Later Mughals v1.c7.s1: Sec. 1.—The Condition of the Princes at Bahadur Shah’s Death.
Later Mughals v1.c7.s1
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Sec. 1.—The Condition of the Princes at Bahadur Shah’s Death.
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By Bahadur Shah’s death on the 20th Muharram 1124 H. (27th February, 1712) the whole camp was thrown into confusion. The Emperor had barely breathed his last, before his sons were ranged against each other in contest for Empire, an event which was far from unexpected. In order to make the narrative of events quite clear, it is necessary to go back a little and explain the position in which the four brothers stood to each other. Azim-ush-shan, the second son, had been far away from his father for the last ten years of his grandfather Alamgir’s reign. In 1109 H. (1697-8) he was appointed governor of Bengal, to which was added Bihar in the year 1114 H. (1702-3). He did not see his father again until they met at Agra in 1119 H. (1707) just before the battle at Jajau and the defeat of Azam Shah. During these ten or twelve years, Jahandar Shah, the eldest son, from his inattention to public affairs, lost favour with his father and spent most of his time in his separate Government of Multan. In the earlier years of Shah Alam’s stay in the Kabul province, his third son, Rafi-ush-shan, was his principal adviser and favourite son. In time he was supplanted in this position by the fourth son, Jahan Shah, who retained his influence at his father’s accession and for some time afterwards. The credit of Munim Khan’s appointment as chief minister is given to Jahan Shah. But about the time (December 1709) when the Emperor recrossed the Narmada on his return to Hindustan, all influence seems to have been absorbed by the second son, Azim-ush-shan. Jahan Shah had several long illnesses (4th—28th December, 1709; 30th July—5th October 1711), and ill-health may have contributed to his gradual exclusion from public affairs. At any rate, Azim-ush-shan continued in favour to the end of the reign. The great wealth that he had accumulated, both during his stay in Bengal and after he had obtained the chief direction of affairs, and the preponderating influence that he had exercised for a considerable period, while they raised his brothers envy, pointed him out to all men as the destined victor in the coming struggle. [Ijad, 32b ; Scott, ii. Pt. iv. 45.]
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The conduct of the four brothers betokened that they were at enmity ; that there could be little hope of a peaceful solution. Their dread of each other was shown in many ways, among others by an incident related by Iradat Khan.* During the Emperor's last illness, Jahandar Shah and Azim-ush-shan were seated near his bed. Azim-ush-shan took up a jewelled dagger lying near the pillow and began to toy with it, admiring the exquisite workmanship and the beauty of the blade. As he drew it from the sheath, Jahandar Shah, overcome with sudden terror, started up, and in his hurried retreat knocked off his turban at the tent-door, forgot to put on his shoes (a sign of great perturbation),† and, when he got outside, fell over the tent-ropes. As soon as his servants had picked him up, he mounted and rode off in all haste to his own tents. On a previous occassion a violent outbreak had been expected. On the 24th Rabi I. 1123 H. (11th May 1711), the day on which the Satlaj was crossed, Jahandar Shah and Jahan Shah went over the bridge of boats first and took up a threatening position upon the further bank. Messengers brought word that those two Princes and Rafi-ush-shan had made a plot together to attack the treasure carts of Azim-ush-shan as they were coming off the bridge. It was only by the exercise of the strongest pressure that the Emperor, who was extremely angry, was able to avert an outbreak. Another indication of the same strained relations between the four brothers may, I think, be detected in a sudden attack made upon Jahan Shah on the 15th Zul Hijja 1123 H. (23rd January 1712) near the kettle-drum stand, as he was leaving the camp after an audience. A man with a drawn sword rushed at his retinue, wounded a stick-bearer, and was himself cut to pieces. [Kamwar, 70, 100.]
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∗ J. Scott, 64; Ijad 120 b, 121 a.
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† For instance on an occasion of great emergency, one of Ali Wirdi Khan's slippers could not be found and he refused to move till it was brought. A bystander said, 'Is this a time to look for slippers?' 'No,' replied the nawab, 'but were I to go without them it would be said, 'Ali Wirdi Khan was in such a hurry to get away that he left his slippers behind him' (Stewart, Bengal, 462, note). I heard once a sharp Benares mukhtar apply this taunt most effectively to a barefooted litigant at a local enquiry, to the huge delight of the bystanders.
