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were impelled to their removal by the fear of being themselves involved. Or, as some suggested, the Sayyads had resolved on killing out by degrees the whole of Taimur's race. When the way was open, they meant to claim the throne for themselves, Qutb-ul-mulk taking Hindustān, and Ḥusain 'Ali Khan, the Dakhin and Malwah. The author in question sums up in favour of the third supposition, and blames the Sayyads for forgetting that :

"He who chooses to leave the beaten path
"Will never reach his journey's end."1

APPENDIX (RAFI'-UD-DAULAH).

Length of reign.-Rafi'-ud-daulah reigned four months and sixteen days. As the month or year of his birth is nowhere stated in any firstclass authority, we do not know his exact age. If he was eighteen months older than his brother, Rafi'-ud-darajat, he must have been between twenty and twenty-one years old at the time of death.2

Title.-On his accession he received the title of Shahjahān Ṣānī (the second), but his full style is nowhere given.

Coin.-There are nineteen of this emperor's coins in the three public collections before referred to; three of gold and sixteen of silver, all circular. Except one, all are dated, bearing the year 1131 H. These nineteen coins come from ten mints in eight out of the twentyone provinces: coins from Kābul, Kashmir, Multān, Ajmer, Audh, Allahābād, Mālwah, Orissah, and five out of the six Dakhin şubahs are absent. The mints from which there are coins are Lahor (2), Taṭṭhah (1), Shāhjahānābād (6), Bareli (2), Sūrat (1), Akbarābād (2), Islāmābād (1), Paṭnah (1), Murshidābād (2), Aurangabad (1). Taṭṭhah, strange to say, re-appears in the list of active mints after some interval. For the gold coins the weights are 167,168.5, and 169 grains respectively, and the diameters 8, 85, and 9 of an inch. For the silver coins the weights are 172 grains (1), 173 (2), 174 (1), 174·5 (2), 175 (3), 176 (1), 177 (3), 178 (1), 179.3 (1), 180 (1); and the diameters, '80 of an inch (2), ·81 (1), ·85 (1), ·S6 (1), ·88 (1), ·90 (3), ·95 (5), 1·0 (1), 1·03 (1). The inscription as given by Rodgers, " Lahore Catalogue," 207, is Sikkah-i-mubārik-i-Bādshāh-i-ghāzi Shah Jahān. I

1 Aḥwāl-i-khawāqîn, fol. 172a.

Khilaf-i-mamarr kase rah guzīd

Kih hargin ba manzil na khwāhad rasid.

2 The Jām-i-Jam, a non-contemporary work, makes him a younger brother, and gives his birthday as the 5th Şafar 1113 H. (11th July, 1701).

reject his seventh coin from Māhā Indarpur (i.e., Bhartpur, see id. p. 264), as I believe it belongs to the other Shahjahan of 1174 H. (also commonly called "Sani," or the second). In 1131 H. Bhartpur had not become the chief place of the Jāts, nor was it then more than an obscure village, whereas in 1174 H. it was the capital of one of the chief partizans of the minister, 'Imad-ul-mulk, who in 1173 H. (December, 1759) had placed this third Shāhjahān upon the throne after the assassination of 'Alamgir II.

Family. We do not know if Rafi'-ud-daulah was married, or if he was, who his wife was; nor do we hear of his having left any children. On the 13th Zū,1 Qa'dah (21st September, 1719) his bier was sent to Dihli, and he was buried beside his brother near the shrine of Qutbud-din.

CHAPTER VII.

MUHAMMAD SHAH (1719-1748).

During the few days which elapsed between the death of Rafi'-ud-daulah and the arrival of his successor, the Wazir and his brother made their usual daily visit to the imperial quarters and returned with robes of honour, as if newly conferred on them, thus deceiving the common people into the belief that the emperor was still alive.1

At length on the 11th Zu'l Qa‘dah 1131 H. (24th September, 1719), Ghulam ‘Ali Khāu arrived in the camp at Bidyapur, a village three kos to the north of Fathpur Sikri. He brought with him Prince Roshan Akhtar, the son of the late Khujistah Akhtar, Jahān Shālı, fourth son of the Emperor Bahādur Shāh. The death of Rafi'-uddaulah was now (26th September, 1719) made public, his bier brought out, and his body despatched for burial to Dihli. Arrangements were at once made for the enthronement of his successor.3

This enthronement took place at Bidyapur on the 15th Zū,l Qa‘dah 1131 H. (28th September, 1719) and Roshan Akhtar was proclaimed under

1 Shiu Dās, 326. A newly-conferred' khila't was worn for twenty-four hours, and nothing was allowed to be put on over it.

