Tempo:
CHAP. V
SINDHIA TAKES DELHI
109
power of the Marathas in Northern India, and the dis- ivss-g?. cipline of his regular brigades seemed to place his ad- of the ministration on a firm and lasting basis. He mastered Marathas Agra in 1785, and was made deputy vicegerent of the under empire by the titular emperor. Shah Alam. He entered sindhia in at the same time into an engagement with the confe- ^^^^ ^^gj derate Sikh chiefs, to the effect that of all their joint conquests on either side of the Jumna, he should have aj^an^e^ This ^^^ ^^e two-thirds and the 'Khalsa' the remainder.^ alliance was considered to clearly point at the kingdom sikhs. of Oudh, which the English were bound to defend, and perhaps to affect the authority of Delhi, which they wished to see strong; but the schemes of the Maratha were for a time interrupted by the Rohilla Ghulam Kadir. This chief succeeded his father, Zabita Khan, in 1785, and had contrived, by an adventurous step, to become the master of the emperor's person a little more than a year afterwards. He was led on from one chuiam excess to another, till at last, in 1788, he put out the Kadir eyes of his unfortunate sovereign, plundered the palace biinds Aiam. in search of imaginary treasures, and declared an un- ^^^^ "^^' heeded youth to be the successor of Akbar and Aurangzeb. These proceedings facilitated Sindhia's sindhia views, nor was his supremacy'' unwelcome in Delhi masters after the atrocities of Ghulam Kadir and the savaga oeihi and
Afghans. His regular administration soon curbed the ^^^^^ **^® predatory Sikhs, and instead of being received as allies j^^^^' they found that they would merely be tolerated as dependants or as servants. Rai Singh, the patriarchal chief of Jagadhri, was retained for the time as farmer of considerable districts in the Doab, and, during ten years, three expeditions of exaction were directed against Patiala and other states in the province of Sirhind. Patiala was managed with some degree of prudence by Nanu Mai, the Hindu Diwan of the deceased Amar Singh; but he seems to have trusted for military support to Baghel Singh, the leader of the Krora Singhias, who contrived to maintain a large body of horse, partly as a judicious mediator, and partly by helping Patiala in levying contributions on weaker brethren, in aid of the Mughal and Maratha demands, which could neither be readily met nor prudently resisted.^ General Perron succeeded his countryman, De General Boigne, in the command of Daulat Rao Sindhia's Perron largest regular force, in the year 1797, and he was soon appointed 1
2
Browne, India Tracts, ii. 29. Manuscript accounts. Cf. Francklin,
179-85.
Shah
Alam, pp.
SINDHIA TAKES DELHI
109
power of the Marathas in Northern India, and the dis- ivss-g?. cipline of his regular brigades seemed to place his ad- of the ministration on a firm and lasting basis. He mastered Marathas Agra in 1785, and was made deputy vicegerent of the under empire by the titular emperor. Shah Alam. He entered sindhia in at the same time into an engagement with the confe- ^^^^ ^^gj derate Sikh chiefs, to the effect that of all their joint conquests on either side of the Jumna, he should have aj^an^e^ This ^^^ ^^e two-thirds and the 'Khalsa' the remainder.^ alliance was considered to clearly point at the kingdom sikhs. of Oudh, which the English were bound to defend, and perhaps to affect the authority of Delhi, which they wished to see strong; but the schemes of the Maratha were for a time interrupted by the Rohilla Ghulam Kadir. This chief succeeded his father, Zabita Khan, in 1785, and had contrived, by an adventurous step, to become the master of the emperor's person a little more than a year afterwards. He was led on from one chuiam excess to another, till at last, in 1788, he put out the Kadir eyes of his unfortunate sovereign, plundered the palace biinds Aiam. in search of imaginary treasures, and declared an un- ^^^^ "^^' heeded youth to be the successor of Akbar and Aurangzeb. These proceedings facilitated Sindhia's sindhia views, nor was his supremacy'' unwelcome in Delhi masters after the atrocities of Ghulam Kadir and the savaga oeihi and
Afghans. His regular administration soon curbed the ^^^^^ **^® predatory Sikhs, and instead of being received as allies j^^^^' they found that they would merely be tolerated as dependants or as servants. Rai Singh, the patriarchal chief of Jagadhri, was retained for the time as farmer of considerable districts in the Doab, and, during ten years, three expeditions of exaction were directed against Patiala and other states in the province of Sirhind. Patiala was managed with some degree of prudence by Nanu Mai, the Hindu Diwan of the deceased Amar Singh; but he seems to have trusted for military support to Baghel Singh, the leader of the Krora Singhias, who contrived to maintain a large body of horse, partly as a judicious mediator, and partly by helping Patiala in levying contributions on weaker brethren, in aid of the Mughal and Maratha demands, which could neither be readily met nor prudently resisted.^ General Perron succeeded his countryman, De General Boigne, in the command of Daulat Rao Sindhia's Perron largest regular force, in the year 1797, and he was soon appointed 1
2
Browne, India Tracts, ii. 29. Manuscript accounts. Cf. Francklin,
179-85.
Shah
Alam, pp.
©
2026
Lehal.net