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History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c37: Chapter XXVII. The Imperial Family and Court

History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c37

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Chapter XXVII. The Imperial Family and Court

§1. Aurangzib's sons : Muazzam, how treated.

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Like all the other Mughal emperors, Aurangzib was unhappy in his sons. His constant fear was lest the captive Shah Jahan's prophecy should come true and he would receive the same treatment at the hands of his own sons that he had meted out to his father. Against such a retribution he guarded himself to the last day of his life, keeping all his sons under suspicious watch and control, surrounding them with an army of spies in the person of their household servants, minutely regulating every act of their life, and promptly censuring them at the least sign of ambition or encroachment on imperial prerogative.

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His eldest son, Muhammad SULTAN deserted to Shuja in the War of Succession (8th June 1659), but came back to the imperial army eight months afterwards, and was confined in the State prison of Gwalior. Occasionally artists were sent there to draw his portrait for the Emperor,* and thus only did the father keep himself informed of the son's exact state of health! After twelve years of captivity fortune seemed to smile on him again.* In December 1672 he was removed to Salimgarh, the citadel of Delhi, and granted an interview with the Emperor. Aurangzib at this time evidently wanted to cherish Sultan at Court and use him as a pawn to check his second son, Muhammad Muazzam, who had filled the heir-apparent's place during his eldest brother's eclipse, but whose recent conduct had been unsatisfactory. Muhammad Sultan now basked in the sunshine of royal favour: large additions were made to his harem; he was married to Murad's daughter Dostdar Banu in December 1672, to Bai Bhut Devi, the daughter of the hill-Rajah of Kishtawar in December 1675, and to a niece of Daulatabadi Mahal in the following August; his mansab and pension were restored; and he seemed to be on the high road to liberty and recognition as heir to the throne, when death cut his life short at the age of thirty-seven (3rd Dec., 1676).

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∗ Akhbarat, 9

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Muhammad Muazzam, who lived to mount his father's throne in 1707 as Bahadur Shah I., took the place of honour at the right hand of his father after the fall of Muhammad Sultan. In May 1663, when only 20 years old, he was sent to the Deccan as viceroy, and there he stayed for the next ten years, paying occasional visits to his father in Northern India and being once sent to the Panjab in command of the advanced division of the imperial army (1666) to meet a threatened Persian invasion. But early in 1670* he came under a passing cloud. The official history merely says, "It was reported to the Emperor that the prince, at the instigation of flatterers, had begun to act in a self-willed and independent manner. His Majesty's letters of good counsel producing no effect, he sent the prince's mother, Nawab Bai, to the Deccan to lure him back to the path of duty if the charges against him were true. A noble was also sent from the Court to deliver him to a stern reprimand on behalf of the Emperor. But the reports were found to be utterly false. The prince's character was full of loyalty. He wrote a very submissive reply, expressing his sorrow and regret, and the imperial grace was renewed to him." But he was evidently still regarded with suspicion; at all events he had utterly failed to repress Shivaji, and his constant quarrels with his insubordinate lieutenant Dilir Khan rendered the administration of Mughal Deccan by him impossible. So, he was removed from office in January, 1673. The restoration of Muhammad Sultan to favour at this very time may have been intended by Aurangzib to show Muazzam that the Emperor had a second string to his bow and could cut off his refractory son at his pleasure.

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∗ M. A. 121-125, 139, 148, 155-156, 159-160; K. K. ii. 236, 247; Ishwardas, 72 b.

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∗ M. A. 101; Dilkasha, 73; Storia, ii. 162-165, says it was a pretended rebellion by order of Aurangzib. M. U. i. 812. For details, see my Shivaji, 2nd ed., 192-197.

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Three years later, Muazzam was given the high title of *Shah Alam* (15 Oct., 1676) and sent to command in chief in Afghanistan, and on his return (20 January, 1678) he passed some months at Court exercising great influence and power. Then for a year and a half (Sep. 1678—March 1680) he governed the Deccan, but with all his "vast army, he failed to achieve any success against Shivaji or Bijapur." During the Rajput War he commanded a division in Northern Mewar and then chased the rebel Akbar for some time but without success. When the Emperor went to the Deccan, Shah Alam accompanied him, and led a detachment into Konkan with disastrous results (Sep. 1683—May 1684).

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At the siege of Golkonda, Shah Alam's correspondence with the enemy was intercepted, he was found to have encouraged visits from Qutb Shah's agents, received presents from them and introduced slackness into the military operations. There were even suspicions that he had secreted much of the loot of Haidarabad instead of crediting the whole of it to the imperial exchequer. So, on 21st February, 1687, he was arrested with his sons and placed in confinement. His favourite wife, Nur-un-nisa, was insulted and rebuked by eunuchs at the Emperor's bidding and deprived of her liberty; her property was escheated, and her chief officer was tortured to make him reveal the suspected disloyal acts of his master and the complicity of his mistress in them. (See Ch. 47).

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Shah Alam's captivity was relaxed cautiously, little by little, in a very amusing fashion, and he was finally released on 9th May, 1695 and sent to Agra and thence to Multan and afterwards to Afghanistan as viceroy. He had never been brave or proud, and now his spirit was utterly crushed; he lived in a state of abject timidity and intellectual helplessness, deceiving his father by hypocrisy and seeking consolation in the pleasures of the harem. Even his father taunted him with cowardice, though the prince was already a grandfather [Storia, iv. 245, ii. 392; M.A. 341-344, K.K. 397, J. Ind. Hist., ii. 295-306.]

