Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 4.12.8

4.12.8

The Vezir, Abdollah-khan, was a man of abilities, indeed; but so passionately fond of fine women, so addicted to feasting, music, and dancing, as well as to all kinds of pleasures, and, of course, so desirous of ease, that he was leaving the whole management of both his immense household and his high office to his Divan, Ratan-chand, a man who had been once a shop-keeper, but who by all means was too enthusiastic in his false religion to discharge decently all the duties of that important charge; and too narrow-minded likewise, to feel his own consequence and to act with a temper suitable to it. And yet it was such a man who, under his master's name, carried every thing with a high hand, and enjoyed an uncontrolled influence all over the Empire of Hindostan. In consequence of so much incapacity on one side, and so much sloth and supineness on the other, enmities gained daily ground, and daily fuel was added to attentive rancour; and these enmities in their consequences rose to such an amazing height, as to overtop the sublime columns of the Timurian throne, which they crushed down at last under their weight, involving in its downfall the families of the two Seids, which they demolished entirely, and ultimately altering the very constitution of the Empire.