Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c6.s6: § 12. Imperial administration breaks down
Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c6.s6
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§ 12. Imperial administration breaks down
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When Nādir Shāh left India, the administration of the Mughal Empire seemed to have been dissolved by the shock of the foreign invasion. In provinces where there was no strong governor public peace disappeared as the people lost their wonted fear of a Government which was now so utterly discredited. Predatory instincts, so long kept in check by Mughal rule or imperial prestige, now asserted themselves in the very heart of the Empire. Thus, we read in the *Chahār Gulzār* (f. 373a) that in the year following Nādir's invasion a large number of Jāts and Sikhs gathered together, marched towards Sarhind and created a great disturbance there, by setting up one Darānāt Shāh as their chieftain and seizing many villages. They were subdued only after an expedition had been sent from the Court under Azim-ullah Khān. In another corner of India, when the Peshwā Bālāji Rāo's agent was conveying the money that the Nawāb of Bengal had paid to him as subsidy for armed help against Raghuji Bhonslé (1743), this agent, though escorted by some troops of the governor of Patna, was attacked and robbed of his money at Saserām, by a Persian soldier of fortune who had entered the Oudh *subahdār's* service. (Siyar, iii. 7.) In the Ganges-Jamunā Doab, Ali Muhammad Ruhela, a former retainer of the local governor, “daily increased his power during the neglect following Nādir Shāh’s invasion, when no noble of the Court gave a thought to him. He used to plunder the districts in his neighbourhood and brought the whole country up to the Kumāun hills under his control. Strong in the strength of his fort (of Bangarh), he attacked the imperial territory and dreamt of rivalling Sher Shāh and Salim Shāh.” (Ashub, ii. 423-424.)
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But there was no army under the Emperor to enforce peace and order. During Nādir’s invasion many of the imperial troops had fallen in the battle of Karnāl or in the massacre of Delhi, and the survivors had dispersed to all sides in order to escape from the prevailing disorder and scarcity of food. Thus, Muhammad Shāh on his restoration found himself practically defenceless. Asad Yār Khān, a new favourite and a very wise and thoughtful man, convinced him of the urgency of the case and secured his permission to enlist 10,000 soldiers on a monthly salary of Rs. 50 for each trooper and infantryman taken together. The horses of this cavalry were ordered to be branded with the mark of the sword and hence the entire corps was called the *Shamshir-dāgh risāla*. (1740) [Chahār Gul. 373a.]
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§ 13. *Amir Khān’s plot to overthrow the wazir.*
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Amir Khān and his protege Ishaq Khān having been installed in the Emperor’s supreme confidence (1739), these Persian Shias began to work for the overthrow of the Turāni Sunni nobles, whose leaders were the two highest officers of the realm, *viz.*, the Wazir Qamruddin and the Bakhshi Asaf Jāh Nizām-ul-mulk. The Emperor had long been harbouring a distrust of his Turāni nobles, and their conduct during the late Persian invasion had only confirmed his belief in their utter selfishness and disloyalty. He therefore lent a ready ear to the counsels of Amir Khān. The plan hatched in the secrecy of the innermost circle of the palace was to remove Qamruddin from the wazirship and appoint Amir Khān, who persuaded the Emperor that he himself could fill that office with greater success and benefit to his master.
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But how to bell the cat? The richest and best-armed noble in the realm, the Nizām, was the cousin and ally of Qamruddin, and common danger was sure to knit them together still more closely. It was, therefore, decided to effect the change of wazirs after the Nizām had left the Court for his viceroyalty of the Deccan and had gone too far off to assist his cousin in Delhi. On 3rd April 1740, the Nizām set out from Delhi to march to the Deccan where his presence was demanded by the increasing Marāthā pressure on his son and deputy Nāsir Jang. But he halted outside the capital at Jaisinghpura for some days in order to complete his preparations for the journey.
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Amir Khān could hold himself no longer. He talked high in his private circle as if the wazirship had been already bestowed on him,* and he spoke with insolent contempt of Qamruddin. His words were reported by tale-bearers to the wazir, who easily divined the nature of the plot against him, and wrote to the Nizām a full report of the state of affairs at Court and sought his advice. The Nizām replied counselling his cousin not to court the fate and infamy of the Sayyid brothers by taking up arms against his ungrateful master, but to resign, leave the worthless Emperor to his own devices, and accompany the Nizām to the Deccan.
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∗ I disbelieve the story in Siyar (ii. 99) that as soon as the Nizām marched out of Delhi, Muhammad Shāh secretly invested Amir Khān with the badge of the wazir's office (a golden pen-case) and that Amir Khān's reckless impatience revealed the secret.
