Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c47.16

v4.c47.16

Disasters fell on the defenders of Kānud in quick succession. First, in the beginning of March, Ismail Beg’s mother Khānum Begam died of old age, and four days later Najaf Quli’s heroic senior wife was killed by a cannon-ball while playing chess with her slave on an open terrace. The garrison were filled with despair, and they had no leader left, except Ismail Khan the adopted son of Najaf Quli, who had no ability. No help was to be expected from Jodhpur, where Muhammad Beg Hamadāni’s son Mirzā Najaf Ali* had gone on a mission but reported his failure. In despair numbers of the mercenaries in the fort began to go over to the Marathas, as the garrison was suffering from a great scarcity of grain, salt, ghee, and even gunpowder. So, the captains Madāri Khan Mewāti and Gulāb Singh offered submission to the Marathas, through the mediation of the Rajah of Bharatpur, if they were paid Rs. 50,000 as their arrears of pay, provided with *jāgirs*, and allowed to remove their belongings. But the Marātha general insisted on Mirzā Ismail Beg being seized and delivered to him as a prisoner, because the Emperor had sternly commanded Mahādji Sindhia to capture the Mirzā and punish him as severely as Ghulām Qādir, who was his ally in the sack of the Delhi palace in 1788. To this Madāri Khan would not or could not agree, and some four weeks were lost in consequence.