Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c35.s1.3

v3.c35.s1.3

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.)*