2 Rustam ‘Alī, Tārīkh-i-hindī, fol. 237a, says the prince was brought from Diblī in three days, travelling in a boat down the Jamnah.

8 Kāmwar Khān, 211; Khāfi Khān, II, 840.

4 From the tahsildar's report kindly obtained for me by Mr. Reynolds, as already stated, I find that there is a place Tājpur, four miles west of Bidyāpur. From the name, and the fact that the village is a perpetual mu‘āfē, I infer that Tājpur may be the actual place of enthronement.

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the titles of Abu,l Fath, Naşir-ud-din, Muḥammad Shah, Badshah, Ghāzi. He was a handsome and, at that time, fairly intelligent young man, and having been born at Ghazni on the 23rd Rabi 'I 1114 H. 2 (16th August, 1702), was now in his eighteenth (lunar) year. Coin was issued and the Khutbah read in his name; and it was directed that the commencement of the reign should be antedated, and fixed from the removal of Farrukhsiyar from the throne. All other arrangements were continued as in the last two reigns, and no new appointments were made. All the persons surrounding the sovereign were as before the nominees of the two Sayyads, and Himmat Khan continued as. before to act as tutor and guardian. Muḥammad Shah deferred to him in everything, and asked of him permission to attend the public prayers on Friday or to go out shooting. On the march men in the confidence of the Sayyads surrounded the young emperor and prevented any access to him.3

SECTION 2.-TERMS MADE WITH JAI SINGH.

It was now given out that the emperor, after worshipping at the tomb of Shekh Salim, Cishti, in Fathpur, would march on to Ajmer and visit the shrine of Mu'in-ud-din Cişhti. The hidden motive was to overawe Rājah Jai Singh who, since the removal of Farrukhsiyar, had been at little pains to conceal his hostile intentions. He had received some aid in money from the Rānā of Udepur, as is shown by his letter to that prince's minister, dated the 4th Bhādoņ Sambat 1776 (9th August, 1719), wherein he asserts that Nizām-ul-mulk had started from Ujjain and Chabelah Rām had crossed the Jamnah at Kālpi, both of which statements were false. When he learnt of the rising at Agrah, he came out from his capital, Amber, with much ostentation. Following the Rajput custom when resolved on death or victory, he and his men had clothed themselves in saffron raiment and sprinkled their

Tārikh-i-Muzaffari, 166. But Ghṛlām 'Ali Khan, Muqaddamah-i-Shah Alamnāmah, 45a, states that on the 3rd Jāmādī II, 1134 H. (20th March, 1722), the style was changed from "Abu,l Fath " to "Abu,l Muzaffar."

2 The Tarikh-i-Muzaffari has the 22nd Rabi' I, and Khushhal Cand, Berlin Ms. 495, fol. 995%, the 24th. The latter writer gives a chronogram of six lines, of which the last is:

“Khudeo-i-gaihān-parwar" (1114) khudāe kard ījād.

8 Kāmwar Khan, 213; Khushhal Cand, Berlin Ms. No. 495, fol. 995a has, for date, “middle of Zū,l Qaʻdah.

4 He was further encouraged in his hostility by Tahavvar Khān, Turānī, Ṣalābat Khan, the late Mir Atash, Rūḥullah Khan, and the other refugees from Dihli already referred to.

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heads with green grass. He announced publicly that he had bestowed the city of Amber on the Brahmans as a sacred gift (dan and arthān). He had marched as far as parganah Todah Tank, about eighty miles south-west of Agrah, and there waited to see which way events would turn. He was watched by a force under Sayyad Dilawar 'Ali Khān, which barred his further advance northwards.2

Mahārājah Ajit Singh had offered himself as mediator, but his leisurely procedure, protracted in the way usual to him and his fellowrajahs, did not accord with the fiery temperament of Husain ‘Ali Khān It was with a view to bring this matter to a head that an advance from Fathpur Sikri towards Ajmer was proposed. A few marches were made to places in the neighbourhood, but no real start was attempted. The camp was between Malikpur and Muminabad on the 24th Zū,l Qa'dah (7th October, 1719) and here Husain ‘Ali Khān came in from Fathpur to pay his respects. Another stage was travelled on the 26th (9th October).3

