Later Mughals v1.c8.s6: Sec. 6.—Jahandar Shah's Life at Dihli.
Later Mughals v1.c8.s6
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Sec. 6.—Jahandar Shah's Life at Dihli.
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The next five months from July to December, until the Emperor marched from Dihli towards Agra, were given up to dissipation. As the proverb says ‘Mad already, he has now taken to eating hemp.’ [M. U. ii. 93.] Dihli for a time fell under the dominion of the Lord of Misrule. Grand illuminations took place three times in every month. In consequence of the extensive illuminations, so much oil was used that it rose to be half a sir weight to the Rupee; then, all the oil being expended, they had recourse to clarified butter until it, too, ceased to be procurable. Grain also grew very dear; not more than seven or eight sirs weight being procurable for a Rupee. One day some porters came from the other side of the Jamuna with head loads of grain. Lal Kunwar, who was looking out of the latticed window in the Saman Burj (or bastion) of the palace, sent for one of these men and asked him ‘What have you given for this grain?’ He replied ‘Five or six Rupees.’ She exclaimed, ‘Praise be to God! things are still so cheap! Please the Lord Most High, I will bring the rate to five or six sirs for that amount of money.’ From this may be judged what ideas prevailed in other State affairs. Another day Jahandar Shah and Lal Kunwar were on the roof of the palace, watching what was going on upon the river. A boat full of men crossed over. The favourite said ‘I have never seen a boat-load of men go down.’ A hint was enough. Boatmen were ordered out with a boat-load of passengers, and the favourite's wish to see the wretched drowning people struggling in the water was at once gratified.*
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∗ Khush-hal Chand, 390b. As to the drowning, Kamraj, Ibratnama, 46b, says that Zulfiqar Khan forbade it. The same story is told of Fazl Ali Khan, amil of Ghazipur, Oldham, i. 93.
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During these months the fiddlers and drummers, who were Lal Kunwar's brothers and relations, swaggered through the streets, committing every sort of outrage. Lal Kunwar was dignified with the title of *Imtiyaz Mahal*, Chosen of the Palace, and immense treasures, the spoils from Azim-ush-shan's and Jahan Shah's camps, were made over to her. Her whole family was ennobled, father, brothers, and brothers-in-law. Her middle brother was the most oppressive of all to the people. All the brothers were granted the *naubat*, or the right to play music at stated intervals, and the use of kettle-drums when on the march. Their titles were Niamat Khan, Namdar Khan, and Khanazad Khan. Some of the finest confiscated mansions in the city were given to them, and as Kamwar Khan says, 'the owl dwelt in the eagle's nest, and the crow took the place of the nightingale.' [Kamwar 119, Yahya 119 a.]
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To this period belongs the story of Niamat Khan Kala-want's* appointment to the *subah* of Multan. The Emperor signified his pleasure to the Wazir, but there was an unaccountable delay in the issue of the usual patent. The nominee at length presented himself to Zulfiqar Khan and made enquiry. The Wazir replied, with all gravity, that it was a well-known rule of every public office to issue no patent without a fee in cash. As he wished to be obliging, he would not ask for cash, but since he had need of them, would take instead one thousand guitars.† The stupid fellow, not seeing the ironical nature of this reply, worked his hardest and in a week sent as many as two hundred guitars to Zulfiqar Khan. The Wazir insisted upon delivery of the full number. Niamat Khan complained to His Majesty of the excessive bribe demanded from him. Jahandar Shah, when next he saw the Wazir, asked him the reason of collecting so many guitars. The answer was that when musicians were sent to govern provinces, nobles must discard their weapons and learn to play on the guitar.
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∗ *Kalawant*—These are the male members of the professional singer class; the women sing and dance, the men play the accompaniments.
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† *Tanbur*, a long-necked guitar, see figure on plate opposite p. 114 of *Ghunchah-i-rag*, (Nawal Kishor Press, Lakhnau, 1863).
