History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c41.5

v2.c41.5

In the beginning the arrangements for the government of Orissa followed the celebrated Mārāṭhī adage, “do nothing new, do not change the old.” The shell of the government remained Mughal but the core was entirely changed. Nominally Mīr Ḥabībullah was the Na’ib Nāẓim of the Mughal ṣūbah of Orissa under the Nawāb Nāẓim ’Alīwardī Khān Mahābat Jang, who held his appointment under His Majesty the Emperor Aḥmad Shāh. In reality Aḥmad Shāh was trembling for his very life under the tutelage of the great Musalman traitor Ghāziuddin II Firūz Jang, the worthy spawn of the archtraitor Chinkilich Khān, Niẓām-ul-mulk Āṣaf Jāh I of Ḥaidarābād, Deccan. ’Alīwardī Khān was really an independent prince who had thrown off the mask of obedience to the shadow Emperor Muḥammad Shāh of Delhi by refusing to forward the revenues of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1742 on the pretext of Maratha incursions. In reality Orissa had been ceded to the Bhonsles of Nagpur in full sovereignty, and Mīr Ḥabībullah was their governor. The new Maratha government was, therefore, a forerunner of the masterly stroke of diplomacy known in the Dual Government of Clive in Bengal.