Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c40.s4.8

v3.c40.s4.8

The portion of the Mughal Empire that still belonged to the Padishah was yielding no revenue: it had now shrunk into half the middle Doab and the Delhi-Agra districts. But even here much of the land had been alienated by Mirzā Najaf Khan as military fiefs. What little remained under the Crown had not yet recovered from the ravages of fifteen years' anarchy and civil war and the continuous drought of the last three years. Sindhia tried one chancellor after another in his attempt to raise a revenue from Hindustan; but he could as soon have drawn blood out of stone. This failure, which he wrongly ascribed to the negligence or peculation of his diwans, almost drove him mad and he wanted to see if more money would flow from his doing the diwan's work himself! Such an attempt meant in effect that he threw himself into the arms of irresponsible and incompetent low class officials or smooth-spoken cheats. Old men sadly noted this infatuation of the supreme executive head of an empire, but could do nothing to avert his ruin. By the end of 1786, the Emperor's monthly allowance of Rs. 1,30,000 was already five months due, the pay of the troops had fallen still more heavily into arrears. And during his long halt at Vrindavan Mahadji had lavished large sums on the temples and priests—in prayers for the gift of a son and heir.