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Jahandar Shah had no money and therefore no troops: his whole force consisted of a hundred horsemen. Against Azim-ush-shan he felt that, under such conditions, it was hopeless to attempt hostilities; and he would have been content with, nay would have thought himself lucky in getting, one city only. He had made up his mind that on his father's death he would make his escape to Multan, where he was well known, and there make ready for an attempt to retrieve his fortunes. All the leading men paid assiduous court to Azim-ush-shan. Among the rest Zulfiqar Khan, Amir-ul-umara, the first Bakhshi, made an offer of his services through the means of Iradat Khan. One Shaikh Qudrat-ullah* wrote a note in reply, of a very curt and unceremonious kind, such as a person of his rank should not have written to a mansabdar of 7,000, saying that all the officers of the State were in attendance at the Prince's Court, there could be no question of any other place, and the Amir-ul-umara ought to present himself there, when he would be fittingly received. Zulfiqar Khan, with tears in his eyes, lamented over such mannerless conduct, and quoted the saying 'when Fortune turns against any one, everything conspires against his success.' He left the imperial guard-room at once, collected his troops, and moved with all his tents and effects to the camp of Prince Jahandar Shah, the eldest son.†
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† Warid, 60, 61; Yahya Khan, 117b; J. Scott, 65; or text (my copy) 68.
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But Zulfiqar Khan had not been so imprudent as to leave his own fate completely in the hands of Azim-ush-shan. For a long time he had been negotiating with the three Princes opposed to Azim-ush-shan, and had succeeded in bringing them to an agreement. The Court chroniclers noticed, as the outward sign of these intrigues, that on the 25th Zul Hijja 1123 H. (2nd February, 1712) Rafi-ush-shan and on the 1st Muharram 1124 H. (8th February, 1712) Jahandar Shah visited the quarters of Zulfiqar Khan. As Azim-ush-shan's power was held to be overwhelming, it was considered wise by Zulfiqar Khan, acting for Jahandar Shah, to make overtures for joint action to the two younger brothers. Accordingly an agreement sworn on the Quran was entered into for the division of the Empire into three parts. Jahandar Shah, as the eldest son, would be proclaimed Emperor of Hindustan, the Friday prayer being recited everywhere in his name, and the coinage throughout the country bearing his superscription. Rafi-ush-shan was to take Kabul, Kashmir, Multan, Tattha and Bhakkar, and Jahan Shah, the Dakhin from the Narmada to the island of Ceylon. Any cash or plunder obtained by a victory over Azim-ush-shan was to be divided among the three Princes equally. The preposterous condition was also included in the agreement that Zulfiqar Khan should be the only Wazir, remaining in person with Jahandar Shah at Dihli and exercising his functions through deputies at the Courts of the other two Princes. A more impracticable plan can hardly be conceived, and possibly it was never seriously intended by Zulfiqar Khan that it should be carried out. Up to this time, owing to the notorious poverty of Jahandar Shah, adventurers and soldiers had kept aloof from him, but when his cause was espoused by Zulfiqar Khan, they began to flock to his standard.*
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∗ A native of Allahabad. He was hanged by Mir Jumla early in Farrukh-siyar's reign.
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We have already recounted how Prince Rafi-ush-shan passed under arms the greater part of the night of the 18th
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∗ Kamwar Khan, 101, 102; Warid, 59, 60; Mhd. Qasim Lahori, 45. Valentyn, iv. 294, estimates the numbers of the contending forces as follows :—
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| | | | | Horse | Foot |
| Jahandar Shah | ... | ... | ... | 20,000 | 30,000 |
| Rafi-ush-shan | ... | ... | ... | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| Jahan Shah | ... | ... | ... | 25,000 | 30,000 |
| | | | | 53,000 | 68,000 |
| Azim-ush-shan | ... | ... | ... | 30,000 | 30,000 |
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He can give no record of the numbers slain in the subsequent fighting.
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Muharram 1124 H. (25th February 1712). In the morning the Prince slept late and was not yet awake when Kamwar Khan arrived at his house. Assembled there were the Prince's chief men, Afzal Khan, Fath-ullah Khan, Ata-ullah Khan, Jahangir Quli Khan and others, with their friends and relations. Camel-riders, one after another, came in with reports of the increasing severity of Bahadur Shah's illness. About noon Rafi-ush-shan left the mansion of Ali Mardan Khan, with his three sons and his family, and took shelter in a small tent put up for the occasion on the river sands. Kamwar Khan was posted, with all the Prince's men, at Katra Shah Balawal* to keep watch during the night. Munim Khan was despatched to the left, to the river bank, at the head of Prince Ibrahim's troops, while Fath-ullah Khan Mughal went out to the distance of a quarter of a kos as an advanced guard. The rest of the troops were drawn up to form a centre and two wings, and thus the night was spent in anxious expectation of the next news. [Kamwar, 104-5.]
