Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Fall of the Mughal Empire v1: Volume 1

Fall of the Mughal Empire v1

Language
English

Contents

Volume 1

Front matter

v1.c1.1

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

v1.c1.2

SANTINIKETAN VISWA BHARATI LIBRARY

v1.c1.3

954.257 J 17 V-1 53349

v1.c1.4

The first of these, the *Gospel of the Hebrews*, was used by the Jewish Christians of Palestine, and was probably a version of the Gospel of Matthew, though it contained some traditions not found in our canonical books. The *Gospel of the Egyptians* was used by the ascetic sects of Egypt, and was marked by a strong tendency towards mysticism and asceticism. The *Gospel of Peter* was used by the Docetists, and taught that Christ did not really suffer, but only appeared to do so.

v1.c1.5

These gospels, and others like them, were not accepted by the Church as a whole, and were gradually lost or suppressed. The Church, however, felt the need for a standard collection of writings that would serve as a guide for faith and practice. This led to the formation of the New Testament canon, a process that took several centuries to complete.

v1.c1.6

The first step in this process was the collection of the letters of Paul, which were widely circulated among the churches. Then came the four Gospels, which were accepted as the authoritative accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles and the other epistles were gradually added, and finally the Book of Revelation.

v1.c1.7

By the end of the second century, the core of the New Testament was generally accepted by the Church. The process of canonization was not a formal act of a council, but rather a gradual recognition by the churches of the writings that were most valuable for their life and worship. It was only in the fourth century that the canon was formally closed by the councils of the Church.

v1.c1.8

The formation of the New Testament canon was a crucial event in the history of the Church. It provided a standard of faith and practice that helped to unify the Church and to protect it from the influence of heretical sects. It also ensured that the teachings of Jesus and the apostles would be preserved for future generations.

v1.c1.9

The first of these, the *Gospel of the Hebrews*, was used by the Jewish Christians of Palestine, and was probably a version of the Gospel of Matthew, though it contained some traditions not found in our canonical books. The *Gospel of the Egyptians* was used by the ascetic sects of Egypt, and was marked by a strong tendency towards mysticism and asceticism. The *Gospel of Peter* was used by the Docetists, and taught that Christ did not really suffer, but only appeared to do so.

v1.c1.10

These gospels, and others like them, were not accepted by the Church as a whole, and were gradually lost or suppressed. The Church, however, felt the need for a standard collection of writings that would serve as a guide for faith and practice. This led to the formation of the New Testament canon, a process that took several centuries to complete.

v1.c1.11

The first step in this process was the collection of the letters of Paul, which were widely circulated among the churches. Then came the four Gospels, which were accepted as the authoritative accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles and the other epistles were gradually added, and finally the Book of Revelation.

v1.c1.12

By the end of the second century, the core of the New Testament was generally accepted by the Church. The process of canonization was not a formal act of a council, but rather a gradual recognition by the churches of the writings that were most valuable for their life and worship. It was only in the fourth century that the canon was formally closed by the councils of the Church.

v1.c1.13

The formation of the New Testament canon was a crucial event in the history of the Church. It provided a standard of faith and practice that helped to unify the Church and to protect it from the influence of heretical sects. It also ensured that the teachings of Jesus and the apostles would be preserved for future generations.

v1.c1.14

Fall of the Mughal Empire

v1.c1.15

SIR JADUNATH SARKAR, Kt., C.I.E., Honorary Member, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain.

v1.c1.16

VOLUME I 1739—1754

v1.c1.17

M. C. SARKAR & SONS CALCUTTA

v1.c1.18

WORKS OF SIR JADUNATH SARKAR

v1.c1.19

| | | Rs. A. |
| 1. | *History of Aurangzib*, | | |
| | Vols. 1 & 2 together, 2nd. ed., | ... | 5 0 |
| | Vol. 3, 3rd ed., ... ... | ... | 3 8 |
| | Vol. 4, 2nd ed., ... ... | ... | 4 0 |
| | Vol. 5, ... ... ... | ... | 4 0 |
| 2. | *Shivaji and his Times*, 3rd ed. (re-written) | ... | 5 0 |
| 3. | *Short History of Aurangzib*, ... | ... | 5 0 |
| 4. | *Mughal Administration*, 2nd ed., ... | ... | 3 0 |
| 5. | *Anecdotes of Aurangzib* (Eng. tr.), 2nd. ed., | 1 8 |
| 6. | *Ahkam-i-Alamgiri* (Persian text), 2nd ed., | 1 0 |
| 7. | *Chaitanya : his Life and Teachings*, 3rd ed., | 2 0 |
| 8. | *Studies in Mughal India*, first series. | | |
| 9. | ,, ,, ,, ,, second series (Reign | | |
| | of Aurangzib) ... | 2 8 |
| 10. | *Studies in Maratha History*, (House of Shivaji.) | | |
| 11. | *India of Aurangzib : Statistics, topography* | | |
| | *and Roads.* | | |
| 12. | *Economics of British India*, 5th ed., | | |
| 13. | *India through the Ages*, ... ... | ... | 1 8 |
| 14. | *Fall of the Mughal Empire*, Vol. 1. ... | ... | 5 0 |

v1.c1.20

CALCUTTA : M. C. SARKAR & SONS. LONDON : LUZAC & CO.

Foreword

v1.c2.1

The birth of the New India in which we live was preceded by the death of a political and social order under which the millions of this country had been nurtured for two centuries and a half and which had done great things for them. The Mughal Empire, established in 1556, had united much of the Indian continent under one sceptre, given it a uniform civilisation whose conquering light had penetrated beyond the bounds of that empire, and on the whole promoted the general happiness of the people in a degree unapproached except in the mythical past. It broke the isolation of the provinces and the barrier between India and the outer world, and thus took the first step necessary for the modernisation of India and the growth of an Indian nationality in some distant future. The achievements of that empire under four great sovereigns have been the worthy themes of the historians of Akbar and Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzib. But the exhaustion of this civilising force with the consequent ruin of this country has hitherto repelled historians, probably because of the dismal nature of the subject which presents no spectacle calculated to elevate the human mind or warm the human bosom.

v1.c2.2

And yet our immediate historic past, while it resembles a tragedy in its course, is no less potent than a true tragedy to purge the soul by exciting pity and horror. Nor is it wanting in the deepest instruction for the present. The headlong decay of the age-old Muslim rule in India and the utter failure of the last Hindu attempt at empirebuilding by the new-sprung Marathas, are intimately linked together, and must be studied with accuracy of detail as to facts and penetrating analysis as to causes if we wish to find out the true solutions of the problems of modern India and avoid the pitfalls of the past.

