Later Mughals v1.c6.s10: Sec. 10.—Muhammad Kam Bakhsh's Doings in the Dakhin.
Later Mughals v1.c6.s10
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Sec. 10.—Muhammad Kam Bakhsh's Doings in the Dakhin.
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We left Muhammad Kam Bakhsh, the youngest son of Alamgir, on his way from Ahmadnagar to his new Government at Bijapur. He had reached the fort of Parenda, a distance of seventy or eighty miles, when he heard of his father's death. The Turani Mughals under Muhammad Amin Khan without staying to ask leave, marched off to join Prince Muhammad Azam at Ahmadnagar. Kam Bakhsh's chief adviser Ahsan Khan (Mir Sultan Hasan called Mir Mallang) did what he could to rally the troops left and they resumed their march for Bijapur. As they approached that place, messages were sent to the commandant of the fort, Sayyid Niyaz Khan, promising him a rich reward if he would deliver up the town. At first he declined and commenced to put his walls in a state of defence and erect batteries in front of the gates. [K. K. 569.]
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When the death of Alamgir became known Sayyid Niyaz Khan through the strenuous exertions of Ahsan Khan was induced to send the keys of the fortress and make his submission in person. Two months were then spent in settling affairs in the town and adjacent country. Ahsan Khan was then raised to the rank of *Panj Hazari* (5000) and permanently appointed to the post of Bakhshi or generalissimo, while Hakim Muhsin received the pen-case of Chief Minister with the title of Taqarrub Khan. Other leaders from the imperial army and the Prince's followers were rewarded with titles and gifts. A formal enthronement took place, the *khutba* or public prayer for the sovereign was read in Muhammad Kam Bakhsh's name with the style of Dinpanah, 'Protector of the Faith', and coin was issued with the superscription:
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Dar Dakin zad sikkah bar khurshid o mah
Padshah Kam Bakhsh-i-Dinpanah
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"In the South struck coin on sun (= gold) and moon (= silver) the Emperor Kam Bakhsh, Protector of the Faith."*
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When a force of 7000 to 8000 horsemen had been collected, Kam Bakhsh started to take Wakinkhera, which on the report of Alamgir's death had been re-occupied by Parya Naik. On the way Sayyid Niyaz Khan, leaving his tents standing, fled at night to join Azam Shah. The fort of Kulbarga was taken, and on the recommendation of Ahsan Khan, Sayyid Jafar Barha was placed in charge. On reaching Wakinkhera, the place was invested and after a siege of fifteen to twenty days was taken. Kam Bakhsh marched on to further conquests.
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Meanwhile his ministers Taqarrub Khan and Ahsan Khan had quarrelled. The former now sent another commandant to replace Sayyid Jafar at Kulbarga. Sayyid Jafar refused to give possession and even when Kam Bakhsh in person reached the place, he still delayed delivery for several days. The discredit of this disobedience fell upon Ahsan Khan. The general had established a ganj or market-place calling it by his own name, and in order to attract traders he gave public notice that no dues would be levied. Taqarrub Khan represented that these measures affected the prosperity of the imperial market-place, Shahganj. Kam Bakhsh ordered Ahsan Khan to abolish his market. The general, although he complied, was exceedingly vexed at such a rebuff after all that he had done, and breaking the flagstaff of his market-place, sent the pieces to Taqarrub Khan.
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Ahsan Khan's anger was appeased and he was sent against Karnul,† then held by Yusuf Khan. The faujdar made many difficulties, but after some time, as the result of much negotiation, he agreed to make a payment of three lakhs of Rupees. Ahsan Khan then raised the siege. His next expedition was towards Arkat, of which the then *faujdar* was Daud Khan, of the Panni tribe of Afghans. In this country, in spite of his troops suffering from want of food, Ahsan Khan did much for his master's cause. [*Dil.* 171*b*.]
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∗ K. K. 570, J. G. Delmerick in *Pro. A. S. B.* 1884, p. 92 and C. J. Rodgers in *J. A. S. B.* 1888, p. 28. The reading in the British Museum Catalogue (1892), pp. 164, 165 and 371, is erroneous, being founded on imperfect coins.
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† About 90 m. south of Haidarabad.
