The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.131

v4.c20.131

Bahādur Shāh had a mild and calm temper, great dignity of behaviour, and excessive and inconsiderate generosity of disposition. He was learned and pious, without any bigotry, and possessed a power of self-control and profound dissimulation which was styled personal cowardice by his rival A‘zam Shāh. He was incapable of saying no to anybody, and his only idea of statesmanship was to let matters drift and patch up a temporary peace by humouring everybody, without facing issues and saving future trouble by making decisions promptly and courageously. Still, the traditions of the dignity of the empire and of good administration left by Aurangzīb continued through his short reign, as he inherited his father’s able officers and treated them with confidence and respect. On his accession, his own weak position and softness of fibre, coupled with advanced age, prevented him from asserting his will in any matter. He had promised the post of minister to Mun‘im Khān, his able deputy and most useful servant of the days of his princehood, and yet he could not resist the demand of Asad Khān (Aurangzīb’s minister) to be the first officer of the state. In his usual spirit of compromise, Bahādur Shāh tried to please both by creating Mun‘im Khān *Vazīr* or revenue minister and Asad Khān *Vakīl-i-mutlaq* or prime minister. But this division of authority pleased neither of them, while it complicated the administration. He conferred titles with a profusion which made them ridiculous. The Turānī nobles (their chiefs being of the family of the Nizām) were kept in the background during this reign.