The story of the capture of Barabati was related by Raghuji himself via a letter as follows, “We prepared a convoy of our army in the Berar province, and embarked on the journey to Bengal taking the usual stops. Since the beginning of Falgun, carefully overseeing the supply of provisions in the forested regions, we arrived at Cuttack on the twelfth day of the waning moon fortnight of the Falgun month (3 March 1745). We immediately besieged the fort. The fort struggled for two months. Through the Swami’s grace, we captured the fort on 16 May 1745. We set up our own outpost there, and are now proceeding to Maqsudabad (Murshidabad), via the usual route. We have captured Durlabhram, son of Aliwardi’s Dewan Janakiram.”
Raghuji transported Durlabhram to Nagpur and kept him under imprisonment. He later went back after paying a ransom of three lakh rupees in the month of January 1747.
Aliwardi was in Patna when he received the news of the loss of Cuttack and started back for Murshidabad. Mustafa Khan too emerged from Chunar and advanced towards Patna. Aliwardi sent two trusted men to meet Raghuji to come to an agreement. The Maratha Sardar was at Burdwan and demanded three crore rupees from Aliwardi Khan on account of tribute and compensation for ‘Mund-Kataai’ (manslaughter). Negotiations dragged on for some time, during which Aliwardi was waiting for the outcome of Mustafa Khan’s attack on Patna.
The war between Aliwardi Khan and Mustafa Khan had reached its peak. On 20 June 1745, in a battle at Jagdishpur near Aara, halfway between Patna and Buxar, Mustafa Khan was killed. Mustafa initially pushed back his enemies until he came face to face with the son of Haji Ahmed. Here, as the principals prepared to charge at each other, a musket ball tore through Mustafa Khan’s body, killing him instantly. His head was cut-off and paraded on a spear while his body was cut in two and hung from two different gates of the city of Patna.
Due to this, one of the enemies of Aliwardi Khan vanished. Aliwardi got the breather to deal with one enemy instead of two. Raghuji now received a stern message from Aliwardi, which is given in extremely flowery prose in the Siyar, “An agreement brought about by dint of money is the effect of either impotence or some great hope: as to the first, I inform you that by God’s blessings, the intrepid warriors, those lions avid of slaughter and blood, are more covetous than ever of another engagement with you, and more desirous of fighting than hunters are of getting at their prey. And as to the second article, I must tell you, that they cannot expect any benefit from entering into a treaty with so unfortunate and so ill-fated a commander as you: matters standing thus, the agreement you expect cannot be brought about but by battle.”
Raghuji retorted, “I have come from a thousand kos distance to encamp in this corner of your dominions, and do not see that you have as yet moved so little as a hundred kos to receive your guests.”
Once again, Aliwardi replied that it was the rainy season and once it is over, he would advance and even escort his guest back to his home. The repartees done with, both got down to the business of preparing for war.
Raghuji captured the entire province of Odisha, Medinipur and Burdwan, and proceeded to Birbhum. Raghuji encamped for the monsoon in July 1745 at Birbhum. From here, he plundered the territory around Munger, and Murtuza, the son of Mustafa Khan, who was hiding in the hills near Sasaram, sent a message asking to join Raghuji. Murtuza joined the army and they plundered many places on both banks of the river Sone. He then set out for Patna. After the monsoon, the guerrilla warfare began. The monsoons having ended, Aliwardi too marched for Patna. Here, Raghuji was surprised by the Nawab. An eighteen-day battle ensued. Raghuji stood his ground against the Nawab’s artillery, but was injured. A Marathi letter says, “He was injured by a bullet. He lost his tooth.”
While Raghuji moved away, Aliwardi, suspecting the fidelity of his brother-in-law, Mir Jafar, also decided to fall back.
The constant war tired out the Nawab. Taking his wife’s advice, he sent peace proposals to Raghuji. On Mir Habib’s advice, Raghuji spurned the offer and marched towards Murshidabad. Aliwardi tried to chase him, but the Marathas reached the capital first, plundered its suburbs and the city for three or four days. On the Nawab’s arrival, they once again disappeared and reached Khatwa. The Nawab pursued them and after a short battle on 21 December 1745, Raghuji left Mir Habib in charge in Odisha with three thousand of his men and returned to Nagpur.
To be continued…
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