Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c44.41

v4.c44.41

Therefore, while the struggle with Ghulām Qādir was still undecided and Delhi had yet to be regained, Sindhia deemed it good policy to win Ismail Beg over (7th October 1788) and keep him harmlessly employed in wresting from Najaf Quli Khan the jāgir which he was building up for himself in the Rewāri Nārnaul area, (Ch. 36, § 7). This estate was now transferred by Sindhia to Ismail Beg. Mahādji Sindhia himself arrived at Mathurā on 4th July, 1788. In this holy city and its neighbouring village of Vrindāvan he remained till December, 1790, when he set out for Rewāri en route to Rajputana. During this long halt of two years and a half, he never once visited the Emperor, though so near at Delhi, nor marched to anywhere else in his Hindustan dominions. Though seemingly triumphant in arms, he was pinned down to one place by a series of difficulties. First, the complete suppression of Ghulām Qādir engaged his resources for the six months from July to December, 1788. Next year, his severe illness, beginning in March and ending in August, 1789, made any work impossible for five months. An offshoot of this illness was his animosity to Himmat Bahādur Gosāin, whom he ordered to be arrested on 21st July, but who took sanctuary with Ali Bahādur, and as a consequence of this step a civil war threatened to break out between these two Maratha Chiefs assembled in Mathurā.