History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c37.s8: §8. The Wazirs of the reign.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c37.s8
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§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.