1904] 
TV. Irvine —The Later Muahah. 
343 
doubt, overtaken by irresistible panic. 1 Khafi Khan draws tbe moral 
that this disgraceful rout was a special interposition of Providence. 
For, if it had not happened, would they not, for ages to come, have 
boasted that they had gone to Dihli, the imperial capital, and there 
deposed and imprisoned the Emperor- of Hindustan ? If Khafi Khan, 
poor man, had lived a little longer, he would have seen events that 
turned such a boast into no more than the sober truth ! 
During this outbreak reports spread that, on learning the intention 
to seize Farrukhsivar. Maharajah Ajit Singh, unable to restrain himself 
any longer, had plunged a dagger into Qutb-ul-mulk several times, 
and had despatched him. Although everybody knew that, except the 
Sayyads’ partisans, there was no one in the fort, and therefore no 
one likely to do such an act, people were ready, in the confusion and 
uproar, to believe that anything was possible. It was confidently 
asserted that Nizamul-mulk had come out to rescue his sovereign, but he 
was far too prudent to make any such attempt. He stood with his Mughals 
in the enclosure of the Fruit Market until he heard that Farrukh¬ 
siyar had been seized, and thereupon withdrew to his house. Other 
nobles who still clung to Farrukhsiyar’s cause, appeared in the 
streets and turned towards the palace, prepared to fight their way to 
it. These were 1‘tiqad Khan, Mir Mushrif, 2 Islam Khan, Mukhlis Khan, 
Mun‘im Khan, Sayyad Salabat Khan and Saifullah Khan, Bakhshi, 
with some of the Wala Shcihi ; Samsam-ud-daulah did not appear in 
person, 'but sent his men. Manohar, captain of artillery, with two or 
three thousand of the emperor’s artillery, also took the field. This 
group advanced as far as the Dihli gate of the fort and the square of 
the late Sa’dullah Khan, just south of that gate. Aghar Khan with 
his Mu gh als also appeared on the west side of the fort, in front of the 
Lahori gate, and wished to take part in the resistance to the Sayyads. 
But the gates were shut in his face and he was obliged to beat a 
retreat. In another direction, that of the Candnl Cauk, appeared 
Grhazi-ud-din Khan (Abroad Beg) and Sadat Khan, the emperor’s 
father-in-law. 
The Sayyads advanced their artillery from its position near the 
imperial stables, and threw several shot from rahkalahs and dhamkahs 
1 Warid, 158a, Muhammad Qasim, 244 • IGiafiKhan, II, 811, 814 ; Mirza Muham¬ 
mad, 453 ; Kamwar Khan, 193. 
2 Mir Mushrif, once Daro gh ah of artillery in Husain ‘All Khan’s service, had 
been lately taken into the Emperor’s employ (Khafi Khan, II, 812). Having quar¬ 
relled with Husain ‘Ali Khan, he left the Dakhin, and arrived at Dihli on the 26th 
Rabi‘11, 1130 H. (28th March, 1718). 