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The Delhi exchequer was empty, the secret hoards of the palace had been carried away by the Persian conqueror, the provinces were withholding their tribute and the managers of the Crown-lands their due revenue. Thus the Court of Delhi was faced with starvation. In trying to squeeze money out of the nobles, Amir Khān precipitated the crisis. He advised the Emperor to enforce the old rule of escheating the property of deceased nobles. Badr-ud-din, a son of the wazir Qamruddin, having recently died leaving property worth 12½ lakhs of Rupees, Amir Khān on behalf of the Emperor demanded from the wazir the rent-roll of the jāgirs of his late son, with a view to resuming the grant. The wazir sent him a note of warning, saying, "If in recompense for his servants' sacrifice of their lives for him, the Emperor resumes their jāgirs, what hope of promotion and support can his hereditary slaves, devoted to him till eternity, have?" To this Amir Khān replied insolently, "So long as the shadow of my master rests on my head, I am prepared to confront Gabriel and Michael, not to speak of two lords like you and Asaf Jāh"! (Shākir, 84.)
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§ 14. *Emperor's fear and hesitation, and fall of Amir Khān.*
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The plot was fully unmasked by this time. Qamruddin immediately left Delhi, joined the Nizām in the suburbs, and wrote to the Emperor, "I have never been, nor will I ever be, disloyal to my sovereign. But as I have lost his favour, I beg to resign my post and leave it to him to get my work done by some one more in his confidence."
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This letter and the news of the junction of the wazir and the Nizām in anger with him thoroughly cowed the chicken-hearted Muhammad Shāh. In utter perplexity and alarm he summoned Amir Khān and Ishaq Khān for counsel. Then ensued an amusing scene truly characteristic of the empire's degeneration. Amir Khān insisted on their past agreement. The Emperor remained silent and then sent Amir Khān away for the day. He next took Ishaq Khan apart to his private chamber and urged him with the most solemn oaths to give him without fear or favour the counsel that he considered really best for the State. Ishaq Khān had been raised from obscurity by Amir Khān and had promised him never to give the Emperor any counsel opposed to the policy of his first patron. He was now in a dilemma and remained silent. Muhammad Shāh again took the strongest oaths and asked for his honest advice. Ishaq explained the conflict between his duty to his two patrons and begged to be excused from giving any answer. Then for the third time the Emperor asked for his advice and with still stronger entreaty. So, Ishaq Khān had no help but to reply. He said, "Although Amir Khān is an *āmir* and the son of an *āmir* and possessed of bravery and skill in making arrangements, yet he is known to the nobility and populace of Hindustan as light in character and manner. I and certain other nobles were raised to the peerage (*mansab*) only yesterday. But Asaf Jāh and Itimād-ud-daulah are regarded by all the leading people of Hind with eyes of expectation, and obedience to them is considered as a gain and a blessing. In my humble opinion it is inexpedient to break with such chiefs in reliance upon men like us. You are the best judge of your own interests."
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On hearing this, Muhammad Shāh fell back from his purpose and decided to conciliate Itimāduddaulah and Asaf Jāh. Next day Amir Khān, on coming to the Emperor, found him entirely changed from their previous agreement. Muhammad Shāh told him, "It is not wise to antagonise the Turāni nobles, who have such absolute power. The best policy is to conciliate them. You, in loyalty to me, ought to refrain from doing anything that may excite their anger or hostility.'' (Siyar, ii. 99-100.)
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The wazir-to-be discovered that he was not to be. Amir Khān's game was lost; he found that in hoping to oust Qamruddin with the Emperor's support he had been leaning on a broken reed. Only one way was left for saving his master and himself; it was an abject surrender. He was sent to the two nobles, as from the Emperor, with his wrists tied together with a handkerchief like a culprit's, and delivered this message from his master, "This man has offended against you. Do what you like with him.'' The defeated plotter excused himself by laying all the blame on the wicked advice of Ishaq Khan and other courtiers! The two nobles considered such a man as beneath their contempt, but the Nizām commanded him, under the guise of advice, to leave the Court: "Now that differences have arisen between you and the wazir, it is best that you should go away from the Court to your province of Allahabad for some time.'' (Ashub, ii. 418, Siyar, ii. 100.)
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Thus Amir Khān was removed from the society of the Emperor where he had so long been only making mischief. He delayed his departure from the capital as long as he could under various pretexts, in the hope of something turning up in the meantime, but the Nizām was inexorable and refused to leave Delhi before Amir Khān had been actually expelled. Nearly four months were thus wasted. At last Amir Khān set out for Allahabad, and then the Nizām began his southward march from the Jaisinghpura suburb (27th July 1740.) In the meantime Ishaq Khān had died on 18th April, and the Emperor's Court was purged of the Irāni intriguers.
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§ 15. Maratha invasion of Bengal Bihar and Orissa, steps taken by the imperial Government.