v1.c2.3

The light of our fathers' experience is indispensably necessary for guiding aright the steps of those who would rule the destinies of our people in the present. Happily, such light is available in unthought of profusion. The dissolution of the old order in India did not form a dark age, during which the activity of the human mind ceased or the human brain and the human hand left no memorial of their working. On the contrary, the Eighteenth Century in India is illumined for its historian by a host of witnesses of the most diverse races, creeds and tongues and recording events as looked at from all different points of view. We, no doubt, lack detailed official annals like those written for Akbar and his four immediate successors; but the Indian actors in the scenes and detached foreign observers alike have left a multitude of private memoirs and journals which are in some respects of even greater value than the former class of works though lacking in their minuteness of dates and names. For this century masses of manuscript news-letters have been preserved, giving us the current news in the freshest form. The records of the Maratha Government have at last been made available to students in their entirety. The State-papers of the English and the French have been printed in our own lifetime, and of the still unprinted material in these languages preserved in public libraries, most helpful lists have been published (notably Hills' Home Miscellaneous and the Calendar of Persian Correspondence ) The travel-books, diaries and memoirs of the early Europeans in India form a vast literature, now mostly too rare to be obtained easily, but often giving priceless information on specific points and lighting up the economic and social condition of the age as no native work does.

v1.c2.4

The materials are vast and varied; but this fact does not constitute the difficulty of the historian of the period so much as the immense number of the separate political bodies and centres of action created in the country by the dismemberment of an empire that had once embraced nearly the whole of India. A history of India in the 18th century which would attempt to deal with every one of these provinces or States in all its actions will be like a bag of loose stones constantly knocking against one another and not a single solid edifice.

v1.c2.5

The present writer is here making the first attempt to synthesise the Persian, Marathi, English, French, Hindi, Rajasthani and Sanskrit sources, and reconstruct the story of the fall of the Mughal Empire from the invasion of Nādir Shah in 1739 to the British conquest of Delhi and assumption of the keeper-ship of the puppet but still legitimate Padishah in 1803. But the nature of his subject has enforced a strict limitation on him. Dispersion of interest could be avoided only by keeping the eye constantly fixed on the centre of the empire,—the Emperor and his keepers, —and rigidly eliminating every side-issue that may divert the mind from the main theme. Thus, provinces that had cut themselves adrift from the empire, like Bengal and Bihar under the English from 1757, Malwa and Gujrat from 1741-50, the Panjab after 1757, Oudh after 1761, and the six Deccan subahs after 1748,—will not have their events narrated here, except for the briefest references when needed to light up some problem or action of the central Government. The Anglo-French struggle for an Indian empire will be totally omitted. Rajputana and Bundelkhand, though now owing little more allegiance to Delhi than those lost provinces did, remained the cockpit of Northern India, and the activities of those who held Delhi overflowed into these two regions almost to the end of the century. They will, therefore, be embraced in this survey. The internal affairs of the Maratha States are no concern of the historian of Delhi, except where they served as the motive force of some Maratha activity in Northern India, and to that extent alone will they be noticed.

v1.c2.6

It is hoped by these limitations to give unity of structure and connection of interest to this work Where so many centres have to be touched, a certain amount of repetition has been deliberately made, in order to refresh the distracted reader's memory, keep the main threads constantly before him, and clarify the issues.

v1.c2.7

In reviewing the earlier history of the decline of the same Empire as narrated in William Irvine's Later Mughals, edited and brought down to 1739 by me, Mr. P. E. Roberts used a very apt image when he wrote: "It drives a broad pathway through a very tangled jungle.... It is a piece of work which badly needed doing, and it has been done with amazing, thoroughness.... The most valuable part of the book is the careful incorporation of Persian and Marathi unpublished material." The same woodcraft has been followed in this continuation of that work, but the jungle is much thicker here. There was at least one common head of the Delhi Empire up to 1739 (when Irvine’s book ends), one centre of Government in theory and almost always in practice. But after Nādir’s invasion the dismemberment proceeded apace and many independent centres sprang up, whose interplay makes the history of the succeeding period extremely complicated. But the reader is most likely not to lose his way in this many-wooded forest if the historian is constantly by his side to whisper, “Delhi is not far off.”

v1.c2.8

Such being the scope deliberately chosen for this work, the first volume has necessarily to treat its subject at a greater length than would be strictly proportionate to its time-extent. It takes up the narrative at the departure of Nādir Shah and ends with the fall of Ahmad Shah, (the last Emperor of Delhi who showed any independence and by the time of whose death all the great men of the former generation had disappeared.) The reign of his shadowy successor Alamgir II (1754—1759) and the rule of his wazir Ghaziuddin Imād-ul-mulk will receive a very brief treatment, because the historical stage of Delhi is now dominated by Ahmad Shah Abdali, whose career leading up to his crowning victory at Panipat (1761) deserves to be studied in greater detail from the wealth of original material not yet used by any writer. Then follows a period of dull chaotic ferment for some twelve years, with little to detain the historian long. A new scene opens with the rise of Mahadji Sindhia who bestrides the plains of Northern India like a Colossus for two decades. This heroic figure it is my intention to study at length from the records in various languages in an almost overwhelming mass which I have been able to collect.

v1.c2.9

From Mahadji's death (1794) to the British conquest of Delhi, the tale is well-known and if I tell it will be merely to round my work off.

v1.c2.10

JADUNATH SARKAR.

