Unable to impose order on his court, and threatened by resurgent enemies on all sides, Shah Alam had no option but to reach out again to Mahadji Scindia, who had finally returned to Hindustan from the Deccan after an absence of eleven years: ‘You must undertake the Regency of my house,’ Shah Alam told him, ‘and regulate my Empire.’95 With the letter of supplication, he sent Scindia an Urdu couplet: Having lost my kingdom and wealth, I am now in your hands, Do Mahadji as you wish.
