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Updated: June 10, 2025
Beyond this the native historians give no particulars of the battle, which raged till night, and with not unequal fortunes, if we may judge from the result for on the following morning Zabita Khan's renewed applications to treat were favourably received; on which occasion his estates were restored, and a double matrimonial alliance concluded.
In this expedition Majad-ud-daulah displayed a great want of spirit and of skill, so that Zabita became once more extremely formidable. Fortunately at this crisis Dehli was visited by an envoy, soliciting investiture for the new Viceroy of Audh, Asaf-ud-daulah.
1773 Finding Zabita Khan in office, and the pander Hisam in high favour, the heroic ax-minister, having still with him a strong and faithful escort of Moghul horse, together with the remains of the trained infantry, and having sent to Saharanpur for his adopted son, Afrasyab Khan, who had some squadrons with him for the protection of that district, threw himself into a fortified house outside the Kabul Gate of the city.
If the surmise of the native historians be correct that Abdul Ahid Khan had been privy to the late combination between the Sikhs and Zabita Khan against Mirza Najaf the fact of his being sent against them, without any objection from so wise and loyal a minister as the Mirza, can only be accounted for by citing it as a proof of the peculiar danger to which great men are exposed, under an Eastern despotism, of reposing their confidence in secret enemies.
Zabita Khan, the son and successor of the late minister, and himself an Afghan or Pathan by race, did nevertheless for a time contribute to the resources of the Protector, his co-religionist and quasi countryman. He may, therefore, be reckoned amongst the Rohillas at this period; and, as far as extent of territory went, he might have been an ally of some importance.
Moreover, the Vazir's proceedings were only directed against the usurping Protector and his actual adherents; and he was joined by Zabita and some Rohilla chiefs, while others, among whom were the sons of the late Dundi Khan, held aloof altogether, and Faizula Khan, the son of the first founder of the Rohilla power, Ali Mohammad, and in every way the most respectable of the clan, though he would not desert an old friend in his hour of need, yet strongly disapproved of his proceedings, and urged him to fulfil his compact and pay the Vazir's claim.
First they move the Emperor upon the Rohillas; then they move the Rohilla, Zabita Khan, upon the Emperor; and then, having united these enemies, they make use of a fresh instrument to renew the original attack.
The only enemy who could disturb the repose of what may be termed the Home Districts was Zabita Khan, who still exhibited all the faithlessness so common with his race, and a turbulent disposition peculiar to himself.
The bribe by which Zabita had been detached from the confederacy, was an assignment of the district in the neighbourhood of Meerut, which had cleared itself of Mahratta occupation under the late Vazir's rule. 1774. In October, 1773, the fort of Etawa fell, and the last Mahratta forces were driven from the Doab.
1772. Whatever may have been his mood, his new allies did not leave him to enjoy it long. Within three weeks of his return to the palace of his forefathers, he was induced to take the field; and he set out northward at the head of 90,000 men, the greater number of whom were Mahratta horsemen. It has already been shown that Zabita Khan had escaped to his own estates a year before.
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