On the 1st Zū,1 Hijjah (14th October, 1719) the emperor's mother, now styled Nawab Qudsiyah, and other women of the harem, who had been sent for from Dihli arrived in camp. The Begam had acted most warily, avoiding everything that could arouse the suspicions of the Sayyads. When the messengers of the Sayyads came to Dilhi to fetch her son, she bestowed on them, on the men who were to accompany him, and on all office-holders at Dihli, the customary dresses of honour. But learning that this assumption of authority had displeased the Sayyads, she sent away all subsequent applicants. In the same manner, when she arrived in camp, she warned all persons who had any connection with her late husband, Jahan Shah, to abstain from appearing on the road to greet or escort her. She studied the susceptibilities of the Sayyads in every particular. A sum of fifteen thousand rupees monthly was set apart for her expenses and those of the other women.4

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1 I read gyähe, “grass," in Muḥammad Qasim, but Tod, I, 506, speaks of their wearing on such occasions the maur or bridal crown, which is probably much the same thing in other words-John Christian, "Behar Proverbs," p. 197, No. 426, tells us that the bridegroom's head-dress "is made of talipot leaves and in some places of date (palm) leaves." That it is sometimes actually made of grass may be inferred from W. Crooke's "Tribes and Castes of the N.-W. Provinces," Vol. II, p. 62, sixth line from foot.

3 Muḥammad Qāsim, Lāhorī, 282, 297, Tod, "Annals," I, 380.

3 Muḥammad Qāsim, Lāhorī, 294. There is a Malikpur about five miles east of Fathpur, Indian Atlas, Sheet 50; Muminābād, I am unable to trace.

4 Kāmwar Khan, 214, Khāfi Khan, II, 841.

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As the negociations with Jai Singh were still in progress and no satisfactory terms could be arranged, Ajit Singh, who was extremely anxious to return home, offered to visit Jai Singh in person on his way to Jodhpur. Accordingly he was dismissed to his home, and on the 2nd Zū,l Ḥijjah (15th October, 1719) the report came in that three days before (12th October), Jai Singh had quitted Todah on his return to Amber. The fugitive nobles, Tahavvar Khan, Salabat Khan, and Rūḥullah Khan, were at his request pardoned and left with him unmolested. The great persuasive in his withdrawal was the large sum of money that he received. Some say the amount was as much as twenty lakhs of rupees. This money was paid to him on the plea that it was required to buy back Amber from the Brahmans. To the public it was announced as a gift on his marriage with the daughter of Ajit Singh, to whom he had long been betrothed. As part of these negociations Rajah Jai Singh obtained the government of Sarkar Sorath (Subah Aḥmadābād). But the rest of Aḥmadābād remained under Ajit Singh, with the addition of the whole of Ajmer. That rajah's formal appointment to the latter subah was announced on the 23rd Zū,l Ḥijjah (5th November, 1719.) In this way the country from a point sixty miles south of Dihli to the shores of the ocean at Surat was in the hands of these two rājahs, very untrustworthy sentinels for the Mughals on this exposed frontier.1

SECTION 3.—THE EMPEROR MOVES FROM FATḤPUR TO ĀGRAH.

From the date of his arrival in camp, 11th Zü,l Qa'dah (24th September, 1719) until the 20th Zü,1 Hijjah, Muḥammad Shah had never moved far from Fathpur Sikri. He kept the 'Id festival (10th Zū,1 Ḥijjah) in his tents at Fatḥpur, and visited the tomb of Shāh Salim, Cishti, at that place on the 14th of the same month. On the 20th he started for Agrah, and three days later (5th November, 1719) he camped at Tālāb Kelā Nāth. On the 15th Muharram 1132 H. (27th November, 1719) quarters were taken up for a few days at the palace within the fort of Agrah, but on the 2nd Șafar (14th December, 1719) the emperor returned to his tents at his former encampment. At this time Sayyad Dilāwar ‘Ali Khan, bakhshi of Ḥusain ‘Ali Khān's army, was sent towards Jālesar and Sa'dābād in the Dūābah tỏ punish the Jāts, who had lately carried off over one hundred of the imperial camels.2

1 Kāmwar Khān, 214, 216, Khāfĩ Khan, II, 838, Muḥammad Qāsim, Lāhorī, 297, Shiu Dās, 32a.

? Kāmwar Khan, 215, Muḥammad Qāsim, Lähorī, 2nd recension, 402.

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