Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c44.s2.34

v4.c44.s2.34

We shall now study the policy of the Jaipur State from the battle of Tungā to the final triumph of Mahādji Sindhia’s arms in Rajputana three years later. After the Maratha retreat from Lālsot, the Jaipur Rajah forbade any pursuit of the enemy. Later when Ismail Beg and other Mughalia captains urged him to attack Sindhia’s stronghold of Agra fort and drive the Deccanis beyond the Narmadā, Pratāp Singh restrained them by saying that he would maintain these Muslim mercenaries for the defence of his own realm only, but would not undertake any adventure outside his frontiers, unless commanded by the Emperor and supported by imperial troops. (Ch. 36, § 2). The Jaipur Rajah’s first task was to recover the old territories of his house on the eastern border, which had been usurped by his vassal, the chief of Macheri (Alwar), during twenty years of successful aggression. But this he could not do with his unaided resources.