The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.162

v4.c20.162

Farrukh-siyar “was strong neither for evil nor for good....He was for ever letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’. For seven years the State was in a condition of unstable equilibrium, and it is not too much to say that Farrukh-siyar prepared for himself the fate which finally overtook him. Feeble, false, cowardly, contemptible, it is impossible either to admire or regret him” (Irvine). His deposition by the Sayyid brothers cannot, therefore, be called wrong. “But their way of doing what had become almost a necessity was unduly harsh. Blinding a deposed king was the fixed usage....But the severity of the subsequent confinement was excessive; and the taking of the captive’s life was an extremity entirely uncalled for....The Sayyids were forced into action by a regard for their own lives and honour” (Irvine).