1879.] W. Irvine—The Bangash Nawabs of Farrukhabdd. 151 
Itawah was threatened, marched to Kadir-Chauk on the Ganges. Here he 
learned that Najib Khan, having been taken ill at Koil, had set out for 
Najibabad. On his road he died at Hapar in the Meerut district. His 
death occurred in the month of October, 1770. His eldest son, Zabita Khan, 
proceeded with the Mahrattas towards Farrukhabad. 
Hafiz Rahmat Khan sent fifteen thousand horse and foot to the aid 
of Ahmad Khan. On hearing that the Mahrattas were at Patidli, some 
forty miles west of Farrukhabad, Hafiz Rabmat Khan marched in person 
to Fathgarh and encamped on the east bank of the Ganges. A consul- 
tation was then held with Ahmad Khan. A bridge of boats was construct- 
ed, and the remainder of the army, about twenty thousand horse and foot, 
crossed the Ganges and encamped between Fathgarh and Farrukhabad. 
Meanwhile Zabita Khan wrote to say that he was a prisoner in the 
hands of the Mahrattas. Negotiations began for his release and the with- 
drawal of the Mahrattas. The Mahrattas claimed Itawah and Shikohabad, 
which had been long in their possession before they were handed over in 
jag to Hafiz Rahmat Khan. During this period Najib Khan’s army 
arrived from Ghausgarh* and Najibabdd.f Zabita Khan succeeded in 
escaping during the night and, joining his troops, returned home. 
The war was now carried on by the Mahrattas alone. In several actions 
they defeated the Afghans, who behaved badly. At length the Rohelas 
were on the point of re-crossing the Ganges, when the Mahrattas broke up 
their camp and marched for Itawah. ’Inayat Khan, son of Hafiz Rahmat 
Khan, was then asked by his father to give up his jdgir of Itawah. He 
refused and retired in disgust to Bareli. Donde Khan, however, relinquish- 
ed his claim on Shikohabad. Orders were sent to Shekh Kabir to resign 
the fort of Itawah to the Mahrattas. Shekh Kabir, who had in the interval 
repulsed the Mahrattas several times, obtained honorable terms. He then 
joined Hafiz Rahmat Khan at Farrukhabad, and all the Rohelas returned 
to Bareli after an absence of eight months (October, 1770—May, 1771).t 
At this time Sendhia entered the Nawab’s territory and encamped at 
Nabiganj, some twenty miles south of Farrukhabad. Bakhshi Fakhr-ud-daula 
proposed to collect forty thousand men and attempt resistance. The Nawab, 
who was old and blind, said he knew they would fight to the last man, but 
the Bakhshi was the blind man’s staff, and if the staff (which God forbid) 
were broken, the blind man would be destroyed. He therefore desired that 
a peace should be made as quickly as possible. The Bakhshi taking with 
* Between the towns of Théna Bhowan and Jalalabad in the west of the Mu- 
zaffarnagar district. A mosque and a large well are all that is left to mark the site, 
t+ In the Bijnor district. 
} Life of Hafiz Rahmat Khan, pp. 89—93, 
