Later Mughals v2.c13.s14: Sec. 15.—Muhammad Shah's Movements.
Later Mughals v2.c13.s14
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Sec. 15.—Muhammad Shah's Movements.
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On the day following Husain Ali Khan's death a formal audience was held by Muhammad Shah. In the interval Muhammad Amin Khan had posted pickets of Mughals to arrest deserters, and instructions were given to the armed villagers to stop any one who tried to leave the camp. In this way many men, though partisans of the Sayyids and anxious to escape, were forced to remain. Muhammad Amin Khan went among them in person to try and secure their adhesion. In spite of his Muhammadan bigotry, he visited the quarters of Rajah Muhkam Singh, one of the Sayyids' principal officers. As the Rajah saw he was in the Mughal's power, he made his submission and at his first audience was presented by Daya Ram, the agent of Muhammad Amin Khan. He was promoted to the rank of 6,000 with the right to beat kettle-drums. Mir Mushrif of Lakhnau, another of the Sayyids' chief men, after rejecting the first overtures made to him, was also propitiated and promoted. Inayat-ullah Khan Kashmiri, the Khan-saman, Rajah Gopal Singh Bhadauriya, and twenty-one other nobles laid their offerings at the Emperor's feet.
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Muhammad Amin Khan was promoted to 8,000 *zat* and was loaded with gifts. Khan Dauran, although at the critical moment his fear of the Sayyids had prevented his declaring himself, received the same exalted rank. The grade of seven thousand had been hitherto the limit for any person not of the blood royal. Qamar-ud-din Khan, Haidar Quli Khan and Saadat Khan were made respectively 7,000, 6,000, and 5,000 in rank. Zafar Khan and Rajah Gopal Singh Bhadauriya also received promotion. To celebrate the Emperor's emancipation from the Sayyid bondage, some poet found a chronogram: "He was a bright star (*Roshan Akhtar*) and is now a moon; Like Joseph he left prison to become a king."
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∗ Kamwar 214, 238; Warid 163a; Shiu Das, 54a; K. K. 901, 911-913.
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The camp was about seventy-two miles from Agra, about one hundred and twenty-eight miles from Dihli, and the nearest point on the Jamuna, to the north-east, was distant about sixty-eight miles. Under the altered circumstances any further advance in the direction of the Dakhin was useless. There was some doubt and debate as to whether they should return to Agra or make for Dihli. At last it was decided to move northwards till they struck the Jamuna. Churaman Jat, although he owed a great deal to the Sayyid brothers, was for the moment persuaded by the offer of great rewards to join Muhammad Shah with a large force. A cunning answer of his has been preserved. Muhammad Amin Khan said to him: "Thou art a creature of the Sayyids, I have no reliance on thy service or good will." Swearing by his Hindu gods, he replied: "Nawab Sahib! it is true that those great men have conferred on me such benefits that if I had a thousand lives and a thousand times my wealth, I would have offered up all, including my family and children, on their behalf. But now I am under the imperial flag, the true lodestone, and I swear by Bhagwan I will do such service on the day of battle that the Nawab himself will acknowledge it." He spoke the truth, for on the day of battle he plundered the imperial baggage and the goods of many others. [Qasim 366, Kamwar 236.]
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As the route chosen would have passed through Churaman's villages, he persuaded the Emperor to change it. Leaving his own villages on the right, he led them across Jai Singh's territory, and took them over high hills and through thorny jungles. There was a great scarcity of water: it had to be brought from immense distances and used most sparingly, as if it were oil and not water. Many were unable to quench their thirst and endured great hardships. On the 9th Zul Hijja (11th October 1720) the camp was moved to a place between Bhusawar and Kharida, where the festival of the Sacrifice was celebrated. In answer to a letter from Khan Dauran, written by the Emperor's special order, Sayyid Nusrat Yar Khan Barha, faujdar of Mewat, who was on his way to the army on a summons from Husain Ali Khan, presented himself and was well received, and promoted to the rank of 7,000. Sabit Jang (Jafar Beg), a protégé of Khan Dauran's, was another valuable adhesion. He joined a little later, just before the battle of Hasanpur. When the dust raised by his march was seen across the Jamuna, all exclaimed: "Rajah Girdhar Bahadur has come!" He and his men then crossed the river by a ford. Dost Ali Khan, Abid Khan, and Ghalib Khan, formerly superintendent of branding for the Emperor's own troops, all three officers of the late Husain Ali Khan's army, also came in, submitted, and were promoted.*
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On the 11th (13th October 1720) there were many presentations with the attendant promotions and appointments; and on this day the biers of Husain Ali Khan, Ghairat Khan, and Nur-ullah Khan, after the bodies had been wrapped in cloth of gold, were despatched for burial of the bodies at Ajmer in the tomb of Abdullah Khan, the Nawab's father, which lies outside the city wall close to Abdullahganj. At the time fixed, no bearers to carry the biers could be found; and after this difficulty had been overcome, robbers, believing that the coffins contained treasure, seized them, but finding nothing threw the bodies away. After a time they were recovered by the faujdars of those parts, and in the end, as was reported privately, they reached Ajmer and were buried.†
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∗ Qasim, second recension, 429; Shiu Das, 50, 51b, 2a; Khush-hal f. 1014a; Rustam Ali, f. 245a; K. K. 910.
