48 
W. Irvine— The Later Mu g hals. 
[No. 1, 
and proposed that in spite of the approach of the hot weather, stores of 
water should be collected and the advance continued. Ajit Singh, he 
asserted, must either be taken and his head sent to Court, or his son 
surrendered as a hostage and his daughter offered as a bride to the 
Emperor. Others advised delay, and much apprehension prevailed. The 
difficulties were many, the great heat of the sun, the deficiency of water, 
the high prices, the want of grain and grass for the cattle. In spite of 
all these, Husain ’All Khan resolved to leave most of his baggage 
behind and make a forced march on Jodhpur. 1 
The conclusion of the campaign was soon announced at Court by a 
report received ou the 14th Rabi ‘1,1126 H. (29th March 1714). It 
appeared that Ajit Singh had retreated in one night from his position 
south of Sambhar and had fallen back on Mairtha, and without making 
any stand there had gone on to Jodhpur, where he had hoped to be safe, 
surrounded by the desert. Finding that the Sayyad was still pressing 
onwards and seemed determined to strike a blow at him in spite of the 
inaccessibility of his capital, he sent his women and children into 
places of safety in the hill country, and himself sought refuge in the 
deserts of Bikaner. 2 Evidently he felt himself too weak to meet the 
imperialists in the open field, and during the time that Sayyad Miyan, 
the Bakhshi’s father, was governor of Ajmer, the Rajputs had learned 
respect for Husain ‘All Khan’s qualities as a general. When Husain 
‘All Khan was within 30 miles of Mairtha, an embassy arrived from 
the Rajah, escorted by fifteen hundred horsemen. 55 It was believed that 
their arrival was a mere subterfuge, devised in order to gain time for 
the Rajah to escape. In order to make sure of them, Husain ‘All 
Khan told them that if they were in earnest, they must agree to be put 
in fetters. After objecting to this proposal, as involving infamy and 
disgrace, they consented. Four of the principal men were put in 
chains. Directly they made their appearance from the Audience tent 
in this condition, the loose characters of the imperial camp assumed 
1 Kam Raj, 55b, A’hwal-i-M.awaqln, 72a. 
2 Tod, II., 82, says Ajit Singh sent off the men of wealth to Sewanoh and his 
eon and family to the desert of Razdarroh, west of the Loni river. This Razdarroh 
may be the Raus or Rass of Thornton, 820, a town on the N.-W. declivity of the 
Aravalli range, 38 m. W. of Nasirabad, Lat. 26° 17', Long. 74° 16 # . Sewanoh is 
possibly the Sewarra of Thornton, 876, 27 m. S.-W. by S. of Jodhpur, 42 m. N. of 
Disah, Lat. 24° 50', Long. 72°. 
fc Khushhal Cand, 401b, says that Ajit Singh asked Jai Singh of Amber for 
advice, and was recommended to make terms. Is this at all likely ? According to 
Tod, II, 82, the terms were asked for by the advice of Ajit Singh’s diwans, and 
still more of KeSar, the bard, who adduced a precedent of the time when Daulat 
Khan, Lodi, had invaded Marwar. 
