74 W. Irvine — The Bangash Nawabs of FarrulcMbdd. [No. 2, 



sword cuts. In this encounter were slain Mir Ghulam Nabi and Mir 'Azim- 

 ud-din, Sayyads of Bilgram.* 



As soon as Nawab Abmad Khan reached the field of battle, the Mu- 

 ghuls discharged their artillery, great and small, loaded with spikes (goJchru) 

 and broken iron instead of balls. From the noise the earth trembled but 

 tbe execution done was small. No one was wounded except Parmul Khan, 

 who lost the skin of one finger. From the spreading of the smoke tbe sky 

 was obscured and for a time it was quite dark.f 



Nawab Ahmad Khan waited a few moments till the smoke had sub- 

 sided, when he made a rapid advance through some dhdk jungle upon the 

 Wazir's entrenchment. The horsemen having dismounted drew their swords 

 and preceded the Nawab. By voice and b} r signs with his bow, he urged on 

 the kahars to carry his palki speedily into the midst of the enemy. When 

 the Pathans got near the guns, they fired their matchlocks and drove off 

 the artillery-men, and the chains protecting the camp they cut with their 

 swords or with axes. They now had got near to where the Wazir stood 

 with a large force, and the Pathans began the attack on him with a discharge 

 of musketry and arrows. The Nawab at the head of the reserve came up 

 and joined them. With his own hand he discharged his arrows, aiming at 

 the Wazir, and the Pathans so exerted themselves with their swords that 

 there was a general slaughter, and corpse fell upon corpse. At this moment 

 a Pathan from Tilhar £ in Eohilkhand came up towards the rear of the 

 Wazir's position, and finding an action going on, sent a camel rider for 

 orders. He was told to make his way towards the canopied howdah in 

 which sat the Wazir ; and the troops being few in that direction, where no 

 attack was expected, the Tilhar Pathan, with his three hundred men, forced 

 their way close to the Wazir and discharged their matchlocks. 



The Wazir's elephant-driver was shot and fell to the ground ; his com- 

 panion in the hind seat, Mirza 'Ali Naki, tutor of Shuja'-ud-daula, the 

 Wazir's son, was wounded ; and the Wazir himself received a grazing wound 



* The Miftdh-ut-tawdrikh, pp. 497, 498, gives poetical tarikhs by Mir Ghulam 'Ali 

 Azad, who also mentions them in the " Sarv-i-Azdd." The father of the author of the 

 Siyar-ul-Mutdkharin would seem to have been present in this battle. S-ul-M. p. 877, 

 seventh line from bottom. 



f The Khizdna 'Amira, p. 81, says nearly all the artillery had been sent away 

 with the van, but this does not seem quite borne out. At any rate this smoke from the 

 artillery seems to be the explanation of the dust storm usually pleaded as a screen for 

 the Wazir's defeat, see Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan, p. 38, Hamilton's Eohilla Afghans, 

 p. 103. First, a dust storm does not come in September, secondly, it would come from 

 the West and would blow into the Pathan' s faces, and so far be favourable to the 

 Wazir, who faced to the east not to the west. 



% In the Shabjahanpur district. 



