Later Mughals v1.c9.s9: Sec. 10.—Mir Jumla.
Later Mughals v1.c9.s9
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Sec. 10.—Mir Jumla.
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The name of this man, a native of Samarqand in Turan, was Ubaidullah, son of Mir Muhammad Wafa, and he was born about the year 1081 H., 1670-1. Early in life he abandoned his native country and repaired to Hindustan, where he arrived in the reign of Alamgir. He obtained in time the post of Qazi at Jahangirnagar Dacca in subah Bengal, and finally the same office at Azimabad Patna in subah Bihar. He seems to have wormed himself into the confidence of Prince Azim-ush-shan, then governor of Bengal and Bihar, and to have obtained complete control over the mind of his second son, Farrukh-siyar.
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∗ The epithet is borne out by a portrait that I saw lately at Mr. Quaritch's (one of the drawings mentioned on the cover of his catalogue No. 155, December 1895). Ghalib Jang is shown seated, and is dressed in a pale mauve coat of thin muslin. His beard consists of four or five short, straight hairs.
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He was with Prince Azim-ush-shan at Lahor, and as we have already stated, was making his way eastwards to Farrukh-siyar when he met and joined that Prince at Agra. He had secured himself a very favourable reception by his successful negotiations with the Turani leaders in Jahandar Shah's army. From this time his name will recur frequently in our narrative. His titles were first Shariyat-ullah Khan, then Ibadullah Khan, Bahadur, Muzaffar Jang, and finally Mutamid-ul-mulk, Muazzam Khan, Khan Khanan, Bahadur, Muzaffar Jang, Mir Jumla, Tarkhani, Sultani. He is described by one writer as a man who, in spite of his great learning, was blind to the essential meaning of things. [M. U. iii. 711, Ahwal-ul-khawaqin, 61a.]