Mughal Administration c12.s6.5

c12.s6.5

The position of the Shia nobles in Aurangzib's Court was bad enough on account of their master's orthodoxy; but it was rendered worse by the jealous hostility of the Sunni nobles, most of whom belonged to a different race, named the Turani (Central Asian) or Afghan. Indeed, in the 18th century, the Persian and Turkish parties—or the Iranis and Turanis, as they were called,—were sharply divided at the Mughal Court, just as they had been under the Bahmani Sultans of the Deccan in the 15th, with disastrous consequences to the latter. Even European visitors like Bernier and Manucci could not fail to notice the antagonism of interest and sharp contrast of policy between these two races in the Delhi imperial service, especially when an embassy from Persia was expected [*Storia do Mogor*, ii. 50-53, Bernier, 146-153]. Marriage did not tend to heal this sectarian conflict, because the Shias naturally liked to marry within their own circle, and Sunnis were known to have refused the hands of Shia brides. Thus, we learn from Hamid-ud-din Khan's *Ahkam* that Ruhullah Khan I, the Paymaster-General of Aurangzib (1686-1692), made a will on his death-bed, declaring that he had renounced the Shia faith for Sunnism, and requesting the Emperor to give his two daughters in marriage to Sunnis. Now, though this Ruhullah Khan was very highly connected,—his mother being a sister of the Emperor's mother,—the hand of his daughter was refused by Siadat Khan, a petty nobleman, who asked, "How do we know that she too holds the Sunni faith? In case she persists in her ancestral religion (i.e., Shiaism), what can be done?" (*Ahkam* § 69.)