Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c41.s4: § 5. Third stage of contest: Ismail Beg's disastrous Jat invasion and consequent Maratha predominance
Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c41.s4
- Language
- English
§ 5. Third stage of contest: Ismail Beg's disastrous Jat invasion and consequent Maratha predominance
v3.c41.s4.1
So, Ismail Beg deemed it unwise to attack Bharatpur,† and in company with Ghulām Qādir proceeded to capture Kumbher which was poorly garrisoned and whose defences had been suffered to fall into neglect. The garrison of Kumbher, with no commander of ability or courage to lead them, lost heart after only one afternoon's bombardment and evacuated the fort at night. Next morning (3rd May) the two Khans entered the fort and seized all the property accumulated there since the days of Rajah Suraj Mal. Thousands of muskets and swords and immense quantities of grain and munitions were thus gained.
v3.c41.s4.2
∗ PRC. i. 217. Ibr. iii. 108-109. DY. i. 287.
v3.c41.s4.3
† Ibr. iii. 109-114. DY. i. 288, 297. PRC. i. 219. G. Ali. iii. 260. MI. 330-331.
v3.c41.s4.4
Ismail Beg pressed for an attack on Dig before the Jats could recover from the shock of the loss of Kumbher. Leaving their booty in the conquered fort, the two generals marched on Dig. At night Ismail Beg ordered ladders to be made of all the flagstaffs in his army after detaching the colours, in order to deliver an escalade. Arrived at the village of Bhaj two miles east of Dig, the impetuous Hamadāni reconnoitred the fort and ordered an assault that very afternoon. Dismounting his troops, he himself led them on foot, sword and shield in hand. Coming near the fort wall he sat down, utterly exposed, without any shade or tent, and sent his men on to scale the wall. "The scene that followed was like Doomsday. The fire from the walls killed hundreds of the Muslims at that short range and the cannon balls rebounded again and again. On the immediate right and left hands of Ismail Beg, forty men were struck down and a soldier seated at his elbow had his head blown away by a shot. Once the assailants reached the counterscarp and tried to descend into the ditch for climbing the wall opposite. The garrison crowding on the ramparts showered on them shot, bullets, rockets, powder-balls (huqqa), large stones, blazing naphtha and logs of wood and brick-bats that came to hand. Hundreds were slain and thousands wounded; the remnant fled away" (c. 18 May.)
v3.c41.s4.5
At last Ismail Beg retreated from this hopeless attempt. The Maratha and Jat armies, biding their time, now fell on the abandoned Muslim camp and plundered everything there. Rānā Khan and the Jats chased the fugitives up to Fathpur Sikri, effectively cutting off their provision supply, so that grain sold in the Muslim camp at five seers to the Rupee. After refreshing his troops as best he could for a week at Fathpur, Ismail Beg left the place with his ally on 25th May and encamped in the Bāgh Dehra garden outside Agra.
v3.c41.s4.6
As soon as the two Khans retreated from the disastrous attack on Dig, Mahadji Sindhia sent a strong detachment of his best cavalry (stiffened with more new arrivals from the Deccan) to cross into the Doāb and plunder Ghulām Qādir's newly acquired territories there.* Knowing full well his own inferiority in numbers and artillery and the demoralisation of his troops, Sindhia formed a very judicious plan of campaign which quickly succeeded. He kept the enemy enveloped by roving Deccan horse from a safe distance and greatly distressed them for provisions, while his newly arrived fresh troops from Maharashtra were sent to raid the Doāb and thus compel Ghulām Qādir to hasten to the defence of his own possessions there. This would leave Ismail Beg alone, and then it would not be difficult for the Marathas to crush him in his isolation. As a Maratha envoy wrote, “The troops of the Jat Rajah and Sindhia hover at a distance of 8 to 10 *kos* around the army of Ghulām Qādir and Ismail. In whichever direction these two Khans turn their faces, our men do not stay but flee away, being too afraid to stand a fight.”
