Later Mughals v2.c16.s9.1

v2.c16.s9.1

By this time the opinion prevailed that Nizam-ul-mulk was the only man who could save the monarchy and stem the oncoming flood of Mahratta invasion. Hitherto he had been kept away from Court by Samsam-ud-daulah who "brooked no rival near the throne." Qamar-ud-din Khan, the chief minister, was so quiescent as to provoke little or no jealousy, but Nizam-ul-mulk was a different sort of man. He was also suspected, with some reason, of protecting his own territories in the Dakhin against the Mahratta inroads by diverting them instead into the country north of the Narmada, to which end he had agreed to their claims to one-fourth of the Dakhin revenues [*Ahwal-i-khawaqin*, 240b]. Even Samsam-ud-daulah at last began to think that affairs were in a condition with which he was no longer able to cope, and he became an advocate of a reconciliation with Nizam-ul-mulk. The Emperor was soon brought over to the same view and pressing letters of invitation were sent to the Dakhin governor.