§2. Prince Azam, his conduct.

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The disgrace of Shah Alam was Muhammad Azam's opportunity. This prince* was proud of his descent from "the royal blood of Persia," through his mother, who was sprung from a younger branch of the Safavi dynasty. He was a man of boundless conceit and haughtiness, without any control over his tongue or passions even in his terrible father's presence. When roused to anger it was his habit to roll up his sleeves like a wrestler. His vanity was only fed by the affection and favours which Aurangzib constantly bestowed on him, on his wife Jahanzeb Banu (the daughter of Dara Shukoh), and on their son Bidar Bakht, a gallant and capable general and the pet of his grandfather's old age.

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∗ Storia, ii. 394; M. A. 106, 230, 264, 211 (created Shah). I have treated his life fully in the Journal B. & O. Research Society, March 1924.

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About 1670, Mir Khan, the then governor of Allahabad, is said to have "entered into the interests of Prince Muhammad Azam Shah and instigated futile plans [of independence]. The Emperor, hearing of it, cried out, 'This lowly sparrow has not the strength of a high-soaring falcon,' but fearing lest he should stir up even a slight disturbance, His Majesty removed Mir Khan from his rank and attached all his property." (Ishwardas, 61b; Mirat, 300.) The official record is silent about the incident; it only tells us that the faujdari of Sambhal which the prince had been holding by deputy was taken away from him in October 1670, but we do not know whether this was done by way of punishment or in the course of ordinary official transfers.* Manucci's story (ii. 394), that Azam "was arrested and locked up in the palace and there he remained for a whole year, getting no wine to drink" is incredible; at all events even if true it was not in punishment of any intended rebellion, as the confinement is said to have taken place before his marriage with Dara's daughter, which was celebrated in January, 1669.

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∗ In August 1683, Md. Hadi (the son of Mir Khan) was brought under arrest from Azam's army and kept in confinement in Aurangzib's camp. [M. A. 237.]

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Muhammad Azam was the only son of Aurangzib who succeeded in keeping himself clear of prison. He even enjoyed the Emperor's favour in a special degree throughout life, and produced a good impression by his forced march from Bengal to Ajmir in 1679 and again in the rainy season of 1683 in the Deccan to meet his father, and by his theatrical speech in defiance of famine and danger at the siege of Bijapur (1685). A serious illness in 1693, during which Aurangzib personally nursed him, endeared him still more to his father.

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After filling many viceroyalties, Muhammad Azam was given the title of *Shah-i-Alijah* (31 July, 1681), and employed in the Deccan in independent charge of an army corps like Shah Alam. During the captivity of the latter, Azam took the heir-apparent's seat on the right hand of the Emperor at the public prayers and *darbars*.

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On the day of *Id-ul-fitr*, 5th May 1695, when Shah Alam was released, and the Emperor went with his sons to pray in the Grand Mosque at Bijapur, a curious dispute for precedence took place between the two brothers, which is thus described in the official history :—

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“As the eldest son of the Emperor always sits on the right hand of His Majesty, and during Shah Alam’s retreat (i.e., disgrace) Azam had been given that seat of honour, the former asked the Emperor, ‘What are your Majesty’s orders about my rightful claim on the day of *Id*?’ Aurangzib replied, ‘Go to the *Idgah* before my cortege and you will sit on my right hand.’ He did so. When the imperial party reached the steps, Shah Alam advanced, interviewed, and kissed the Emperor’s toes. His Majesty, after shaking hands with him, took his left hand in his own right hand, and entered the mosque. Thus it happened that the eldest prince sat on the right close to the Emperor. Shah-i-Alijah (i.e., Azam) who came behind, placed his sword on the ground before the Emperor and touched the arm of his elder brother wishing him to move away and make room for him to sit on the Emperor’s right. His Majesty’s glance fell on that side; with his right hand he grasped the skirt of Alijah and dragged him to the left side... When the prayers were said and the *khatib* ascended the pulpit (to proclaim the Emperor’s titles), His Majesty rose from his seat, holding the hand of Alijah, and went out by the second gate, making a sign to the eldest prince to go out by the third gate with his sons.” This precaution was taken to prevent an armed encounter between the retainers of the two rival brothers. (M.A. 372.)

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Khafi Khan (ii. 407-410) tells a story that in 1692 or 1693 Azam had openly expressed anger and disappointment on hearing of the Emperor's intention to release Shah Alam. Immediately wild rumours spread through the imperial camp that the prince wanted to attack his father and proclaim his own independence, while hostile intentions on the part of the Emperor also were believed by the babblers of Azam's army. But Aurangzib called the prince and his sons to an interview at a lonely place, made an affectation of placing himself entirely in Azam's power, and then dismissed him with a hint that he was lucky in escaping his elder brother's fate. In the meantime Azam's wives and harem women had given him up for lost and were bewailing his supposed captivity. One such lesson was enough for Azam. Ever afterwards he used to tremble and turn pale before opening any letter from his father of which the contents had not been previously reported to him by his agent at Court. He never rebelled. Ishwardas says (87 a and b) that in 1683 he strongly resented a false suspicion of the Emperor that he was forming a disloyal intrigue with Dilir Khan, and the Emperor had to soothe his son's injured feelings.

§3. Prince Akbar, his history.

