The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c24.3

c24.3

Following Dr. Horn’s example, I will give a description of the battle of Ḥasanpur, fought on the 13th Nov. 1720. On the 28th Sept. 1719, Muḥammad Shāh had been raised to the throne at Āgrah by the two Sayyad brothers, ʿAbdullah Khān and Ḥusain ʿAlī Khān. Shortly afterwards (8th Oct. 1720), with Muḥammad Shāh’s tacit approval, the younger brother was assassinated. ʿAbdullah Khān thereupon raised another scion of the royal house, Prince Ibrāhīm, to the throne, and marched from Dihlī against Muḥammad Shāh, who was coming from the south-east. Just before the decisive battle, the emperor’s head-quarters were at Ḥasanpur, those of ʿAbdullah Khān about six miles further north, at Bilūchpur. Both places are between Mathurā and Dihlī, on the right bank of the Jamnah, in parganah Palwal. The authorities on which the following description is founded are 1) Kāmwar Khān, 2) Shiū Dās, 3) Khāfī Khān, 4) Mḥd Qāsim, Lāhorī, 5) Mḥd Shafīʿ, Wārid, 6) Khwājah ʿAbd-ul-Karīm, Kashmīrī, and 7) Mḥd ʿUmr, son of Khiẓr Khān.