Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c7.s3.2

v1.c7.s3.2

“Muhammad Khān was indeed a man of great energy. His habits were plain and soldierlike. He always wore clothes of the coarsest stuff. In his audience-hall and his house, the only carpets were rows of common mats. He never boasted, and his manner was not overbearing. His hospitality was great. But . . . we find vices which more than counter-balanced these virtues. Muhammad was cruel and vindictive. In the matter of the fair sex he was far more licentious than becomes a great man." (Irvine, *Farrukh. Gaz.* 157). His harem included only one legitimate wife and 2,600 women of another category. But his territories lacked the homogeneity and strength of the Ruhela State across his eastern border, because they were inhabited merely by a lord and his tenantry and did not form a compact tribal brotherhood with perfect cohesion among all its chiefs and their retainers.