Later Mughals v2.c17.s7: Sec. 104.—Neglected and Defenceless Condition of Afghanistan and the Panjab.
Later Mughals v2.c17.s7
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Sec. 104.—Neglected and Defenceless Condition of Afghanistan and the Panjab.
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At this point it is necessary to stop the narrative of events, and look at the condition of the provinces forming the north-western frontier of the Mughal Empire. Afghanistan had been a precarious possession and source of weakness to the successors of Babar, but they had succeeded in occupying the country and keeping the passes from India open. The earlier Mughal Emperors had repeatedly visited Kabul. But during the long reign of Aurangzeb, the imperial authority there was seriously imperilled. The formidable rebellion, first of the Yusufzais of Peshawar (1667) and then of the Afridis of Khaibar (1672), was aggravated by a rising of the Pathan population along the entire North-western frontier against the ruler of Dihli. The resources of the whole Empire had to be concentrated under the Emperor's personal command against the tribesmen. After only a modified success Aurangzeb returned from the frontier where he had now spent two years, and peace of a sort was restored by profuse bribery to the border Afghans (1676). Next year Amir Khan* was appointed governor of Kabul and he held the post for 21 years with conspicuous ability and success.
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∗ See J. Sarkar's History of Aurangzib iii. (2nd ed.) 243 and Studies in Mughal India 111-117.
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Aurangzeb ascribes this viceroy's administrative triumph to his tactful dealings, practical skill, policy of keeping the hillmen usefully employed by enlisting them in the imperial army, and his judicious and economical management of the treasury, which enabled him to pay regular subsidies to the clansmen living near the passes.
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When Amir Khan died (1698), he was followed by no worthy successor. After a short lull, trouble began to revive. But Shah Alam, who governed the province from 1699 to his father's death in 1707, kept order fairly well. He had a large and efficient army, and used to move about the country a good deal, passing the winter at Peshawar (which was then included in Afghanistan), and the summer at Kabul or Bamian; but he was forced to continue the policy of bribing the pass Afghans to maintain peace. In 1709 or 1710, Nasir Khan, formerly faujdar of Jamrud, was appointed subahdar of Kabul, and he continued to hold this post till his death, about 1719, when his son, also entitled Nasir Khan, succeeded him and was later confirmed in his office by Muhammad Shah (1720). This second Nasir Khan's mother was of the Afghan race and he was expected to succeed easily in ruling the province and keeping the passes open. [M.U. iii, 833.]
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But he was a simple-minded and indolent man. His chief business was hunting, and when not engaged in it he spent his time in prayer. [Siyar, i. 93.] Thus, the peace of the country was left to take care of itself, and the roads became unsafe. His patron at Court was Roshan-ud-daulah, a favourite of the Emperor, and the imperial grant for payments to keep the passes open was sent to Nasir Khan through the hands of this noble. Roshan-ud-daulah's rival Khan Dauran accused him of embezzling the money, and induced the Emperor to stop this payment as useless. Nasir Khan's appeals were disregarded. About 1730 Roshan-ud-daulah himself fell out of favour and was dismissed. The result was that things in Afghanistan were left to drift without the least hope of remedy.
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As Ghulam Husain writes, "Neither the subahdar nor the Amir-ul-umara [at Court] kept himself informed about the roads and passes of the country. No guards remained on the roads. Owing to the weakness of the Government, the local officers lost all fear of being called to account. None cared for any one else, none feared, none sought instructions from any [higher officer]. Everywhere every one did whatever he liked. Any one who wished could come and go [through these frontier roads, unquestioned]; the Emperor and his nobles never heard of it. They never inquired why no news-letter was coming to Court from any province or outpost." [Siyar, i. 93.]
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When we contrast this negligence and slothfulness of Muhammad Shah with the sleepless vigilance* of Aurangzeb in respect of the Persian frontier, we can realize the depth of inefficiency to which the Mughal administration had fallen on the eve of Nadir Shah's invasion.