Bibliography

Persian

v1.c3.s1.1

1. Anand—Anandrām Mukhlis's *Tazkira* (Elliot, viii. 76.) Aligarh Univ. MS.—the same copy as used by Elliot's translator Lt. Perkins. Ends 1748.

v1.c3.s1.2

2. Ashub—*Tārikh-i-Shahādat-i-Farrukhsiyar wa Jalus-i-Md. Shah* by Md. Bakhsh, the foster-brother of Md. Sh. (El. 232) I.O.L. MS.

v1.c3.s1.3

3. Bayan—*Bayān-i-waqāi* by Khj. Abdul Karim Kashmiri (El. 124.) Lahor P.L. MS.

v1.c3.s1.4

4. Ch. Gul.—*Chahār Gulzār-i-Shujāi* by Harcharan-das, completed in 1784. (El. 204.) Patna MS.

v1.c3.s1.5

5. G-i-R.—*Gulistān-i-Rahmat* by Mustajab Kh. (El. 301.) Eng. tr. by C. Elliott (1831) quoted.

v1.c3.s1.6

6. *Hadiqat-ul-Ālam*, by Mir Alam, complet. 1799. (Litho, Hyderabad.)

v1.c3.s1.7

7. Husain Shahi—*Tarikh-i-Husain Shahi*, by Sayyid Abu Muhasan Husain al Husaini, wr. 1797. Patna O.P.L. MS.

v1.c3.s1.8

8. Imād—*Imād-us-sādat* by Sayyid Ghulām Ali Naqui, wr. 1807. (Lucknow litho) (El. 394.)

v1.c3.s1.9

9. Jahānkushā—*Tārikh-i-Jahān-kushā-i-Nādiri* by Mirza Md. Mahdi (Bombay litho) (El. 99.)

v1.c3.s1.10

10. *Khāzina-i-Amirā*, by Ghulam Ali Azād, wr. 1763 (Lucknow litho.)

v1.c3.s1.11

11. *Mirāt-i-Ahmadi* by Ali Md. Kh. Ends 1757. (Gaekwad Or. Series, Baroda.) 3 vols.

v1.c3.s1.12

12. Miskin—Memoirs of Tahmasp Kh. (pen-name Miskin), titles Muhakam-ud-daulah Itiqād Jang, (El. 100), wr. 1780. Br. Mus. Pers. 8807 from f. 62b and before that Nawab Sadar Yar Jang's fragmentary MS. cited.

v1.c3.s1.13

13. Mujmil—*Mujmil-ut-tawārikh bad Nādiriya*, by Ibn Md. Amin Abul Hasan Gulistāni, ed. O. Mann (Leyden 1896.) Wr. 1782.

v1.c3.s1.14

14. Muz.—*Tārikh-i-Muzaffari*, by Md. Ali Kh. Ansari (of Panipat), wr. 1800. (El. 316.)

v1.c3.s1.15

15. Riyāz—*Riyāz-us-salātin*, by Ghulām Husain Salim, wr. 1786. (Biblio. Indica.)

v1.c3.s1.16

16. Salimullah—*Tārikh-i-Bangālah*. I.O.L. MS. 2995 used.

v1.c3.s1.17

17. *Shākir*—*Tazkira* of Shākir Kh., son of Lutfullah Kh. B. Sadiq (of Panipat.) A MS discovered by me in Patna. Same as Brit. Mus. Addl. 6585 (which is more complete.)

v1.c3.s1.18

18. *Siyar*—*Siyar-ul-mutakhkharin*, by Sayyid Ghulam Husain Tabātabāi, (El. 194), compl. 1782. Edition printed in Calcutta in 1833 by Hakim Abdul Majid cited.

v1.c3.s1.19

19. *TAh.*—*Tārikh-i-Ahmad Shāhi*, by an anonymous author who "was present at all times and saw with his own eyes the utter misery of the Emperor Ahmad and wept" (folio 68a.) By far the fullest and most accurate history of this reign. (El. 104.) Sir Henry Elliot's own MS. (from the library of Mirzā Fakhruddin Shāh B.), with his pencil note, "A translation has been made from this copy by Mr. Forsyth." Br. Mus. Pers. Or. 2005. Leaves numbered and bound wrongly. The correct order is 1a-66b, 68a-72b, 67a and b, 73a-end.

v1.c3.s1.20

20. *Wārid.*—*Tārikh-i-Chaghtai* or *Mirāt-i-Wāridāt*, by Md. Shafi Tehrāni (pen-name Wārid), wr. 1734. (El. 21.) Patna O.P.L. MS.

Marathi

v1.c3.s2.1

21. *Aitihāsik Patra-vyavahār*, vol. ii (2nd. ed.), ed. by G. S. Sardesai and others.

v1.c3.s2.2

22. *Rajwade.*—*Marāthānchyā Itihāsāchin Sādhanen*, ed. by V. K. Rājwadé and others, 21 vols.

v1.c3.s2.3

23. *S.P.D.*—*Selections from the Peshwā Daftar*, ed. by G. S. Sardesai, (Bombay Govt. Press.) Volume and number of the letters cited, except when page is explicitly mentioned.

v1.c3.s2.4

24. *Vad.*—*Selections from the Satara Rajas' and Peshwas' Diaries*, ed. by G. C. Vad and others.

Hindi &c.

v1.c3.s3.1

25. *Sujān Charitra*—or life of Suraj Mal Jāt, by Sudan, (only seven episodes from 1745 to 1753.) 2nd. ed. (Benares, Nāgari Parch. Sabhā.)

v1.c3.s3.2

26. *Vir Vinod*, by Kavirāj Shyāmal-das, 4 vols.

v1.c3.s3.3

27. *Vamsha Bhāskar*, by Suraj Mal Mishran, 8 vols.

v1.c3.s3.4

All other works are cited in the body of the book or will be described later.

Contents

v1.c4.1

FOREWORD . . . . . iii

v1.c4.2

Bibliography . . . . . ix

v1.c4.3

CH. I. Muhammad Shah's Reign after Nadir's departure ... ... 1—40

v1.c4.4

Survey of Delhi empire, 1—condition of India after Nadir's invasion, 3—Emperor Muhammad Sh., character, 6—wazir Qamruddin, 10—Turāni and Irāni factions at Court, 13—chief officers, 15—Amir Kh., 17—Md. Ishaq Kh. I, 18—Asad Yār Kh. 21, 37—Safdar Jang, 22—how administration broke down, 24—Amir Kh.'s plot to overthrow wazir, fails, 26—Amir Kh. promotes Safdar, 33—Persian influence at Court, 35—Amir Kh. murdered, 38.

v1.c4.5

CH. II. Afghan settlements in the Gangetic Doab ... ... 41—66

v1.c4.6

Condition of Afghans under Mughal rule, 41—Afghan settlements in the Doab, 44—Muhammad Kh. Bangash, career, 45—Ali Muhammad Ruhela's career, 47—Ruhela tactics, 52—national character, 54—Emperor's campaign against Ali Md. Ruhela (1745), 57—Rohilkhand gets out of Government control, 63.

