The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c10.32

c10.32

In spite of this, the wazīr's position was by no means easy to maintain against a jealous master.³ Envious courtiers were always on the look out for an opportunity to poison the sovereign's mind by insinuating that power had turned the wazīr's head.⁴ The wazīr had to exercise great power and yet allay all suspicion. A wise man took care that no one should undermine his influence with his master.⁵ It was an elementary precaution to keep himself informed regarding all the happenings in the court and the palace.⁶ Probably the most difficult men to control were the courtiers, for they always surrounded the sovereign and had great influence over him. They generally possessed large assignments and were not always very careful in their financial dealings; with them may be classed the governors of provinces and military chiefs. If they owed money to the state, it was the wazīr's duty to extract it from them. If he were not strict, the exchequer would suffer, and he could not make a success of his tenure of office. As practically the whole bureaucracy had financial dealings with the state, an exacting wazīr would soon have all officialdom against him and he could not hold out for long. "These men the wazīr could neither befriend nor alienate with safety."⁷ Great judgment was required to maintain the balance between the demands of the state and the capacity of the taxpayer, but fortunately it was widely recognized that the stability of the state and the prosperity of the people were interdependent.¹ It was exacting to act as the monarch's chief counsellor. The wazīr was called upon to advise the sultan on matters of very diverse nature; therefore he had to be a man of almost encyclopædic knowledge. The monarch might pose a question of strategy or foreign policy, or he might ask for an opinion on the merits of a new mathnawī. It was, therefore, the wazīr's duty to keep himself well informed regarding the happenings in neighbouring states; he was expected to have sound knowledge of military science; a liberal education was his least attainment. Most of the wazīrs under the sultans of Dehlī were men of culture and refined taste: even the ill-educated Khān Jahān Maqbūl—one of the most capable of ministers—was considered to be the wisest of men.² He was the only wazīr in the history of the sultanate who had not received a good literary education; other wazīrs were men fit to adorn a court which was, for most of the period, the greatest patron of learning in the eastern world.³