Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c22.s7.23

v2.c22.s7.23

But even this did not bring in any large sum. So, the torture was extended from the servants to the masters. Intizām-ud-daulah, who had recklessly promised two *krores* for the wazirship, was taken to the Shāh’s presence, shown a wooden triangle fixed in the ground, and told that unless he produced one *kror* that day he would be tied down to it and bastinadoed. At that time, beyond the ring on his finger he had not even one Rupee to dispose of. So, he stood trembling by the side of the triangle, his face white as a sheet. When asked to point out the hiding place of his father’s hoarded treasure in his mansion, he replied that his mother Sholāpuri Begam alone knew the secret. This old lady, the daughter-in-law of one grand wazir, the widow of another, and the mother of a third, was summoned and told that unless she showed the spot, iron pins would be driven in underneath the nails of her fingers. She fainted at the threat, and on recovery pointed out the room of the buried hoard. After six hours of digging by a hundred pioneers, 16 lakhs in coins, besides golden silver and gem-studded vessels, were found under the floor (4th February.) A search was conducted in the new wazir’s harem under Jahān Khan’s supervision and these august ladies were stripped and hustled like beggar-women (6 Feb.) The mansion of Samsām-ud-daulah (late Paymaster General) was similarly dug up in search of buried treasure (7 Feb.) and the city kotwal’s house was robbed of all its wealth (13 Feb.) “The Afghans broke open the houses of the people who had fled away from the city, including that of Hirānand Jauhari, the prince of merchants, and appropriated everything they found there." |*DC.*; *TALS*. 100*b*, Samin in *Ind. Antiquary*, p. 47.|