Muntakhab al-lubab 195.3

195.3

The etiquette of the Court and the discipline of the State had fallen entirely away from the proper dignified standard of royalty, and Nizamu-l Mulk desired that orders should be issued to restore it to a suitable style. This greatly irritated the courtiers—and day by day they made statements about Nizamu-l Mulk which were entirely opposed to his thoughts, and by envious malicious insinuations they poisoned the mind of the Emperor against his devoted servant. They put such injurious designs into the head of the inexperienced Emperor against Nizamu-l Mulk, that for the sake of prudence and to save his honour, he at the end of Rabi'u-l awwal, in the sixth year of the reign, got a few days' leave of absence in the name of hunting, and left Dehli. Upon the excuse of needing change of air, he went thirty or forty kos from the capital to the side of the Ganges. There he hunted and recruited his health. While he was so engaged, bad news arrived of the disorders caused by the Mahrattas and other insurgents in Ahmadabad and Malwa, the first of these two provinces being held in the name of Nizamu-l Mulk himself, and the other in the name of his son, Ghaziu-d din Khan Bahadur. This became the common talk, and Nizamu-l Mulk having written on the subject to the Emperor, received permission to go and restore order in his two provinces. * * Before he arrived at Ujjain, the Mahrattas heard of his approach, and taking warning departed from the river Nerbadda towards the Dakhin.