Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c47.13

v4.c47.13

Leaving Jodhpur he marched to Mārot, where he looted two small forts for feeding his soldiers. This roused the wrath of Bijay Singh who conducted the Mirzā out of his territories under an escort of Marwār troops, to Jaipur. In the Kachhwā State the Mirzā was encouraged by the minister Daulat Rām Haldiā (who was anti-Maratha, in contrast with his rival Rodoji Khawās, the friend of Sindhia). He tried to come to terms with Tukoji Holkar, as he knew Mahādji Sindhia to be his inveterate enemy. But no money could be had from the Jaipur State, and Ismail’s present forces were quite unequal to the task of confronting Mahādji’s ever-victorious troops. Thus the months of October and November were spent in idleness and futile planning. The country had been desolated by a famine, and Ismail’s force was being daily thinned by desertion on account of his failure to find money for them anywhere.