Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c38.s5.4

v3.c38.s5.4

Thus Mirzā Muhammad Shafi was left without a rival in Delhi. On the 15th of the month (September 1782), the Emperor recognised the fact by appointing him Mir Bakhshi with the title of Nāsir-ud-daulah Zulfiqār Jang and also supreme Regent and subahdar of Agra. But a month had barely passed from this when there was another turn in the political kaleidoscope, an entirely new grouping of forces took place, and Shafi was driven out of Delhi! On becoming regent he wisely tried to make friends with his late rivals. He sent friendly letters from himself and the Begam to Afrāsiyāb Khan, who professed to be reconciled and thus secured an order on Hamadāni to vacate Afrāsiyāb’s jagirs and return to his own post. But Shafi alienated Najaf Quli by transferring the jagirs of the latter to his own follower Abdul Matlab Khan. The new army chief was a rather simple downright man, incapable of suppleness or diplomatic finesse; his soldierly brusqueness offended the Court circle,* and the evil was aggravated by his lack of funds. Even the Emperor was at heart his enemy, especially as he failed to release all the Crown-lands in his hands. The eunuch Latāfat Ali, commanding four trained battalions of Purbia infantry, had sworn on the Qurān to be true to Shafi. He now started an intrigue at the instigation of the Emperor, and seduced Pauli and the officers of his contingent.