1878.] 
W. Irvine— The Bang ash Nawahs of Farr uJchdbad. 
331 
command of the van. Marching all night, they crossed the Ganges at the 
ferry of Kasondhan. # Before their arrival, Jaswant Singh attacked Say- 
yad Muhammad Khan, most of whose men fled ; and although he held his 
ground under a mango tree with a small body, some forty-three in number, 
of his best troops, his artillery and standard elephant were taken. Shekh 
Allahyar now arrived, and Shah Nawaz Khan engaged the enemy on the 
left. Their horsemen, thinking the day was won, had dismounted, and 
were seated in the bed of a dry tank. When the Muhammadans approach¬ 
ed, the syces ran away, Lai Bikramajit and Jaswant Singh alone succeeded 
in mounting their horses. The other men tried to escape on foot pursued 
by Shekh Allahyar’s troops. Many of the horses, owing to the uneven 
ground of the tank, fell and threw their riders. Shekh Din Muhammad 
Bilgrami, hampered by his armour and his iron gauntlets, and the unsteadi¬ 
ness of his horse, was set upon by a group of ten Rajputs, who pulled him 
off; his horse. He succeeded in cutting oft the heads of two men, and broke 
his sword on the third. Of the seven left one tried to wrestle with Din 
Muhammad, when Sayyad Muhammad, a retainer of Shekh Allahyar’s, rode 
up and was about to dismount. Din Muhammad told him not to interfere. 
Two of the assailants now fled, another tripped and fell, and Din Muhammad 
despatched him with his mace. Sayyad Muhammad then wounded the last 
Rajput, who threw down his sword and begged for his life. This encounter 
was witnessed by Shekh Allahyar, then fifteen or sixteen years of age, from 
the back of his elephant. Pursuit was made for three Icos , till they drew 
near to the hills of Bijipur. In the morning 1720 dead bodies were counted ; 
on the side of Shah Nawaz Khan 83 men were wounded and 7 killed.f 
Nadir Shah’s Invasion. 
When Nadir Shah invaded India and defeated the Imperial troops near 
Karnal in February 1739, (1151 IT.) Muhammad Shah, the day before the 
battle, put Nawab Muhammad Khan in charge of his women. Muhammad 
Shah, the story goes, made some bitter remark as to his absence from the 
battle-field, which provoked a quick retort from Muhammad Khan. The 
Nawab retired in dudgeon to his house at Bangash ghat on the Jamna. Many 
days after, Nadir Shah asked for his friend Muhammad Khan. The Emperor 
sent for him, but the Nawab replied that he was ill. The messenger went back 
and fore several times. At length two of Nadir Shah’s chamberlains ( naskchi) 
and Muhammad Shah’s page (Jchawas) were sent. No longer able to excuse 
himself, Nawab Muhammad Khan told his companions that his last hour 
* On the left bank of the Ganges, in parganah Kewail. 
f HacWcat-ul-AkaUm Iklim II, art. Arail, and Iklfni III, art. Bilgram, Account 
of Shekh Din Muhammad. 
TJ U 
