Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c36.s9: § 6. Panic at Court, Mirza Najaf recalled for defence
Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c36.s9
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§ 6. Panic at Court, Mirza Najaf recalled for defence
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This abortive enterprise precipitated a crisis in the government of Delhi. By undertaking it Abdul Ahad Khan dug his own grave. When, on 16th October, fast couriers brought to the Emperor the news that his son had begun his retreat from Patiāla two days earlier, hemmed round by lakhs of Sikh horsemen, the royal Court was filled with utter consternation and despair. The only army under the Emperor's own control seemed doomed to annihilation and his beloved son to an ignominious end in that far off field. And after that sure disaster the tumultuous flood of Sikh mounted musketeers would sweep resistlessly southwards and take Delhi, now left without a single defender. The one ray of hope was Mirzā Najaf, then campaigning in the south with a large and efficient army and very capable lieutenants. Frantic orders were despatched to him to come immediately to the rescue. The Mirzā hurriedly called in his outlying detachments and his officers from their fiefs, and gathering his force together set his face towards Delhi. At the news of the royal invitation to Najaf, Abdul Ahad abandoned everything in his camp and hurried back to Delhi with the prince in order to forestall his rival in the possession of his master's ears.
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Early in November 1779, Abdul Ahad Khan returned to the capital, a bankrupt in finance, a bankrupt in military strength, and a bankrupt in prestige. The Emperor was naturally angry at this result of an enterprise by sanctioning which he had alienated Najaf Khan. But the smooth-tongued Kashmiri quickly recovered his lost ground; he made much of having saved his master's son and brought his army back, and he whispered into the weak Shah Alam's ears the old tale of Mirzā Najaf's ambition and irresistible power which would enable him to set up and depose Emperors like the Sayyid brothers if he was given control over the capital and the Emperor's person. So, at Ahad's dictation the Emperor now wrote to Najaf Khan countermanding the first order to come to Delhi. But that general, disregarding this letter (received only two days' march from the capital), pushed on and encamped, on 12th November, in the southern suburbs at the Kishandas Tank.
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Nothing was now left for Abdul Ahad but to make friends with his irrepressible rival. On 14th November, taking Prince Akbar Shah with himself on his master's behalf, he advanced to Najaf's camp to welcome him and conduct him to the Presence.* Inside the fort and at its gates were posted Ahad's own troops under his son-in-law Qutbuddin Khan, with orders not to molest Najaf's men. The Mirzā, before his own coming, had sent his strong-willed lieutenant Afrāsiyāb Khan with 1,000 horse and two battalions of sepoys ahead. These men came to the fort gate and little by little edged their way in by jostling the guards, who had orders not to fight and whose captain was confounded in the absence of his master. When the courtyard was filled with his own retainers, “Afrāsiyāb Khan drove Abdul Ahad’s men out of the fort like a flock of sheep.” The ‘Red Battalion’ or Imperial Guard of sepoys, at first demurred to vacating their quarters in the palace unless their arrears of salary were paid; but Afrāsiyāb Khan satisfied their captain with some money and more promises. The inner fort of Delhi now passed entirely into Mirzā Najaf’s hands.
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∗ Fall of Abdul Ahad.—DC. Ibrat. ii. 7-16. G. Ali, iii. 136-139. Muna Lal 222-225. Miskin (present) 342-344.
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And then only did that general arrive from his camp, seated on the same elephant with the prince, but modestly in the back seat which is reserved for servants. At his audience he presented a nazar of 100 mohars and kissed the Emperor’s toes, receiving in return a royal embrace, a turban and other robes of honour. His comrade Zābita Khan was also honoured.
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§ 7. Abdul Ahad’s dismissal and captivity.
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The audience over, Mirzā Najaf Khan took his leave, and Abdul Ahad came out of the hall hand in hand with him in order to conduct him to the gate as a mark of honour and friendship. Najaf’s lieutenant Afrāsiyāb Khan and his wakil Manirām were waiting outside the Diwan-i-am; they had urged Najaf to place Ahad under arrest and thus effectually prevent him from committing any more mischief, but Najaf had declined to create a scene in the Emperor's presence; he hesitated long to imitate the Sayyid brothers and share their infamy. "When Abdul Ahad, clasping the hand of his rival, arrived outside the door of the Audience hall, he saw from the atmosphere and the look on his adherents' faces that he was now in the claws of his enemy; he became alarmed and cast glances this way and that in bewilderment. But his friend Latāfat Ali Khan had smelt out the plot and, taking a hurried leave of the Emperor, ran out of the Audience Chamber, thrust himself between the two ministers and snatched away Ahad's hand from that of Najaf into his own. Afrāsiyāb now urged the Mirzā not to let this opportunity slip; but Najaf would not even then consent, he left all his troops within the fort under Afrāsiyāb, while he himself went out and sat down in Raushan-ud-daulah's mosque."