v1.c4.7

CH. III. Maratha incursions into Bengal Bihar and Orissa ... ... ... 67—126

v1.c4.8

How Maratha power overspread India, 67—independent governors of Bengal, 70—Alivardi's campaigns in Orissā (1741), 72—first Maratha invasion (1742), 74—Alivardi's retreat from Bardwān to Katwā, 77—Mir Habib, career and character, 80—raid on Murshidabad, 81—Marāthas capture Hughli, 83—Marātha atrocities, 86—Bhāskar expelled, 89—Safdar Jang in Bihār, 94—Peshwā Bālāji Rāo enters Bengal, 95—his route, 96-97 footnote—Alivardi's alliance with Peshwā, 98—third Maratha invasion, 100—Alivardi forsaken by Peshwa why, 102—Alivardi massacres Maratha generals, 104—Nawab's financial distress and exactions, 107—Mustafa Kh. leaves Alivardi, 111—attacks Patna, 114—is killed at Karhani, 117—fourth Maratha invasion (1745), 118—running campaign in Bihar, 121—second Afghan mutiny, 126.

v1.c4.9

CH. IV. The Eastern Provinces, 1746—1756 127—180

v1.c4.10

Alivardi's controversy with Peshwā about chauth, 127—policy and plans of Raghuji Bhonslé, 133—struggle near Medinipur, 135—Zainuddin enlists Darbhanga Afghans, 138—they murder him and seize Patna, 140—their oppression, 142—battle of Rāni-sarāi, 147—disturbed condition of Bengal, 153—Alivardi recovers Katak, 155—loses it, 158—camp at Medinipur, 159—Sirajuddaulah assaults Patna, 162—Alivardi makes peace with Marathas, 165—its terms, 166—Mir Habib murdered by Jānoji, 167—how Orissa became a Maratha province, 169—later friction between Bengal Government and Orissa Marathas, 171—English negotiate for the purchase of Orissa, 177—economic injury of Maratha raids, 179.

v1.c4.11

CH. V. The Panjab down to 1748; First invasion of Ahmad Abdali ... 181—233

v1.c4.12

Dismemberment of Mughal empire and independence of provincial governors, 181—good done by founders of dynasties, 182—lawless tribes of the Panjab, 185—suppressed by Saifuddaulah, 187—Zakariya Kh. governs the Panjab well, 189—civil war between his sons, 193—murder of Nādir Shah, 196—rise of Ahmad Abdali, 200—conquers Afghanistan 204—invades the Panjab, 207—captures Lahor, 209—Delhi Court neglects defence, 211—army sent against Abdali, 215—folly of Indian generals, 217—Abdali captures Sarhind, 219—Indian army at Mānupur, 221—wazir killed, 223—battle of Mānupur, 224—retreat of Afghans, 231—Indian pursuit, 232.

v1.c4.13

CH. VI. Malwa and Rajputana to 1741 ... 234—278

v1.c4.14

Rathor-Kachhwah rivalry dominates Rajput history, 234—moral decadence of Rajputs during fall of Mughal empire, 236—Rajputs a played out race, 238—three centres of dynastic quarrel, 239—Sawāi Jai Singh, his character, 242—Abhay S. 243—first Maratha conquest of Malwa, 245—Jai S. defeated (1733), 248—Budh S. deprived of Bundi, 250—first Maratha incursion into Rajputana (1734), 251—imperial campaign against Marathas (1735), 253—Peshwa's mother's pilgrimage, 256—Jai S. turns against Emperor, 257—Bāji Rāo visits Rajputana (1736), 261—campaign of 1736, Md. Kh. Bangash defeated, 267—Baji Rao invades N. India (1737), 270—imperial negotiations, Baji Rao's exorbitant demands, 273—Malwa ceded to Bālāji Rāo (1741), 277—terms, 278 footnote.

v1.c4.15

CH. VII. Rajputana, 1741-1751 ... ... 279—327

v1.c4.16

Battle of Gangwāna, 280—Ishwari S. versus Mādho S., 283—famine, 284—battle of Rājmahal, 286—Peshwa's policy in the Jaipur succession dispute, 289—battle of Bagru, 293—Ishwari S.'s last days, 296—suicide, 299—Mādho S.'s plots against Marathas, 302—massacre of Marathas in Jaipur city, 303—Mir Bakhshi Salābat Kh.'s campaign against Jats fails, 307—invades Rajputana, skirmish at Raonā, 311—both sides desire peace, 314—peace made, terms, 316—Bakht S. gains throne of Jodhpur, 319—Ummed S.'s struggles for Bundi, 321—gets Bundi, 325—visits Satara, 326.

v1.c4.17

CH. VIII. Ahmad Shah's reign ; events up to 1752 ... ... ... 328—374

v1.c4.18

Emperor Ahmad Shah's character, 328—Udham Bai, queen-mother, life and character, 334—eunuch Jāvid Kh.'s influence, 337—bankruptcy of central government, 343—unpaid soldiery, military impotence, 346—Safdar Jang wazir, his opponents, 347—weakness of Shia sect, 349—Nāsir Jang instigated against Safdar, 351—Safdar shot at, 353—Nāsir Jang baffled, 355—Salābat Kh., Mir Bakhshi, bankrupt, insulted by Jāvid, 356—dismissed, 358—subsidiary alliance with Marathas against Abdali, its terms, 360—nullified by Jāvid, 363—Maratha claim for costs, 365—how Jāvid bought Holkar off, 367—antagonism between Jāvid and Safdar, 368—Balu Jat, his career, 369—murder of Jāvid Kh., 372.

v1.c4.19

CH. IX. Safdar Jang's Contests with the Afghans ... ... ... 375—411

v1.c4.20

Successors of Ali Md. Ruhela, 375—Shaikh Qutbuddin attacks Ruhelas, killed, 377—Qāim Kh. Bangash sent against Ruhelas, 379—battle of Daunri, 380—Safdar Jang seizes Qaim's possessions, 383—Farrukhabad Afghans rise against wazir, 385—Naval Rai slain, 388—sack of Marhara, 390—Safdar Jang defeated at Ram Chatauni, 392—is disgraced at Court, 398—Bangash siege of Allahabad, 400—invasion of Oudh, 402—Safdar Jang and Marathas attack Afghans (1751), 404—siege of Fathgarh, 406—Ruhelas routed by Marathas, 407—war in jungle, 409—peace terms, 410.

