Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c37.s2.12

v3.c37.s2.12

A double invasion of the Jaipur kingdom in over-whelming force was now organised. Murtaza Khan Barech with his Afghan and Baluch followers was to force the northern route through the Shekhāwati country and descend on Jaipur from its north, while at the same time Mahbub Ali Khan was to follow the southern road to Jaipur, marching westwards from Agra viâ Hindaun and Lalsont, and strike at the Kachhwa capital from its south side. Mahbub left Delhi early in May, the traitor Daulat Rām Haldiā guiding him with his local knowledge. A strong imperial division of five battalions of trained sepoys (some under European commandants) and a thousand horse with artillery, besides his own new levies, accompanied the general. When he met Himmat Bahadur at Bayānā, a quarrel about precedence broke out between the two. The soldiers, one and all, voted for Mahbub, and he resumed the march on Jaipur leaving his angry coadjutor behind. His advance was rapid and successful; in the then disrupted condition of the Jaipur State no place resisted him or could resist him long. By making rapid marches he advanced looting the cities in the eastern and southern regions of the Jaipur State and taking many fortalices. Jhalai, Bhandarej, Basi-Toda, Lālbāri, Chatsu and Watka were among his victims, till on 20th October he arrived at the gate of the Kachhwa capital, in which the Rajah had shut himself up. At exactly the same time, his colleague Murtaza Khan had worked his way through the Shekhāwati country to Sri Madhopur, forty miles north of Jaipur.