300 AY. Irvine —The Bangash Nawabs of FurruTchdbdd. [No. 4, 
“ fouglit on till at midnight not another infidel was to he seen either to the 
“ left or to the right, hut still death did not come to him.” 
On reaching Jaitpur he began at once to strengthen the fortifications. 
But there were no stores of food and no time to send for supplies. The 
Mahrattas having defeated Kaim Khan soon returned, and completely in¬ 
vested the town and fort of Jaitpur, into which Muhammad Khan had with¬ 
drawn with his men and had closed the gates. A cannonade from both sides 
began and Akbar Khan, the Nawab’s son, who was renowned for his strength, 
threw down heavy stones from the fort wall and killed many of the Mah¬ 
rattas. AVhen the besiegers found they could not take the place by assault, 
they decided to starve out the garrison. Jaitpur was strictly invested for 
several months till there was no longer any grain for food. Then the 
soldiers began to slaughter their horses and bullocks. Flour could not be 
procured even at one hundred rupees the seer. Some of the Mahrattas used 
to come at night with supplies of flour, half of which was made up of 
ground bones. Those inside let down their money by a rope, flour was at¬ 
tached in its place at the rate of a seer for every hundred rupees, and the rope 
was then drawn up.* Many of the soldiers died of starvation, and many 
more leaving the Nawab to his fate escaped from the fort. Baji Bao’s 
orders to his guards were that any of Muhammad Khan’s men who gave up 
their arms should be allowed to pass unmolested. Many having no food pre¬ 
ferred to give up their arms and get away. Only some thousand or twelve 
hundred remained with the Nawab. 
AVhen the Mahrattas had fallen thus unexpectedly on his father, Kaim 
Khan was still away at Tarahwan. He obeyed at once the summons to 
him. He got as far as Supa, a few miles from Jaitpur, when the Mahrattas 
met him. As he had barely more than a thousand men with him, he was 
soon defeated, many of his men killed and the supplies under his convoy 
scattered. All hope of immediate relief was thus dispelled. It only re¬ 
mained to Muhammad Khan to call upon the Emperor and the great 
nobles and Bajahs for aid to extricate himself from his trying position. 
These efforts were unavailing. Although the most urgent appeals were sent 
in all directions, not a hand was raised to help or encourage him. 
In this extremity Nawab Muhammad Khan wrote to his son, Kaim Khan 
telling him to go to Sa’dat Khan Burhan-ul Mulk Bahadur Jang, and ’Abd-ul 
Mansur Khan to demand aid. His orders were to head the relieving force 
in person, in order to extricate his father from the toils of the Mahrattas. 
Kaim Khan went to Sa’dat Khan and ’Abd-ul-Mansur Khan at Faizabad. 
’Abd-ul-Mansur Khan had married Sa’dat Khan’s daughter, and he was also 
his sister’s son. These two nobles decided that they would send no troops 
* These details are confirmed by the author of the llacUlcat-ul-AJcdttm, who got 
them, he says, from a book written by a man who was present throughout. 
