The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.143

v4.c20.143

Farrukh-siyar had naturally to give the highest offices in the realm to the king-makers. Sayyid ‘Abdullah was made minister with the titles of Qutb-ul-Mulk Zafar Jang Sipāh-sālār; Sayyid Husain ‘Alī was appointed first paymaster with the titles of Amīr-ul-umarā Fīrūz Jang. The post of second paymaster was conferred upon Muhammad Amīn Khān Chīn (the Turānī leader) with the titles of I‘timād-ud-Daula Nusrat Jang, while his son Qamar-ud-dīn became paymaster of the Ahadīs.¹ Several secondary posts at court were given to the new emperor’s personal favourites, and by reason of their intimacy with him they exercised very much real power over the administration and often succeeded in thwarting the ostensible ministers by influencing the emperor behind their backs. The chief examples of these “king’s friends” were Mīr Jumla, the superintendent of the pages, and Khvāja ‘Āsim, the superintendent of the audience-hall. New viceroys were sent to many of the provinces with this change of sovereigns, notably ‘Abdus-Samad Khān (Lahore), Rājā Jay Singh Sawāi (Mālwā) and Sayyid Khān Jahān Bārha (Ajmer). The viceroyalties of Multān and Bihār were conferred on the two Sayyid brothers, with permission to govern them by deputy. Shahāmat Khān (now created Mubāriz Khān) was confirmed in the government of Gujarāt. Bengal was nominally given to Mīr Jumla, but its former revenue minister Murshid Qulī Khān (now created Ja‘far Khān Nasīrī) was ordered to govern it as his deputy in addition to being substantive viceroy of Orissa. The six provinces of the Deccan were conferred on Nizām-ul-Mulk (Chīn Qilich Khān Bahādur, son of Ghāzī-ud-dīn Fīrūz Jang of Aurangzīb’s time), with his headquarters at Aurangābād and deputies in each of the component provinces. The Nizām was the ablest man in the empire and now rose to the foremost position, which he retained till his death in 1748. He was one of the leaders of the Turānī party, the other being his father’s first cousin Muhammad Amīn Khān (now second paymaster). The Turānī soldiers who came from Central Asia (north of the Oxus) enjoyed high favour and influence in the Mughul empire, being fellow-countrymen of the Timurid dynasty. They formed a large proportion of the army, and their leaders were remarkable for military skill and capacity for civil government alike. The foreign Muslim immigrants whose home was Persia and Khurāsān, known as the Īrānīs, were also singularly gifted, especially in revenue and secretariat work, but they were Shiahs, and being comparatively few in number exerted less influence in the state except when the very highest offices were filled by their members. These two groups of foreign adventurers in India were constantly at war with each other for power and position at the Delhi court, and though the earlier strong emperors kept them under control, their rivalry became the predominant characteristic of Indian history under the weak later Mughuls and one of the causes of the downfall of the empire. The India-born Muslims, conspicuously inferior in intellect and capacity, looked upon both with envy and half-veiled but futile hostility. The Afghāns, though enlisted in large numbers in the imperial army, did not count in Indian politics till after 1748.