Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c53.s2.10

v4.c53.s2.10

At the same time the death of Mahādji Sindhiā encouraged all the anti-Marātha elements in Northern India, and even the faithless Shah Alam to invite the Durrāni king Zamān Shāh to invade India and repeat his grand-father's feat by expelling the Marāthas and restoring Muslim domination in Hindustan. Every winter that the Shah crossed the Khyber and came to Peshāwar, a thrill of fear passed through the Panjab, Delhi and Oudh. In 1794 (January), 1795 (Nov.), 1796 (Nov.), 1797 (Oct.), and 1798 (Oct.) Zamān Shāh visited Peshāwar, and in 1797 and 1798 occupied Lāhor itself. The report of his movements sent the rich fleeing from Lāhor, Amritsar and even Delhi to safer places, and made the Marātha generals in the north "tremble like a cane branch under the wind" and cling helplessly to the English for armed support. From our fuller knowledge of the facts we can now see that the Afghan menace was really not so great as the men of the time feared. In fact, the Durrāni king's power was hopelessly weakened by his empty treasury and the incurable disputes in his family, while the Sikhs gradually set as a concrete wall guarding the land of the five rivers, and young Ranjit Singh made himself master of Lāhor.*