Siege of Fatehgarh and the rout of the Rohillas

01The Marathas called in

Beaten at Ram Chatauni in September 1750, Safdar Jang had to watch Ahmad Khan Bangash overrun the Doab and besiege Allahabad. He turned to the Peshwa’s commanders in the north, Malhar Rao Holkar and Jayappa Scindia, promising them pay for their troops. Suraj Mal’s Jats joined him again. In early 1751 the allied army came down on Farrukhabad, and the Bangash fell back on their fort at Fatehgarh on the Ganga.

02Into the hills

The Rohillas of Saadullah Khan came to relieve the Bangash and were beaten in the field by the Maratha horse. Fatehgarh was closely invested, and Ahmad Khan’s position became hopeless. He and the Rohilla chiefs escaped north to the foothills of Kumaon, where the Marathas followed them into the terai. In 1752 a settlement allowed Ahmad Khan back to Farrukhabad, but half of his lands went to the Marathas for their war costs.

Person · 1707–1763 CE; ruled 1755–1763Maharaja Suraj MalSon of Badan Singh, Suraj Mal built the mud-walled fort of Bharatpur that no army ever stormed, held a kingdom from the Chambal to the outskirts of Delhi, and took Agra fort in 1761. He fell in an ambush near the Hindon on 25 December 1763.Read →