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This remonstrance induced Jahandar Shah to cancel the appointment.*
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Among other wild freaks, an order was given to cut down all the lofty trees from the palace to the hunting preserve called Jahan-numa. Khush-hal Chand, a rare instance of an Indian taking notice of the beauty of natural objects, laments over the wanton destruction of the ‘spreading trees, with heads reaching the sky, the refuge and solace of the weary, foot-sore, traveller, the abode of far-flying and sweet-singing birds. Throughout Dihli and its environs it was for the trees like the coming of Judgment Day; and the trees on the two banks of the Faiz canal, planted by Emperors of high emprize, ceasing to raise their heads to Heaven, received wounds in the garment of their existence, and fell into the dust of degradation and disgrace.’ [Khush-hal, 389 b.]
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Gifts were showered upon Lal Kunwar and her friends. It is said that an annual allowance of two krors of Rupees (about £2,000,000 sterling) was made for her household expenses, exclusive of clothes and jewels. She was allowed to display the imperial umbrella and to march, with drums beating, as if she had been the Emperor in person. One writer says the days of Nur Jahan Begam were revived for her; that coins were issued in her name as they had been in that of Jahangir's favourite wife. Such coins of Lal Kunwar, if ever issued, have not come down to us. Low persons, such as Zuhara, a woman who kept a vegetable stall, were promoted to high rank and received valuable jagirs. There are many stories of the insolent conduct of these low-born favourites. One day Chin Qilich Khan (afterwards Nizam-ul-mulk), then living at Dihli without employment, was passing in his palki through a narrow street, when he was met by Zuhara on an elephant, followed by a long train of servants. The Khan's small retinue was hustled out of the way by the woman's followers, and as she passed she cried out, ‘Is that the blind man's son?’† By the Khan's orders his men pulled her rudely from her elephant. Complaint was made to the Emperor through Lal Kunwar, and Zulfiqar Khan received orders to punish the Nawab. Zulfiqar Khan, who had been previously spoken to by Chin Qilich Khan, objected to the order as likely to cause wide-spread disaffection among the nobles. The matter then dropped. [Scott, ii. Pt. iv. 81, Siyar 48.]
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∗ Warid, 80; Khush-hal Chand, 389b. Valentyn, 299, places the event on the 25th July (= 19th Jamadi II.) and his details differ slightly.
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† His father, Ghazi-ud-din Khan Firuz Jang, although in active military employ was blind during the last twenty-three years of his life (*Masir-ul-umara* ii. 875).
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Lal Kunwar herself was the cause of an estrangement between the Emperor and his aunt, Zinat-un-nissa Begam, daughter of Alamgir. This Princess had refused to visit or acknowledge the new favourite, who in her rage loaded the royal lady with the most opprobrious epithets. At his mistress' instigation the Emperor ceased to visit his aunt, and refused her invitation to an entertainment, because Lal Kunwar had not been asked to it. Again, as she did not like the Emperor's two younger sons, Azz-ud-daulah and Muizz-ud-daulah, their father refused to see them and sent them to prison. [Scott, 83; Yahya, 119 a.]
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Jahandar Shah and his concubine, in defiance of etiquette, often visited the markets together, seated in a bullock carriage, making at the shops such purchases as took their fancy. One night after a day spent in debauchery and in visits to various gardens round the city, they entered the house of a spirit-seller, a friend of Lal Kunwar. There they drank till they were intoxicated. On their leaving, the woman owning the shop was rewarded with a sum of money and a grant of the revenue of a village. During the journey home they both fell asleep, and, on reaching the palace, Lal Kunwar was taken out by her women and carried to her room. The driver of the *rath*,* who had also shared in the carouse, made no inspection of it and left it at the stable. The Emperor's absence began to cause alarm to the officers of the palace. He was not to be found in Lal Kunwar's apartments, and on her direction the *rath* was examined. There the Emperor was found fast asleep, nearly two miles from the palace. Khush-hal Chand quotes, as applying to Jahandar Shah when he woke and knew not where he was, the lines :—A drunk man is so happy that at the Resurrection he asks ‘Who am I, who are you, and what place is this?’
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∗ *Rath*, a four-wheeled carriage, with canopy, drawn by two oxen, and much used in Upper India.