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Ahad passed all that afternoon and night at the gate of the Diwan-i-am, watched by Afrasiyab's men as sentries and by his own friends and the Emperor's servants as defenders. Negotiations with regard to his fate went on before the Emperor. Shah Alam was highly displeased at this restraint on his first servant and could not but take it as an insult to himself. Najaf's emissaries, Maulvi Atāullah and Rajah Manirām, came and protested their master’s loyalty and devotion to the throne. But Shah Alam strongly objected to surrendering Ahad and affirmed that minister’s devotion to the throne. Next Mirzā Shafi Khan brought a second message from Najaf, reciting Abdul Ahad’s long succession of hostile and treacherous acts; but the Emperor angrily turned his face away and ordered Shafi to warn his master not to touch a king’s friend.
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After Shafi had left, Latāfat Ali begged the Emperor to permit him to summon his own contingent into the fort through the river gate which was not yet occupied by Najaf’s men, and clear the fort of the usurpers by opening musket fire on them. While the Emperor, as characteristic of him, was hesitating to make a decision, crowd after crowd of Ahad’s partisans gathered on the river bank and filled the sandy plain below the fort as far as the eye could go. Shah Alam worked himself up to a high rage; he put his armour on and taking a bow in his hand issued from the harem on a portable litter, surrounded by the princes and eunuchs, vowing to expel Najaf’s men. But by the time he reached the Diwan-i-am his courage had evaporated; his cowardly followers advised him to go back lest the opposite side should fail to show the respect due to royalty. He therefore returned to his bed room, the tumult died out, and mediators again began to pass to and fro. Najaf Khan continued till sunset seated in that mosque and humbly asking for permission to take Ahad out of the fort, and the Emperor as persistently refusing.
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By Najaf's order his troops sent their horses out of the fort back to their camp, while they themselves remained inside and passed the entire night on the alert. The city was filled with tumult throughout the night, "as on Doomsday. A terrible noise arose from every lane and house; none knew what was happening in the fort which was occupied by Najaf's followers while Abdul Ahad's retainers stood outside its walls, their hearts set on bloodshed." [Ibr. ii. 9-12.]
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In their anxiety for the favourite's safety, the Emperor and his harem did not sleep a wink that night. By his order the princes went to the ante-room of the Diwan-i-am and sat down in a circle round Ahad to prevent him from being dragged into captivity. But very soon Najaf's intrigue and gold began to tell. As Abdul Ahad's cause appeared manifestly hopeless, his followers began to desert to Najaf's side and were eagerly welcomed there. At last when even Latāfat Ali and Mir Sayyid Ali, so long his chief lieutenants, went over to his enemy's camp, the fallen favourite gave up the struggle and sent to Najaf Khan to offer his entire submission. The Mir Bakhshi took oaths to protect the life and property of Ahad, saying that his only object was to exclude the mischief-maker from the Emperor's presence. Then Ahad went back to his master, took leave of him, and was escorted by Afrāsiyāb to Najaf's camp, where he was lodged in all comfort in a separate tent (15th November.)
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§ 8. *Mirza Najaf becomes supreme regent.*
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The field being thus cleared and the last trace of opposition being removed, Mirzā Najaf Khan, at the Emperor's invitation, presented himself again at Court (16th Nov.) His thanks-offering consisted of two lakhs of Rupees in cash and some trays of jewels, besides twenty suits of costly apparel and five horses on behalf of his sister. The last repinings of Shah Alam for his favourite's fate were smothered under this load of gold, and he appointed Najaf Khan as his Regent Plenipotentiary (*Wakil-i-mutlaq.*) The other high posts so long held by Ahad were now transferred—the Second Paymastership to Prince Jahandar Shah, the command of the artillery to Prince Farkhunda Bakht, and the Superintendence of the Select Audience *cum* the diwani of the Crownlands to Prince Akbar Shah, nominally. But Najaf Khan as the deputy of these three princes henceforth became all in all in the actual administration; all *parwanahs* were to bear his seal, and all *sanads* that of the Wazir, whose deputy and substitute at Court was Najaf.
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Unity of command was at last restored to the Delhi Government; there could no longer be any conflict in the policy emanating from the same source, and above all, the executive head of the State was at last a veteran soldier with a strong army and capable lieutenants under him.
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The effect of the change was at once felt. Mirzā Najaf by command took up his residence at the capital, in ex-wazir Qamruddin Khan’s mansion near the Ajmeri Gate and began to attend Court daily in the place of Abdul Ahad. He sent Mirzā Shafi against the Sikhs in the upper Doab and the Sonepat-Panipat region, Afrāsiyāb Khan to the middle Doab, Muhammad Beg Hamadāni to Agra and the Jat country, and Najaf Quli Khan to Mewāt and Shekhāwati. Internal peace at last returned to Delhi, and external peace was assured by the regency of a soldier whose strength of character and military genius revived the memories of Najib-ud-daulah. We can therefore understand the raptures of our invaluable memoirist-captain Tahmāsp Khan (Miskin), now settled with his family in Delhi in affluence and peace after his long wanderings and privations. He writes: “There was now general happiness among all and sundry at the capital. Marriage and rejoicing were seen in every house; buying and selling went on in all quarters of the city; new houses were built or purchased. And all this through the gracious and competent administration of Mirzā Najaf Khan. All the chiefs, Turāni Irāni and Hindustāni, were happy, prosperous and exalted.” [p. 344.]
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But this happiness was destined to last for barely two years and four months.