46 MUTTRA. In 1748, the Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah invited the Ját leader to join with Holkar under the command of the Wazir Safdar Jang, in suppressing the Rohillá rebellion. When Safdar Jang revolted (see OUDH), Suraj Mall and his Játs threw in their lot with the Wazír, while Ghází-ud-dín, the imperial general, obtained the help of the Maráthás. Safdar Jang retreated to Oudh, whereupon Ghází-ud-din laid siege to Bhartpur, but, mistrusting his Maráthá allies, shortly returned to Delhi, deposed Ahmad Shah, and raised Alamgir Il. to the throne. When Ahmad Shah Duráni invaded India in 1757, Sardár Jahán Khán endeavoured to levy tribute from Muttra; but finding that the people withdrew into their forts, he fell back upon the city, plundered its wealth, and massacred all the inhabitants upon whom he could lay hands. Two years later, the new Emperor was murdered, and the Afghán invader once more advanced upon Delhi. Gházi-uddín fled to Muttra and Bhartpur, and organized the Hindu confederacy of Játs and Maráthás which shattered itself in vain against the forces of Ahmad Shah at PANIPAT in January 1761. Suráj Mall, however, withdrew his forces before the decisive battle, marched on Agra, ejected the Maráthás, and made himself master of the city. Ahmad Shah had placed the hapless Shah Alam on the throne of Delhi, and the Ját leader thought it a favourable opportunity to attack the Rohillá Wazír, Najib-ud-daula. Marching to Shahdera, 6 miles from Delhi, he was surprised, captured, and put to death by a small party of the imperialists. Two of his sons, who succeeded to his cominand, were successively murdered, and the third, Nawab Singh, after losing Agra during Zabita Khán's rebellion, died in 1776. The fourth son, Ranjit Singh (not to be confounded with the more famous Sikh Mahárájá), inherited Bhartpur with only an insignificant strip of territory. During the contest between Sindhia and the Rajput princes in 1788, the former obtained the aid of the Játs in raising the siege of Agra, then held by Sindhia's forces, and besieged by Ghulam Kádir. Muttra and Agra thus fell once more into Sindhia's hands. In 1803, Ranjit Singh of Bhartpur joined Lord Lake in his campaign against Sindhia, with a force of 5000 Ját horsemen; and upon the defeat of the Maráthás, he received as a reward the south-western portion of Muttra, with Kishangarh and Rewari. But in the following year, Ranjit Singh gave shelter to Holkar, when a fugitive, after the battle of Dig (Deeg). This led to the first siege of Bliartpur by Lord Lake; and although his capital was not taken, Ranjit Singh lost the territory granted to him in 1803, and the whole of Muttra District thus passed under British rule. Thenceforward Muttra remained free from historical incidents till the Mutiny of 1857. News of the Meerut outbreak reached Muttra on 14th May in that year. Two days later, some Bhartpur troops arrived,
