Later Mughals v2.c16.s3.4

v2.c16.s3.4

When he followed the camp of Jahandar Shah to Dihli Abdul-ghaffur took up his quarters in an old mosque outside the city, having with him one or two Sindi followers. These men hawked about in the city the amulets he wrote and on the proceeds they and their master lived. Gradually his fame spread and people flocked to consult him. [Ashob 68a—69b.] He claimed to know every science and every art and professed to read the future. One part in ten of his pretences was true : the rest false. The ignorant guards at palace gates and the illiterate eunuchs became his disciples, and he was asked by women of the imperial harem for amulets against sickness. Nawab Qudsiya mother of Mhd. Shah became his patron and he was asked to interpret her dreams, and this increased his reputation. Some of the persons to whom he had given amulets recovered. He and Koki his firm friend had sworn an oath to stand by each other. She made him out to the Begam a saint (wali) with supernatural powers (tasawuf). He pledged his word for the competence in geomancy of Koki and her father. At length through his friend the eunuch and the recommendation of Qudsiya Begam he made the acquaintance of Muhammad Amin Khan Itimad-ud-daulah. Over this noble he soon obtained great influence, his glibness of tongue secured belief in his universal knowledge and he was soon admitted to his patron's most secret councils. Owing to this intimacy the common people believed the Shah to be the spiritual director of Mhd. Khan. In the intrigues leading to the assassination of Husain Ali Khan, we have seen him play a prominent part, passing between the conspirators and Muhammad Shah's private tents in the disguise of a milkwoman and carrying Mhd. Amin's letters. On Muhammad Amin Khan's death shortly after his accession to power, Abdul-ghaffur attached himself to Koki's party and for twelve years was nearly as powerful as she was herself. Qamar-ud-din Khan supported him out of respect to his father's memory, and Nizam-ul-mulk, during the short period that he was at Dihli, paid deference to Abdul-ghaffur's apparent claims as a holy man. [Warid 39-42 ; Ashob 64-72 ; Khush-hal 1041-1042.] Subsequently Abdul-ghaffur having made an alliance with Koki Jiu became all powerful and accumulated immense wealth. His income from his offices is said to have amounted to five thousand Rupees a day, in addition to as much more from bribes. Of these latter something under one-fourth was made over to the Emperor ; the balance was divided in equal shares between Koki and Abdul-ghaffur. His habits were miserly in the extreme. [Warid 58-71.]