v1.c4.21

CH. X. The Panjab, 1748—1754 ... ... 412—441

v1.c4.22

Muin-ul-mulk, governor of Lahor, 412—how opposed by Safdar Jang, 414—Nāsir Kh. set against him, 415—Shah-nawaz Kh. rises against Muin, 416—second invasion of Abdali, 418—‘four mahals’ ceded (1750), 419—Sikh rebellions, stages, 419—house of Patiala, 423—Muin’s difficulties, 424—fights Sikhs, 425—Abdali’s third invasion, 427—Muin defeated, interviews him, 433—Emperor cedes Panjab to Abdali, 435—Muin suppresses Sikhs, 436—dies, 437—Bihkari Kh. rebels, 439—Mughlani Begam’s misrule, 440.

v1.c4.23

CH. XI. Rebellion of Safdar Jang ... ... 442—505

v1.c4.24

Consequences of murder of Javid Kh., 442—Safdar Jang’s defects, 443—Intizam, character, 445—Imād-ul-mulk, character, 446—Safdar’s wrong policy, 448—creates many enemies, 449—Imad’s trickery, 454—is appd. Mir Bakhshi, 455—Safdar robs other officers, 456—offends royal family, 457—Abdali’s envoy in Delhi (1753), 461—Court plot against Safdar, 463—his men expelled Delhi fort, 466—Safdar leaves Delhi, 468—stages of the civil war, 470—causes of Safdar’s defeat, 471—Imad turns ag. Safdar, 474—attempt on his life, 477—Salābat Kh. joins Safdar and incites him to rebel, 478—Jāts plunder Old Delhi, 481—Safdar dismissed, 483—Sunni jihad against Shias, 484—Safdar’s soldiers seduced, 485—Safdar’s partisans’ houses plundered, 487—Safdar captures Kohtila of Firuz, 488—his grand assault on Delhi fails, 489—Rajendra-giri Gosain killed, cīafacter, 491—imperialists advance, 493—horrors of war, 494—mutiny in imperial army, 495—grand battle, 497—cowardice of Ahmad Sh., 498—peace made by Madho S., .502.

v1.c4.25

CH. XII. Downfall of Ahmad Shah ... 506—544

v1.c4.26

Condition of Government after Safdar’s departure, 506—heavy debt, 508—Ruhelas plunder, 510—Balu Jat killed, 511—Jats south of Delhi repressed, 513—Khande Rao Holkar near Delhi, 515—his interview with Emperor, 517—Marathas besiege Kumbher, 519—Khandé killed, 521—peace with Jats, 522—Emperor quarrels with Imad, 523—Aqibat Mahmud enters Delhi, robs, 527—battle in streets, 529—wazir's plan for alliance against Imad, 532—Ahmad Sh. goes to Sikandrabad, 534—Holkar surprises his camp, panic flight of Emperor, 537—royal family captive, 539—Maratha terror in Delhi, 542—Imad made wazir, 543—deposes Ahmad and crowns Alamgir II, 544.

Additions and Corrections

v1.c5.1

P. 17, l. 16 for twenty-two read twenty (solar) ,, 18, ,, 7 ,, bon mots ,, bons mots ,, 200, f. note ,, Pears ,, Pearls Pp. 96-97 f. note Peshwā's route.—Majgram (modern Mejiā, 24 m. n.w.. of Kaksha, s. of the Dāmodar.) (Sirāpur (mod. Sirpurā, 14 m. w. of Mejiā.) Bedo, 5 m. s.w. of Sirpurā (2 m. from Khajura Rl. Stn.) Saka (mod. Sānkā, Rl. Stn. on Adra-Gomoh Line.) Bhaigatha (mod. Bāikāthā; Chhadrā is a Rl. Stn. on Adra-Purulia Line.) Hisak (mod. Hesā, 12 m. s.w. of Chhadrā and 8 m. s.w. of Purulia.) J. C. Ray. P. 208, add note :--Sābir's tomb is situated behind the Jama Masjid of Lāhor.

v1.c5.2

The first of these, the *Gospel of the Hebrews*, was used by the Jewish Christians of Palestine, and was probably a version of the Gospel of Matthew, though it contained some traditions not found in our canonical books. The *Gospel of the Egyptians* was used by the ascetic sects of Egypt, and was marked by a strong tendency towards mysticism and asceticism. The *Gospel of Peter* was used by the Docetists, and taught that Christ did not really suffer, but only appeared to do so.

v1.c5.3

These gospels, and others like them, were not accepted by the Church as a whole, and were gradually lost or suppressed. The Church, however, felt the need for a standard collection of writings that would serve as a guide for faith and practice. This led to the formation of the New Testament canon, a process that took several centuries to complete.

v1.c5.4

The first step in this process was the collection of the letters of Paul, which were widely circulated among the churches. Then came the four Gospels, which were accepted as the authoritative accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles and the other epistles were gradually added, and finally the Book of Revelation.

v1.c5.5

By the end of the second century, the core of the New Testament was generally accepted by the Church. The process of canonization was not a formal act of a council, but rather a gradual recognition by the churches of the writings that were most valuable for their life and worship. It was only in the fourth century that the canon was formally closed by the councils of the Church.

v1.c5.6

The formation of the New Testament canon was a crucial event in the history of the Church. It provided a standard of faith and practice that helped to unify the Church and to protect it from the influence of heretical sects. It also ensured that the teachings of Jesus and the apostles would be preserved for future generations.

Chapter I. Muhammad Shah's Reign after Nadir's Departure

§ 1. Life-story of the Delhi Empire

v1.c6.s1.1

The first Muslim State of Delhi was born at the close of the Twelfth century, and from this centre it continued to expand with varying fortunes for two hundred years till at last it embraced the whole of Northern India and even overflowed into the Southern land beyond the Vindhya range. Thus all Hindustan came to be placed under one civilization, one official language, and during some short spasmodic periods under one sceptre also. Then, at the end of the Fourteenth century came the hopeless decadence of the royal house ; the unifying and protective Central Government disappeared; the Empire was broken up into jarring fragments whose mutual conflicts and the consequent set back to culture and material prosperity fill the next century and a quarter, till 1526, when the Turkish adventurer Bābur laid the foundation of a mightier political structure in India. This new-born Mughal Empire, after a short and all but fatal contest with the Afghān house of Sur, became established beyond challenge under Bābur’s grandson Akbar soon after 1560. In the succeeding hundred and thirty years, its growth in territory, wealth, armed strength, art and industry was rapid, uninterrupted, and dazzling to the eyes of the Asiatic world and even of lands beyond the confines of Asia. The whole of Hindustan and much of the Deccan too bowed under one sceptre; administrative and cultural uniformity was given to all parts of this continent of a country; the artery roads were made safe for the trader and the traveller; the economic resources of the land were developed; and close intercourse was opened with the outer world. With peace, wealth, and enlightened Court patronage, came a new cultivation of the Indian mind and advance of Indian literature, painting, architecture and handicrafts, which raised this land once again to the front rank of the civilized world. Even the formation of an Indian nation did not seem an impossible dream.

