Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 12.13
A Translation of the Seir Mutaqherin (Haji Mustafa) 12.13
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12.13.1
But as we have only been hinting at the extreme impropriety of Abul-mansur-qhan's conduct at Azim-abad, it becomes our duty to explain that subject more fully. His arrival at that city happened about the beginning of Shevval, 1155, and his departure about the end of the next month, precisely about the time when Aaly-verdy-qhan finding no enemies to contend with, gave the pursuit over at the lake of Chilca, and returned victorious to Catec, where he received those letters from Azim-abad that excited his indignation. But he was already in the neighbourhood of Murshud-abad, when there appeared on the opposite neighbourhood of that city, two Marhatta armies, full as dangerous the one as the other, although Rago-dji-bhosslah, who commanded the one was come to ravage Bengal, and the Generalissimo Baladji-rao, who was at the head of the other, had orders to protect and succour that country. This was in the year 1156. It was at such a conjuncture, that those whom the prosperity of our family had rendered jealous found means to throw a very invidious light on the nature of the connection between my honoured father and Abul-mansur-qhan. So slight an acquaintance, which had been forced upon him by the necessity of the times, was converted into a crime within Aaly-verdy-qhan's hearing, and especially in the presence of his nephew, who was Governor-General of Bahar.
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Such an imputation drew consequences after it, which did not fail to put an end to the intimacy that had hitherto subsisted between those illustrious persons, and to turn sentiments of love and attachment into mutual disgust and heart burnings. This misunderstanding happened in the following manner: As soon as the rainy season was over, and the miry roads were already drying up, Abul-mansur-qhan set out of Aud, his capital, and advanced towards Azim-abad. He was at the head of a very respectable force, consisting of about ten thousand Hindostanies, all stout men, well mounted, and well accoutred; and seven thousand Moghuls, all well armed, and all mounted on horses of their own country. These were mostly deserters from the army of Nadyr shah; all old soldiers, accustomed to long marches and frequent successes. He had besides a numerous artillery well served; and it was followed by a camp amply furnished with everything that could be desired. On his setting out he wrote in these terms to Emir-qhan, Viceroy of Ilah-abad, who was his friend and patron : "Your respectful friend on His Majesty's special command, backed by your own advice and request, is going to succour the Viceroy of Bengal, who is hard pressed by the Marhattas. But as such an expedition shall to all appearance be liable to a variety of difficulties and obstacles ;
12.13.3
and on the other hand, it is well known that my own Government is a continual scene of insurrections and troubles, and full of Zemindars, accustomed to insubordination and independence, whose refractory necks, of course, require continually a curbing hand ; my situation at the very setting out becomes perilous. I can neither leave my consort and family amongst them, nor carry them decently along with me; nor do I possess, or see about me, any such place of shelter where I might leave them with safety. Your humble servant supplicates, therefore, that you vouchsafe him the fortress of Chennar; after which favour your respectful suitor having his heart set at ease about these two delicate articles, shall proceed with peace of mind on his expedition." Emir-qhan on perusing that letter, complied with the request, and sending Abul-mansur-qhan the patent of Governor of Chennar, he ordered his own Governor to evacuate the place, and to deliver it to him. Abul-mansur-qhan furnished with such credentials, threw a bridge of boats on the Ganga, at Banares ; and having crossed over, he went with his whole family to see and admire the fortress of Chennar ; after which he placed in it a garrison and a Governor of his own, and continued his route to Azim-abad, together with his consort and family, his design being to send them back immediately to Chennar, should there be a necessity of fighting the enemy at Azim-abad. He marched with a pomp equally warlike and imposing.
12.13.4
The poorman's father, Seid Hedaiet-aaly-qhan, Bahadyr, was at that time Deputy Governor of the province of Azim-abad, where he soon received from his master, Zin-eddin-ahmed-qhan, a letter in these terms : "Abul-mansur-qhan, the Impetuous in Wars, is commanded by the Imperial Court to come to the assistance of His Sublime Highness, the Formidable in Battles, who is the Intrepid of the State, and the Sword of the Empire. Whenever that General shall have come near the city, you are to go out to meet him, and to do everything which you shall deem proper for receiving, entertaining, welcoming, and obliging him ; and let there not happen anything that may give him displeasure." As Abul-mansur-qhan was approaching, a panic seized all the inhabitants of Azim-abad, who dreaded the character which those deserters from Nadyr-shah's army bore all over those parts for their insubordination and their ferocity. This character of theirs was so well known, that the citizens were as consterned, as if they had been called up for the last judgment. They had heard of the cruelties exercised at the general massacre of Shah-djehan-abad, and knew that their Deputy Governor, although furnished with a body of troops suitable to his office and station, was by no means equal to a contest with so formidable a guest, who was followed by an unbridled soldiery, of whose fury and resoluteness they had conceived the highest opinion.
