Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c6.s2.15

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.