Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c47.15

v4.c47.15

But he failed to get the expected welcome here, for in the meantime the widow of Najaf Quli had changed her mind with the change in the political situation. Mahādji Sindhia having departed for the Deccan, the Marathas had no leader left in Northern India whom their enemies feared, while Ismail Beg’s known harshness and selfish greed meant that if Kānud fort was handed over to him, he would personally seize all the wealth in it and turn Najaf Quli’s widow and captains into his slaves. Therefore, the senior widow of Najaf Quli, who ruled the fort with masculine spirit, had in concert with her captains Madāri Khan Mewāti, Gulāb Singh and others, set up Najaf Quli’s adopted son, named Ismail Khan (not to be confounded with Ismail Beg) as master of Kānud and held that fort in his name. The Mirzā’s troops were not admitted to Kānud, but halted in fort Mādhogarh, a hill post near it, and both places were subjected to a distant blockade by Mahādji’s troops under Khāndé Rao. This static warfare continued for nearly three months, when, about the 16th of February 1792, Khāndé Rao gained possession of Mādhogarh fort by paying its starving garrison Rs. 2,200, the salary due to them. Ismail Beg, to avoid capture, fled from the fort to Kānud, but his path of help was now closed. Khāndé Rao also erected raised batteries closer to Kānud and began to throw shells into that fort.