भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

his clearly meant that the whole of the province of Punjab, which was reduced by Abdali, was once agian seized by the Moghal Emperor. Even in Delhi, the Afghan influence was ineffectual and Gazi-ud-din, strongly supported by the Marathas, spoke for the Moghal Emperor. Under these circumstances, Malika Zamani, the old and crafty chief stewardess in the Moghal imperial household, who was frightened out of her wits (at this all- enveloping Maratha hold on the Moghal Empire) and Nizibkhan Rohilla, who was then a prominent leader of all the Rohillas and Pathans in India and who was the bitterest enemy of the Marathas, secretly wrote letters to Ahmadshah Abdali to the effect that if at all Muslim power in India was to be saved, it was Abdali alone who could save it, and that, as such he should forthwith march on India with a well-equipped army. They had also mentioned the fact that the Maratha armies were occupied in the south and that Delhi was practically defenceless. But the Moghal Emperor, they wrote, had already sent word to the Marathas to come to Delhi in all haste. So, if Abdali was late, they argued, the Marathas were very likely to establish their authority right up to Punjab, Thattha and Multan (Sindh) as per their treaty with the Moghal Emperor and that they were to march with mighty armies on Delhi and Punjab. 1057. At this news, Abdali was enraged beyond measure. It was to nullify the imperial charter (Sanad) which entrusted the government of Punjab and the neighbouring region to the Marathas, that he had recently invaded India and annexed that region to his kingdom. He, therefore, took it highly amiss that Gazi-ud-din should reincorporate that part into the Moghal empire, without any sort of appeal or reference made to him. Naturally, once again, he came to Peshawar in November, 1756, with a view to invading India sending his son, Taimurshah and his General Jahankhan to take Lahore. The Moghal general Adinabeg fought with Taimurshah, but was defeated, and there was nobody to beat down the orgy of sword and fire which the Afghan force indulged in, while they rushed headlong from Lahore to Sutlej. Emboldened by this Moghal infirmity, Shah Abdali advanced straight to Delhi without stopping anywhere for rest, with an army of eighty thousand strong in January 1757 A.D. Delhi fell into his hands practically without any resistance. Immediately, he took over the imperial authority and began to run the government in his own name. 1058. And he precipitately performed what the Pathans and the Muslims of the time thought to be their first and foremost duty, according to the