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Delhi in Moghal Times The prime minister was then Najib-ud-daulah, a Rohilla, who called in the Durani once more, but he did not on this occasion approach nearer than Panipat, and then retired from Hindustan for ever. The Sikhs after this became too strong, and kept the Afghans within their borders. In 1770 Najib-ud-daulah died, and was succeeded in his post of wazir by his son, Zabita Khan ; but the Mahrattas drove him out, and in the following year Shah Alam, with a small army, returned to Delhi. His troops were commanded by a scion of the Persian royal family, Mirza Najaf Khan, of whom we shall hear more. Shah Alam found a Mahratta army of thirty thousand men at Delhi, but by agreement they acquiesced in his entry on Christmas Day, 1771; he had also the countenance of the East India Company,and had been escorted to the borders of his nominal territory by a British force. The Mahrattas now pursued Zabita Khan into Rohilkand, his family and treasure fell into their hands, and his son, Ghulam Kadir, was presented to Shah Alam, who took a serpent into his bosom.

Zabita Khan now intrigued with the Mahrattas for his reinstatement as prime minister, and they supported his cause, their army advancing on Delhi. The king's troops met them at Badarpur, on the Muttra Road, near Tughlukabad, and 245