The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.148

v4.c20.148

Farrukh-siyar’s personal favourites urged him to neutralise the Sayyid brothers’ predominance in the state by bringing forward two nobles and placing them on an equality with the former, so that all malcontents would gather under the leadership of these two men. In pursuance of this policy, Mīr Jumla and Khān Daurān were promoted to the rank of 7000, and placed in charge of 5000 guardsmen each. Their relations also received commands, and thus their combined forces threatened to overshadow the armed strength of the minister and the paymaster. No order was issued by the emperor without the approval of these two favourites. Even plots against the Sayyids’ lives were formed in the palace. Meantime, Husain ‘Alī had got possession of the secret letters sent against him by Farrukh-siyar to Ajīt Singh, and also learnt of the plotting at court. The two brothers ceased to attend on the emperor, and stood on the defensive in their own houses. At last, in December, Husain ‘Alī and his brother wrote to the emperor, offering to resign as they had lost his confidence and he was resolved on their destruction. Farrukh-siyar’s spirit quailed at this threat, and he entered into negotiations for conciliating them; Mīr Jumla, his favourite selection for the post of minister, “was only a carpet-knight; he talked well, but evaded dealing with the kernel of the matter”; he shrank from undertaking the overthrow of the Sayyids by force. Muhammad Amīn Khān, sick of Farrukh-siyar’s treachery and weakness, refused to stir unless the emperor personally headed the army against the Sayyid brothers. Farrukh-siyar now totally lost heart and made a complete surrender to the Sayyids. They spared Khān Daurān, who had made a secret pact to serve them faithfully, but secured from the emperor Mīr Jumla’s removal from court to the viceroyalty of Bihār, and the dismissal of Mīr Jumla’s chief agent Lutf-ullah Khān Sādiq. In return, Husain ‘Alī agreed to leave the court as viceroy of the Deccan. This settlement was effected in December, 1714. Husain ‘Alī marched for the south in April, 1715, with the power to appoint and remove all officials in the Deccan (including even the commandants of the important forts). But the treacherous Farrukh-siyar wrote secretly to Dāūd Khān, newly appointed governor of Burhānpur, to resist Husain ‘Alī. The attempt ended in Dāūd Khān’s defeat and death (September, 1715).