Section IV. The History of the Reign of ALLUMGIRE SANI.
UPON the same day that Ahmed Shaw was deprived of sight, Ghazi ul Dien released from confinement Eaz ul Dien, the son of Moaz ul Dien, and grandson of Bahadar Shaw, the son and successor of the famous Aurungzebe. This prince was placed by Ghazi upon the throne, by the name of ALLUMGIRE. To begin his reign with an act of beneficence, he ordered seventeen persons of the imperial house of Timur to be released from prison, to grace his coronation. It may not be improper here to say something concerning the inauguration of the Mogul emperors.
When a prince is, for the first time, seated upon the throne, with the royal umbrella over his head, the Omrahs, according to their dignity, are ranged in two lines before, one upon his right, the other to his left hand. A herald then proclaims his titles; and the Omrahs, each in his station, advance with an offering in gold, which he himself receives from their hands. The superintendant of the kitchen brings then a golden salver, with bread, confections, and other eatables, over which the king, joined by the whole court, repeats a form of grace; and then he eats a little, and distributes the remainder, with his own hand, among the nobility. This latter is an ancient Mogul ceremony, introduced by the family of Timur. The emperor mounts then his state-elephant, and, attended by all the court, moves slowly towards the great Musgid, throwing, as he advances, gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls, among the populace. In the Musgid he repeats a prayer, and afterwards divine service is performed by the Sidder ul suddûr, or the metropolitan of Delhi. The Chutba, or the genealogy and titles of the king, are then read, and he returns to the palace with the same magnificence and pomp. The Mogul emperors are never crowned: but upon some festivals they sit in state, under a large golden crown, which is suspended by a chain to the roof of the presence-chamber, and serves the purpose of a canopy.
Allumgire found himself as much a prisoner upon the throne, as he was formerly in his confinement. He was not a man of parts sufficient to extricate himself from the toils of that power, to which he owed his advancement; but had he made no efforts to acquire some authority, the empire might have been, perhaps, restored to its original dignity and splendor, by the very extraordinary abilities of Ghazi ul Dien.—That Omrah now possessed the office of the vizarit. Allumgire, without the capacity of guiding the operations of government himself, began to turn all his mean parts to thwart the schemes of the vizier. Without considering whether the measure was right or wrong, it was sufficient that it came from the vizier, for the emperor to oppose it by his minions.
This aversion in the king to Ghazi, did not long escape the penetrating eyes of that young Omrah. He knew that he was surrounded by many enemies, and therefore was unwilling to resign an employ, from which he derived protection to his own person. In the mean time all business was suspended, and the two factions, like armies afraid of the issue of a battle, watched the motions of one another.—Nothing remarkable happened at Delhi, during the first year of Allumgire, but the assassination of the former vizier, about six months after his imprisonment, by the orders of Ghazi ul Dien.
But, in the course of this year, the empire received a severe blow on its frontiers, by the death of the gallant Meer Munnu, by a fall from his horse. He had, in many engagements, defeated Abdalla, and recovered from him the whole province of Lahore. No sooner was this brave Omrah dead, than Abdalla reconquered all he had lost; and, advancing to Lahore, confirmed his son, then an infant, in the government of that place, under the direction of an experienced Omrah.
The great success of Abdalla, in the north-west, began to rouse the court of Delhi. It was at last resolved, that Ali Gohar [The present emperor.], Allumgire's eldest son, should, in conjunction with Ghazi ul Dien, the vizier, march with the imperial army against the Persians. The treasury was now empty; and the few provinces, subject to the empire, were grievously oppressed for money to raise a force for this expedition.
In the beginning of the year 1169, the imperial army, consisting of 80000 men, under the prince and young Ghazi, took the field. They advanced to a place called Matchiwarra, about twenty crores beyond Sirhind. They found Abdalla so well established in his new conquests, that they thought it prudent to proceed no further. The whole campaign passed in settling a treaty of marriage, between the vizier and the daughter of Meer Munnu. It seems that Omrah, to strengthen his interest at the court of Delhi, had, before his death, promised his daughter to Ghazi; but, after that event, both the young lady and her mother were extremely averse to the match. When the imperial army lay at Matchiwarra, the vizier inveigled both the ladies from Lahore to the camp, and finding all intreaty was in vain to obtain their consent, he, with peculiar baseness, closely confined them, to intimidate them into a compliance. This together with oppressing the provinces, through which he marched, comprehended the whole exploits of Ghazi on this expedition. After spending all the public money in this vain parade, the prince and vizier, without striking a blow, returned to Delhi.
The cause of this inaction of the vizier proceeded from advices which he daily received from court. The king and his faction gained strength during his absence; and he foresaw his own ruin, in case he should meet with a defeat from Abdalla. Upon his return to Delhi, he found it necessary, in order to support his declining authority, to act with great rigor and tyranny. Some Omrahs he removed with the dagger, and others he deprived of their estates. He confined the king in the citadel, and did whatsoever he pleased, as if he himself was vested with the regal dignity.
Allumgire, finding himself in this disagreeable situation, adopted a very dangerous plan to extricate himself. He wrote privately to Abdalla, to advance with his army, to relieve him from the hands of his treacherous vizier. He promised, that upon his arrival on the environs of Delhi, he should be joined by the bulk of the imperial army, under the command of Nigib ul Dowla, a Rohilla chief, to whom Ghazi had delegated his own office of buckshi, when he rose to the employ of vizier. Thus the weak Allumgire, to avoid one evil, plunged headlong into greater misfortunes.
