Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c41.s4.24

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.*