Part 7 (2/2)
”The effects which Mr. Anderson's remonstrance produced are very satisfactory and creditable to Government, and such explanations have followed upon the part of Sindhia, as must eventually strengthen our alliance with the Mahrattas, expose the designs of secret enemies, and secure the general tranquillity of India.”
The revolution begun by the Patel was soon completed. Zabita Khan died about this time; and Mohamad Beg, being deserted by his troops, had no resource but to throw himself upon the mercy of the Mahratta chief. The fort of Agra surrendered on the 27th of March, 1785; and all that remained of the power of the Moghul party was the fort of Aligarh, where the widow and brother of the late minister, Afrasyab Khan, still held out, in the hope of preserving the property of the deceased, the bulk of which was stored there. This stronghold, which the late Najaf Khan had wrested from the Jats, had been fortified with great care, and it had a strong garrison, but, having held out from July to November, the Governor was at last prevailed upon, by the entreaties of the ladies, to avert from them the horrors of a storm, and make terms with the besiegers. The result of the capitulation was that the eldest son of the deceased Afrasyab received an estate, yielding a yearly revenue of a lakh and a half of rupees. The rest of the property - valued at a crore, a sum then corresponding to a million of money, but really representing much more of our present currency - was seized by Sindhia.
The latter was now supreme in Hindustan; the disunited Moghul chiefs, one and all, acknowledged his authority; and a Mahratta garrison, occupying the Red Castle of Shah Jahan, rendered the Emperor little more than an honourable pageant. He joined, however, personally in all the operations of 1785, and did not return to Dehli until the middle of the following year. Sindhia did not at the time accompany him, but retired to his favourite cantonment of Mathra.
It has been already mentioned that there is little or nothing recorded of the condition of the country or of the people by native historians. It must not, however, be thought that I am satisfied with recording merely the dates of battles, or the biographies of prominent men. On the contrary, the absence of information upon the subject of the condition of the nation at large, is a great cause of regret and disappointment to me. A few particulars will be found in the concluding chapter.
In 1783, when Afrasyab Khan was distracting the country by his ambitious attempts, occurred a failure of the periodical rains, followed by one of those tremendous famines which form such a fearful feature of Indian life. In Bengal, where the monsoon is regular, and the alluvial soil moist, these things are almost as unknown as in England: but the arid plains of Hindustan, basking at the feet of the vastest mountain-chain in the world, become a perfect desert, at least once in every quarter of a century. The famine of 1783-4 has made a peculiarly deep impression upon the popular mind, under the name of the ”Chalisa,” in reference to the Sambat date 1840, of the era of Vikram Adit. An old Gosain, who had served under Himmat Bahadur, near Agra, once told the author that flour sold near Agra that year 8 seers for the rupee; which, allowing for the subsequent fall in the value of money, is perhaps equivalent to a rate of three seers for our present rupee - a state of things partly conceivable by English readers, if they will imagine the quartern loaf at four s.h.i.+llings, and butcher's meat in proportion.
These famines were greatly intensified by the want of hands for field-labour, that must have been caused by the constant drafting of men to the armies, and by the ma.s.sacre and rapine that accompanied the chronic warfare of those times. The drain on the population, however, combined with the absence of the tax-gatherer, must have given this state of things some sort of compensation in the long run. Some few further particulars regarding the state of the country will be found in the concluding chapter.
NOTE.-Besides the Mozafari, the princ.i.p.al authorities for this chapter have been Francklin's ”Shah Alum” (v. inf. p. 194) the narrative of the Shahzadah published by Warren Hastings and the continuation of Ferishta by Captain Jonathan Scott. This gentleman has already been mentioned (V. sup. p. 132), he was a.s.sisted in compiling his narrative by Maj. Polier, who was at Dehli at the time. All these authorities are strictly original and contemporaneous; and in general agree with each other. The Memoirs of Iradat Khan have also been consulted - a Dehli n.o.ble of the period. A traditional account of the Famine by an ”Old Resident” of Aligarh may not be without interest. It is taken from the Dehli Gazette of 6th June, 1874. ”As told by many persons who witnessed it, the disastrous circ.u.mstance which occurred during Sindiah's rule and prior to Du Boigne's administration known by the people as the 'Chaleesa Kaut,' the severe famine of A.D. 1783 in a considerable degree desolated the country, and the many ruinous high mounds still visible in the district owe their origin to this calamity. The inhabitants either fell victims, or fled to other parts where they met a similar fate, for the famine was a general one. It was described to me by those who lived then, that for the two previous years the rains were very unfavourable, and the produce very scanty, the third year, A.D. 1783, the people entertained strong hopes that the season would be a propitious one: but sad was their condition when they found the rainy months, 'a.s.saur and Sawun, pa.s.sing off with a scorching sun. In 'Bhadoon' they had clouds but no rain, and when the calamity came, all hopes were gone the price of grain was enormous and with difficulty it could be procured, thousands died of sheer starvation within their walls and streets, and the native governments rendered no a.s.sistance to ameliorate or relieve the wants of their unfortunate subjects.