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Three uneventful years passed in this state, and then the political chess-board underwent a dramatic change. While on the North-western frontier profound peace and even safe defence were purchased by the cession of the trans-Indus provinces to the king of Persia, a new danger arose in the east. From April 1742 the Marāthas of Nāgpur began to make annual raids into Bengal Bihār and Orissā which were to continue for nine years and end only with the loss of Orissā to the Empire. The danger even threatened to overflow from Bihār westwards into Allahabad at a time when the Emperor had secured peace on the south by the virtual surrender of Mālwa to the Peshwā. In the autumn of 1742, the Emperor, in response to the Bengal *subahdār’s* urgent appeals for aid, ordered Safdar Jang (the *subahdār* of Oudh) to march into Bihār, and if necessary into Bengal also, and restore the imperial authority there by expelling the Marāthas. As the price of this service, Safdar Jang’s possessions were increased by handing over Chunār fort to him. The inner meaning of this affair needs explanation.
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In his enforced exile from the royal presence, Amir Khān had been spending three years at Allahabad and constantly writing to the Emperor and brooding over the means of regaining his position at Court. His success depended on his getting on his side an able general at the head of a powerful army who might naturally serve as a counterpoise to the Nizām. This sword-arm of the Persian Shia party he discovered in his near neighbour Safdar Jang, the *subahdār* of Oudh, and he now turned all his plans to enhancing his power, as he had once elevated Ishaq Khān I. Taking advantage of the Marātha invasion of the eastern provinces. Amir Khān played upon the imbecile Emperor’s greed to push his own plan through. Since the viceroyalty of Murshid Quli Khān (1707-1727), the province of Bengal Bihar and Orissa had practically become independent under his family. Though the surplus revenue was regularly sent by the *subahdār* to the imperial Court, yet he was his own master in the matter of the appointment and control of officers and the expenditure of public money. Alivardi Khān (officially entitled Hisāmuddaulah Mahābat Jang), who had seized the viceroyalty of Bengal by killing Murshid Quli Khan’s grandson Sarāfrāz Khān (c. 10 April 1740), delayed in sending to the Emperor the property of the last two subahdārs (Shujā Khān and Sarāfrāz Khan) which had legally lapsed to the State and which would have been most welcome at the starving Court of Delhi. This was Amir Khān’s opportunity. He wrote to the Emperor, “Now that Alivardi Khān, the slayer of his master, is entangled with the Marāthas and has no force to spare, if you order Safdar Jang he will easily conquer that province for you. Safdar Jang is a loyal servant and will pay you the tribute of the province every year.” (Imād, 33.)
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Muhammad Shāh agreed and wrote to Safdar Jang to that effect. The Oudh subahdār marched into Bihār, causing more alarm than relief to the people whom he came professedly to rescue. But by that time (January 1743) Alivardi had gained the upper hand of the invaders and no longer needed help from others. So, Safdar Jang returned from Patna to his own province (early in February.) This futile and short march was represented to the Emperor as a great achievement and a proof of Safdar Jang’s military capacity. Amir Khān induced the Emperor to summon him and Safdar Jang to Court. Similar invitations were issued in August 1743 to the other leading nobles of the provinces and Rājahs, to come to Court and advise the Emperor how to meet the annual Marātha threat to the eastern provinces. [Siyar, iii. 5; Imād 34.]
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§ 16. Persian influence becomes supreme at Emperor’s Court, 1744.
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Amir Khān reached Delhi on 5th November 1743 and at once re-established his old ascendancy on the Emperor’s mind. Safdar Jang arrived some eight days later, rode into the city at the head of 10,000 splendidly dressed troopers with full pomp, and was lodged in Dārā Shukoh’s mansion within the walls. The Persian influence was now supreme at Court and the Turāni party went down. The post of Mir Ātish (Chief of Artillery) was very important, as its holder guarded and controlled the Emperor’s person family and treasures within the palace of Delhi. On the death of the last incumbent Sāduddin Khān (on 20 June 1743), this office had been conferred upon his son Hafizuddin, a Turāni and a protege of the wazir. But now, on 11th March 1744, it was taken away from him and given to Safdar Jang, at Amir Khān’s suggestion, as Muhammad Shāh had lost all faith in his Turāni nobles. Safdar Jang, by virtue of his office, now took up his residence in the palace-fort and pluralities began to come thick upon him.
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His influence henceforth swayed the Emperor’s counsels as against the wazir’s. And the first manifestation of it was the imperial campaign undertaken against Ali Muhammad Khān Ruhela, the lord of Aonla and Bangarh whose patron was the wazir (1745), as will be described in Chapter II.
