Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c39.4

v3.c39.4

The news of Afrasiyab's fatal wound reached the Emperor at Agra at half past four the same afternoon, and his death was reported the next morning. The Sovereign found none who could fill the dead regent's place. Of the four lieutenants left behind by Mirzā Najaf Khan, two were dead, one was in open rebellion, and the last, Najaf Quli, was hopelessly sunk in debauchery at Delhi. The only great noble now surviving was Abdul Ahad Khan, a captive in Aligarh fort, but a man after the Emperor's own heart. Major James Browne, the English envoy with him, like William Kirkpatrick three years later, bore an inveterate hatred to Mahadji Sindhia. He now lost no time in pressing his anti-Maratha policy on the helpless distracted Shah Alam through his Persian secretary, Sālihuddin (the brother of our valued historian Faqir Khairuddin), and urged him to reinstate Abdul Ahad (a friend of the English) as regent, dismiss the Marathas and govern the realm, as Oudh was being governed, under British protection. The Emperor wrote to the qiladar of Aligarh to send Ahad to his Presence. The order was carried out. The age-worn favourite, on arriving at Agra (5th November), first paid a visit to his old acquaintance Rajah Dayaram, who informed Shujādil Khan, the qiladar of Agra, and that officer at once placed Ahad in confinement again without asking for the Emperor’s orders.