Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c22.s7.16

v2.c22.s7.16

On Friday the 21st, while the Emperor was saying his afternoon prayer in the palace mosque, Abdul Ahad Khan (the Third Paymaster) and Saif-ud-din Muhammad Khan Kashmiri (the brother of Aqibat Mahmud) went to Raushan-ud-daulah’s mosque,—with its bloody memories of Nādir Shāh's massacre,—"called the Chief Sadr, the imperial Qāzi, and the muftis there, and caused the khutba to be read in the name of Ahmad Shāh Durrāni. The same thing was done in the Jāmi‘ Masjid. Not one theologian or scholar refused to read the khutba in another prince's name, while the Emperor of the Age was living in the citadel of the capital and had not been slain or made prisoner or expelled!" There is no evidence that this step was ordered by the Abdali king; it was the work of the native sycophants who wished to gain the conqueror's favour by this proof of zeal in his cause! "Alamgir, then seated in the chapel of the fort, heard the news, washed his hands of kingship, vacated the royal chambers (the Rangmahal, the Khwābgāh, &c.), the private portico, and the lower portico, for occupation by his successor, handed over their keys to an officer of Najib, and moved with his entire family to the Shāhburj quarter. Two days later he was ordered to vacate even this refuge, and return to the small commonplace rooms in which he used to lodge before his elevation to the throne. "It was found that these last-named quarters were totally in ruin and unfit for habitation." [TALS. 93b-95b.]