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The only open rebellion against Aurangzib was the work of his favourite son, Muhammad AKBAR. This prince had lost his mother, Dilras Banu, when an infant of one month, and had naturally been treated by his father, and indeed by the entire royal family, with exceptional tenderness. His eldest sister, Zeb-un-nisa, in particular, doted on him and would have backed him in a war of succession.

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When not yet fifteen years old, Muhammad Akbar was married to a grand-daughter of Dara Shukoh, and four years later received his first vice-royalty. In 1679 he accompanied the Emperor to the Rajput War in command of the advanced division, and throughout the next year had a full army corps under his orders. Then he lent too ready an ear to evil advisers, proclaimed himself Emperor, issued a manifesto deposing his father as a violator of Islamic Law, and advanced to give him battle (January, 1681). But the attempt was an utter failure, and the unlucky pretender to the throne had to flee for refuge to Shambhuji the Maratha king, and finally, after many adventures, to the Court of Persia. The Shah offered him men and money for a war against his brothers but declined to support him in a parricidal attack on Aurangzib. Nothing was now left for Akbar but to live on the eastern frontier of Persia and wear his heart out in prayers for his father's speedy death! Aurangzib heard of it, grimly smiled, and said, "Let us see who dies first, he or I," and then quoted the quatrain:

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My heart cannot forget the words of the potter
Who made a very delicate China cup and said to it,
'I know not whether the stone flung by Fate
Will break you or me first.' (Ruqat, No. 95.)

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As we shall see later, Akbar died before the author of his being. But so long as he lived, he was a constant menace to his father and to his eldest brother Shah Alam, the governor of Afghanistan in the closing years of the reign. On hearing of his death Aurangzib heaved a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "The great troubler of the peace of India is gone." (M.A. 484.)

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Aurangzib's youngest son, Muhammad Kam Bakhsh (born on 24th February, 1667), did not play any part in the history of India till after the fall of the Deccani kingdoms, and therefore he stands outside the scope of this volume. But he, too, had to be kept in confinement for some time (December, 1698 to June, 1699) for his misconduct. [I have treated his life in the *Modern Review*, Jan. 1924.]

§4. Aurangzib's daughters.

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The Emperor's eldest daughter was Zeb-un-nisa, a gifted poetess and patron of literary men.

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She was highly educated by Persian tutoresses in the harem, mastered Arabic theology, and wrote a volume of odes and quatrains under the pen-name of *Makhfi* or the Concealed One. A scandal, originating in the imagination of some Urdu writers of the 19th century, has imputed to her an illicit love for Aqil Khan, a noble of her father's Court. But the story* as fully developed by these writers is inconsistent with the facts of recorded history in all vital points.

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Zeb-un-nisa was an ardent partisan of her young brother Muhammad Akbar and held a secret correspondence with him on the eve of his rebellion. When that rising failed and his deserted camp was seized by the imperialists, her letters to him were discovered (January, 1681) and she felt the full weight of her father's wrath, Akbar being out of the reach of his vengeance. Her property and pension of four lakhs a year were attached and she was imprisoned at Salimgarh for the rest of her life (1681-1702). At the news of her death, the Emperor, himself then on the brink of the grave, shed tears and ordered money to be distributed in charity for the good of her soul.

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Another daughter of Aurangzib, the Princess Zinat-un-nisa, preferred to live in single blessedness.

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∗ Critically discussed and refuted in my *Studies in Mughal India*.

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She is said to have begged her dowry from her father and spent it in building a fine mosque at Delhi, long known as the "Maiden's Mosque" (Kumari Masjid). She devoted herself to nursing her father and chaperoning his harem throughout the second half of his reign when he lived in the Deccan. She was a happier if less eminent Jahanara.

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Aurangzib is said to have been led by a Muslim faqir's insistence and the Prophet's example to give up the Mughal royal practice of making the daughters of the sovereign live and die as maidens. (Storia, ii. 58.) Two of his daughters, Mihr-un-nisa and Zubdat-un-nisa, were given away in marriage, and a third (Badr-un-nisa) died young at the age of twenty-two before a suitable match could be found for her.

§5. Aurangzib's sisters : Jahanara.

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The Emperor's eldest sister Jahanara had been a partisan of Dara Shukoh and a supporter of the legitimate authority of Shah Jahan. In 1658 she had tried hard to dissuade Aurangzib and Murad from the fratricidal war, visited their victorious camp at Agra with a proposal of peace, and, on their refusal to accept it, had sternly rebuked them for their unnatural conduct. Then she had chosen the better part by sharing her father's lifelong captivity instead of seeking wealth and freedom by coming over to the victor's side. But her saintly character won rewards rich beyond the dreams of subserviency. In those long years of gloomy restraint thrice had she entreated Shah Jahan to forgive Aurangzib; twice had the justly incensed father refused; but in the end love had conquered hate, and shortly before his death he had signed a formal pardon to Aurangzib for all that he had done to his king and father.

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When Aurangzib went to Agra after Shah Jahan's funeral, (February, 1666), he repeatedly visited Jahanara,* showed her great affection, and made her the first lady of the realm. All the nobles were ordered to go to her quarters in Agra fort, salam her from outside, and offer presents, while eunuchs conveyed the salute and offerings to the invisible lady within. On the next coronation day (27th March), she was presented with a hundred thousand gold pieces (worth 14 lakhs of Rupees), and her annual pension was raised to seventeen lakhs. The same respect continued to be shown to her throughout life. In October 1666 she removed to Delhi and was given Ali Mardan Khan's grand mansion to live in. Here Aurangzib used to visit her occasionally and talk with her for hours like a loving brother. In December, 1669 he ordered Danishmand Khan, a high minister, to go to her and standing in her outer drawing-room (deorhi) to inform her that he was present there to do any service in which she might command him. From her house her special favourite and almost adopted daughter, Jahanzeb Banu, Dara's orphan child, was married to Aurangzib's third son, Muhammad Azam, in January 1669 with the most lavish pomp. Murad's daughters, too, seem to have received shelter in her house, and to have been given away in marriage by her, while the unhappy Sulaiman Shukoh's daughter, Salima Banu, was brought up by another of the Emperor's sisters, Gauharara Begam, and afterwards married to Muhammad Akbar.