v1.c6.s1.2

But in the second half of Aurangzib’s reign we first see this natural progress arrested, and then, after a quarter century of heroic struggle by that monarch, when at last he closed his aged eyes in death (1707) we find that decline had unmistakably set in; Indo-Mughal civilization, whose agent was the Empire of Delhi, was now a spent bullet; its life was gone, it had no power for good left in it. But dissolution did not take place immediately after Aurangzib’s death. His wonderful capacity, strength of character, and lifelong devotion to duty had generated a force which held together the frame of the Delhi Government seemingly unchanged for thirty years after him. Whatever might happen in the frontier provinces, the Central Government still stood intact. But with a succession of weaklings and imbeciles on the throne, the downfall of the Empire was bound to come at last. The dry rot in the heart of the Mughal State manifested itself publicly when Bāji Rāo’s cavalry insulted the imperial capital in 1737 and his example invited Nādir Shāh’s invasion and the utter collapse of the Government of Delhi in 1739.

v1.c6.s1.3

§ 2. India after Nādir Shāh’s invasion.

v1.c6.s1.4

By the end of April 1739 the horrors of Nādir’s conquest came to a natural close in Delhi. Laden with the plundered treasure of the richest empire in Asia, the Persian conqueror left the Mughal capital on his homeward march on 5th May. Eight days later the Emperor Muhammad Shāh held his first public audience after his restoration and coins were once more stamped in his name, replacing those issued for Nādir Shāh in the interval. The Court chroniclers record that on this occasion the nobles offered their presents and the Emperor on his side conferred robes of honour and rewards on them. [D.C.] Thus the usual ceremonies of the imperial darbār were gone through as if no political disaster of the first magnitude had taken place in the meantime. But nobody present could forget that things were not as before the Persian invader's coming. The Emperor and his wazir were there as before, but the second officer of the realm—the Head of the Army, Khān-i-Daurān, had perished as well as Sādat Khan Burhān-ul-mulk, the most powerful of the provincial governors, and the Emperor's personal favourite Muzaffar Khān, besides a host of officers of lower rank but high connections. Ten to twelve thousands of the regular soldiery had fallen on the field of Karnāl and 20,000 people had been put to the sword within the city of Delhi itself. Sack and massacre had devastated lesser towns like Thāneshwar, Pānipat, Sonipat etc. The imperial treasury and the nobles' mansions had been drained dry to supply the indemnity exacted by the victor,—fifteen krores of rupees in cash besides jewellery rich clothing and furniture worth 50 krores more. The imperial regalia had been robbed of its two most famous and costly ornaments, the Koh-i-nur diamond and the Peacock Throne. The imperial family and the proudest peers had been forced to descend to a still lower depth of humiliation. The Khurāsāni leather-coat weaver's son had married his son to a princess of the family of the Pādishāh, and he had dragged to his bed all the handsome wives and maiden daughters of Muzaffar Khan, lately killed in battle. [Ashub, ii. 367 and 375.]

v1.c6.s1.5

In the months immediately following Nādir Shāh's invasion Heaven seemed to have taken pity on the sorely afflicted people of Northern India. In the next season there was adequate and timely rainfall, the earth yielded a profuse harvest, and all foodstuffs became cheap and plentiful, "as if to make amends for the people's recent sufferings." (Ashub, ii. 416.) But Nature is not half so much the cause of a nation's misery as Man. To outer seeming, "dignity and splendour returned to the Delhi Court after Nādir had left India, and the Emperor and the nobles turned to the management of State affairs and gave up all sorts of uncanonical practices." (Ibid.) But the moral canker in the Mughal Empire was too deeply seated to be killed by such outward show of piety and obedience to lifeless convention. A Nemesis worked itself out inexorably on the destiny of the Empire from the character of the Emperor and his leading ministers.

§ 3. Character of Muhammad Shah

v1.c6.s2.1

Muhammad Shāh* had come to the throne in 1719 at the age of 17. For seven years before that event he had been kept under confinement in the palace harem and had received no education such as might fit a man to rule a kingdom or lead an army. He possessed natural intelligence and a good deal of foresight; but the fate of his predecessors, who had been set up and pulled down by their wazirs, effectually crushed any desire that he might have once had to rule for himself and to keep his nobles under control. He, therefore, totally withdrew himself from public business, leaving it to his ministers, and plunged into a life of pleasure and amusement, hardly ever going out of Delhi during his 28 years of reign, except to visit parks in the neighbourhood (usually at Loni) and occasionally to see the annual fair at Garh Mukteshwar (a hundred miles east of Delhi). His only two military movements were to follow in his wazir's train in the short and futile campaigns against Nādir Shāh and Ali Muhammad Ruhela.

v1.c6.s2.2

∗ Ānandrām 309, Wārid 117-118, Siyar iii. 25, Shākir 33, Chahār Gulzār 397a-398a, TAh. 2b, Ashub ii 420; Bayān, 242-244; TAh. 2.

v1.c6.s2.3

At his accession he was a fresh youth, extremely handsome, large and strong of limb. But his sedentary life of inactivity and sexual excess soon impaired his constitution and he became a confirmed invalid by the time he was only forty. The evil was aggravated by his taking to opium, and this drug habit made him weak and emaciated, till at last it became impossible to move him from his palace.