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The Shia influence now rapidly extended itself at Court. Late in 1745 the Emperor dictated a marriage between Safdar’s son and heir Shujā-ud-daulah and the sister of his greatest favourite Ishaq Khan II Najmuddaulah. This illustrious lady was Bahu Begam, the tragic heroine of the impeachment of Warren Hastings for the ill-treatment of the Begams of Oudh. On 12th July 1747, Najmuddaulah was appointed *diwān* of the Crownlands, the post held by his father at his death. [*Chahār Gul*, 393; *Imād*, 35.]
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§ 17. Asad Yār Khān’s disgrace and death.
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But in this very year 1745 died one of the main pillars of the Persian party at Court, Asad Yār Khan. His project of raising a new army, the *Shamshir dāgh*, 10,000 strong, had been wrecked on the rock of finance. This force cost 30 lakhs of Rupees a year. But after Nādir Shah’s retirement, many of the dispersed soldiers of the old imperial army gradually returned to their master’s standards, and the State income soon proved insufficient to meet the army bill. So, the Emperor at first decided to discharge half the new *Shamshir dāgh* corps.
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Amir Khān on his return to power showered all his favour on his new protege Safdar Jang and displayed a mean jealousy of Asad Yār Khān whom he himself had once raised from obscurity to the Emperor’s notice. On 24th September 1744, he caused Asad Yār to be removed from the absentee governorship of Kashmir in order to make room for Safdar Jang. He next induced the Emperor to disband the *Shamshir dāgh* altogether on the ground of retrenchment. The soldiers' salary was then in arrears for nine months. When Asad Yār begged the Emperor to pay the sum due (Rs. 22½ laghs), Amir Khān objected to the payment saying that the men had enjoyed their salary for 4½ years but done nothing for the State. The weak Emperor therefore refused to clear their arrears. The soldiers, on hearing of it, marched round the palace in a riotous crowd and meeting Amir Khān, on his way to the audience, in the streets, abused him heartily and pelted him with brick-bats.
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Asad Yār at last pacified them by taking the responsibility for their arrears of salary on himself and discharged this self-imposed obligation by selling his household goods and jewels. (*Chahār Gulzār*, 373 *a*—384 *a*.) His troubles only ended with his death, *c.* 15 April 1745.
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§ 18. Murder of Amir Khan, 1746.
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His former patron and later persecutor outlived him only twenty months. Amir Khān had never been remarkable for wisdom or self-control, and now unlimited sway over the Emperor's counsels without the public responsibility of any official duty completely turned his head. During the recent campaign against Ali Muhammad Ruhela there was a widespread public expectation that he would soon replace Qamruddin as wazir. In his insane pride, he acted as if he had already become his master's master and a king-making wazir like Sayyid Husain Ali. He began to press his advice and demands upon the Emperor with disrespectful vehemence and to treat the other nobles with contempt as no better than the rabble. Even personal friends and favourites of Muhammad Shāh, like Ishaq Khān II and his brothers, suffered public scorn at his hands. The worm turned at last. One day Muhammad Shāh’s devoted head eunuch Roz Afzun Khān (the Superintendent of the Palace) ventured to protest against some act or word of Amir Khān as discourteous to their master; immediately there was a scene at Court, the timid Emperor quailed before the torrent of Amir Khān’s rage and threats and yielded to his demand that Roz Afzun should be dismissed and a creature of Amir Khān appointed in his place. This change would have made the Emperor the helpless slave of Amir Khān. So, at his instigation Roz Afzun Khān set an aggrieved servant of Amir Khān to stab him to death, on his way to the select Audience, near the lattice-door of the Diwān-i-ām (25 December, 1746.)
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The soldiers of Amir Khān’s contingent, whose salary he had left unpaid for fourteen months, immediately after his death surrounded his mansion and would not allow his burial to take place till their dues were satisfied. Four days passed in this way, till the corpse began to suffer natural dissolution. Then Safdar Jang took it on himself to discharge this debt, and gave to the soldiers two hostages for the payment, when at last they allowed the Khān’s body to be consigned to the grave. And yet this man, though he was childless, had been thus starving his soldiers and servants, while he had 50 to 60 *lakhs* of Rupees worth of jewellery hoarded in his house. These were now taken by the Emperor at the unfair valuation of ten *lakhs* only. (*Siyar*, iii. 14-15; *Bayān*, 207.)
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During the short interval of five months that lay between the death of Amir Khān, the reigning favourite at Delhi, and the crowning of Ahmad Abdāli after Nādir Shāh’s death, nothing of importance happened at the imperial Court to vary the tale of the growing disintegration of government and the deepening insolvency of king and nobility.
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Two months after Asad Yār Khān’s death, Zakariyā Khān, the able governor of the Panjāb, passed away. This event introduced a most momentous change into the fortunes of the Delhi monarchy, which will be narrated in Chapter V.
Linked texts (1)
- Bayān-i wāqiʿ — Khwāja ʿAbd al-Karīm Kashmīrī 1780, Persian