СНАР. Х. Cruel oppression of the Zem.n dars. Praises of Murshed Kuli returned to Delhi; whilst Mir Jafir was rewarded with the title of Murshed Kuli Khan, and ultimately appointed Nawab Nazim, as well as Dewan, of the three provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. Murshed Kuli Khan, as he was henceforth called, improved the revenues of his government by making short work with the Zemindars. Many were summoned to Murshedabad and thrown into prison; others were removed from their districts and placed on small subsistence allowances; and in both cases the revenue was collected by officers of his own appointment, known as Aumils. Meanwhile he remeasured all the lands and reassessed the amount of rent or revenue to be paid, and henceforth he was rigid and exacting to the last degree. Defaulters were subjected to every species of torture; they were exposed to the burning sun, or tormented with live cats, or dragged through ponds of filth. In other respects, he ruled the three provinces like an irresponsible despot whose word was law. Neither Zemindars nor Rajas were allowed to sit down in his presence, nor even to speak to one another. They were prohibited from riding in a palanquin, and were compelled to use an inferior conveyance. The consequence was that for many years after his death his memory was held in detestation throughout the three provinces. Nevertheless, whilst Murshed Kuli Khan was hated and feared by the Hindus, he was lauded to the skies by the Muhammadan historians. He was ever zealous in the propagation of Islam. He maintained two 6 Vaikuntha was the heaven of Vishnu. Accordingly these ponds of filth, which were a regular institution at Murshedabad, were sarcastically known as Vaikuntha. He CHAP. X. thousand public readers and chanters of the Koran. He feasted people of all conditions during the great Muhammadan festivals, and on such occasions the road was illuminated for miles with lamps representing mosques, shrines, and verses of the Koran. He kept down the price of grain by a despotic process which is greatly admired in Oriental countries. employed spies to learn all that was going on in the markets. He punished every attempt to raise prices. He broke up private hoards, and compelled the owners to sell them in the bazars. He prohibited all exportations of grain, and would not permit European ships to carry away more than was necessary for victualling the crew during the voyage. Above all, he displayed on all occasions the most profound respect and veneration for the Padishah. He never presumed to seat himself in a royal boat; and whenever the royal fleet approached Murshedabad, he always went out to meet it, and made his obeisance, presented his nuzzir, and kissed the deck of the royal barge. When Murshed Kuli Khan was growing old, he Mausoleum employed a menial but confidential servant, named Murád Ferash, to build a tomb and a mosque. Murád completed the task in a way which was most offensive to the Hindus. He procured the materials by pulling down all the Hindu temples in Murshedabad and the surrounding country; and neither prayers nor bribes could move him from his purpose. He threatened to pull down other pagodas at a distance from the capital, but accepted large sums of money from Zemindars and other Hindus by way of ransom. He compelled all wealthy Hindus either to send their servants to work at the building or to purchase exemption. No one dared to disobey, or even to complain to the built at the expense of Hindu pagodas. CHAP. X. Daughter of Murshed Kuli Death of Shuja Khan, Na- Nawab. The tomb and mosque were then surrounded by a square of shops, and a public market was annexed, in order that the duties levied on all sales and purchases might be appropriated to the repair of the buildings. Murshed Kuli Khan had no sons, but a favourite daughter, who was married to a Turk named Shuja Khan. The marriage was unhappy. Shuja Khan was appointed Deputy Nawab of Orissa, and went with his wife to Cuttack; but he soon disgusted her by his infidelities, and she returned to her father at Murshedabad, accompanied by a son named Sarfaráz Khan. Henceforth the old Nawab hated his son-in-law and doted on his grandson. He used his utmost interest at Delhi to secure the appointment of Sarfaráz Khan to succeed him after his death in the government of the three provinces. He died in 1725, leaving Sarfaraz Khan in the possession of all his treasures, and in the hourly expectation of receiving from Delhi the insignia of investiture to the vacant throne. Meanwhile Shuja Khan at Cuttack had been equally active and more successful. One day, whilst Sarfaraz Khan was sitting in a palace in the suburbs of Murshedabad awaiting for the insignia of his appointment, he was startled by the ominous thunder of imperial music. To his utter dismay he learnt that his father, Shuja Khan, had suddenly arrived at Murshedabad and displayed the insignia of investiture, including the fringed palanquin and the imperial standard of the fish, and had then ascended the throne in the hall of forty pillars, amidst the acclamations of all the grandees at Murshedabad, and the deafening noise of trumpets and kettledrums. The young prince saw that nothing could be done. Even his injured mother assured him that it would be madness to resist his father. Accordingly he hurried to the palace of forty pillars, paid his respects to the new Nawab, offered his congratulations, presented his nuzzir, and was rewarded with the honorary post of Dewan of Bengal." СНАР. Х. dan favourites: Ali Vardi Khan. Shuja Khan brought with him two brothers, whom Two Muhammahe had taken into his service at Cuttack, and who had Haji Ahmad and gained his favour by secret services of a questionable character. Their names were Haji Ahmad and Ali Vardi Khan. It was said that they belonged to a noble family at Delhi; but according to scandal, Haji Ahmad was originally a table-servant, whilst Ali Vardi Khan was placed in charge of his master's hookah. Haji Ahmad, the elder of the two, was a timid, crafty individual, with a genius for intrigue. He was appointed chief minister, and by a zealous subservience to the tastes of the Nawab, he soon exercised a commanding influence in affairs of state. It is said that he ransacked the province in search of fresh inmates for the Nawab's seraglio, and that he never attended the nightly levée at the palace without bringing a new face to tempt the Nawab. Ali Vardi Khan, the younger brother, was a soldier born and bred, and was appointed to the command of a body of horse in the service of the Nawab. Two Hindu Jagat Seit. Besides these two Muhammadan brothers, Shuja Khan entertained two Hindus in his service, named Chand and Alam Chand and Jagat Seit. Alam Chand, better known by his title of Rai Rayan, was a Hindu of 7 Such honorary appointments were often given to young princes during the decline of the Moghul empire, whilst the duties were kept in the hands of some responsible minister. СНАР, Х. large financial experience. He was, in fact, a type of those grave and respectable Bengali officials, who always appeared devoted to their duties and their master's interest, but nevertheless were incessantly occupied in hoarding up private treasures in every possible way. Jagat Seit was the head of a famous banking family at Murshedabad, who had flourished during the reign of Aurangzeb. Jagat Seit had rendered great services to old Mir Jafir by advancing the sums of money which procured him the post of Nawab and Dewan of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. Indolent administration. Ali Vardi Khan, Deputy Nawab of Behar. Shuja Khan was a type of the easy-going Nawabs, who tried to make things pleasant all round, in order that they might devote themselves to their pleasures. He liberated the Zemindars who had been imprisoned by his late father-in-law, but threatened to remove them from their posts, and transfer their lands to other Zemindars, if there was any further irregularity in the payment of revenue. He also abolished some additional taxes, which had been imposed by Murshed Ali Khan, and pressed heavily upon the Zemindars. He then left the administration in the hands of his four confidential advisers, who formed a council of state at Murshedabad; and henceforth he frittered away his time in the ordinary routine of a selfindulgent Moghul. Some time afterwards the post of Deputy Nawab of Behar became vacant, and Haji Ahmad used his influence in the seraglio to procure the appointment of his brother, Ali Vardi Khan. At this 8 Ali Vardi Khan was sometimes called the Deputy Nawab of Patna, as Patna was the capital of the province, and the place where he generally resided. |