1 Tragic murder of
2 the emperor Alamgir
3 II, November 1759.
4 Shah Alam succeeds
5 to the throne, 1759.
6 Ahmad Shah crosses
7 the Jamna.
8 The people become
9 tired of the Mahrattas,
10 Confederacy of the
11 Mahomedan chiefs.
12 The battle of Badli.
13 934 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
14 Khan, the Kdshmiri, put him in a palanquin, and sent him back to the
15 city under a strong guard. The supposed hermit, who proved to be a
16 savage Uzbek, named Bala Bash Khan, then, on a signal given, jumped up,
17 and, with the help of three others, inflicted repeated wounds with daggers,
18 and brought the old man to the ground. The assassins then stripped the
19 body of its rich robes, and threw the trunk from the top of the parapet on
20 to the sands at the foot of the Kotla. After lying on the ground for eight-
21 een hours, the body was taken up by order of Mahdi Ali Khan, and interred
22 in the sepulchre of the emperor Humdyfn. The tragedy occurred on 30th
23 November, 1759. Alamgir II * was sixty years of age when he died, and had
24 reigned about six years.
25 CHAPTER XXV.
26 ALI GOHAR SHAH ALAM II.
27 Ww" the murder of Alamgir II, the great empire of Delhi had virtually
28 ceased to exist. The wazir, Imad-ul-Mulk, raised to the nominal throne
29 Mohi-ul-Millat, grandson of Prince K4m Baksh, but he was never ac-
30 knowledged, and Ali Gohar, the prince imperial, who was a fugitive in
31 Bengal, subsequently ascended the throne, under the pompous title of Shah
32 Alam, or “king of the world,” when, in fact, all that remained actually in his
33 possession was a few districts around the capital. The rest had been all
34 lost to the empire, either by usurpation of the viceroys, or by foreign conquest.
35 Tmad-ul-Mulk, finding his position untenable, took himself to the protec-
36 tion of the Jats. He then moved to the Dekkan, and lived in obscurity
37 until 1800, when he died.
38 Ahmad Shah, the Durrani king, crossed the Jamna opposite Saharan-
39 pur, and then fought those bloody battles which have been surpassed by
40 few in India in havoc and carnage. The people of the country were
41 exasperated by the depredations of the Mahrattas, and the re-appearance of
42 the Abdali Shah was hailed by a large party in India. The Mahratta
43 detachments retired from Lahore to Delhi on the approach of the Shah,
44 who was joined by the celebrated Najib-ud-doula, Hafiz Rahmat Khan, the
45 Rohilla chief, and many ‘other Mahomedan families, Continued skirmishes
46 took place between the Durrdnis and the Mahrattas, before the latter, under
47 the command of their General Dataji Sindhia, crossed the Jamna, and’reached
48 Badli near Delhi. Here both armies lay intrenched for several days. The
49 Shah cut off the enemy’s supplies, and the Mahrattas, being put to great straits
50 for want of provisions, came out to give him battle. They advanced with great
51 resolution, and a sanguinary battle was fought, the first shock of which was
52 severely felt by the Rohilla contingent of the Shah. The Rohillas were on
53 * Beale, in his Aiftahul Tawarikh, gives the following inscription of the coin of this
54 emperor :— ;
55 iA peelle ero 535 — ls wrale ay how 3 132
56 “* Ag-ud-din Alamgir the Second, struck coin on gold like the Sahib Quran.”
57 Another coin bore the following inscription :—
58 slaok (gilt yahodle wErdipys ats —= xlo dye? wb ts Son dphS nko ys 3 Bhas
59 “The valiant king Az-ud-din Alamgir put his stamp o i ik ini
60 tee ee gir p p on the seven climes like the shining
61 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com