88 W. Irvine—TZhe Bangash Nawdbs of Farrukhibéd. [No. 2, 
By order of the Nawab, his son, Mahmiid Khan, then about fifteen 
years of age, moved from Jhiisi westwards through Audh. On the road the 
zamindars of Dundyakhera, fifty miles south of Lakhnau, plundered 
the carts carrying the Nawab’s personal effects (tosha-khdna). When it 
was reported to Mahmtid Khan that the baggage had been plundered and 
several soldiers killed, he halted, and in six hours sacked the village and. 
massacred the inhabitants. After the fight some thousands of boxes were 
recovered in the village. As he advanced further west, he learnt that the 
Shekhs of Lakhnau and Kakauri* had risen and ejected the Pathans ~ 
from those two places. At that time no reprisals were possible, and the 
young Nawab marched on, near Bilgram} where he met with some resis- 
tance, past Sandi and P4li,f to the bank of the Ganges opposite his father’s 
entrenchment at Fatehgarh. 
Commencing his march westwards from Allahabad, Nawab Ahmad 
Khan in six days reached his own capital. But the adventurers, who had 
before joined him from all sides, being pure mercenaries, melted away on 
the road and retired to places of safety. Only those of good name and 
position remained true to his standard. His first care was to send off the 
Bibi Sahiba and his female relations, who with considerable reluctance cross-= 
ed the Ganges and set out for Shahjahanpir or Anwalah. Many of the 
inhabitants of the city, seeing her departure, began to desert their homes, 
The Nawab now summoned all the commanders and leaders, name by name, 
to devise means of opposing the enemy. All the commanders and leaders, 
the bankers and chief traders of the bazar, all who were noted for their 
intelligence and ability, appeared before the Nawab. They represented to 
him that the enemy was very numerous, while the Nawab’s force in compa- 
rison was like salt in flour. Admitting that though few they were brave, 
yet the wise men of old had said “ one fights with one, not one with a thou- 
“sand.” It was true the Nawab was capable of meeting the kings of 
Europe in battle array, yet on this occasion the Wazfr, to remove the stain 
to his name caused by his previous disgrace, had brought all the fighting 
men of Hindtstin, the Jats and the Mahrattas, like a tribe of ants or a 
flight of locusts. They therefore thought it advisable to move to the 
Ganges bank, near the ferry of Hussainpur, three miles east of the city 
Siyar-ul-I., p. 883, indirectly confirms the date of 1165 H. The Oudh Gazetteer 
(II. 477 and III. 147) states the scene of the assassination to have been Gutni, on 
the Ganges, five miles south of Manikpur. 
* About 12 miles W. of Lakhnau. 
+ In the Hardoi district, about 34 miles from Farrukhébad. 
{t Both in the Hardoi district. ~ 
