while he is said to have sent a vast sum to Delhi to purchase for himself letters and insignia of investiture as Nawab of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa; but this is extremely doubtful. It would have been a sheer waste of money, inasmuch as the Moghul court was still paralysed by the recent invasion of Nadir Shah, and powerless to interfere in a remote province like Bengal. The insignia of the fish, the palanquin, and the kettledrums were certainly received with the utmost pomp at Murshedabad, but it was generally believed that they were a sham, and had been supplied by Jagat Seit, the banker, in order to impose upon the people of the three provinces. СНАР. Х. Ali Vardi Khan next marched an army into Orissa. Acquires Orissa. A battle was fought; but the Afghan mercenaries of Murshed Kuli Khan went over to the usurper in the middle of the action. Murshed Kuli Khan saw that all was lost, and fled to the sea-shore, and embarked on board a ship bound for Masulipatam, and found an asylum in the territories of Nizam-ul-mulk. Meanwhile Ali Vardi Khan pushed on to Cuttack, the capital of the province, and placed his second nephew on the throne as Deputy Nawab. oppression. The new Deputy Nawab of Orissa cared for nothing Oriental but women and money. No household was safe against his licentious demands, whilst men of wealth were subjected to false charges, and scourged and tortured until they surrendered their secret hoards. The people shrunk from open rebellion, but they schemed and plotted; whilst Mirza Bakir, the sonin-law of Murshed Kuli Khan, hovered on the frontier, ready to take advantage of the first disturbance to recover possession of the province. Suddenly the growing disaffection broke out in a CHAP. X. Revolution at Alarm of Perilous captivity. riot in the streets of Cuttack. The young Deputy Nawab sent his bodyguard to suppress the turmoil; but the commandant, one of Ali Vardi Khan's veterans, was overpowered and torn to pieces. Mirza Bakir appeared in the city and placed himself at the head of the insurrection. The gates of the palace were thrown open from within, and the garrison rushed out and joined the insurgents. Mirza Bakir threw the Deputy Nawab into a prison and became master of the palace and treasures. He then took his seat upon the throne, and received the congratulations and nuzzirs of the very grandees who had hailed the accession of the nephew of Ali Vardi Khan only a few months before. News of this rising soon reached Ali Vardi Khan. At first he suspected that Nizam-ul-mulk was at the bottom of it, and was half inclined to leave Orissa in the hands of Mirza Bakir provided his son-in-law was released. At last he resolved on war, but there was an unexpected difficulty. New Afghan levies were peremptorily required, but none would enlist unless these new levies were brought on a permanent establishment; and Mustafa Khan and his officers took the same side. Ali Vardi Khan ended by solemnly swearing that not a man should be disbanded at the close of the campaign. New levies were accordingly enlisted in large numbers, and Ali Vardi Khan marched his army to Cuttack, offering a lakh of rupees, or ten thousand pounds sterling, for the rescue of his son-in-law. Mirza Bakir was aware of the approaching danger and anxious to come to terms. He marched an army out of Cuttack, but carried his prisoner, the exDeputy Nawab, in a waggon covered over with white cloth and secured by a network of ropes. Two Tartar soldiers were placed in the waggon with orders to stab the prince to death if there was any attempt at rescue; whilst a body of Mahratta horsemen were posted round the waggon, also under orders to thrust their spears through the covering at sign of danger, and destroy alike the prince and his executioners. СНАР. Х. Ali Vardi Khan's The result was somewhat curious. Mirza Bakir Escape of was defeated and compelled to fly for his life. A son-in-law. select body of Ali Vardi Khan's horsemen charged the waggon, but the Tartars were speared by the Mahrattas before they could dispatch the prince, and the prince escaped by shielding himself with their bodies, and was finally rescued by the horsemen. Orissa. Ali Vardi Khan then marched to Cuttack and re- Settlement of stored his authority at Orissa; but he refused to reinstate his son-in-law, and placed the government in new hands. Having thus secured