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† Khafi Khan, 910, on the authority of Sayyid Abdullah Khan himself, who made the statement several times in open audience in Khafi Khan's hearing. See also Jauhar-i-samsam, B.M. Oriental MS. No. 1898, (Fuller's
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The Emperor's next stages were Ramgarh (12th) and Gopalpur (13th). Here Saadat Khan was further promoted to 6,000 and named to the Government of Akbarabad. Other stages were Mandugarh (15th), Malkahri (21st); next a place between Jalauri and Malikpur (22nd), then near Khori (23rd), Salgaon (25th), Qasba Kama (27th), and between Nandgaon and Barsana (28th). All towns, such as Narnol, Alwar, Tijara and Khohari had been avoided.*
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At Barsana on the 2nd Muharram 1133 H. (2nd November 1720) Muhammad Khan Bangash, at the head of two or three thousand men, and Aziz Khan Bahadur Chaghatai, appeared from Akbarabad. Before Husain Ali Khan's death, Muhammad Khan had sought an interview with Abdullah Khah while he was still near Agra, at which he demanded fifty thousand Rupees in addition to previous advances. He then, though very reluctantly, began his march, professedly to join the imperial army already on its way to the Dakhin. Both officers had come as far as Sarai Chath on the direct road from Agra to Dihli. Their attitude was doubtful; and if they were hostile, they could bar the Emperor's way to Dihli. Abdullah Khan, who was Muhammad Khan's patron, had also called to his mind the benefits he had received, trying to win him over thus to his cause.† So grave were the apprehensions of the other side, that Haidar Quli Khan and Qamar-ud-din Khan were sent to interview the Bangash chief. Their mission was successful, and they brought the two Afghan nobles into the imperial camp. In addition to promotion in rank, Muhammad Khan received an assignment of four *krors* of *dams* on the revenues of Allahabad. Parganas Pali, Baira, and Bawan of *sarkar*
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† For the letter see Sahib Rai Khujista-kalam, Irvine MS. There is a detailed account of the adventures of Abdullah Khan's messengers in Siwanih-i-Khizri, Irvine MS. pp. 68-72.
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translation, MS. 30,784, f. 79) and Rustam Ali, fol. 244a. Mr. Eustace Kitts, formerly Assistant Commissioner at Ajmer, informs me that Abdullahganj and the tombs lie outside the town to the east, not far from where the Railway station now is.
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∗ Kamwar 236, Qasim 367. All the above places, except Mandugarh and Salgaon, will be found on the Indian Atlas, sheet No. 50.
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Khairabad, and pargana Harha and part of Sandila in sarkar Lakhnau, all in subah Oudh, were granted to Aziz Khan.
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At Pahari, Sher Afkan Khan Panipati, the faujdar of Kora and Jahanabad, subah Allahabad, also marched in and joined the imperialists. When near Agra, on his way from Allahabad to his jagirs at Sikandra, he had met some messengers riding from Court, and asked the news. They told him that two days previously Husain Ali Khan had been killed. Khush-hal Chand, who was near his elephant, saw his face flush with joy at the emancipation of Muhammad Shah, the son of his old master, Jahan Shah. Not long after this, a letter came to him from Nawab Qudsiya, the Emperor's mother, written by her own hand, in which he was distinguished with the epithet "brother". Other arrivals were Bayazid Khan Mewati, a powerful man in that country, and Khema Jat, one of Chura-man's chief officers. This Jat was placed in charge of the imperial rear-guard.*
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One of Muhammad Shah's first tasks had been the issue of reassuring letters to the provincial governors, and demands for reinforcements from those known to be opposed to the Sayyid faction. Among the men written to were Nizam-ul-mulk, Rajah Girdhar Bahadur, Rajah Jai Singh Sawai, and Abdus-samad Khan, the governor of Lahor. To a certain extent these letters were in identical terms,† and as was natural, a note of triumph is perceptible in them. "Praise be to God! Husain Ali Khan has obtained the punishment of his deeds and the penalty for his acts; his suppression and removal, as my heart desired, has been effected in the easiest manner," and so on, in the same strain, then the date and place of assassination are given, with other details added, Ghairat Khan appearing as the "Devoid of Honour."‡ Husain Ali Khan's head was sent with the letter to Nizam-ul-mulk, and that noble was called upon to march at once to join His Majesty. Girdhar Bahadur, Jai Singh, and Abdus-samad Khan were, in the same way, urged to join as soon as possible. [Shiu 49a.]
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∗ Kamwar 237; Shiu Das 57b; Khafi Khan 900, 920; Khush-hal f. 1012b. For the parganas named see Ain, ii. 176, 177, 178, 179, and Oudh Gazetteer, i. 247; ii. 72; iii. 50, 292.
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† For one of these farmans see Majma-ul-insha (lithographed edition), p. 85, to the effect that H. A. K. was killed on the 6th Zul Hijja of the 2nd year, when Ghairat Khan and Mir Mushrif attacked the imperial camp, but were repulsed and slain.
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‡ Be-ghairat, a play upon his name.
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In answer to these orders Rajah Jai Singh, instead of coming in person, sent his *diwan*, Jag Ram, with a force of three or four thousand men, horse and foot, and wrote that he was busy enlisting more men, and as soon as this was finished he would attend himself. Abdus-samad Khan replied that without delay he had begun to prepare for a march. But lately he had been forced to suppress a revolt by Husain Khan, head of the Afghans of Qasur, and for the pay of the troops he had enlisted on that service he still owed four lakhs of Rupees. The soldiers had mutinied and hindered him from marching. The *diwan* of the province, in spite of his, the governor's, offering to execute a bond, would not disburse the money from the imperial treasury. Until some order was issued or provision made for the money, he was unable to move. Girdhar Bahadur promised a speedy arrival, and Nizam-ul-mulk reported that he was about to start. [Shiu 49a, K. K. 921].