v1.c6.s2.4

His sole diversion outside the harem was witnessing animal fights on the sandy bank of the Jamunā below the window of morning salute in the Delhi palace, occasionally varied by the cares of a bird-fancier. We can understand his wish to enjoy from a safe distance the excitement of the heroic and dangerous game of elephant-combats, which his forefathers had reserved as an imperial prerogative. But when we read how Muhammad Shah spent his morning hours not in doing public justice or holding State councils, but in viewing a wrestling match between two bears, or a fight by "three pairs of bears, a goat, a ram, and a wild boar, which were wrapped in tiger skins and trained to attack an elephant" (as he is recorded to have done on 25th April 1743), we wonder whether such spectacles would be considered a worthy diversion by any one outside a nursery unless he were a vulgar country clown, and whether the lord of a hundred and fifty million souls at the ripe age of 41 had no more serious use for his time and no higher tastes. [*Akhbārāt.*]

v1.c6.s2.5

When the fires of youthful passions burnt themselves out, a deep melancholy settled on Muhammad Shāh, and towards the end of his life he loved to frequent the society of *faqirs* and to hold long converse with them, discussing spiritual questions like an initiate. Three such hermits became his spiritual guides, and the Court nobles and the common people followed his example.*

v1.c6.s2.6

Thus, throughout his long reign the administration was utterly neglected by its supreme head, the nobles divided the land and political power among themselves or fought for these things, as if no master existed over them. Muhammad Shāh would assent to every good advice of his wazir or any other minister, but could never summon up enough courage to take the necessary step; like other weak men he found supreme wisdom in putting off action from day to day, till a crisis precipitated itself and things took their own turn. Such a man was destined to go through life as a puppet moved by his favourites, who were shrewd men with the most charming manners and strength of character, and this was Muhammad Shāh's ignoble fate too.

v1.c6.s2.7

∗ "His Majesty gave Shāh Mubārak the title of Burhān-ul-tariqat, Shah Badda that of Burhān-ul-haqiqat, and Shāh Ramz Fasih-ul-bayān, and used often to frequent their company. All the ministers and rich lords followed suit. Other people also imitated, so much so that the bazar craftsmen in the villages of every province put on imitation [initiates'] turbans on their heads and *taqdir* tunics on their backs, till at last even the women took up the fashion." (Shākir, 33.)

v1.c6.s2.8

But though he was a mere cypher in respect of his public duties, there were some redeeming traits in his private character. Naturally timid and wavering, he was also free from insolent pride, caprice and love of wanton cruelty. Nor did he lack consideration for others and courage of a certain kind, as was illustrated when, instead of fleeing to Bengal as advised by his friends, he voluntarily went forth into Nādir's captivity in order to save his people and capital from the horrors of violent assault and forcible subjugation to incensed victors. "He never gave his consent to shedding blood or doing harm to God's creatures.* In his reign the people passed their lives in ease, and the empire outwardly retained its dignity and prestige. The foundations of the Delhi monarchy were really rotten, but Muhammad Shāh by his cleverness kept them standing. He may be called the last of the rulers of Bābur’s line, as after him the kingship had nothing but the name left to it." [Siyar, iii. 25.]

v1.c6.s2.9

∗ The following anecdote given in *Chahār-Gulzār* (397 *a*) is characteristic :—One night a Baksari foot-soldier placed as guard over the imperial jewel-house dug a hole in its roof, entered it, and stole a jewelled necklet (*kanthi*). When trying to creep out of the hole, he fell down on the floor, broke his leg, and lay there helpless. Next day he was discovered there and taken before the Emperor. Muhammad Shah asked him, "O shameless wretch! You committed theft where you were appointed a watchman. Could you not find any other place more appropriate for stealing in?" The Baksari replied, "My salary for 12 months is

v1.c6.s2.10

Such was the head of the State in India in the second quarter of the Eighteenth century. We shall now examine the character of his highest instruments.

v1.c6.s2.11

§ 4. Character of Wazir Qamr-ud-din Khan.

v1.c6.s2.12

Ever since the death of Aurangzib, the Pādishāh had been a non-entity,—Bahādur Shāh I by reason of his age and softness of nature, and his successors because they were mere puppets set up and moved by their prime ministers. Therefore, the destiny of India’s millions lay in the hands of the wazirs, and the wazir’s character and strength of position alone determined the nature of the administration in an empire of continental vastness.

v1.c6.s2.13

The first wazir of Muhammad Shāh after the

v1.c6.s2.14

due from Government. It is not fair that my salary should remain in this room and I should commit theft elsewhere. I also thought that there could be no better place than the Emperor's palace for stealing." The Emperor smiled at the reply, paid the man his arrears of salary and retained him in service as a watchman!

v1.c6.s2.15

overthrow of the Sayyid brothers was Muhammad Amin Khān (surnamed Itimād-ud-daulah I), the son of the Nizām’s grandfather’s brother. He was installed in office in November 1720, but died only two months later (16th January 1721), men said as a divine chastisement for his having helped to shed the blood of the Prophet’s kith and kin (the Sayyids of Barha). Nizām-ul-mulk succeeded him, but being thwarted by the false and fickle Emperor and his unscrupulous confidants, he at last resigned in disgust, in 1724. The next wazir was Qamr-ud-din (entitled Itimād-ud-daulah II),* the son of Muhammad Amin Khan. He was a great drunkard, but, happily for the people, an extremely indolent man. For the quarter century (1724-1748) that he held the supreme office in the realm, the administration merely drifted along, under this harmless kind old man, who always foresaw the trend of affairs and the effect of every measure, but never had the courage to tell the honest truth to his master or dissuade him from any wrong course on which his heart was set. In fact, he considered it supreme wisdom merely to keep his post and do as little work as possible.

v1.c6.s2.16

And yet the condition of the empire, even before Nādir Shāh gave it the death stab, was such that only a wise, strong and active wazir, exercising dictatorial power, could have saved it. On the contrary, king and minister alike were now more dead than alive. As the historian Wārid, whose youth had been nurtured in the dignified and strenuous reign of Aurangzib, wrote in the bitterness of his heart about the times of Muhammad Shāh, "For some years past it has been the practice of the imperial Court that whenever the officers of the Deccan or Gujrāt and Mālwa reported any Marāthā incursion to the Emperor, His Majesty, in order to soothe his heart afflicted by such sad news, either visited the gardens—to look at the newly planted and leafless trees,—or rode out to hunt in the plains, while the grand wazir Itimād-ud-daulah Qamr-ud-din Khān went to assuage his feelings by gazing at the lotuses in some pools situated four leagues from Delhi, where he would spend a month or more in tents, enjoying pleasure or hunting fish in the rivers and deer in the plains. At such times Emperor and wazir alike lived in total forgetfulness of the business of the administration, the collection of the revenue, and the needs of the army. No chief, no man, thinks of guarding the realm and protecting the people, while these disturbances daily grow greater." [Mirāt-i-Wāridāt, 117-118.]

v1.c6.s2.17

∗ Ashub ii. 422, Siyar iii. 13 and 24-25, Chahār Gulzār 398b.