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Another instance of utter abandonment of decorum was the fact that acting on the popular belief, Jahandar Shah bathed every Sunday in company with Lal Kunwar, both naked as they were born, in the tank at the shrine of Shaikh Nasir-ud-din Oudhi, commonly called the Chiragh-i-Dihli (or Lamp of Dihli), in the hope that his saintly intercession might bless them with offspring. It is necessary for attaining this object to bathe at this place naked every Sunday for forty weeks.* We are also told of what he did once on a visit to the shrine of Qutb-ud-din. Near it is an eminence ending in a rock, with smooth, slippery face, sloping down to the plain ; and here the street boys of Dihli amused themselves by climbing the rock and rolling over and over down the polished surface to the ground. Seeing them at this game, Jahandar Shah must needs do the same! It should be remembered that he was at this time, not a youth, but a man over fifty years of age.†
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† Khush-hal Chand, 390a; Iradat Khan in J. Scott, ii. part iv, 82,83. Also as to the bathing see Kamwar Khan, 120, and Kamraj Ibratnama, 46b. Muhammad Qasim Aurangabadi, in Ahval-ul-khawaqin, fol. 46b, has another version of the Qutb story, where a rocking stone near the shrine is rocked.
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Nightly the low musicians gathered at the palace to drink in the Emperor’s company. When these men became drunk they would kick and cuff Jahandar Shah and shout in a drunken way. Jahandar Shah, in spite of his long experience of the world, and all the training he had received from his grandfather and father, bore with these insults for fear of offending Lal Kunwar.‡ As for things forbidden by the Law, there was no longer any restraint; and the habits of the Court becoming known, all respect for, or fear of, the sovereign ceased. When the Emperor went abroad to hunt or for recreation, not a single noble attended, nor was he followed by any armed force. [Kamwar, 120.]
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∗ Shaikh Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Oudhi, Chiragh-i-Dihli, (a Chishti), grandson of Abdul-latif Yazdi. His father Yahya, a Husaini Sayyid, was born at Lahor. The Shaikh was born in Oudh, and died 18th Ramzan 757 H. (14th Sept. 1359), though some say the 13th (9th Sept.) is correct. Another authority has 752 H. (1351-2). The shrine lies about 7 miles south of new Dihli (Shahjahanabad), Khazinat-ul-asfiya, i. 353.
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‡ This story is also in the Dutch diary, where it is assigned to the 17th July 1712, Valentyn, iv. 298.
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Zulfiqar Khan, the Wazir, imitated his master's example and devolved his duties on a favourite Hindu subordinate, Sabha Chand, a Khatri, lately made a Rajah, a man whose harshness and bad temper were notorious. Zulfiqar Khan's former liberality was changed into niggardliness, he hindered men in their promotion instead of helping them, and the falsity of his promises and assurances became a bye-word. Partisans as well as opponents were dissatisfied with him. In short, as the Eastern saying runs, 'As the king, so the Wazir,' or as we English say, 'Like master, like man.'
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To add to the other sources of weakness and disorder, a feud arose between Zulfiqar Khan, the chief minister, and Ali Murad Khan Jahan Kokaltash Khan, foster-brother of the Emperor and now Amir-ul-umara, or second minister. For forty years, ever since they were children together, Jahandar Shah had been promising Ali Murad that when he succeeded to the throne he, his foster-brother, should be his Wazir. Khan Jahan, and more especially his female relations, resented his supersession by Zulfiqar Khan, although under the circumstances of the case, such supersession was obviously unavoidable. In their jealousy of each other, whatever was proposed by the one was opposed by the other. Contrary to the Wazir's advice, Khan Dauran, Khan Jahan's brother-in-law, was sent in command of the troops against Farrukh-siyar. In the same way, Sarbuland Khan was presented through Khan Jahan and appointed to a governorship, acts which lay solely within the competence of the chief minister. It was while the central Government at Dihli was in this disorganized condition that a claimant to the throne appeared in the person of Muhammad Farrukh-siyar, the second but eldest surviving son of the late Azim-ush-shan, and to his story we must now turn our attention.[*]
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∗ Yahya Khan, 119a, says the news of Farrukh-siyar's advance was