i. 298-299. *CPC.* v. 87, 280. Bihari Lal (tr. by me in *I.H.Q.* 1935.)
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But Abdul Ahad would not listen to reason; he goaded his brother on to a fight. So, on 4th March 1776, Qāsim began his offensive, though fully convinced of its futility. In the meantime, Zābita had hired a strong Sikh force. The fatal encounter took place at Amirnagar, eight miles north-west of Muzaffarnagar, on the 11th of the month. Zābita Khan had placed the Sikh horse in his van and his Ruhela clansmen in the second line, while he discreetly kept himself unseen far in the rear. The Sikhs began the combat in the Parthian fashion, making a show of attack on the imperialists and then falling back in pretended flight before the warm artillery and musket fire with which they were greeted by the Mughals. The two sepoy battalions of Qāsim advanced in thoughtless pursuit of the fleeing enemy and became far separated from the main division of their comrades. But the wily Sikh horse made a rapid wheel and fell upon the rear of the imperial army, dispersing the Mughalia troops who made a mere show of defence. Thus, a great confusion fell upon the Delhi army; Abul Qāsim was left alone in the field with only 50 followers round him; the Ruhelas encircled him completely; he scorned to flee and kept discharging arrows kneeling on the ground (for he was lame of both legs) till a musket shot killed him. His head was cut off and carried to Zābita.
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Then the sepoy battalions found that the day had been lost and they were utterly unsupported