Later Mughals v1.c8.s6.9

v1.c8.s6.9

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.]