Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c10.s3.1

v1.c10.s3.1

Abdus Samad Khān, a Turki immigrant from Samarqand (Ahrār) and a near kinsman of Nizām-ul-mulk and Itimād-ud-daula I., was created a *5-hazāri*, with the title of Dilir Jang and appointed *subahdār* of Lāhor in 1713. His first great achievement was the crushing of the Sikh rising under Banda in 1714, for which he was rewarded by promotion to the rank of a *7-hazāri* and the title of Saif-ud-daulah. Next, in 1718, he destroyed, after a severe contest, Isā Khān, a petty landowner of the Ranghar tribe, who had raised himself to almost princely power and dignity by successful highway robbery. This man's grandfather had laid the foundation of power and wealth by collecting and leading a robber-band. Isā Khān himself, on the strength of this heritage, was courted as a man of consequence. Joining Prince Muizz-ud-din before the battle of Jājau, he was enrolled as a *mansabdār*. Then, in the contest fought out between the four brothers at Lāhor in 1712 he was on the winning side and vastly enriched himself by seizing the treasure-laden carts of the other princes. His patron, on gaining the throne, made him a 5-*hazāri* and the *faujdār* of Lakhi jungle. On the fall of Jahāndār Shāh in 1713, he fought for his own hand, plundered and occupied the neighbouring district, defeating the local *faujdārs*, robbed the trade caravans between Delhi and Lāhor, and thus amassed a vast hoard of wealth and jewels. At the same time he was cunning enough to bribe the Emperor's favourite Samsām-ud-daulah (Khān-i-Daurān) and make him his patron at Court. Emboldened by this high protection, "he looted the people worse than before. The imperial officers who had been assigned *jāgirs* in this region, could not get a penny from their villages as the rents were forcibly collected by Isā Khān. He dominated the country from the bank of the Biās,—where he had built a fort named Darisā--to the village of Thāra on the bank of the Satlaj, in the Sarhind district, and through fear of him* the tiger used to draw its claws back.” (*Māsir-ul-umārā*, ii. 825-828, following Khāfi Khān, ii. 767-768.)