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∗ Jahanara secures pardon (K. K. ii. 188; Storia, ii. 127); is honoured by Aurangzib, (A. N. 938, 959; Akh. 5, 7, 21); gives him frank advice (Storia, iv. 59); dies (M. A. 213; Storia, ii. 256).

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In fact, in Mughal times the first lady of the realm was not the Empress Consort (except in the cases of Nur Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal), but the royal mother or the royal sister. Indian etiquette requires that not the wife but the widowed mother or some other elderly lady should be the mistress of the household. Natural bashfulness would keep an empress from ordering about the general establishment of the harem, regulating the marriages and other ceremonies in the family, or presiding over the female society of the capital. But the death of her husband would at once raise her to the dignity of a widow and the influence of a Queen-mother, and remove from her even the possibility of any younger and fairer rival supplanting her in her husband's favour and hurling her from her seat of honour and influence. Social decorum prevented an emperor from placing his wife above his mother, his elder sister, or his paternal aunt. Thus it was that dowagers and old maids ruled the ladies' world in the Delhi palace.

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At Shah Jahan's accession the dowager Nur Jahan had to be relegated to obscurity as his deadliest enemy and the partisan of his defeated rival Shahriyar. The Empress Consort, Mumtaz Mahal, lived to share the throne for four years only. Thereafter, Jahanara, as the eldest Princess Royal, continued for 27 years to rule her imperial father's household. She was given the title of *Begam Sahib* or ‘Princess par excellence,’ and even *Padishah Begam* or ‘Sovereign Lady.’ Shah Jahan's captivity imposed on her, as his nurse and companion, the life of a recluse for eight years. But on his death she emerged, and Aurangzib restored her to her old place as the first lady in the Court, and she continued as such till her death on 6th September, 1681. Her age and position enabled her to give Aurangzib unpleasant but sound advice when none else durst give it. The Emperor mourned her death for three days and ordered her name to be entered in all official papers in future as *Sahibat-uz-zamani* or ‘the Mistress of the Age.’

§6. Princess Raushanara.

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Her younger sister, Raushanara Begam,* had been the warm partisan of Aurangzib during the War of Succession, and had ably intrigued from within the harem at Agra to checkmate his rivals. The day of Aurangzib's triumph was naturally the day of Raushanara's exaltation. At his grand coronation (June 1659) she was presented with five lakhs of Rupees,—a larger sum than his gift to any of his daughters,—and she continued to enjoy her brother's favour, and exercise control over his children and wives, till the return of her elder sister to Court on their father's death. Thereafter we hear nothing more about Raushanara, and she evidently fell to the background, dying on 11th September, 1671, at the age of fifty-six.

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During the critical stage of Aurangzib's illness (May 1662) Raushanara is said to have misused the royal privy seal in her keeping, to get together a party of nobles in favour of the succession of the boy prince Azam, and thus contributed to the public alarm. As Manucci writes, "Meanwhile it was terrible to see the city of Delhi in such confusion...Raushanara Begam was the causer of all this uproar. She allowed no one to see the sick Aurangzib, except one eunuch belonging to her faction.'' On his recovery, Aurangzib ''was much annoyed at her having written letters to the viceroys, governors and generals in order to gain them over to serve Sultan Azam and at her having sealed them with the royal seal...Raushanara lost much of the love that Aurangzib had borne her, he being now angered at her behaviour.'' (*Storia*, ii. 54-55, 59-60).

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∗ *Storia*, ii. 54-60 (usurps authority during Aurangzib's illness; echoed by Bernier, 123-125); *A. N.* 368 (rewarded by Aurangzib); character in Bernier 132, *Storia*, ii. 35, 189-190.

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The scandalous gossip reported about her by Manucci (ii. 189) on the veracious testimony of a Portuguese half-breed slave woman of the palace and his story that Aurangzib, angered at her profligacy, shortened her life by poison and that she died ''swollen out like a hogshead,'' are unsupported by sober history and may have been examples of the young Italian's credulity. The official history gives her a good character :—''She had noble qualities and admirable traits, and greatly loved her brother (the Emperor). He gave away large sums in charity for the benefit of her soul and showed kindness to her servants.'' (*M.A.*, 110.)

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The other sisters of Aurangzib had no influence on history, but lived quietly in the palace enjoying their pensions.

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Aurangzib made a number of matrimonial connections* between his family and those of his unhappy brothers. We have seen how his eldest son Muhammad Sultan had been married to Shuja's daughter Gulrukh Banu in 1659, and to Murad Bakhsh's daughter Dostdar Banu in 1672. Of his other sons, Muhammad Azam was wedded to Dara's daughter Jahanzeb Banu in 1669, and Muhammad Akbar to Sulaiman Shukoh's daughter, Salima Banu, in 1672. Two of the Emperor's daughters, Mihr-un-nisa and Zubdat-un-nisa, were married to Izad Bakhsh and Sipihr Shukoh, the sons of Murad and Dara respectively (in 1672 and 1673), while later in the reign two daughters of the fugitive Akbar were married to two sons of Shah Alam (1695). Thus in the third generation from Aurangzib his blood became inextricably mingled with the blood of his murdered brothers.