v3.c41.s4.7
∗ Dy. i. 278, 295, 285, 300. HP. 518, 520-522. PRC. i. 220, 222. Ibr. iii. 114-117 (unsupported.)
v3.c41.s4.8
The Jāmbgāon contingent, 5,000 horse led by Devji Gavlé, was now advanced from its post near Mania (nine miles north of Dholpur) northwards across the Utangan to join Rānā Khan’s division. Avoiding the still beleaguered fort of Agra, these troops first entered the Mathura district and expelled Ismail Beg’s posts there and occupied Vrindāvan. One of the enemy battalions 700 strong with two guns posted here, in trying to escape into the Doāb, was overtaken on the bank of the Jamuna, four hundred of the men were killed, some others perished in trying to ford the Jamuna and also in the sinking of two ferry boats, and all their fire-arms (700 muskets and the two guns) as well as 25 horses were taken.
v3.c41.s4.9
Then the victorious Devji hastened 16 miles northwards to Chirghāt and thence crossed into the Doāb, in order to convulse that country and cut off the grain convoys coming from that tract to the two Khans’ camps before Agra. The Ruhela thanahs at Mot and Mahāvan were driven out with slaughter and seven guns were captured here (4-10 June.) Koil city was sacked for six hours. The new strategy bore the expected fruit at once. Ghulām Qādir would listen to no appeal of Ismail Beg, but immediately sent away the bulk of his army from Agra to the defence of his own Doāb possessions. The rising flood of the Jamuna threatened his communication across it, and in alarm he himself crossed over with the rest of his army (15 June.)
v3.c41.s4.10
For some weeks past the Marathas had been also making predatory night incursions on Ismail Beg's baggage camp with success, always taking care to run away with their spoils before they could be brought to an action. Ismail Beg, deserted by his ally, now found life unbearable: his provision supply was totally stopped, his starving ragged soldiers with their captains were daily deserting him for the Jat camp. Lesteneau and many Mughalias and Telingas had gone over to the enemy many weeks ago. And then, within two days of Ghulām Qādir's departure the crushing blow descended on the Hamadāni (17th June.)
v3.c41.s4.11
§ 6. Fourth stage of the contest: Ismail Beg finally crushed at Agra, 17th June 1788.
v3.c41.s4.12
In this decisive battle* of the entire campaign, Sindhia's planning showed consummate generalship and promptness of movement, joined to unfailing combination. The Jat-Maratha alliance had by this time been perfected; the courage and endurance of the Jat peasantry had been hitherto unavailing for the lack of capable leaders; but now the Marathas supplied this brain power, while the French-led musketeers added the necessary steadying element to the mobility of the Deccan light horse. These facts explain the completeness of the victory.
v3.c41.s4.13
∗ *DY.* i. 300, 303. *HP.* 524-527. *Sat.* i. 137. *Ibr.* iii. 116-119. *PRC.* i. 223. *G. Ali* iii. 264-267. *ML.* 331.
v3.c41.s4.14
As soon as Ghulām Qādir began to transport his troops from Agra back into the Doāb, Rānā Khan sent fast couriers to recall Devji Gavlé from the Doāb to his own side. The junction was promptly effected and then the general set out in full strength to attack Ismail Beg. Meantime, Sindhia had heartened his troops for the critical contest by sending Rs. 113,000 and a hundred horses for distribution among them and attached ten pieces of artillery to the battalions of Lesteneau and De Boigne. The Telinga commandant Rāmru with four battalions and sixteen guns under him, was worn out by his privations in Ismail Beg's thankless service, and offered to desert to Rānā Khan. The pact was confirmed by a promise of Rs. 60,000 to him in bankers' bills, besides a jagir, on the eve of the battle.
v3.c41.s4.15
In the fateful morning of the 17th of June, Rānā Khan massed his French-led infantry in the centre with the artillery in front. His two wings were formed by two powerful bodies of horse, while a third cavalry division was posted behind the infantry with orders to wheel round at the right moment and fall upon the enemy's rear.