Children were left to go astray and find their sustenance in the wild berries of the peepul, burrh, and goolur, and thus became an easy prey to the wild beasts who in numbers roved round the country in open day, living on carcases. About the middle of September or 'Kooar,' the rains fell, and so regularly that the grain which was thrown in the fields in the two previous years and did not generate for want of moisture, now came up profusely, and abundant was the produce. The state of things gradually changed for the better in October and November. An old Brahmin of Secundra Rao narrated that some years before 1810 the harvest was so plentiful that on the occasion he built a house which was on a very high plinth: he filled the plinth instead of with mud with an inferior course of small grain called 'kodun,' selling at that time uncommonly cheap, much lower than the cost of mud would be; when the famine came he dug up the coa.r.s.e grain, which was found good, and sold it, and with the money he made his house a pucka one, besides gaining a large sum in coin.”
CHAPTER V.
A.D. 1786-88.
Gholam Kadir - Pillars of the State - Siege of Raghogarh - British policy - Measures of Sindhia - Rajput Confederacy - Battle of Lalsaut - Muhammad Beg's death - Defection of Ismail Beg - Greatness of Sindhia - Gholam Kadir enters Dehli - Is checked by Begam Sumroo and Najaf Kuli Khan - Gholam Kadir pardoned; joins Ismail Beg - Battle of Chaksana - Rajput Emba.s.sy - Emperor takes the field - Shahzada writes to George III. - Najaf Kuli rebels - Death of Shahzada - Emperor's return - Battle of Firozabad - Confederates at Dehli - Their difficulties - Sindhia inactive - Benoit de Boigne.
1786. - The eldest son of the deceased chief of the Bawani Mahal was that Gholam Kadir, whom we have seen already in the character of a captive and a page. It does not appear under what circ.u.mstances he had recovered his liberty; but, on the death of Zabita Khan, he at once succeeded to his estates, under the t.i.tle of ”Najib-ud-daulah Hoshyar Jang.” As in the lower empire of Byzantium, so in the present case, in proportion as the State crumbled, the t.i.tles of its unserviceable supporters became more sonorous, until at last there was not a pillar of the ruinous fabric, however weak and however disengaged from the rest of the body, but bore some inscription equally ”imposing” in both senses of the word. Daulah or Daulat means ”The State,” and the Musalman n.o.bles were called Arkan-i-Daulat - ”Columns of the Commonwealth.” Of these one was its Sword, another its Asaph (the ”Recorder” of David and Solomon), a third its Hero, and a fourth its s.h.i.+eld. The young ”Najib” Gholam Kadir Khan, was now the most prominent representative of the Hindustani Afghans. Among the Moghuls the leading spirit was Mohamad Beg of Hamadan, for whom the Patel provided employment by sending him with an army into Malwa, where he was for some time occupied by the siege of Raghogarh. This was a very strong fort, held by a colony of Kachwaha Rajputs since the times of Najaf Khan, and commanding one of the main roads between Hindustan and the Mahratta country.
It had resisted the Mahrattas when they first invaded Malwa, and it was destined to resist Sindhia's successors almost down to our own times. It is now a peaceful market town, and the traces of its former strength are all that it retains of a military character.
Sindhia's progress in the Doab was more rapid, nor was it long before Musalman jealousy began to be aroused. The Patel opened negotiations with Mirza Jawan Bakht, having the object of inducing. that prince to return to the capital; but from this he was strongly dissuaded by the Viceroy Vazir, acting under the advice of Major Palmer, the British Resident at Lucknow. That gentleman considered the interests of the Company and of the Vazir as deeply bound up in the fate of the prince. Whilst he remained under their joint protection, the Mahratta usurpation must be incomplete; should he fall into the power of the Patel, a permanent Mahratta occupation would be established, which would be a serious danger indeed.
1787. - Under these circ.u.mstances the acting Governor-General Macpherson, who, as already noted, had succeeded Mr. Hastings when the latter left India, resolved on retaining a British Brigade in the Doab; and Lord Cornwallis, on taking office the following year, confirmed the measure. That a change began to come over the policy of the British in India about this time is well known, however the English might strive to hide it from others - or even from themselves: see, for instance, the following pa.s.sage from the Calcutta Gazette for March 8th, 1787:-
”Though the Mussulmans dwindle into insignificance, we have nothing to apprehend from the Hindus. Many have urged the necessity of upholding the influence of Moghuls to counterbalance the power of Hindus; but this should seem bad policy, as we would causelessly become obnoxious, and involve ourselves in the interests of a declining State, who are at the same time our secret enemy and rivals.”
