Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c36.s2.2

v3.c36.s2.2

The Afghan defence was materially aided by the condition of their enemies. The terrain was full of hollows and mounds and overspread with swamps, which admirably favoured the Afghan tactics of ambuscade and night attack. Therefore, the imperialists had to avoid any advance close to the forts and rash assaults on them, especially as the Emperor’s person had to be safeguarded. But their weakness, in spite of their superior numbers and powerful artillery, lay in their divided command and the determination of Abdul Ahad to cross every plan of Najaf Khan so as to rob him of the credit of victory. Najaf Khan was no doubt the Mir Bakhshi or supreme head of the army, but Abdul Ahad,—the grey beard, broken in health, broken in heart by the death of his dancing girl wife Waziran, and a Kashmiri by blood,—had got himself nominated as second Bakhshi! His absolute sway over Shah Alam’s mind turned him into the defacto commander-in-chief, over the head of Mirzā Najaf. The open wrangles between these two chiefs and their mutual recriminations after every reverse stiffened the Ruhela resistance and damaged the imperial prestige, so that everywhere lawless men began to raise their heads and plunder the highways without fear. Hence, a decisive issue was unduly delayed, and the coming of the rainy season inflicted unspeakable hardship on the royal army in that low swampy region, especially as the rainfall that year was abnormally heavy. The end came very quickly only after Najaf Khan had called up his able lieutenant Afrāsiyāb with his powerful contingent from the middle Doab and conducted the war on his sole initiative.