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In the morning Rafi-ush-shan learnt that his father had passed away at the first watch of the night, and that the imperial camp had fallen into the possession of Azim-ush-shan. A tumult had at once arisen, and without delay, dark though it was, the chief nobles had deserted their posts round the Emperor's quarters, and had hastened to join one or other of the Princes. A few men only, such as Islam Khan, the Mir Atash, Hamid-ud-din Khan, Darbar Khan and Khawas Khan, remained at their posts and prevented the plunder of the women's apartments. Many men of lower station and all the traders, who had their families in camp, started for the city, leading their women and children by the hand. Most of their property was at once plundered by the loose characters hanging about the army, who collected at the Shalimar garden, between the camp and the city, while the streets and lanes of Lahor were crowded with people who could find no house in which to obtain shelter. The camps of the four Princes were in an uproar. The great nobles looked forward to inevitable death before the sun had set, while the soldiers clamoured for their arrears. Every sort of oppression was inflicted upon the paymasters; and whatever could be laid hands upon was carried off. Son could not help father, nor father, son; every one was wrapped up in thoughts for his own safety. Among others Inayatullah Khan, Khan-saman or Lord Steward, fled to Lahor, and as soon as he had reached the city, made a pretext of being ill of a cold and thus avoided presenting himself at any of the four darbars.*
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∗ Shah Balawal Qadiri Lahori, died 28th Shaban 1046 H. (4th Feb. 1637), aged 70 years. His tomb outside the Dihli Gate of Lahor was threatened by the Ravi in 1252 H. (1836-7), when the body was exhumed and re-buried at a little distance, Khazinat-ul-asfiya, i. 161.
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At early dawn spies brought in word that Prince Muhammad Karim, son of Azim-ush-shan, had started for the encampment of Mahabat Khan and Khan Zaman, sons of the late Munim Khan, Bahadur Shah's Wazir. The real objects of this movement had not been discovered by the other side. Naturally, it was supposed that Azim-ush-shan, having more treasure, men, elephants, and cannon than the other three Princes put together, and all the great nobles, with the exception of Zulfiqar Khan, having joined him, had taken the field at once, without allowing his opponents time to collect more troops. Zulfiqar Khan, as soon as he heard of this movement on Azim-ush-shan's part, revived the courage of his troops, who wished to retreat, by quoting the proverb, 'Never take off your stockings, till you see the ford.' Then he rode off with a small escort to Jahan Shah, who was near the tomb of Shah Mir,† and thence to the position of Prince Rafi-ush-shan near the Ravi. Azim-ush-shan had made overtures to Rafi-ush-shan, who had at first held back from taking one side or the other, then by the persuasion of Zulfiqar Khan had joined Jahandar Shah. But Zulfiqar Khan was still a little suspicious of him and therefore proposed that, as his force was small, he should take up his position as the rearguard. To this Rafi-ush-shan consented, and as soon as he knew that Muhammad Karim had marched, he drew up on the bank of the Ravi, at the head of 5,000 to 6,000 horsemen, about a bow-shot from his camp, and awaited the other side's approach. In like manner, Jahandar Shah, accompanied by Zulfiqar Khan, left his camp between the city and the Shalimar gardens, where he had been ever since arriving at Lahor; and Jahan Shah, mounting a swift gray horse, issued from his quarters near the tomb of Miyan Mir in readiness to give battle. [Kamwar 106, Nur. 23.]
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∗ Kamwar Khan, 105; Qasim, 43; Yahya Khan, 117 a.
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† Shaikh Muhammad Mir called Shah Mir or Miyan Mir, died at Lahor, 7th Rabi I. 1045 H. (21st Aug. 1635), and was buried in Hashimpur near that city. Beale, 2nd ed., 304, and Khazinat-ul-asfiya, i. 154.
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One watch of the day had hardly passed when Azim-ush-shan's troops, after showing on a rising ground, disappeared from view. By the reports of the spies it became clear that Muhammad Karim had come out, not to give battle, but to rescue the sons of Munim Khan and some other nobles, who were escorted to Azim-ush-shan's camp. This movement was due to the fact that Rajah Gujar Mal and Jani Khan had been sent by Zulfiqar Khan to the tents of Mahabat Khan with the hope of persuading him to act as mediator between Azim-ush-shan and his three brothers, the object being to gain time. When Azim-ush-shan heard of this visit, he, suspecting that the sons of Munim Khan meant to desert him, sent his son to re-assure them, at the same time using the occasion to make a display of his own strength. The spies had also ascertained that Azim-ush-shan intended to shun a battle in the open, preferring to entrench himself. The preparation of earthen defences had been ordered and his purpose was to rely upon his artillery and musket fire. This news was most re-assuring to the three Princes, they returned joyfully to their camps, and ordered the enlistment of fresh troops.*