The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.226

v4.c20.226

One of Khān Daurān's earliest acts as minister was to dismiss Sarbuland Khān from Gujarāt on a charge that he had recognised the claim of the Marāthās to *chauth* and *sardeshmukhī*. But the reduction of his army had forced him either to buy off the Marāthās or to see his fertile province annually laid waste by them, and Khān Daurān's personal enmity was the true cause of his dismissal. Abhay Singh, who, having (according to some accounts) murdered his father, Ajīt Singh, in June, 1724, had succeeded as Mahārājā of Jodhpur, was selected as viceroy of Gujarāt. Sarbuland Khān, smarting under the injustice of his treatment by the minister, attacked the lieutenant sent to take charge and drove him from the province. A second representative, at the head of a larger force, shared the fate of the first, and Abhay Singh was forced in 1730 to set out for Gujarāt in person. Though accompanied by a large army of forty or fifty thousand horse Sarbuland Khān inflicted a defeat on him, forcing him to retreat for a few miles. After this proof of his military qualities Sarbuland Khān's heart failed him. Such acts of rebellion had become almost matters of course in the condition of feebleness to which the central government had fallen, but his situation was more than usually unfavourable. Abhay Singh might be reinforced from the capital and Khān Daurān might even seek the powerful aid of Nizām-ul-Mulk, who still resented his uncle's expulsion from Gujarāt. Sarbuland Khān therefore visited Abhay Singh, recalled his close friendship with the raja's father, and said that his resistance had been merely a vindication of his own honour, and that he would gladly allow Abhay Singh to enter Ahmadābād. Sarbuland Khān then set out for Delhi, but his opposition to the new governor had enraged the minister, who was bent on punishing him. He travelled by way of Mālwa, and on his arrival at Āgra was arrested by mace-bearers, being deserted by his troops, and remained a state prisoner. This was his reward for important services rendered to the empire. He had been guilty of high treason, but so had Nizām-ul-Mulk, on three occasions, yet Nizām-ul-Mulk was viceroy of the Deccan, where he was even now plotting treason against his sovereign.