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∗ Marriages. *M. A.* 124 (Sultan). 77 (Azam). 119 (Akbar). 120 and 125 (Mihr and Zubdat). 372 (sons of Shah Alam).

§7. The Chief Officers of State.

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We now turn to the ministers who composed Aurangzib's Court. At the head of the official hierarchy* stood the *High Diwan* or Chancellor of the Exchequer, the *First Bakhshi* or Pay-master General, and the *Khan-i-saman* or Lord High Steward and Chamberlain. In the Church the highest dignitaries were the *Qazi-ul-quzat* or Supreme Judge of Canon Law, the *Muhtasib* or Censor of Public Morals, and the *Sadr-us-sadur* or Chief Justice of Civil Law. The artillery was under a special chief called the *Mir-i-Atish* or Lord Fireworker. As in the Mughal Government every official,—civil, military and ecclesiastical,—was enrolled in the Army List and held a *mansab* which in theory gave him a particular rank among the army officers, there was no Civil Treasury department, but all classes of public officers received their pay and bounty through the Bakhshi. In the reign of Aurangzib the number of Bakhshis was three, with a fourth for the *Ahadis* or gentlemen troopers. The *Khan-i-saman* in those days was an officer of the first rank, who controlled the imperial household and stores, and enjoyed very great power and prestige, though the term has been degraded in modern times to mean waiters at the tables of Anglo-Indian houses.

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∗ The subject has been studied in full detail in my *Mughal Administration*.

§8. The Wazirs of the reign.

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Wazir or Prime Minister seems to have been an honorific title, without necessarily implying the charge of any particular branch of the administration. He was, no doubt, always chief of the revenue department, but it was in his capacity of *Diwan*. All diwans, however, were not wazirs, and we read of no Hindu diwan being given this high title. At several periods the premiership remained vacant, while the duties of the Chancellor's office were done by a commission of two members, or by the Assistant Diwan (*peshdast*) being authorized to officiate for his chief, but temporarily and with the title of a mere deputy (Naib Diwan). The Chancellor had two juniors, viz., the Diwan of Tankhah or grants of jagir, and the Diwan of Khalsa or crownlands.

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Towards the close of Shah Jahan’s reign Mir Jumla had been appointed Grand Wazir* (7th July, 1656), but five months afterwards he was sent to the Deccan to assist Aurangzib in the invasion of Bijapur, and the duties of diwan at Court were entrusted to his son Muhammad Amin Khan as his deputy. When in September 1657 Shah Jahan fell ill and Dara seized the administration, he could not, in common prudence, retain for the chief counsellor of the Crown a man who was the protégé and supporter of Aurangzib, and therefore an order signed by Shah Jahan but really inspired by Dara was issued removing Mir Jumla from the wazirship and excluding his deputy from the diwan’s office. Jafar Khan was created Prime Minister, and he continued as such during the War of Succession, while the actual administration of the revenue department was conducted by the old and experienced Assistant Diwan, Raghunath, entitled the Rai-i-raian. On gaining the throne Aurangzib continued this temporary arrangement of the *diwani*, and raised Raghunath to the peerage as Rajah (15 June, 1658), but he naturally refused to confirm his rival's nominee as wazir, and kept the premiership in abeyance for restoration to Mir Jumla. That general, however, had no opportunity of visiting the Court again. From his mock prison at Daulatabad he joined Aurangzib's camp on the eve of the battle of Khajwah (January 1659), and on the very next day he was deputed to Bengal to hunt Shuja down and govern the eastern province. Here he died at the end of March 1663. Two months afterwards Rajah Raghunath, the acting *diwan*, also passed away.* He was a man of sterling integrity, diligent attention to business and signal capacity for administration. The famous wazir Sadullah Khan had discovered his merits and brought him forward in the revenue department, where he had risen to be permanent Head Assistant (*peshdast*) and even to discharge all the functions of the High Diwan (though without holding the title) temporarily from 7th April to 6th July, 1656, and again from 1658 to his death on 2nd June, 1663. Many anecdotes have come down to us telling of Raghunath's honesty in a department notorious for its corruption, his repression of nepotism, and his care for the welfare of the peasants.

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∗ WAZIRS. Jafar Khan, *M. U.* i. 531-535; *A. N.* 418, 850; *M. A.* 103; *K. K.* ii. 234; *Storia*, ii. 156-158, 21, 443, 345, iii. 416-419. Fazil Khan, *M. U.* iii. 524-530; *A. N.* 830, 833. Md. Amin Khan rejected, *M. A.* 109, *M. U.* iii. 613-620. Asad Khan, *M. U.* i. 310-320. *Akh.* 13/33, *M. A.* 85, 103, 108, 125, 152; *Anecdotes* § 11. For list of diwans, I.O.L. MS. 370, *f.* 99 *b*.

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∗ Raghunath, *M. U.* ii. 282; *A. N.* 116, 396, 829; *Raqat-i-Alamgiri*, Nos. 56, 149, 154; *Chahar Chaman-i-Brahman*, 64-69.

