The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c25.167

v3.c25.167

The death of Ahmad II revived the question of the succession, now more complicated than ever, as no scion of the royal house was known to exist. I‘timād Khān solved it by producing a child named Nathū and swearing that he was the son of Mahmūd III by a concubine. He explained his birth by saying that Mahmūd, when he discovered that the concubine was pregnant, handed her over to him with instructions to procure an abortion, but that he, discovering that the girl was in the sixth month of her pregnancy, could not find it in his heart to subject her to an operation which would almost certainly be fatal, and retained her in his house, concealing the birth of the child and bringing him up in secret. The story was in the last degree improbable, for greater facilities for carrying out Mahmūd’s unnatural orders must have existed in the royal harem than elsewhere, and no explanation of the preference shown for a collateral when Ahmad II was enthroned was offered, but an heir had to be found, for none of the nobles would have submitted to any one of their order, and I‘timād Khān’s oath was accepted and the child was enthroned as Muzaffar III.