Later Mughals v1.c9.s4: Sec. 4—Death of Jahandar Shah.
Later Mughals v1.c9.s4
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Sec. 4—Death of Jahandar Shah.
v1.c9.s4.1
On the same day that saw the end of Zulfiqar Khan (16th Muharram, 1125 H., 11th Feb., 1713), Saifullah Khan* was sent to the citadel with a letter in Farrukh-siyar's own hand-writing addressed to Muhammad Yar Khan. The nazim, although sorrowful at Jahandar Shah's fate, complied with the order and admitted the messengers. When the group of men entered the prison room, Lal Kumwar shrieked, clasped her lover round the neck, and refused to let go. Violently forcing them apart, the men dragged her down the stairs. Then laying hands on Jahandar Shah, they tried to strangle him. As he did not die at once, a Mughal, with his heavy-heeled shoes, kicked him several times in a vulnerable place and finished him off. Word was sent to the nazim that life was extinct, that an executioner was needed to cut off the head. Muhammad Yar Khan, who was standing down below, bathed in cold perspiration, answered "What is left for an executioner to do? Cut off his head, and carry it to His Majesty." They cut it off. The body was then thrown into an open litter (miyana) and the head placed on a tray (khwan). Half an hour after nightfall, they reached the camp with the lifeless head and trunk and laid them at the entrance to the Emperor's tents, alongside the body of Zulfiqar Khan. Lal Kunwar was sent to the settlement of Suhagpura, where the widows and families of deceased Emperors lived in retirement.†
v1.c9.s4.2
† Kamwar Khan 130, Ijad 122a, Khafi Khan 734, Khush-hal Chand 395a, Rustam Ali 225b. Suhagpura (Hamlet of Happy Wives) or the Bewa-khana (Widow-house) was one of the establishments (karkhanajat) attached to the Court "where in the practice of resignation they pass their lives, receiving rations and a monthly allowance," Dastur-ul-aml, B. M. No. 6598, fol. 55a. The name, Suhagpura, may have been due to delicacy for the feelings of the ladies, or it was perhaps given in derision.