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It now became necessary to appoint a new wazir and diwan, the first of Aurangzib's reign. The officer chosen was a Persian, Ala-ul-mulk Tuni, surnamed Fazil Khan, a master of elegant prose and verse and a man of unblemished character, who had long enjoyed the ex-Emperor's confidence and filled high offices about Court.[*] But he was already turned of seventy, and all the work of which he was capable had been practically done in Shah Jahan's reign. He lived to enjoy his new dignity for 16 days only (7th—23rd June, 1663).

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Jafar Khan succeeded him as wazir (30th Dec. 1663—6th May, 1670). He was one of the highest grandees of the realm, and had married one sister of the late Empress Mumtaz Mahal, while his nephew had married another. His close connection with the Emperor's family caused him to be regarded in the light of a prince of the blood, and he enjoyed the constant favour of Shah Jahan and received frequent visits at his house from that Emperor and his sons. Even Aurangzib, when cancelling his first premiership, had appointed him viceroy of Malwa (which office he held from 1658 to 1663).

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∗ At the second coronation of Aurangzib he had been appointed to write the imperial letters and patents, which was a part of the duties of the High Diwan. A. N. 395.

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Jafar Khan was noted for his benevolent character, pleasant manners, and graciousness towards others, but also for a lofty and aristocratic temperament and a proverbial fastidiousness of taste in matters of food and dress. But his official record and extant letters do not show that he had much intellectual keenness or administrative capacity. "He was so civil and courteous that he addressed everybody as 'Sir' and he was incapable of displaying anger. He was very polished and his purity might be called a fetish. This man used to drink his drop of liquor, and on this account Aurangzib, as a strict Musalman, spoke to him saying that it was not a fit thing for the first minister in a kingdom of the faithful to drink wine. Jafar Khan replied that he was an old man, without strength in his hands or firmness in his feet, had little sight in his eyes, and was very poor. By drinking wine he got sight for seeing, power for wielding the pen in the service of His Majesty, felt strength in his feet to run to Court when His Majesty called, and seemed in imagination to become rich." (*Storia*, ii. 156—157.)

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The appointment of such a man to the wazirship seems to have been a concession to the elder peers, the remnant of Shah Jahan's time, who were not likely to defy an old and urbane wazir that had already risen to greatness in the late reign and long filled a high place before the public eye. At the same time social precedence was satisfied by his nearness to the royal family. But he had evidently no influence on the Emperor's policy or administration, and merely did the routine duties of his office and his social functions as the head of the official class and the Court circle. For this last task his age, manners, experience and mastery of Persian eminently fitted him. Aurangzib frequently graced his mansion on the bank of the Jamuna at Delhi with visits, invited him to the palace gardens to see rare flowers in bloom, and deputed him to receive foreign princes and ambassadors on his behalf. But, as we have seen, he was old and infirm, and died on 6th May 1670.

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No successor to him was appointed for several years, and during this interval, as at the beginning of his reign, Aurangzib acted as his own Prime Minister. He had his eyes on an officer of whose ability he had the highest opinion and whose company he loved, but who was too young for the premiership according to the received notions of the age. The elevation of such a man would have caused great discontent among the old and first-grade peers who represented the age of Shah Jahan.

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This person was Muhammad Ibrahim, surnamed Asad Khan, sister's son of the late wazir and the husband of one of the many sisters of Aurangzib's mother. His handsome person and youthful grace had made a favourable impression on Shah Jahan, but he had hitherto occupied only the lower ranks of the official ladder. At Jafar Khan’s death he was only a Commander of Two Thousand, and Second Paymaster. Social decorum would have been outraged if a mere lad of 48 years and a third-grade official had been at once made Grand Wazir. Aurangzib, therefore, moved cautiously and let six years pass before filling the highest office in his State. On Jafar Khan’s death he appointed Asad Khan as Deputy Chancellor (Naib Diwan) relieving him of the Second Paymastership soon afterwards (1670).

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In September 1671, Mir Jumla’s son Muhammad Amin Khan, was summoned by the Emperor with a view to making him wazir. But his haughty spirit, self-willed nature and fearless outspokenness,—which he could not control even in the presence of his master,—marked him out as unfit for the life of a courtier and minister of State, and he was sent back to the charge of a province. On 10th March, 1673, Asad Khan resigned the deputy chancellorship, and that post was put into commission for some years,—all work being done under the joint seals of the Sub-Chancellors of Crownlands and Tankhah. At last, on 8th October, 1676, he was invested as Grand Wazir, and presented by the Emperor with the badge of that high office, viz., a jewelled inkpot. He was already turned of fifty, but even then the elder nobles were not satisfied. As Mahabat Khan, the outspoken governor of Afghanistan, wrote* angrily to the Emperor, "Your Majesty has appointed that suckling Asad Khan as Grand Wazir. The consequences of the premiership of such an unmanly fellow may have reached your ears!"

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But Asad Khan's long and honourable tenure of the premiership justified his master's choice. Aurangzib had the highest opinion of his wazir's ability and recommended him to his successor as a very competent counsellor. Asad Khan served as wazir for 31 years, and retired only on Aurangzib's death. In June 1716 he himself died at the ripe old age of 94. He was a grand noble and lived in a princely style above that of other peers, with a weakness for handmaids and singing-girls of whom he kept a large harem and on whom he spent more than his income.

§9. Lists of high officials.

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The following is a list of the first or Head Bakhshis of Aurangzib's reign.

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Paymasters-General :

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Muhammad Amin Khan, Jan. 1659—Dec. 1667. Danishmand Khan, Dec. 1667—July 1670. Lashkar Khan, July 1670—January 1671. Asad Khan, Feb. 1671 ?—Oct. 1676.

