Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c35.s1: § 1. Ministerial changes at Delhi. Rise of Abdul Ahad: his early career and character
Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c35.s1
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§ 1. Ministerial changes at Delhi. Rise of Abdul Ahad: his early career and character
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The return of Mirza Najaf Khan to Delhi after the Maratha failure in Rohilkhand (20th May 1773) was followed by a revolution at Court. A sovereign like Shah Alam II, with no strength of character, energy or even personal courage, was bound to pass his life under the tutelage of some cleverer brain or stronger will. His administration was directed by one favourite after another. Munir-ud-daulah had dominated the exiled Court at Allahabad; but his influence depended solely on his enjoying the trust of the English authorities of Bengal and securing the smooth payment of the annual tribute of 26 lakhs promised in return for the diwani of the eastern provinces—which was now the sole support of the Emperor's household and officers. When that tribute fell into arrears, Munir's advocacy of every policy favoured by the English began to be counted as a sin and his fall was completed by his open opposition to the migration of the Court to Delhi on which the Emperor had set his heart. Saif-ud-din Muhammad Khan Kashmiri, (entitled Saif-ul-mulk), now rose to high favour. He conducted the pact with the Marathas for the restoration of the monarch to his capital, took delivery of Delhi fort for his absent master from the Maratha hands, and acted as the chief minister during the march from Allahabad. But a fortnight after the royal entry into Delhi he was supplanted by Hisām-ud-daulah, evidently because he had no administrative capacity and could not satisfy the Emperor’s pressing need of money from the revenue but had spent all the collections in keeping together the army that formed the imperial escort to Delhi.
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Hisām who had been the jealous rival of Munir-ud-daulah during the royal sojourn in Allahabad, achieved no better success in filling the Exchequer, and he was ruined by his pro-Maratha policy during the attack on Delhi in December 1772. The failure of the Marathas to divide the rich spoils of Rohilkhand equitably with the Emperor and even to maintain their military predominance in Hindustan, necessarily involved their partisans at Court in their discredit. Najaf Khan, who had advocated a directly opposite policy which the Emperor had rejected in favour of Hisām’s, was now triumphantly vindicated, and Hisām fell entirely out of favour. Moreover, Najaf was a former *protege* and constant friend of the English, and his influence over them would be very useful in securing the restoration of the Bengal tribute of 26 lakhs which the Bengal Governors had stopped after the great famine of 1770. The cession of Kora and Allahabad to the Marathas, brought about by Hisām, had antagonised the English and he stood condemned for this diplomatic false step. Now that the Marathas were happily gone out of Hindustan covered with failure and disgrace, Najaf Khan was the proper person to restore the broken friendship between the Emperor and the English. He was also the only general capable of recovering the imperial dominions and suspended tributes from the Jats and other upstart rebels, while Hisām was no soldier.
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So, Najaf Khan on returning to Delhi was received in audience (20th May 1773) with the highest honours; and at his recommendation Abdul Ahad Khan was appointed deputy wazir two days later, *vice* Hisām-ud-daulah whose title of nobility was taken away and his name reduced to plain Hisām-ud-din. This Abdul Ahad Khan (now ennobled as Majd-ud-daulah Bahrām Jang) had at first been a servant of Najib-ud-daulah and posted at Delhi under Najib’s representative in that city to act as a channel of communication with the Queen-mother and the Crown Prince who were living at the capital during Shah Alam’s exile. He had acted as the bearer of these two august personages’ message to the absent Emperor in September 1769 and also as Najib’s envoy to the Marathas in the Doab in April 1770. After Najib’s death he had borne Zābita Khan company and conveyed his new master’s presents and proposals to the Emperor on his way to Delhi (19 November 1771.) On the fall of Pathargarh and the flight of Zābita, he had come out of that fort and had received the Emperor's formal pardon for having been a rebel's follower (30th March 1772.) For a year after this he hung about the Court without employment, though his speech and manners charmed the Emperor. At last the supple Kashmiri won Najaf Khan over to his interests by vowing to be his faithful follower and supporter at Court ever afterwards and thus secured the Premiership (22nd May 1773.)*
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Abdul Ahad was a courtier after the Emperor's heart, with the smooth polish, perfect suavity of temper and false bewitching tongue of a typical Kashmiri Muslim, and he soon grew into the best loved personal friend and private companion of Shah Alam. But he was no soldier, no ruler of men, and his natural weapons of duplicity and covert intrigue broke hopelessly down when coming in contact with the hard facts of life in that troubled and changeful world.
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On 5th June 1773 Mirzā Najaf was appointed Second Paymaster General, the titular Mir Bakhshi Zābita Khan being an absentee like the nominal wazir Shujā-ud-daulah whose actual functions were discharged by Abdul Ahad Khan as his deputy at Court. On the same day Hisām, who had been dismissed from this latter office, was thrown into prison, but Najaf Khan with his usual moderation and foresight got his fallen rival released, five days later, by pleading with the Emperor, took him to his own house and there set him to render account of his management of the royal treasury (Crownlands) during his year of chancellorship. The ex-minister compounded for the claims against him by paying six lakhs to the Emperor and three to Najaf Khan. Mahdi Quli Khan, who had oppressed and fleeced the Delhi people during Imād-ul-mulk’s wazirship and had later flourished under the protection of Hisām, was thrown into prison on the downfall of his patron (14th June), and after a month of beating, was tortured to death by being chained to the leg of an elephant and dragged through the streets of Delhi (12 July.) [Muna Lal 148-149. Ibrat. i. 229, 243-244. DC.]
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∗ *DC. Ibrat. i. 228. G. Ali iii. 21-28. Miskin 288. Muna Lal 146. These dates are taken from the contemporary Persian sources and therefore the patent of nobility given to René Madec really belongs to the year 1774. (Barbé pp. 289-91, dates incorrect.) CPC. ii. 178, 626, 987 (Saifuddin had incurred a debt of 12 lakhs for the Emperor's journey to Delhi.) Siyar, iii. 85.