Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c15.s5.4

v1.c15.s5.4

Intizām-ud-daulah, Khān-i-Khānān,* the eldest son of Muhammad Shah’s wazir Qamruddin, had inherited his father’s ease-loving disposition. A timid unenterprising man, he always shrank from fight and sought safety by burying himself within his mansion, at the least threat of danger. He had neither natural capacity nor taste for a military life and could never handle even a small force in peace or war. As wazir of the Empire for 15 months (March 1753—May 1754), he covered himself with utter disgrace by his incapacity and cowardice. But his widowed mother Sholāpuri Begam (a daughter of Jān Nisār Khan of Aurangzib’s reign), who had ruled her husband’s household, now established her influence over Udham Bāi and became the medium of the palace-plots for overthrowing Safdar Jang. [Siyar, iii. 46; Imād, 22.]