A History of the Mahrattas v1.c19.27

v1.c19.27

Zoolfikar Khan, who was in the army of Azim Shah in the battle of Agra, after supporting his reputation as an officer, escaped from the field, and Sultan Mauzum, by the advice of his excellent minister, Monaim Khan, not only pardoned, but promoted him to high rank; conferring on him the viceroyalty of the Deccan, and the title of Umeer Ool Oomrah. By Zoolfikar Khan’s representations, Sultan Mauzum at first lent his countenance to Shao’s party, which tended to increase the Raja’s consequence amongst his countrymen, and would have been followed by more substantial advantages in a formal grant of the Surdeshmookhee, but Monaim Khan, unused to Bramin artifice, having been visited by the Wukeels of Tara Bye, was persuaded by them that Tara Bye’s son, Sivajee, was the lawful Raja of the Mahrattas. Zoolfikar Khan, impatient at his listening to these pretensions, betrayed an irritation which the minister resented, and Sultan Mauzum, unwilling to disoblige Monaim Khan and at the same time not displeased to find an excuse for deferring such a concession, seemed to comply with the minister’s proposal in favour of Sivajee, and desired that the deeds for the Surdeshmookhee should be made out in his name; he, however, postponed their delivery until the claim to the Mahratta supremacy should be decided, by the issue of the contest which was then in progress between the candidates.¹