v3.c41.s4.16
As the Maratha-Jat army came in sight of Ismail Beg's camp in Bāgh Dehra, a suburb of Agra, his captains took it for the usual daily demonstration of their timid enemy and did not care to arm for battle. But the steady advance of Rānā Khan and the fire of his artillery soon precipitated an action. Ismail Beg's guns in position replied with a lively cannonade which caused much greater loss to the Marathas, whose artillery was smaller and moving. Then Ismail Beg, with an impetuosity and courage worthy of Muhammad Beg Hamadāni's heir, charged the Maratha horse in person without waiting to form his battle order. The Deccan cavalry met the attack with equal bravery and crowded upon him from the two wings, "so as to strike his force in the waist." Gunfire ceased on both sides, and a severe fight at close quarters raged for an hour. But the disciplined sepoys of De Boigne and Lesteneau crushed all opposition before them by their cool and successive volleys, while Ramru with his four battalions withdrew from Ismail Beg's side without firing a shot. By the end of this time the Maratha reserve cavalry had made a detour and fallen upon Hamadāni's rear camp and set fire to the tents. Thus enveloped, first the servants and then the soldiers of the Muslim army took to flight and plunged into the Jamuna for the Doāb. Ismail Beg, engrossed in the fight, cast his eyes on his right and left and found none but a few friends present. In despair, he sought to court a soldier’s death by galloping into the thick of the enemy. But he had already received three wounds and Najaf Ali Khan (the son of Muhammad Beg) seizing his bridle turned him back from the lost field. The fallen general entered Agra city with only fifteen troopers, took his favourite mistress on his own steed, and going to the Jamuna bank drove his horse into the river and crossed into the Doāb. His wife, however, was drowned in trying to cross the river on an elephant.
v3.c41.s4.17
Ismail Beg’s defeat was complete and irretrievable. His army ceased to exist as an instrument of war. Excluding the four battalions of Rāmru which went over to the Marathas during the battle, Ismail Beg had about sixteen battalions of sepoys (including many who had deserted Mahadji at Lālsot) and five thousand Mughalia horse under him; and these were soundly beaten. The slaughter that ensued among his broken troops was terrible, while many who escaped the sword were drowned in fording the swollen Jamunā. "For one kos from the field to the river bank, the ground was strewn with the corpses of men and horses." A Maratha despatch inflates his losses to 8,000 battalion sepoys slain and 2,000 Mughalia cavalry and foot musketeers drowned in the river [HP. 525.] On the Maratha side about 250 men were reported as slain and six hundred as wounded besides 2,000 horses killed. But among their officers the casualty was heavy, five being slain.
v3.c41.s4.18
But it was a cheap price for such a decisive victory. The spoils of the victors consisted of a hundred pieces of artillery (including those abandoned in the trenches before Agra fort), 5,000 camels, 2,000 horses, twelve elephants, all the standards, band, muskets, tents and other property of Hamadāni's army.
v3.c41.s4.19
§ 7. Emperor's campaign against Najaf Quli Khan, Feb.-March, 1788.
v3.c41.s4.20
We now turn to another event, which like the episode of Prince Jawan Bakht's adventure did not influence the main contest in any way. While Ghulām Qādir and Ismail Beg were waxing in power and the Maratha star in North India was rapidly setting, the Rajah of Jaipur was induced by his ministers to invite the Emperor to issue from Delhi and join his faithful Rajput vassals in an attempt to reconquer the lost possessions of the Crown from the local usurpers. Pratap Singh's ministers hoped that if their plan succeeded the grateful Emperor would be thenceforth planted as a lawful barrier against any future Maratha attempt to dominate the Delhi Government or encroach on Rajputana.
v3.c41.s4.21
From the Jaipur point of view the nearest and most harmful of these usurpers was Najaf Quli Khan,* who was carving out a principality for himself in Mewat and the Narnol region at the expense of the Shekhawati districts of the Kachhwa kingdom. He was equally hateful to the Emperor for his insolent contumacy to his Sovereign and seizure of Crownlands.
