The Institutes of Akbar 260: 37. Muzaffar Kha’n i Turbati’.
The Áín i Akbari (Blochmann, Jarrett) 260
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37. Muzaffar Kha’n i Turbati’.
260.1
Turbat is the name of a tribe (ulis) in Khurasan. His full name is, Khwajah Muzaffar ’Ali Khan i Turbati. He was Bairam’s Diwan. Bairam delegated him from Dipalpur to Sher Muhammad Diwanah (p. 317), who sent him in chains to Akbar. Though several courtiers advised the Emperor to kill Muzaffar, he pardoned him, and made him ’Amil (Collector) of the Parganah of Parsaror. Subsequently Akbar made him Diwan i Buyutat (Collector of the Imperial Stores, &c.), and at last Diwan of the Empire, with the title of Muzaffar Khan (971). Rajah Todarmall was then under him. According to Badaoni, the two quarrelled incessantly, though people said that the Rajah was a better financier than Muzaffar, whose accession to office was honored by the short tarikh ظالم, zalim (= 971), or ‘Tyrant.’
260.2
In the 11th year, he abolished the Jam’ i Raqmi. This is the name of the assessment of the Dihli empire, which had existed since the time of Bairam; but the rent roll shewed an assessment very different from the actual state of things; for, on account of the number of men (kasrat i mardum, i.e. Jagir holders) and the unsettled state (galb i wilayat) of the country, the revenue was increased in name (banam afzudah) for the sake of mere shew (barai mazid i i’tibar). This Jam’ i Raqmi was now abolished (vide Third Book, A’in i Dahsalah), and Muzaffar prepared a rent roll, according to his experience and the returns of Qanungos. The new rent roll was called Jam’ i Hasil i Hal, or the Roll of the present actual income (vide p. 352). As the Dagh law (pp. 255, 256, and p. 242) did not then exist, Muzaffar Khan fixed the number of soldiers which the contingents of the Amirs and the Mulazims (friends of the king) should contain, and the soldiers were divided into three classes. In the 12th year, it was reported that Muzaffar loved a boy of the name of Qutb. Akbar had the boy forcibly removed, whereupon Muzaffar assumed the garb of a Faqir, and went into the forest. Akbar was thus obliged to recall him, and restored the beloved.
260.3
In the 17th year, a mania for Chaupar (p. 303) had seized Akbar’s Court. Muzaffar lost not only his goldmuhurs, but also his temper, and annoyed the Emperor so much, that he was told to go to Makkah. But he was re-called, and joined the Court at Surat, which Akbar then besieged. In the 18th year (981), after having been for some time in Sarangpur in Malwah, he was appointed Vakil of the Empire, with the title of Jamlatul Mulk. But he did several things which Akbar did not approve of, and when the Emperor returned from Patna, from where he had despatched a corps to take Rohtas in South Bihar, he ordered Muzaffar to join the expedition, without allowing him first to pay his respects (vide Briggs II, 249). Like his companion, Khwajah Shamsuddin Khafi (No. 159), M. distinguished himself in the campaign, punished the rebels on several occasions, and took Hajipur, of which the Afghans had again taken possession. For these services, M. was appointed, in the 20th year, Governor of Bihar, from Chausa to Garhi. Soon after the taking of Hajipur, M. was nearly caught by a party of Afghans, who saw him reconnoitering the banks of the G’handak. In the 22nd year, M. returned to Court, where Shah Mansur (No. 122) and Rajah Todar Mall continued, under his superintendence, their financial reforms. On the death of Khan Jahan (No. 24) in 986, he was made Governor of Bengal.
260.4
In the 25th year (988), Shah Mansur subjected the Amirs of Bihar and Bengal to strict enquiries, and called on them to refund sums which they had spent without permission. When he insisted on his demands, Ma’sum i Kabuli and several other grandees that held jagirs in Bihar, rebelled. Muzaffar imitated Shah Mansur’s policy in Bengal, and when he commenced vigorously to collect outstandings, Baba Khan Qaqshal and other Jagirdars of Bengal rebelled likewise. M. defeated them on several occasions, but would not listen to proposals of peace. At last the Bihar rebels joined those of Bengal, and mustered a sufficient force to take the field against Muzaffar. Notwithstanding this, the rebels would have gladly come to terms and gone to Orisa, had not Muzaffar betrayed his weakness by moving to the Fort of Tandah, which, according to Badaoni, consisted of nothing but four old walls. The rebels thus emboldened demanded full pardon, permission to go to Makkah, and restoration of one-third of their property. At this juncture, Sharafuddin Husain (No. 17) escaped from Muzaffar’s custody, joined the rebels, and informed them of M.’s miserable condition. They moved therefore against Tandah, took it, captured M., and killed him (Rabi’ I, 988).
260.5
The Jami’ Masjid in Agrah was built by Muzaffar. I am told the Masjid is now in ruins which still go by the name of Nawab Muzaffar Khan ki Masjid or Kali Masjid. The Maasir says, it stood in the Katrah Miyan Rafiq, but this name does not appear to be now-a-days in use. The Masjid now called the Jami’ Masjid of Agrah was built, in 1058, by Jahan Ara Begum, Shahjahan’s daughter, at a cost of five lacs of Rupees. According to the Mir-at ul ’Alam, his youngest daughter was married to Shah Fathullah of Shiraz.