12.13.5
Nor was the Deputy-Governor himself without his apprehensions on that account, as he had not the least connection with that General ; and the necessity of providing for his own honour, dictated the propriety of seeking out some mediator. Luckily for him, he now recollected that Murid-qhan, the nobleman sent from Court, and relegated by Aaly-verdy-qhan at Azim-abad, was a Seyd of the race of the Tebatebas, as well as my honoured father himself ; and as this circumstance had soon produced an acquaintance which had occasioned much intercourse, and then a strict intimacy, he was thought by my father the fittest person for the office of introductor and mediator with Abul-mansur-qhan : for he was himself a Lord of the presence, and had been at Delhi a great friend of Abul-mansur-qhan's. To Murid-qhan, therefore, he disclosed his apprehensions in a distant indirect manner ; and this nobleman having quieted his mind on that head, took upon himself the task of introducing him to that General. With that view he quitted the city, and went to meet that new comer, from whose camp he in a few days wrote to my father to inform him "that he might come by all means, without any fear and without giving himself the least uneasiness on what he had so much apprehended." This letter was accompanied by one from the General himself, which was conceived in terms full of kindness, and expressed a desire to see him.
12.13.6
The Deputy Governor, encouraged by these letters, advanced as far as Monir, where he paid his respects to the General as he was passing, by whom he was received and spoke to with much kindness and affability ; after which he came with his retinue to Azim-abad, where one of Abul-mansur-qhan's first order was, to clear the castle of every thing and person belonging to the Governor-General, Zin-eddin-ahmed-qhan. He had already sent a guard of Moghuls to take possession of the gates ; so that it became impossible to bring anything out of the Governor's lodgings. However, when night came on, my father sent me with a number of trusty men, who found means to bring together in one place the furniture and things belonging to his master ; from whence they were carried with silence and precaution out of the castle to a house that had been appropriated to that service, but from whence it became necessary to carry them farther again into a house close to our own lodgings, where they remained safe. The next day Abul-mansur-qhan made a pompous entry into Azim-abad ; and without stopping anywhere, he repaired to the castle, where he placed a number of his own men, after having taken a slight survey of it ; from thence he went to perform his devotions at the mausoleum of his maternal-uncle, (monument that goes by the name of Saadet-qhan's father) and after having religiously visited the place, and pronounced a short prayer, he returned to his camp, which had been pitched at Baky-poor.
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Thither he was followed by every one of the Crown-officers, by the heads of office, by all the Mansubdars, and Zemindars, and Djaghirdars, and by all the men of distinction in the city, who made it a point to figure amongst the foremost of those that presented him their Nuzurs and respects. But as he was exceedingly proud, and assuming, he barely received their homages, without paying any more attention to the highest than he did to the lowest of them: a disdainful behaviour that made every one of the visitors return home very much dissatisfied with the success of this visit; nor did he use the Governor-General less cavalierly. There were then at Azim-abad some war-elephants, perfectly well trained, which the Governor-General had left there as a resource against the Marhattas; but Abul-mansur-qhan no sooner heard of them, than he sent for my honoured father, and desired his making those animals over to him on what price he chose to fix upon them. Hedaiet-aaly-qhan answered in these very words: "My Lord, neither my master is a merchant, nor is your servant his shopkeeper. You are a mighty Lord and Commander, and so is my Lord and Commander; moreover there intervenes between you and him so much intercourse and union, that it would be injurious to think that two such illustrious personages can become strangers to each other. Of course whatever belongs to him, belongs also to his friend; your Excellency, therefore, may take whatever you please;
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but I, as his servant, cannot give any thing, without an express order from him." To this speech no regard was paid; and Abul-mansur-qhan having cast the eye of covetousness upon so small an object, as three or four elephants and three or four pieces of cannon, sent for them by his own people, and kept them in his camp. Such proceedings having been reported at Murshud-abad, displeased Aaly-verdy-qhan so much, that he wrote him a letter in a proper style, where he desired him to forbear coming to Murshud-abad, as it would be better for him to return to his own Government. He also sent up a petition to the Emperor purporting, "that he did not stand in need of such assisters, as by God's blessing, and under His Majesty's auspices, his servant would shew what he could perform; and that as no cordiality could ever take place between such a succourer and himself, his faithful subject, he hoped that Abul-mansur-qhan would be ordered back to his own Government." The Emperor, informed of the matter, wrote to Abul-mansur-qhan, commanding his returning to his post; and in giving the letter to that General's agent, he intimated his pleasure that his master should depart immediately on the receipt of it. But before this order could arrive from the capital, Abul-mansur-qhan was already informed of its contents, as well as of the effect which Aaly-verdy-qhan's representation had made on the Emperor's mind.
12.13.9
He had likewise received intelligence by the same channel that Baladji-rao was by the Emperor's own command putting himself in motion, and that he would soon be expected at Azim-abad in his march to Bengal, where he was directed to succour Aaly-verdy-qhan. Now as there subsisted much enmity between that General and Baladji-rao on account of the bloody defeat given to Baladji-rao's father by Saadet-qhan, and of the many Marhatta Commanders which had fallen in the victor's hands, and were still kept confined by his son-in law, Abul-mansur-qhan; the latter who suspected every one of Baladji-raos motions, thought it best to be arrived betimes at Aud, his own capital. Quitting, therefore, Azim-abad without loss of time, he advanced to Monir, where he crossed the Ganga on a bridge of boats, which he threw on that river; from whence he by long marches proceeded to his own country; and it was from Monir he dismissed the Deputy Governor, who out of respect had accompanied him so far.