1 Ahmad Shoah returns
2 238 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB,
3 dying. They were pursued in every direction by the victorious Afghans,
4 who gave them no quarter. Great numbers fell” in the ‘pursuit; which was
5 kept up for fifteen or twenty miles in all directions. Wiswas Rao and Bhau,
6 it need hardly be said, were among the slain. Almost all the great Mahratta
7 chiefs were killed or wounded, and the remnants who fled to the Dekkan
8 owed their lives to the swiftness of their horses. Among’ the refugees were ‘
9 Malhar Rao Holkar, Madhoji Sindhia, who afterwards became the founder
10 of a great State, but who was lamed for life by’ a gun shot in the flight.
11 Shamsher Bahadur also effected his escape, but..died “shortly afterwards |
12 from the effects of a wound in the neck. According to the best accounts, the
13 number of slain on the side of the Mahrattas amounted to 200,000, while’
14 22,000 prisoners, 50,000 horse and an immense booty fell into the hands
15 of the victors. ‘
16 This great battle, which has been surpassed by few in carnage, with its
17 disastrous issue for the Mahrattas, sealed the fate of that aspiring nation.
18 Dismay and despondency preyed on the whole. people, and Balaji, their
19 Peshwa, or king, died soon after of grief and disappointment. They eva- .
20 cuated their acquisitions in Hindostdén and retired. beyond the Narbadd,
21 never to recover their power.
22 After the victory of Pdnipat, the whole of Hindostén lay at the mercy
23 of the Abdali conqueror. But he had no wish to ascend the vacant throne
24 of the Moghals; so, after remaining at Delhi for a few days and arranging
25 the affairs of India, he returned to the Panjdéb, which had been already
26 ceded to him, and with which he appeared contented.
27 During the absence of Ahmad Shah at Panipat, the Sikhs had again
28 become troublesome in the Panjéb. The king had called away Karim Dad
29 Khan, Subadar of Lahore, and Faujdar Khan, the Governor of Pasrur, for
30 The Sikh confedera- gervice in the field. Sar Buland Khan was left as Governor of the Jalandar
31 Dob and Amfr Muhammad Khan in charge of the Suba of Léhore. While
32 the attention of all the Mahomedan chiefs was absorbed in the affairs of
33 Hindostan, the Sikhs ravaged the country far and wide. A great number of
34 them assembled at the Baisdkhi festival at Amritsar, where Jassa Singh, Ah-
35 luwalia, Chet Singh, Kanhia, Hari Singh, Bhangi and Lahnd Singh,
36 assisted by other Sikh sardars, formed a confederacy to pillage Lahore.
37 A large number of Sikh horsemen swarmed round Léhore, pillaging
38 the residents who lived outside the city walls and setting their houses on
39 fire. Hundreds of lives were lost, while the damage done to private proper-
40 ty was beyond estimation. Amir Muhammad, Khan, the naib subadar, shut
41 himself up inthecity. The Sikhs surrounded the town on all sides, and de-
42 manded a heavy sum of money for Karha* Parshéd, to induce them to with:
43 draw. The naib subadar offered Rs. 30,000, as the price of sweetmeats
44 for the children of the Khdlsdé, who then withdrew. Ahmad Shah, on his .
45 return from Panipat, took no steps to chastise the Sikhs, or to remedy the
46 disorders that then prevailed in the Panjab, but, appointing Khwajé Obed
47 Ahmad Shah returns Khan, governor of Léhore, Sar Buland Khan, governor of Multén, and Zen
48 Alam blinded and de-
49 Khan to the charge of Sirhind, returned to Kébul in the spring of 1761.
50 On 12th August, 1765, the Emperor Shah Alam ceded in perpetuity the
51 dewdni or revenue management of the provinces of Bengal, Behar and
52 Orissa to Lord Clive, the British Governor-General in Calcutta. The pro-
53 vinces contained a population of 25,000,000 and yielded a revenue of
54 4,000,000 sterling. In August, 1788, the Emperor was blinded by Gholém
55 arthe Rohilla _ Kéadar, the Rohilla chief, who treated the whole royal family with horrible
56 * A sort of sweetmeat made of sugar, flour and ghi.
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