Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c54.s12.2

v4.c54.s12.2

When the tide of battle showed the first sign of turning against them, the camp followers and tradesmen of Sindhia’s army made a rush into Punā for safety. But the ruffians of the city attacked and robbed them of all that they were carrying. Even the fugitive soldiers of the broken army found no shelter in the capital of the prince who had called them to his aid; they were stripped of their arms, dress and money by the Punā people, and driven out into the fields. Sindhia’s disciplined infantrymen were all North Indians by race, Rajputs and Hindustani Muslims; in Maratha eyes they were foreigners (*pardeshis*) and hence, in their hour of woe no one in Punā lent them a helping hand, no one even had pity for their wounded; they were refused food and shelter, stripped of their all, and left to perish in the streets like dogs.* As the agent of the Southern jāgirdārs observes, “Such a bad time has come to Sindhia’s soldiers that today they can find no saviour (*trātā*); none even gave them a place in which to lie down.”