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