Jauhar-i shamsham 1.1

1.1

[After the death of Amíru-l umará Husain 'Alí Khán], the Emperor Muhammad Sháh never came out of the citadel of Dehli except to enjoy the pleasures of an excursion or to amuse himself in field sports. He paid no attention to the administration of the kingdom, which lacked all supreme authority, and through his indolence, unrelieved by any exertion, he fell and came to an end. For water even, notwithstanding its innate purity and excellence, if it remains stagnant anywhere, changes its colour and smell. The Government of the country went so completely out of the grasp of his will that the faujdárs of every sarkár and chakla, and the súbadárs of every city and province, who possessed the strong arm of a military force, refused to pay the revenue due on khálisa and jágír lands. They used to send merely gifts and presents to their lord and master, after the manner of friends and equals, but put the produce of the Jágírs of the mansabdárs, and the amount collected from the Imperial domains (khálisa), like food easy of digestion, down their own throats. The proud and haughty of every region raised their heads in contumacy, and the rebellious and refractory of every land fixed the bent of their inclinations on revolt and disobedience.