§ 5. Factions at Court

v1.c6.s3.1

With a foolish, idle, and fickle master on the throne, the nobles began to give free play to the worst forms of selfishness. They found it necessary to form parties of their own for their support and advancement, and even for their very existence. The controlling and unifying centre of the government having ceased to function, disintegration became inevitable in the Court itself. The instinct of self-preservation drove the nobles to group themselves in factions according to race, to divide the administration among themselves, and to gird themselves around with a body of clients from among the vassal princes and the provincial governors. The Court was divided into two armed camps of Turānis and Irānis, each with its hand ever on the hilt of its dagger, and this civil dissension spread throughout the realm.

v1.c6.s3.2

Itimād-ud-daulah II, as became an emigrant from Samarqand, was the patron of the Turānis, while his rivals and enemies perforce joined the opposite party, composed of the Persians, whose leadership after the death of Sādat Khan (March 1739), was taken by Abul Manṣur Khan Safdar Jang, the *subahdār* of Oudh. And the history of the later Mughals, from 1736 onwards is only the history of the duel between these parties. After 1765, when Oudh became a dependency of the English and the Nizām entirely dissociated himself from Northern India, the imperial Court continued to be the same scene of struggle, though the competitors for power now were mostly Afghāns or individual adventurers of other races, rather than parties knit together by tribal connection.

v1.c6.s3.3

§ 6. Cause of empire's ruin.

v1.c6.s3.4

Where the king has no inborn capacity to rule a realm, government by a responsible prime minister is the only alternative, unless administration is to disappear from the country and the State to break up. But no *fainéant* Mughal Emperor would give his wazir the same chance of working that George II gave to Walpole or Pitt with the happiest results for both king and people. Muhammad Shāh, like Farrukh-siyar, was too imbecile and inconstant to inaugurate any statesmanlike policy, conduct operations in the field, or control his officers; but he had cunning enough to countenance and even initiate conspiracies among his personal favourites against the publicly responsible wazir and secretly to lend the prestige of his name to the rebellions of the wazir's rivals. Therefore, an honest and capable wazir, under such a sovereign, would soon discover that if he insisted on administrative vigour and purity or tried to force honesty and consistency of policy on the Emperor, he would be only courting his own death, and that if he wished to escape the fate of the Sayyid brothers he must give up all noble ambitions and statesmanly projects and swim with the current, leaving the realm to drift. He would probably console himself with the belief that if the State escaped a catastrophe in his own time, he had done enough for one man.

v1.c6.s3.5

In the Court of Delhi as it stood after Nādir Shāh’s departure, Qamr-ud-din Khan Itimād-ud-daulah was the wazir or Chancellor as before. The office next in importance, namely, that of the Army Chief (*Mir Bakhshi*) with the title of Amir-ul-umarā, had been recently bestowed upon Asaf Jāh Nizām-ul-mulk, a cousin of the wazir.

v1.c6.s3.6

Both of them continued at these posts during the remainder of the reign. The head of the imperial household, called the *Khān-i-sāmān* (Lord High Steward) was Lutfullah Khan; but he died at this time and was succeeded (on 21 May) by Dānishmand Khān, who lived for only twenty days more and then gave place to Saduddin Khān (12th June). This last-named noble also held the office of *Mir Atish* or Chief of Artillery, which gave him control over the imperial palace within the fort and consequently charge of the Emperor’s person and treasures. But his influence was less on the administration of the Government than on the Emperor's mind by reason of the constant personal association with the Emperor which his office ensured. The same was the position of the Diwān of Crownlands.

v1.c6.s3.7

§ 7. Muhammad Shāh governed by favourites.

v1.c6.s3.8

But with a timid and unwise sovereign like Muhammad Shāh and an ease-loving negligent wazir like Qamr-ud-din, it was not the high ministers of State that counted so much in shaping the policy of the empire and the fate of the people as the household officers about the Emperor's person and his favourite companions, whose influence was constantly exerted and supreme over his mind.

v1.c6.s3.9

Throughout life Muhammad Shāh had never thought out any problem or made a decision for himself. He had always been led by his favourites. In early youth he had emerged from the bondage of the Sayyid brothers only to fall completely under the tutelage of a vulgar woman named Koki-ji and her associates, Raushan-ud-daulah of Pānipat and Shāh Abdul Ghaffur.

v1.c6.s3.10

These three fell from favour and were sent into disgrace in 1732. Thereafter, for seven years the Emperor's feeble mind was dominated over by Samsām-ud-daulah Khān-i-Daurān and Samsām’s brother Muzaffar Khān without a rival. When Samsām and Muzaffar died (1739), they were succeeded as the Emperor’s guiding angels by Amir Khān and three other men brought to the Emperor’s notice by Amir Khān, namely, Muhammad Ishaq, Asad Yār, and (four years later) Safdar Jang. The life and character of these men therefore deserve study with some fulness.

§ 8. Amir Khan : His character

v1.c6.s4.1

In the highest place among the Emperor’s confidants and personal favourites stood Amir Khān II, Umdat-ul-mulk, a son of that Amir Khān I Mir-i-mirān who had been Aurangzib’s famous governor of Kābul during twenty-two years. He belonged to a very high family which was honoured in Persia as well as raised to supreme eminence in India. His father’s mother was a daughter of the Empress Mumtāz Mahal’s sister and his paternal uncle was Ruhullah Khān I, the ablest Bakhshi of Aurangzib’s times, while his own sister was married to Ruhullah Khān II, another Bakhshi of that reign. In spite of such notable connections and incentives to emulation, Amir Khān II never showed any capacity for civil government or war, nor rose to any higher post than the Third Paymastership. But he was a darling in private life. His remarkable and varied personal accomplishments and cleverness drew scholars and artists to him, while his power of extempore versification, apt reply, eloquent and lucid exposition of every subject, and above all his command of *bon mots* and unfailing skill in jesting made his conversation irresistibly fascinating and gave him boundless influence over the frivolous Muhammad Shāh’s mind. Some foundation was given to his reputation for wisdom by his versatile general knowledge of many things and his power of quickly mastering the details of any kind of work. But his real capacity was insignificant. In the end pride led to his tragic downfall. His complete sway over the Emperor’s mind turned his head and he came to despise and insult the highest nobles of the realm, as is well illustrated by his reply to the wazir and the Nizām, "So long as the shadow of my master’s grace is over my head, I am prepared to confront Gabriel and Michael, not to speak of peers like you." [Shākir, 86, *Siyar*, iii. 13.]

First 123 of 1,290 passages. Read on

Linked texts (3)