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As the effect of his traducer's exertions, Ahsan Khan found Kam Bakhsh was turned against him, and his prestige suffered accordingly. Still he in no way diminished his exertions. The next campaign was directed against Golkonda and Haidarabad, of which latter the subahdar in Alamgir's reign, Rustam Dil Khan,* was still in possession. This officer, a man of a good family and well-known, was persuaded by Ahsan Khan's conciliatory letters to submit himself. Similar overtures were made to the commandant of Golkonda, but that officer, pleading a *farman* from Bahadur Shah, refused to surrender. Rustam Dil Khan, to whom had been sent a *farman* signed by Kam Bakhsh and backed by oaths on the Quran, came out at the head of 4,000 or 5,000 horsemen to pay his respects. It was then decided, following on the advice of Ahsan Khan, to leave for the present the fort of Golkonda untouched and provide for the reduction to order of the adjacent country and the collection of the revenue. During this time supplies could be prevented from reaching Golkonda. [*K. K.* 608.]
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The Wazir, Taqarrub Khan (Hakim Muhammad Muhsin), now joined forces with the Prince's eunuchs and one Sayyid Ahmad for the purpose of ruining Ahsan Khan. Sayyid Ahmad was originally a protege of Ahsan Khan's, but now for some reason or other had turned against him. Ahsan Khan, puffed up with a belief in his fortunate star, and relying with the rashness of youth upon the great services that he had done for his master, took no steps to counteract the machinations of his enemies. Often, with a view to consultation on public business, Ahsan Khan, Saif Khan (who had taught archery to Kam Bakhsh), Arshad Khan, Nasir Khan and Ahmad Khan, met and talked with Rustam Dil Khan in private. These meetings were used by Taqarrub Khan, Ihtida Khan and the other men envious of Ahsan Khan, as a means of accusation and they easily succeeded in arousing the suspicions of Kam Bakhsh. [Kamwar, 25.]
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∗ Rustam Dil Khan (*M. U.* ii. 324) was the son of Mir Bahadur Dil, entitled Jan Sipar Khan (*M. U.* i. 535), son of Sayyid Mukhtar Khan Mukhtari Sabzawari (ibid iii. 409). His mother was a daughter of Khan Zaman (ibid i. 785), son of Azam Khan. [*T.-Mdi*, year 1120.]
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For years past Kam Bakhsh had been noted for a violence of disposition approaching to insanity. The suspicions now instilled into him raised this latent ferocity to the highest point, and as Khafi Khan expresses it "he hacked his own foot with the hatchet of ill-success". Taqarrub Khan and the other conspirators persuaded the Prince into a belief that the constant meetings and hospitable entertainments between Ahsan Khan and Rustam Dil Khan covered a plot of seizing him, (Kam Bakhsh), while on his way to the Friday prayer at the great mosque. If he did not anticipate them, their plans would soon be carried to a successful issue.
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The Prince fell at once into the snare and resolved to strike first. He wrote a note to Rustam Dil Khan, inviting him to take part in drafting a reply to the letter received from Bahadur Shah, of which we shall speak presently. Early in the morning, before the sun had risen, Rustam Dil Khan, took his pen-case and repaired to the Prince's quarters. Kam Bakhsh told him to send away the crowd and sit down with his writing materials in the praying tent where, as soon as he (Kam Bakhsh) had eaten his breakfast, he would join him. Then they would confer and draft the reply to Bahadur Shah. Rustam Dil Khan, free of all suspicion, took off his weapons, as he did daily, and went into the tent. In a moment Kam Bakhsh's men, seizing the unsuspecting subahdar and his sons, placed them in confinement.
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As Kam Bakhsh had been informed that notes and messages had passed between Ahsan Khan, Saif Khan and Rustam Dil Khan, he caused the pen-case of the prisoner to be searched. There a letter was found from Saif Khan addressed to Rustam Dil Khan. It was a reply to an enquiry as to how the advisers of Kam Bakhsh were to be approached and its purport was that it was best to work first for the consent of Ahsan Khan, next for that of Ahmad Khan and then that of the others. The perusal of this letter had the erroneous effect of convincing the Prince of these men's disaffection. After an imprisonment of three days he ordered that Rustam Dil Khan, bound hand and foot, should be thrown under the feet of his own elephant. But, in spite of all their efforts to carry out this order, the elephant would not injure Rustam Dil Khan. Another elephant was brought, the prisoner was trodden to death under its feet, and his body paraded through the city. It was then buried under the trees in the garden of the Imli Mahal, near a palace of the former kings.
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Some say that before Rustam Dil Khan's arrest the Prince sent a company of men to surround and occupy his house. His wife, who was of the family of Mukhtar Khan, Bani Mukhtar, prepared to resist. She had already killed and wounded several of the men, when Ahsan Khan persuaded her to abandon these fruitless efforts. The lady, Mir Hasam, brother of the subahdar, and a son were taken as prisoners to Kam Bakhsh. Then Rustam Dil Khan's execution was ordered and his house was confiscated.
