Later Mughals v1.c9.s38.9

v1.c9.s38.9

As no one else was willing, they were forced to act themselves. They began by supplying Farrukh-siyar with bitter and oversalted dishes, but without effect. Slow poison was then tried for a time. Farrukh-siyar now made use of violent language, and cursed the Sayyids in the most virulent terms. Their patience being at an end, they sent executioners into the prison to strangle their victim. In spite of a violent resistance, these men effected their purpose, beating the ex-Emperor on the hands till he let go the strap that they had tied round his neck. To make sure, he was stabbed several times in the abdomen. This happened on the night between the 8th and 9th Jamadi II. 1131 H. (27th-28th April, 1719). There is a somewhat apocryphal story told in the Siyar-ul-mutakherin as to the mode of Farrukh-siyar’s death, by which the direct blame for it is removed from the shoulders of the Sayyids. Farrukh-siyar is supposed to have evaded his guardians and made an attempt to escape. He passed from one terrace roof to another, and was already at some distance before his absence was detected. The Afghan officer in charge searched for his prisoner, found him hiding in the shadow of a wall, and brought him back, ending by giving him an unmerciful beating. Farrukh-siyar, stung to the quick by his disgrace, ran at the wall, dashed his head against it, and fractured his skull. The evidence for this story seems insufficient, and the author’s animus, as Sayyid and Shia defending other Sayyids and Shias, is sufficiently obvious here as elsewhere.*