v3.c41.s4.22
Sawai Pratap Singh’s agent in these negotiations was the Gosain Himmat Bahadur who had been his mediator at Court in Mirza Najaf’s time and after. The Emperor was tempted with the hope of gaining large sums as tribute from the Rajput princes if only he appeared among them in person. So, leaving Delhi on 4th January 1788, Shah Alam reached Bharawas, six miles south of Rewari, and here the Jaipur envoys Himmat Bahadur and Daulat Ram Haldia, as well as Bhim Singh the Marwar Bakhshi, waited on him on the 28th of the month. The Jaipur Rajah had his first audience on 3rd February. The two Courts remained encamped here for a month which was spent by the Emperor in dunning the Rajah for the promised tribute and the Rajah in replying that his realm had been devastated by Mahadji Sindhia and he had no money to give. After these vain parleys, Pratap Singh was glad to take his Sovereign’s leave by giving bankers’ bills for Rs. 25,000. [DY. i. 262, 279, 274.]
v3.c41.s4.23
∗ Shah Alam’s expedition against Najaf Quli.—DC. DY. i. 281, 272, 274. HP. 518. Ibr. iii. 122-127. ML. 318-325. G. Ali. iii. 252-256.
v3.c41.s4.24
Shah Alam now tried to settle accounts with Najaf Quli Khan. His own position was precarious. As the Maratha envoy writes, "Money is nowhere to be seen. The Emperor is accompanied by five to seven thousand troops, but owing to fasting, fifty to a hundred men out of them are daily leaving him." In fact, Begam Samru's private army was the Sovereign's only defence. Najaf Quli lay encamped under the walls of Gokulgarh (two miles north of Rewari) with a force equal to his master's, but obstinately refused to restore that district and its forts or even to wait upon the royal visitor. On the contrary he laid claim to the post of Regent, as the only surviving "adopted son" of Mirza Najaf Khan, and to jagirs worth seven lakhs a year which appertained to that high office.*
v3.c41.s4.25
Shah Alam had to do something before his army should totally dissolve through lack of pay. A week after the Jaipur party's departure, he ordered an attack on the rebel. Entrenching his camp, and placing Samru's force on his right and his Hindustani generals on the left, he sent one division under Badal Beg Khan and other Mughalia sardars ahead towards the rebel position. These Mughalia troops used to pass all the night in licentious revelry and drinking and fall asleep before daybreak. Najaf Quli learnt of it, and though himself a gay toper, he delivered a night attack on the slack and sleepy Mughalias (12th March), doing great havoc. Shah Mir Khan, Itiqad-ud-daulah and some smaller officers were slain; the rebel's Sikh allies charged up to the Emperor's residential tents. But Himmat Bahadur drove the raiders out of the trenches. Shah Alam rode off and took shelter within the square of Begam Samru's European-led infantry, who by their rapid and accurate artillery and small arm fire put Najaf Quli to flight at last.
v3.c41.s4.26
∗ "Najaf Quli is staying four kos from the imperial camp, with 1,000 horse, five battalions, and 35 guns, and declines to come to the Emperor's audience. The Emperor commands 2,000 horse, three battalions and 30 to 35 guns, but has nothing to eat. [DY. i. 281.]
v3.c41.s4.27
But the Emperor had not the strength to crush the rebel, nor any money for supporting his inflated army. Summer was fast approaching. So, at Begam Samru's welcome mediation, he agreed to patch up a peace. On 19th March Najaf Quli was presented to him, by the same lady, with his wrists tied together with a handkerchief, like a penitent captive rebel, in order to soothe imperial dignity. "His offences were forgiven and he was given a khilat, . . . restored to his offices and left in charge of his districts as before"!
v3.c41.s4.28
After this conclusion, as lame and ludicrous as Muhammad Shah's Bangarh expedition, Shah Alam at once returned to Delhi (23rd March.) "This failure has made his prestige light." [DY. i. 274.]