Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c38.s8.40

v3.c38.s8.40

Afrāsiyāb Khan, when making his pact with Md. Beg for clearing Shafi out of the way, had given him a written promise to confirm him in all his possessions and authority. Now that Afrāsiyāb had marched against him with the Emperor in his leading strings, Hamadāni boiled with indignation against the faithless man. He levied fresh troops and looted the imperial dominions in his neighbourhood with the ruthless brutality habitual to the mercenary Mughalias, rendering village after village a “lampless desolation.” He stormed (10 June) the rich and populous city of Kāmā, where the Rajah’s officers had risen against the oppression of his tribute-collectors ; “many of the people were slain, others had their noses and ears cut off, and no kind of atrocity was left unpractised by Hamadāni.” [*Ibrat.* ii. 82.] He refused to present himself before his sovereign on his arrival at Agra, and even attacked Zulfiqār Khan, the loyal lord of Alinagar. Afrāsiyāb Khan, unable to cope with the rebel himself, besought the irresistible Māhādji Sindhia to conquer Hamadāni’s jagir of Dholpur-Bāri.