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∗ I.O.L. MS. 2678, p. 123 of the copy made for me.

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Sarbuland Khan, ? Oct. 1676—Dec. 1679. [Ruhullah Khan I. officiates informally.] Himmat Khan, Oct. 1680—Jan. 1681. Ashraf Khan, Jan. 1681—Sept. 1686. Ruhullah Khan I., Sept. 1686—July 1692. Bahramand Khan, July 1692—Nov. 1702. Nusrat Jang K. B., Nov. 1702—1707 ?

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Almost all of them* were Persians by race, one, Danishmand Khan, being himself a Persian emigrant and several others the sons or grandsons of refugees from that country. The Paymasters enjoyed a very high reputation for ability, polish of manners, and power of office management.

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The KHAN-I-SAMAN, also styled Mir-i-saman, was both Lord High Steward and Lord Chamberlain. "He had charge of the whole expenditure of the royal household in reference to both great and small things," (Storia, ii. 419), and of the various departments of stores and workshops. During marches he used to accompany the Emperor and control all the workmen, servants and stores of the household. The following is a list of Aurangzib's Chamberlains† :—

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∗ Lives in M. U. i. 310 (Asad), 272 (Ashraf), 454 (Bahramand); ii. 93 (Nusrat Jang), 309 (Ruhullah), 477 (Sarbuland), 30 (Danishmand); iii. 168 (Lashkar), 613 (Md. Amin), 946 (Himmat). † Lives in M. U. i. 252 (Iftikhar), iii. 625 (Md. Ali), 34 (Fazil Kh. III.), 159 (Kamgar), ii. 315 (Ruhullah Kh. II.), i. 814 (Khudabanda).

Khan-i-samans :

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Fazil Khan I. Ala-ul-mulk Tuni, Dec. 1662—June 1663. Iftikhar Khan Sultan Husain Yezdi, June 1663—March 1670.

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Ashraf Khan, March 1670—Nov. 1676. Ruhullah Khan I., Nov. 1676—? 1678. Muhammad Ali Khan (s. of Dr. Daud), ? 1678—May 1687.

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Kamgar Khan, 1687—1688. Fazil Khan III., (Itimad Kh.), 1688—1697. Khanahzad Kh. (Ruhullah Khan II.), 1697—May 1704. Khudabanda Khan, May 1704—1707.

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Every province had its Sadar or Judge and Supervisor of endowments to pious men and scholars. Over them all was the SADAR-US-SADUR or Chief Sadar,[*] who was also the medium of the Emperor's acts of charity, especially the distribution of the lakh and a half of Rupees which he gave away every year in the month of Ramzan and other sacred occasions. The Chief Sadars of Aurangzib's reign are mentioned below.

Sadar-us-sadurs :

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Sayyid Hedayatullah Qadiri, June 1658—March 1660. Shaikh Mirak of Herat, March 1660—November 1661. Qalich Khan (Abid Kh.), Nov. 1661—May 1667. Razavi Khan, May 1667—? June 1681.

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[*] Lives in M. U. iii. 120 (Qalich Kh.), ii. 32 (Fazil Kh. II.), iii. 307 (Razavi Kh.), i. 346 (Md. Amin Kh. II.)

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Qalich Khan, June 1681—June 1682. Sharif Khan, June—Oct. 1682. Fazil Khan II. (Shaikh Makhdum), Oct. 1682—Dec. 1688.* ?——?, 1689—1698. Qazi Abdullah, (a few months) 1698, (in addition to Chief Qazi-ship). Md. Amin Khan II. (Chin Bahadur, Itimad-ud-daula), May 1698—1707?

§10. Ecclesiastical officers: Qazis and Censors.

Succession-list of Chief Qazis

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Abdul Wahhab Bohra, 1659—1675. Shaikh-ul-Islam, 1676—1683. Sayyid Abu Said, 1683—1685 (dismissed ; died 1688.) Khwajah Abdullah, 1685—1698. Muhammad Akram, 1698—1706. Mulla Haidar, June 1706—1707.

Succession-list of Censors

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Mulla Auz Wajih, June 1659—Oct. 1663. Khwajah Qadir, Oct. 1663—Oct. 1665. Muhammad Zahid (son of Qazi Arslan), Oct. 1665—? 1668 or 1669. Muhammad Husain Jaunpuri, ? 1668—March 1670. Sayyid Amjad Khan, March 1670—? Shaikh Nur-ul-Haq, ? 1697—1701 ? Khwajah Muhammad Shah, ?—1705—?

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∗ During the interval 1689—1698, we have no record of Sadars in the official history.

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Abdul Wahhab* was born at Anhilwara Pattan, now a city in the Gaikwad's dominions. He belonged to the Bohra clan, a race of Hindu traders who had been converted to Shia-ism by a famous Muslim saint many centuries ago. But an independent Sultan of Gujrat made several of them Sunnis and thus introduced an element of discord. Since then, the Bohras have been split up into two sects, fighting bitterly over this religious difference. Shaikh Muhammad Tahir of Pattan, a famous scholar of this race, spent many years in Arabia, and on his return vigorously employed the authority of the Mughal Government to put down Shia beliefs and practices among the Bohras, for which he was murdered by the persecuted sect. His grandson, Abdul Wahhab, also made a great name for himself by his mastery of Canon Law and Theology, and served as Qazi of Pattan in Shah Jahan's reign. He joined Aurangzib during his second viceroyalty of the Deccan and was made much of by the prince. After the victory of Samugarh, when the other Qazis refused to declare Aurangzib's usurpation of a living father's throne as legal, Abdul Wahhab issued a decree asserting that as Shah Jahan was physically unfit to govern, the throne was virtually vacant and therefore Aurangzib’s accession to it was no violation of Quranic law. For this eminent service his patron made him Chief Qazi of the Empire.

