Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c22.s1.1

v2.c22.s1.1

With the death of Muin-ul-mulk, the last imperial governor of the province, in November 1753, dissolution began in the orderly administration of the Panjab. True, even in his lifetime the peace of that frontier province had not been as extensive and unbroken as under Zakariya Khan; but Muin had succeeded in keeping his capital and a large belt of land around it intact, there had been no open defiance of the subahdar's authority by his subordinates, and he had persistently fought the Sikh brigands and pruned their growth with the edge of his sword. By his attention to the equipment and comfort of his soldiery, his liberal rewards to his captains, and above all by his personal sharing of campaigns and comraderie with the Turki soldiers (his own tribesmen) he had preserved his power and the respect of his people. His final defeat by the Abdali king and acceptance of Afghan vassalage had been, no doubt, a blow to his prestige; but this humiliation he had halved by sharing it with his master the Padishah, and the Abdali suzerainty meant in effect only the sending of the provincial tribute to Qandahar instead of to Delhi.