The Institutes of Akbar 353: 122. Khwajah Shah Mansur, of Shiraz.
The Áín i Akbari (Blochmann, Jarrett) 353
- Language
- English
122. Khwajah Shah Mansur, of Shiraz.
353.1
Mansur was at first Mushrif (accountant) of the Khushbu Khanah (Perfume Department). Differences which he had with Muzaffar Khan (No. 37) induced Sh. Mansur to go to Jaunpur, where Khan Zaman made him his Diwan. Subsequently he served Mun’im Khan Khanan in the same capacity. After Mun’im’s death, he worked for a short time with Todar Mall in financial matters. In the 21st year (983), he was appointed by the emperor Vazir. He worked up all arrears, and applied himself to reform the means of collecting the land revenue. The custom then was to depend on experienced assessors for the annual rate of the tax; but this method was now found inconvenient, because the empire had become greater; for at different places the assessment differed, and people and soldiers suffered losses. For this reason, the Khwajah, in the 24th year, prepared a new rent roll, based upon the preceding Dahsalah roll, and upon the prices current in the 24th year. The empire itself which did not then include Orisa, T’hat’hah, Kashmir, and the Dak’hin, was divided into 12 parts, called Cubahs; and to each çubah a sipahsalar (Military Governor), a Diwan, a Bakhshi (Military Paymaster and Secretary), a Mir ’Adl, a Cadr, a Kotwal, a Mir Bahr, and a Waqi’ah Nawis (p. 258) were to be appointed. The strictness which the Khwajah displayed towards jagir-holders led to serious results.
353.2
In the 25th year, he lowered the value of the jagirs of the grandees in Bengal by one-fourth of their former value, and those in Bihar by one-fifth. As Bengal and South Bihar were then not completely subjugated, and the Afghans still mustered large forces in Eastern and Southern Bengal, in Orisa, and along the Western frontier of Bengal, Mansur’s rigour was impolitic; for Akbar’s officers looked upon the old jagir emoluments as very moderate rewards for their readiness to fight the Afghans. Akbar some time before, in consideration of the troubled state of both provinces, and the notorious climate of Bengal, had doubled the allowances of Bengal officers and increased by 50 per cent. the emoluments of those in Bihar. This Mansur cut down: he allowed Bengal officers an increase of 50, and Bihar officers an increase of only 20 per cent. He then wrote to Muzaffar to enforce the new arrangements. But the dissatisfaction was also increased by the innovations of the emperor in religious matters, and his interference with Sayurghal tenures brought matters to a crisis. The jagir-holders in Jaunpur, Bihar, and Bengal rebelled. That religious excitement was one of the causes of this Military revolt, which soon after was confined to Bengal, is best seen from the fact that not a single Hindū was on the side of the rebels. Todar Mall tried to prevent the outbreak by reporting Mançūr and charging him with unnecessary harshness shewn especially towards Ma’çūm Khān i Farankhūdī (No.
353.3
157) and Muḥammad Qāsim (No. 32). Akbar deposed Mançūr and appointed temporarily Shāh Qulī Maḥram (No. 45); but having satisfied himself of the justice of Mançūr’s demands, he reinstated him in his office, to the great anxiety of the courtiers. In the same year, Mirzā Muḥammad Ḥakīm, at Ma’çūm Khān i Kābulī’s instigation, threatened to invade the Panjāb, and Akbar prepared to leave for the north. Mançūr’s enemies charged him with want of loyalty, and shewed Akbar letters in the hand-writing of Mirzā M. Ḥakīm’s Munshī, addressed to Mançūr. Accidentally Malik Sānī, Ḥakīm’s Dīwān, who had the title of Vazir Khān, left his master, and paid his respects to Akbar at Sonpat. As he put up with Mançūr, new suspicions got afloat. Several words which Mançūr was said to have uttered, were construed into treason, and letters which he was said to have written to M. M. Ḥakīm were sent to Akbar. Another letter from Sharaf Beg, his collector, was likewise handed to the emperor, in which it was said that Farīdūn Khān (maternal uncle to M. M. Ḥakīm) had presented the Beg to the Mirzā. Akbar, though still doubtful, at the urgent solicitations of the grandees, gave orders to arrest Mançūr: he should remain in arrest till any of the grandees should stand bail for him; but as none dared to come forward, they ordered the Khidmat Rāi (p. 252) to hang Mançūr on a tree near Sarāi Kot K’hachwah (beginning of 989).
353.4
This foul murder gave the nobles the greatest satisfaction. But when Akbar came to Kabul (10th Rajab 989), he examined into Mansur’s treasonable correspondence. It was then found, to the sorrow of Akbar, that every letter which had been shewn to him had been a forgery, and that Mansur was not guilty of even one of the malicious charges preferred against him. It is said, though at the time it was perhaps not proved, that Karamullah, brother of Shahbaz Khan i Kambo (p. 402, l. 19) had written the letters, chiefly at the instigation of Rajah Todar Mall. Mansur had been Vazir for four years.