the province, he violated his solemn promise to Mustafa Khan, and disbanded the new levies to a man. He then returned slowly towards Murshedabad, but halted frequently on the way in order to hunt and shoot in the jungles. The Afghan generals were at once mortified and Wrath of exasperated. Mustafa Khan was especially angry. He had interceded in behalf of a Hindu Raja who had espoused the cause of Mirza Bahir, but he had been rebuffed and reprimanded; and the Raja and his attendants had been brutally murdered in the audience hall at Cuttack in the presence of Ali Vardi Khan. Meanwhile news arrived that another Affghan officer had been treacherously murdered in the durbar at Patna, and Mustafa Khan was bent on revenge.10 10 The story of the murdered Afghan at Patna reveals something of India in the olden time. The man had been appointed Foujdar of Shahabad, a Mustafa Khan. CHAP. X. Mahratta invasion, Mahrattas' demand of ten At this juncture, while Ali Vardi Khan was taking his pleasure in the woods of Midnapore, an overwhelming host of Mahratta horsemen from Nagpore was swarming over the western hills of Birbhúm, and advancing towards Burdwan. They were commanded by Bhaskar Pant, the minister of Rughaji Bhonsla, Raja of Berar, and began to plunder and devastate according to their wont; but there was a mystery about their movements. Some thought that the Nagpore host was acting under the orders of the Peishwa at the Mahratta court at Satara. Others, again, thought that the Mahratta invasion had been instigated by Nizam-ul-mulk, who was supposed to entertain sinister designs against Bengal. Ali Vardi Khan professed to hold the Mahrattas in lakhs rejected. contempt, but nevertheless he hurried off to Burdwan with the small force at his disposal. Bhaskar Pant, however, was not anxious for battle; all that he wanted was chout, or a contribution in lieu of chout. Accordingly he offered to go away if Ali Vardi Khan would send him ten lakhs of rupees, or a hundred thousand pounds sterling. Ali Vardi Khan affected to regard this as an insult, and told Bhaskar Pant that he might invade Bengal if he dared. Mahrattas demand a The Mahrattas played their usual game of cutting hundred lakhs. off supplies and stragglers without coming to action. At last Ali Vardi Khan made a general charge; but his Afghans refused to fight, whilst the Mahrattas difficult tract infested by lawless Zemindars, who lived on plunder and blackmail. The Foujdar shared the gains of these brigands; and when the Zemindars were rooted out of their strongholds by an army from Patna, he rudely called on the Deputy Nawab to set them at liberty and restore their estates. The young prince was mortally offended; assassins were hired, and the turbulent Afghan was suddenly overpowered and murdered in open durbar. plundered the camp in his rear, and then surrounded Bhaskar Pant offering to pay the ten lakhs; but the СНАР. Х. appeased: blockade In sheer desperation, Ali Vardi Khan threw himself Afghans on the mercy of Mustafa Khan, implored his forgive- Mahrattas ness, and promised full redress for all past grievances. Murshedabad. Mustafa Khan was a creature of impulse; he was touched with compassion for his old master, and swore once more to stand or fall with Ali Vardi Khan. He placed himself at the head of the Afghans, cut through the cordon of Mahrattas, and fought his way to Murshedabad without carriage or provisions, whilst constantly harassed by the Mahratta horsemen. But on reaching Murshedabad the city was closely blockaded by the Mahrattas; whilst parties of horsemen scoured the country round about, and plundered and destroyed the neighbouring villages, and committed the most horrible cruelties and excesses. tations. Early in June the Mahrattas began to fear that Mahratta devastheir return to Nagpore would be cut off by the approaching rains. Accordingly they struck their tents and disappeared with their plunder. On the way, however, they changed their minds, and pitched their tents on the hills of Birbhúm until the violence of the rains was over, and then reappeared in Burdwan and renewed the work of plunder and desolation. turned out that a revenue official named Mir Habib, whose defalcations had excited the wrath of Ali Vardi Khan, had escaped to the Mahratta camp, and persuaded Bhaskar Pant to remain in Bengal and take possession of the three provinces. It |