Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c6.s4: § 8. Amir Khan : His character
Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c6.s4
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§ 8. Amir Khan : His character
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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.]
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§ 9. Muhammad Ishaq Khan I.
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Muhammad Ishaq Khān I, surnamed Mutaman-ud-daulah, was still dearer than Amir Khan to the Emperor. His father, who had emigrated from Shustar is Persia to seek his fortune in India, did not rise very high. Ishaq himself was for long a petty subaltern in the imperial artillery on a cash salary of Rs. 200 a month. He was an accomplished speaker and ready versifier in Persian, which was his mother tongue, and his elegance of taste, perfect manners and innate discretion made him easily take the foremost place in society far above his official rank. He attached himself as a private companion (*musāhib*) to Amir Khan II, both being Persians by race and Shias by faith, and soon won his heart. Amir Khan could not help praising this jewel of a companion to the Emperor, who asked to see him. Muhammad Ishaq was presented; the Emperor was charmed with his accomplished manners and smooth tongue and immediately enlisted him among his personal attendants (*khawās.*) Ishaq was day and night present with Muhammad Shāh during the terrible period of Nādir's invasion. While the Emperor was staying in the Persian conqueror's tents at Karnāl, Ishaq's speech and judgment, in a man occupying such a low position, so favourably impressed Nādir that he asked Muhammad Shāh, "When you had Muhammad Ishaq, what need was there for you to appoint Qamr-ud-din as wazir?"
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When the Pādishāh stole back to Delhi from his camp at Karnāl in deep humiliation, Ishaq accompanied him on the same elephant and tried to keep up his spirits. By this time he had completely cast his spell over the Emperor's heart and his rise was startlingly rapid. On 3rd June 1739, from superintendent of the royal gardens at Delhi he was promoted inspector of the Crown Prince's contingent, and soon afterwards reached the summit of his greatness as Diwān of the Crown-lands with the rank of a 6-hazari and the title of Mutaman-ud-daulah, besides a plurality of minor lucrative posts, and finally (on the 8th of November) received the highest insignia of honour called the māhi and murātib. But his meteoric career ended as rapidly in his death within a few months (18th April 1740).
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Ishaq was a devoted and sincere well-wisher of the Emperor and honestly gave him very sound advice regardless of his own interests. [Siyar, ii. 100]. He enjoyed the Emperor's greatest confidence and favour and never abused his power. His eldest son, Mirzā Muhammad, who succeeded to his title as Ishaq Khān II, (Najm-ud-daulah) in 1740 and seven years later (13th Aug. 1747) to his post of Diwān-i-Khālsa, gained the Emperor's trust and personal affection in an even greater degree than his father and "became the Emperor's life as it were," so much so that Muhammad Shah used to say, "If Muhammad Ishaq Khan had not left Mirzā Muhammad behind him, I do not know how I could have survived him.” Other sons of the first Ishaq Khān rose to high rank in the Emperor's service and his daughter (later known as Bahu Begam) was married, by the Emperor's express command, to Safdar Jang's son and heir Shujā-ud-daulah and became the mother of Nawāb Asaf-ud-daulah of Oudh. [Siyar, iii. 3, Chahār Gulzār, 387 b.]
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§ 10. Asad Yar Khan.
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Another protege of Amir Khān was Asad Yār Khān, a native of Agra. After filling some very subordinate offices, he was introduced to the Emperor by Amir Khān on 3rd June 1739, and immediately created a 5-hazāri and Dārogha of harkārahs or Postmaster-General and Head of the Intelligence Department. In time he rose to the rank of a 6-hazāri with the title of Asad-ud-daulah and the māhi and murātib insignia of the highest grade of the peerage (8 Nov.)
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Though his education in the arts and sciences had been elementary, he had a very agreeable well-balanced nature and could compose impromptu verses in Persian, which were pleasant to hear though not marked by scholarship. Benevolent and discreet, he never shut his doors on the crowds of suitors who daily thronged the audience chambers of the great, but had a kind word for every one. Well-born persons, however poor and low of rank, were treated by him like friends and brothers. His perfect courtesy and consideration for others made all men like him. Though Amir Khan in the end turned hostile to him out of envy and got his troops (*Shamshir-dāgh*) disbanded by influencing the Emperor, Asad Yār continued grateful for the Khān’s early favours, and sold his own jewels and household goods to discharge the dues of Amir Khan’s unpaid and mutinous troops and thus saved his former patron from insult and outrage. [*Chahār Gulzār*, 383; *Siyar*, iii. 11.]