During the turbulent times following Aurangazeb's death, a force was sent from Delhi to quell the Rajput rebellion that was taking place in Malwa. Dost was torn between his loyalty to the distant Moghul Court and is commitment to the local Rajput chieftains to whom he had given his allegiance. Eventually Dost sided with the Rajputs, and in the ensuing battle was wounded and lost consciousness. His men fled, abandoning their leader for dead. Long past midnight, on a silent, eerie battleground strewn with dead bodies, Dost regained his consciousness when jackals started nibbling at him. He barely managed to shrug them off when he heard another man, lying a f
ew yards away, moaning loudly and calling for help. Obviously he was also badly wounded. Dost raised his voice and said, "Why are you moaning so loudly? It is not becoming of a warrior to cry out like this. Grieve silently, like a man, and take what is coming to you as God's verdict with dignity". The young man answered Dost by saying "I'm not crying out because of my wounds. I'm only trying to scare the off the jackals eating away at my entrails. In any case I'm dying of thirst. Can you help me?" Dost could not rise from his prone position but he had some water left in his mushuk (leather water-carrier). He summoned enough strength to push the bag with his lance towards the wounded soldier who drank avidly from it.
At dawn, a posse of soldiers from the victorious army began scouring the battlefield evidently looking for one of their leaders. They came upon the very soldier that Dost had saved by giving him water. He was obviously an important man as the soldiers made great fuss of him. Before the rescue party could out him on a stretcher, the young man told the soldiers that their first duty was to help the brave man lying a few yards away, who had saved his life. Accordingly, the soldiers who belonged to the opposing army rescued Dost too. The person that Dost had saved turned out to be Sayyed Hussain Ali Barha, the younger of the Sayyed Barha Brothers who were now the power behind the throne in the Moghul Court at Delhi. Dost Mohammad Khan recuperated under the care of Syyed Hussain Ali Barha, who pleaded with dost to join him and his brother. Dost was also offered to be made governor of Allahabad. Dost gratefully declined, explaining that he had too many roots in Malwa. Hussain Ali reluctantly agreed, gave Dost some gold sovereigns, a sword and a band of horses as he took leave from his friend.
This was a momentous friendship, which steered history of Bhopal in a different direction eventually.
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