Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c47.s4.3

v4.c47.s4.3

Then Zālim Singh and Sindhia's minister Sadāshiv Malhār visited the Mahārānā at Udaipur to arrange for an interview between these two chiefs. Mahādji was very keen on such a meeting, as it would exalt him among the Rajahs of Rajasthan, exactly as his regency of Shah Alam had elevated him in the eyes of the princes and people of the Mughal Empire. No other Marātha chief except the Peshwā Bāji Rao I. had been honoured with an interview on terms of such intimacy by the highest Kshatriya sovereign, the eldest descendant of the Sun. As arranged, Mahādji advanced ten miles from his camp to welcome the Mahārānā. Their interview took place on 4th September, at Naharā Magrā, 16 miles north-east of Udaipur, where the Mahārānā had a hunting-lodge in the wooded hill. The Rānā's ministers assured Sindhia that the fifty lakhs would be easily collected if he encamped with his army in that kingdom for two months and coerced the rebel vassals. It was agreed that in future the civil and military administration of Mewār would be conducted by Zālim Singh Jhālā and Lālji Ballāl Lād (Sindhia's tribute-collector posted at Kotā) in the name of the Mahārānā, and that that sovereign must act according to their guidance. (*MD.* ii. 226-227. *DY.* ii. 33.)