पानीपत १७६१ (मराठा साम्राज्य एवं पानीपत महायुद्ध इतिहास)

THE MARATHAS IN THE PANJAB AND BEYOND 3 of the French. Bussy dominated the Deccan politics during this decade, and all the efforts of the Peshwa were directed towards checkmating his moves and machinations. He had to take the false step of joining with the English as a result of it. Thus Indian politics came to be dominated by the moves and in- terests of the foreigners instead of by the sons of the soil whether Hindu or Muslim. The Afghans, the English and the French decided the fate and shaped the future of India during this crucial epoch. The Wazir Safdar Jang clandestinely got Khoja Jawed murdered in August 1752, with a view to bring the Emperor completely under his thumb. But his aim of governing the whole Empire with the Maratha aid was not to be fulfilled. Ghazi-ud-din Firuz Jang, the Viceroy-designate of the Deccan, was also murdered by his step-mother in Aurangabad in October 1752, lead- ing to a collapse of the Peshwa's arrangement as noted above. Salabat Jang had to be acknowledged as the de facto Viceroy, and the French influence be- came fully established at the Nizam's Court. Another unexpected outcome of this untoward happening was the emergence of a new character on the political stage of Delhi. This was Ghazi-ud-din the younger, a son to the murdered man. By playing upon the good feelings of Safdar Jang, this boy of fifteen got himself appointed as the Mir Bakhshi of the Empire. Soon after, he be- came the leader of the conspiracy against his benefactor, and in this he se- cured the help of the Marathas in the name of the Emperor on the basis of the agreement mentioned above. By making war on the Wazir and his allies the Jats, under the walls of Delhi, he succeeded in driving away Safdar Jang to his governorship of Oudh and Allahabad by the end of 1753. But in doing this he also created a future rival to himself, the wily Najib Khan Ruhela. With the help of the Ruhela contingent under Najib and Malharrao Holkar with his master, the Peshwa's brother, Raghoba (Ragunathrao), Ghazi-ud-din went through another revolution at Delhi in June 1754. He deposed the Emperor Ahmad Shah, after first getting himself nominated as the Wazir in place of his cousin Intizam-ud-daulah⁴. Alamgir II was crowned the new Emperor. Safdar Jang's downfall had been hastened because the Irani Shia party of which he was the head was proclaimed as pro-Hindu by the Turani Sunni party of Mughal grandees. The popular opinion in Delhi held the Empire as well-nigh handed over to the Marathas. A plausible colour is given to this opinion by certain unverified clauses of the agreement of 1752, noted in the beginning. Besides the provinces actually mentioned in that agreement, it is mentioned in contemporary private letters that the Chauth of all the twenty- two provinces⁴ of the Mughal Empire had also been granted to the Marathas, together with the administration of the holy cities of Benares, Brindavan and Mathura. Antaji Manakeshwar is found confirming this information a year later in his despatch⁵ to the Peshwa. But these important clauses are not found in the document published by Rajwade. Perhaps it was a personal un- derstanding with the Wazir and an administrative concession or favour. What ⁴ Shinde 3.203-4. ⁵ SPD 21.53.