The new Governor, likewise, further alarmed Sindhia by sending a minister to reside at the Peshwa's Court at Punah, and the Patel anxiously set himself to work to consolidate his power in Hindustan, so as to be ready for the storm, from whatever quarter it might break. Impressed with the success which had attended his predecessor, Mirza Najaf, Sindhia's first care was to organize a body of regular troops - a measure repugnant to the old politics of the Mahrattas, but none the less approving itself to his judgment on that account.
The nucleus of this force was the corps raised and organized, in 1785, by Benoit de Boigne, an officer whose history, as it forms an excellent ill.u.s.tration of the condition of Hindustan in the latter part of the last century, will be given briefly in a note at the end of this chapter. The General in command of Sindhia's forces was a Mahratta, named Appa Khandi Rao, of whom we shall hereafter have occasion to make further mention.
In civil matters, the first step taken by the Patel was the sequestration of a number of the Jaigirs of the Musalman n.o.bles - a cause of discontent to the sufferers, and of alarm to the remainder; but even this step had a military character, for the Jaigirs were fiefs bestowed for military service, and their reduction formed part of the system under which he was endeavouring to organize a standing army. With this view he at the same time recalled Mohamad Beg from the siege of Raghogarh and attempted, vainly, to induce that Chief to disband his levies.
Amongst other unpopular measures must also be enumerated the removal of Raja Narayan Da.s.s, who had for some time been in charge of the Home Revenues, and who was replaced by Shah Nizam-ud-din, a creature of Sindhia's. At the same time the Gosain leader, Himmat Bahadur, went into open rebellion in Bundelkand, on being called upon to give an account of the management of his Jaigir, a measure which he construed as portending resumption.
Nor was it an easy matter, at this particular juncture, to set about military reforms, for the Rajputs, emboldened perhaps by the resistance of Raghogarh, now began to organize a combination, which not only implied a considerable loss of power and of revenue, but likewise threatened to cut off the Patel's communications with Punah. Raja Partab Singh (head of the Kachwahas, and Dhiraj of Jaipur), called for the aid of the head of the Rathor clan, Maharaja Bijai Singh of Jodhpur, who had married his daughter, and who adopted his cause with alacrity.
Joined by the Rana of Udaipur, and by other minor chiefs, the Rajput leaders found themselves at the head of a force of 100,000 horse and foot, and 400 pieces of artillery, and with this array they took post at Lalsot, a town forty-three miles east from Jaipur, and there awaited the attack of the Imperial forces, with the more confidence that they were aware of the growing disaffection of the Moghul n.o.bles.
Here they were encountered at the end of May, 1787, by an enormous force under Sindhia in person, with Ambaji Inglia, Appa Khandi, M. de Boigne, and other trusty lieutenants. The Moghul horse and the regular infantry in the Imperial service were under the general direction of Mohamad Beg and his nephew. The latter, a young man who will play a conspicuous part in the succeeding pages, was named Ismail Beg, and was the son of Nahim Beg, who had accompanied his brother Mohamad from Hamadan, the two attaching themselves to their Persian countryman, Mirza Najaf, during that minister's later prosperity. Ismail Beg had married his uncle's daughter, and was a person of great spirit, though not, as it would seem, of much judgment or principle.
The battle, as described by Native history, began by a reconnaisance of Ismail Beg at the head of 300 Moghul horse. A large body of Rajput horse made way before him, but the Mahrattas not following up, and nearly half his men being slain, he was forced to retreat to his uncle's division. This terminated the fighting for that day, but the next morning Ismail renewed the fight, leading on his artillery on foot, and followed by his uncle on an elephant with the rest of the corps. They were throughout the day engaged with the bulk of the Rajput army, but a heavy storm arose from the westward, as evening came on. The Mahrattas, having been in the meantime severely handled by a body of Rajput swordsmen mad with opium, the battle degenerated into a cannonade, at long ranges and at fitful intervals. Suddenly a chance round-shot dropped into the Moghul ranks, which, after overthrowing two hors.e.m.e.n, made a bound and struck Mohamad Beg on the right arm. He fell from his elephant, and, coming in contact with a small stack of branches of trees that had been piled at hand for the elephants' fodder, received a splinter in his temple which proved instantly mortal. Ismail, hearing of this event, exclaimed, ”I am now the leader!” and immediately addressed the troops, and concluded the action for that day with a brisk cannonade. The next day (the 1st of June, and the third of this protracted engagement) both sides continued to fight till towards evening, when a body of some 14,000 infantry surrounded Sindhia's tents and clamorously demanded an issue of pay - very probably in arrear - and sent a message at the same time to the Jaipur Raja, offering to join him on receipt of two lakes of rupees. The Raja readily accepting these terms, the battalions joined his camp and received their money on the spot.
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