Muntakhab al-lubab 170: Fifth Year of the Reign (1127 A.H., 1715 A.D.).
Muntakhabu-l Lubáb, of Kháfí Khán (Elliot & Dowson, extracts) 170
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Fifth Year of the Reign (1127 A.H., 1715 A.D.).
170.1
[vol. ii. p. 769.] Mir Jumla found it impossible to remain at Patna with honour, in consequence of the excessive demands which the army made upon him for pay. He had disbursed a large sum of government treasure, but their demands and the loud cries raised by the peasantry against their violence made him resolve to go off with all speed to Dehli. * * In those days, every week and every month some new report got abroad as to the Emperor's intentions and designs in respect to Kutbu-l Mulk Saiyid 'Abdu-llah. There was a general rumour that Mir Jumla had been recalled, and that Saiyid 'Abdu-llah was to be made prisoner. When Mir Jumla waited upon the Emperor, he was coldly received, and he was severely censured for the wretched state of the people of Patna, and for having come to Court without permission. Mir Jumla, being hurt, went to the Saiyid, and having represented his helplessness, despair and obedience, sought to obtain forgiveness of his offences from the Emperor and from Saiyid 'Abdu-llah. But intelligent men looked on all this as trick and artifice to secure the imprisonment of the wazir.
170.2
About the same time, either by design or accident, seven or eight thousand horsemen of dismissed mansabdars went to the houses of Muhammad Amin Khan Bakhshi, Khan-dauran the deputy of Amiru-l umara, and Mir Jumla, complaining and demanding their arrears of pay, * * For four or five days bodies of horsemen appeared in the streets and bazars armed and prepared for battle. On the other side the officers of Saiyid 'Abdu-llah, with suitable forces, ready accoutred and mounted on elephants and horses, held themselves ready for a conflict until night-fall. Mir Jumla was bewildered, and not knowing which way to turn, he went and took refuge in the house of Muhammad Amin Khan. The arrows of censure were aimed at him from all sides, and he knew not what to do. At length it was deemed expedient, in order to quell the disturbance and pacify Kutbu-l Mulk, that the Emperor should look with anger upon Mir Jumla, diminish his mansab, remove him from the suba of 'Azimabad (Patna), and appoint him to that of the Panjab. Sarbuland Khan was named Subadar of 'Azimabad and Nizamu-l Mulk Bahadur Fath Jang was appointed Faujdar of Muradabad, to repress the disorder which reigned there.
170.3
For a long time it was the talk of strife-makers and restless men that the Emperor had sent Mir Jumla to Sirhind and the Panjab, as a matter of policy, and that he intended to recall him. Whenever the Emperor went out into the country round the capital to hunt, and remained out for three or four months, the rumour spread from house to house, and from tent to tent, that he had come out for the purpose of making Saiyid 'Abdu-llah prisoner. On the other side, the Saiyid was suspicious, and continued to enlist soldiers, but he engaged very few who were not Saiyids or inhabitants of Barha.
170.4
In this year died Asad Khan Karam-malu, at the age of ninety-four years. He had held the office of wazir and other important posts under Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb and Bahadur Shah. * * His ancestors were nobles of Iran. * * It is said that in the days of his last illness, Farrukh Siyar sent one of his attendants to visit him, and deliver the following message secretly, "We did not know your worth, and have done what we ought not to have done to such a valuable servant of the State, but repentance is of no avail ; still we hope you will give us your advice about the way to treat the Saiyids." The old man said, "The fault which you committed, contrary to the practice of your ancestors, proceeded only from the will of God. I knew that, when the office of minister went out of my family, ruin threatened the House of Timur. But as you have placed yourself and the reins of power in the hands of the Saiyids of Barha, the best thing for the State is, that you should, to the best of your ability, deal kindly with them, and not carry matters to such a pitch that strife and discord should increase, and you should lose all power.