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Saif Khan was next taken, the note from him being held sufficient proof of his disloyalty, and the order was given to cut off his right hand. Saif Khan, who had been Kam Bakhsh's instructor in the use of the bow, tried with prayers and entreaties to persuade his master that the letter was quite harmless, nay a proof of loyalty. It was all of no use; his hand was cut off. Saif Khan then began to curse the Prince. What better proof of low origin on his mother's side* could there be than this, that for no fault he should order the hand to be cut off that had taught him how to shoot! Saif Khan's concubine had been dragged to the spot, and seeing what had been done to him, she fell down and died. Ahmad Khan Afghan was directed to bind the culprit, lay him flat on the ground, and drive vicious horses backwards and forwards over him till he died. From these injuries coupled with the severing of his hand and the pulling out of his tongue, Saif Khan soon expired.
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∗ Udaipuri Mahal, the mother of Kam Bakhsh, had been a dancing girl before entering the harem of Dara Shukoh, from whom she was taken by Alamgir. (Sarkar's History of Aurangzib, i. 64n.) [J. S.]
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The tongue of Arshad Khan, grandson of the Arshad Khan who had been diwan of the Dakhin, was also cut out; but, strange to say, his speech was not much affected. The dead bodies of the others were tied upon donkeys and paraded in derision through the town; after this ceremony, they were buried in the Imli garden by the side of Rustam Dil Khan.
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Many officers of position who were friendly to Ahsan Khan, and some of his other advisers had heard that his imprisonment and execution were under discussion. They advised him to mount his women on swift horses and make off for the camp of Bahadur Shah, which could be reached in two or three days. They offered to bring 3000 or 4000 horsemen to escort him. If he did not escape, they said, his life would be taken with indignity. Ahsan Khan was so popular in the army that if he had made known publicly his intention to desert Kam Bakhsh, the whole force, leaders and all, would have accompanied him.
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In spite of what had happened, Ahsan Khan still relied upon the greatness of the services he had rendered, and could not be aroused to a sense of his danger. He paid no heed to any warning. "It is not possible," he said, "that a loyal hereditary servant of the crown, such as I am, could ever be thus suspected by the Prince he serves, whatever his enemies may say." At length Ahsan Khan, too, was enticed from his house, and it was only when he was placed in custody that he awoke from his dreams, and when it was too late began to think of his own preservation. He sent word to his house to remove everything they could in the shape of valuables and money to a place of safety. His dependents, before the confiscation of his goods was effected, collected as much as they could of jewels and gold coins (ashrafis and huns), placed them in a box, and sent them to the house of an Afghan who was under great obligations to Ahsan Khan.
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Every day Ashan Khan's imprisonment increased in severity. His goods were confiscated, and in a few days, by the exertions of his enemies and the cowardice of the Afghan in whose house it was deposited, the box of jewels was traced and brought to Kam Bakhsh. In his presence it was opened. Seeing the purses* full of gold coins, he exclaimed "These held the letters sent to him by Rustam Dil Khan advising him to seize me." His rage was intensified, and day by day he devised new tortures. Half a pound of cooked rice and spices with an excessive amount of salt was fixed as the prisoner's daily ration; he was kept in chains, and exposed to the pouring rain and the burning sun. Twice poison was tried, but without effect. Two or three months elapsed, during which these tortures were continued, and at length the poor victim breathed his last.
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Other crazy acts were done by Kam Bakhsh, in his fits of madness and suspicion, without making any investigation. For instance when Matabar Khan, Bahadur Shah's envoy, arrived, some of Kam Bakhsh's ill-intentioned and foolish advisers persuaded him that the envoy had come at the head of a specially selected escort of reckless men with the intention, should he find an opportunity, of making away with Kam Bakhsh. As soon as he heard these silly words Kam Bakhsh demanded a list of the envoy's retinue, on the pretext of fixing their daily allowances. Now, some of the Haidarabad citizens, on the strength of their knowledge of the Quran, had struck up an acquaintance with Matabar Khan. At their request their names were included in this list. Kam Bakhsh invited the whole of the men to a feast, to which some seventy-five persons came. On their assembling, the Prince ordered them to be bound, and taken by the light of torches in parties of ten to different quarters of the city and there executed.† The mother of two newly married boys made lamentation, but in spite of her cries and her assertions that they did not belong to the envoy's suite, they were executed with the rest. Mulla Said-ud-din, *mufti* of Haidarabad, who had refused to give a legal opinion in favour of the execution of the prisoners, and many of the strict Muhammadan men of learning, taking their families with them, abandoned the city in disgust. Bahadur Shah's envoy himself was imprisoned and subjected to indignities.
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∗ Kharita in the original Persian, meaning a bag in which a letter, when sent to a great person, is enclosed. † Yahya Khan, 114a, says that news came to Bahadur Shah's camp