Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c13.s5.2

v1.c13.s5.2

The fickle brainless Emperor was soon induced to take a dislike to Safdar Jang. At the instigation of Jāvid Khan he wrote a secret letter to Nāsir Jang, inviting him to come to Delhi with a strong force and expel Safdar Jang from his office. The favourite eunuch, who dreaded an able and spirited wazir as the only bar to his own supremacy, also sent a similar message of his own to the Nizam’s successor. But Nāsir Jang could not start immediately. Preparations for a trial of strength with the wazir of the empire required time and money. The defence and administration of his six Deccan provinces during his absence in the north involved deep planning and careful arrangement, and he had just cause to be anxious about his nephew Hedāyet Muhiuddin (Muzaffar Jang) who was cherishing designs for the succession to Asaf Jāh. It was, therefore, several months before Nāsir Jang could leave his charge, and by 25th May 1749 he had only reached the south bank of the Narmada at Akbarpur when he received a hurried letter from the Emperor, countermanding his march and ordering him back to the Deccan, of which he was in the same letter formally appointed *subahdār*. This sudden reversal of policy needs explanation. [*Hadiqatul-ālam*, ii. 190.]