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∗ M.U. i. 235—241; K.K. ii. 216—217, 247; Storia, ii. 5—6, 188—189, i. 381; Mirat-i-Ahmadi, 261; Ishwardas, 70 b. Shaikh-ul-Islam, M.U. i. 237; K.K. ii. 247, 379, 414, 438—439; Ishwardas, 71 b, 86 b; M.A. 239, 251, 339, 394; Ruqat-i-Alamgiri, No. 38 (honesty as judge).

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On all administrative questions, Aurangzib sought to follow the rulings of Canon Law and the precedents set by the orthodox Khalifs. The Qazis were therefore his guides not only in the Church but also in the State. Their influence over the civil government was greater than that of the ministers and generals. Abdul Wahhab, in particular, enjoyed the Emperor’s confidence and favour in such a degree, as to be all in all at Court. The highest peers of the realm feared and honoured him, while their hearts were consumed by jealousy of the prelate. Mahabat Khan (Lohrasp), the boldest and most outspoken of the courtiers, alone ventured to give voice to their discontent. One day Aurangzib in open Court was anxiously selecting a general for the war with the irrepressible Shivaji. Mahabat Khan ironically remarked, “It is unnecessary to send an army against him. A proclamation by the Chief Qazi would do the work!”

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Abdul Wahhab abused his boundless influence over the Emperor to enrich himself. He was the most corrupt and heartless Qazi of the reign. He sold the subordinate Qazi-ships of the cities for money and took bribes in every case that he tried.

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At the same time he made profit by engaging in secret trade in rich stuff and jewellery. During his sixteen years of Qazi-ship he amassed a fortune of 33 lakhs of Rupees in cash, besides much jewellery and other valuable things.

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His eldest son and successor, Shaikh-ul-Islam, on the other hand, was one of the noblest of characters. No such honest Qazi was ever again seen in India. On his father's death he did not touch a penny of his ill-gotten riches, but gave away his own share of his patrimony to learned men, beggars and his kinsmen. Not only did he decide all cases without the faintest suspicion of corrupt influence or bribery, but he even declined the customary presents and gifts from his nearest friends and kinsmen. He was so impressed by the lying of the witnesses who were usually produced in courts, that after hearing the two sides he seldom gave any decision of his own, on the ground that "in this age of lying witnesses, God alone knows the truth!" This over-scrupulous judge avoided as long as he could the disagreeable necessity of making up his mind on the facts of a case and tried his utmost to induce the two parties to compound their dispute privately!

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We can easily understand how he hated the duties of a Qazi and ever sought for some decent excuse to resign his post and retire to a life of peace and religious meditation, washing his hands clean of "the impurities of the world and its affairs." But Aurangzib would not part with such a rare combination of judicial honesty, piety and learning. He repeatedly pressed Shaikh-ul-Islam to come to Court and thrust ecclesiastical offices upon him. The Emperor asked of him a decree (*fatwa*) sanctioning his intended invasions of Golkonda and Bijapur. The Qazi honestly condemned the project as "a war between two Muslim States" and therefore a violation of Quranic law. So, he sought to make his escape from the Court and imperial service by going on a pilgrimage to Mecca; (resigned Nov. 1683, sailed from India Dec. 1684). On his return he lived at Pattan and successfully resisted the repeated entreaties of the Emperor to resume his high office. In 1698, the Emperor wrote to him a letter in his own hand inviting him to Court. Shaikh-ul-Islam could not well decline. He set out from his home, praying on the way that God would deliver him from the necessity of again defiling his hands with Government service. The prayer was heard, and he died before reaching the Court.

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Sayyid Abu Said, the son-in-law of Abdul Wahhab, succeeded Shaikh-ul-Islam in November 1683, but a year and a half later he was dismissed, probably because his sale of posts and of justice had become intolerable. (May, 1685.)

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Mulla Haidar had been Persian secretary to Shivaji. In 1683 he came over to Aurangzib and was created a Commander of Two Thousand. From being tutor to the Emperor's grandson Azim-ush-shan, he was appointed to the Qazi-ship of Delhi, and finally, in June 1706, as the Chief Qazi.

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The first CENSOR of Aurangzib's reign was Mulla Auz Wajih, a native of Samarqand. An unrivalled scholar, he came to India in 1640 and became Mufti of Shah Jahan. Appointed by Aurangzib as Chief Censor in June 1659, "he exerted himself far beyond any other holder of the post in putting down sinful practices." As Censor he enjoyed the rank and emoluments of a Commander of One Thousand, instead of his former stipend of Rs. 1,250 a month. But in October 1663 he lost his office for some offence, and devoted the rest of his life to teaching. In April 1676 he was restored to his *mansab* but not to his post, and died next November.* His successor was Khwajah Sayyid Qadir (*A.N.* 840). We find Khwajah Muhammad Shah holding the Censor's office in 1705. (*Akhbarat*, 49—20).

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∗ *M.A.* 150, 156; *K.K.* ii. 80; *A.N.* 392, 840.