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The governor of Kabul had sent repeated applications to the Emperor for money to pay his troops; but nobody paid any heed to them, as the faction opposed to him was now in power at Court and the Emperor never exercised his own judgment nor personally looked into any business. The soldiers posted in the province starved as their salary for five years was in arrears. Ill-fed, ill-equipped, ill-armed through poverty, they pressed the subahdar to pay them at least one year's dues out of the five, so that they might satisfy their creditors to some extent and have a little left over for the expenses of marching. Nasir Khan used to reassure them by saying "Friends! why this anxiety? I have written to the Emperor and also to my agent at Court, and the money is sure to come to-morrow if not to-day." When his agent presented the application to Khan Dauran the Amir-ul-umara, and in fear and trembling described the alarming situation in Afghanistan, that noble replied in derision, "Do you think that I am a petty simpleton that I shall be impressed by such a tale as yours? Our houses are built on the plain; we do not fear anything except what we can see with our own eyes. Your houses stand on lofty hills, and therefore you have probably sighted Mongol and Qizilbash armies from the roofs of your houses! Reply to your master that we are writing for money to the governor of Bengal; and when the Bengal revenue arrives after the rainy season, the money due will be quickly sent to Kabul."* [Anandram, 11-12.]
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∗ Striking illustrations in Hamid-ud-din's Ahkam-i-Alamgiri, § § 49-52 translated by J. Sarkar as Anecdotes of Aurangzib.
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Those people of Dihli who bore testimony to the defenceless condition of Afghanistan, were sneered at as fools. Khan Dauran's friends even suggested that the deputation of Kabul citizens with this report had been stage-managed by the Wazir and the Nizam, (the leaders of the Turani faction), in order to discredit Khan Dauran and induce the Emperor to transfer his confidence to the former party! [Siyar, i. 96.]
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The result is best described in the words of Ghulam Husain: "It was impossible for Nasir Khan to prevent Nadir Shah's entrance into India. The Government was rotten, the Emperor was powerless. No money was sent to maintain the administration in Afghanistan. The subahdar, therefore, sought his own comfort and lived at Peshawar, entrusting the fort of Kabul to a qiladar with orders to control and watch the passes leading into India." [Siyar, i. 94.]
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Equally neglected and defenceless was the next gateway of India, the province of the Panjab. Zakariya Khan (son of Abdus-samad Khan) was the governor of Lahor and Multan. His family had come from Ahrar in Central Asia, and therefore he was regarded as "a strong pillar of the Turani party." His mother was a sister of the late Wazir Muhammad Amin Khan's wife, and he naturally excited the bitter opposition of the Hindustani party under Khan Dauran.† Zakariya Khan was a brave and active soldier and good administrator; he gave peace and prosperity to the province in his charge by repeated campaigns against rebels and robbers. [M. U. ii. 106; Anandram 138.] But the Hindustani party who possessed the Emperor's ears, opposed all his applications to Court, misrepresented his character and motives and prevented money and troops from being sent to him when Nadir's invasion was imminent.
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∗ On this Anandram rightly remarks, "If the Afghans had been set to guard the frontier with their whole hearts and customary bravery, they could have stopped the advance of the Persian army long enough to enable reinforcements to reach them from Dihli, and then India would not have been sacked."
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† An astonishing example of this party rancour is supplied by the historian Shakir Khan (an Indian Muhammadan of Panipat), who asserts that Zakariya Khan at the instigation of the Nizam and Saadat Khan, who wanted to overthrow Khan Dauran, disloyally admitted Nadir into Lahor!
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Thus, in the Emperor's hour of supreme need, factious jealousy and foolish distrust prevented any real attempt being made to repel the invader from the frontier, or even to check him there long enough to enable defensive preparations to be completed at Dihli and the army of the Empire marshalled in the Panjab. The 'gateways of India' fell into Nadir's hands at the first touch, and yet the foolish Emperor and his advisers delayed their own preparations for defence in the vain hope of the enemy not being able to force the passes of Afghanistan and the rivers of the Panjab.
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Such was the condition of the north-western marches of India when the storm burst on them.