Abdalla, having received these assurances from the king, marched from Cabul, where he then kept his court, entered Hindostan with a great army, and, in the year 1171, appeared before Delhi. The vizier marched out with the imperial forces to give him battle; but, in the field he was deserted by his friend, Nigib ul Dowla, with the greatest part of his army. The ignorance of Ghazi ul Dien of a plot so long carried on, is a great proof of his extreme unpopularity. The consequence was, that Ghazi was obliged to throw himself upon the clemency of Abdalla, who had sworn vengeance against him, should he ever fall into his hands. But such was the address of the vizier, that he not only found means to mollify the Persian, but even to make him his friend. He was, however, at first turned out of his office, but he was soon after restored by Abdalla himself, who now disposed of every thing, as if he was absolute king of Delhi.
Abdalla entered the city, and laid the unfortunate inhabitants under a contribution of a crore of roupees; a sum now more difficult to raise than ten crores, in the days of Nadir Shaw. The Persian remained two months in Delhi. The unhappy Allumgire, not only found that his capital was robbed, but that he himself was delivered over again into the hands of a person, who had now added resentment to ambition and power.
The Persian, after these transactions, took the prince, Hedad Buxsh, brother to the present emperor, as hostage for Allumgire's future behavior; and, having forced Meer Munnu's daughter to solemnize her marriage with Ghazi, marched towards Agra. He, on his way, laid siege to Muttra, took it by assault; and, having sacked the place, put the inhabitants to the sword, for the enormous crime of attempting to defend their lives and property. After this scene of barbarity, Abdalla advanced to Agra, which was held on the part of the king [Though the Jates had all the country round Agra, they had not yet possessed themselves of that city.] by Fazil Chan. This Omrah defended the city with such resolution, that Abdalla, after sustaining some loss, thought it prudent to raise the siege; but, being exasperated at this repulse, he spread death and devastation through the territories of the Jates, who, unable to cope with him in the field, had retired into their strong holds; from which, they at times issued, and cut off his straggling parties.—The Persian returned to a place called Muxadabad, about eight crores from Delhi. Allumgire came out to pay his respects to him; and, by his conduct, seems to have been perfectly infatuated. When the cries of his distressed people reached heaven, that contemptible monarch, instead of endeavoring to alleviate their miseries, either by force or negotiation, was wholly bent on the gratification of a sensual appetite. The cause of his visit to Abdalla, was to obtain his influence and mediation with Sahibe Zimany, the daughter of Mahummud Shaw, whom he wanted to espouse; the princess herself being averse to the match. When kings, instead of exerting their talents for the protection of their people, suffer themselves to be absorbed in indolence and sensuality, rebellion becomes patriotism, and treason itself is a virtue.
In the mean time, the news of some incursions from the western Persia, into the territories of Abdalla, recalled that prince from India. Malleké Jehan, the widow of Mahummud Shaw, and her daughter Sahibe Zimany, claimed his protection against Allumgire. He carried them both to Cabul, and some time after espoused the daughter himself.—The Persian having evacuated the imperial provinces, the vizier became more cruel and oppressive than ever: he extorted money from the poor by tortures, and confiscated the estates of the nobility, upon false or very frivolous pretences. To these tyrannies he was no less driven by the necessity of supporting an army to inforce his authority, than he was by the natural avidity and cruelty of his own unprincipled mind.
The king and his eldest son, Ali Gohar, were, in the mean time, kept state prisoners. The latter made his escape in the year 1172, and levying six thousand men at Rowari, began to raise the revenues of the adjacent territories. After he had continued this vagrant kind of life for nine months, the vizier, by the means of insidious letters, in which Ittul Raw, chief of the Mahrattors, Raja Dewali Singh, Raja Nagor Mull, and many other Omrahs, swore to protect him, inveigled him to Delhi. But, in violation of all oaths and fair promises, he was instantly confined by Ghazi, in the house of Alla Murda Chan, where he remained for the space of two months.
The vizier having received intelligence that the prince was privately attaching some Omrahs to his interest, and fearing that, by their means, he might again make his escape, determined to remove him to the citadel. He ordered a detachment of five hundred horse to execute this service. The prince not only refused to comply with the vizier's orders for his removal, but ordered the gates of the house to be shut, and, with a few friends, betook himself to arms. The houses of the nobility in Hindostan are surrounded by strong walls; and, in fact, are a kind of small forts. The vizier's troops found it therefore extremely difficult to reduce the prince. He was besieged closely for two days; and, finding that he could not defend himself much longer from the thousands that surrounded the house, he formed the gallant resolution to cut his way through the enemy.
He imparted his intentions to his friends, but they shrunk from his proposal as impracticable. At last, six of them, seeing him resolved to attempt this desperate undertaking alone, promised to accompany him. On the morning of the third day, they mounted their horses within the court. The gate was suddenly thrown open, and they issued forth sword in hand, with the prince at their head. He cut his way through thousands of Ghazi's troops, with only the loss of one of his gallant followers. Raja Ramnat, and Seid Ali, were the two principal men concerned in this extraordinary exploit; the other four being common horsemen. Seid Ali was wounded, but four and the prince escaped without any hurt.
The prince having thus forced his way through the vizier's army, issued out of the city, and arrived at a place, called Vizierabad, about six crores from the suburbs. Ittul Raw, the Mahrattor chief, lay encamped with ten thousand horse at Vizierabad. Ittul had been hired as a mercenary by the vizier, to support him in his tyrannical proceedings: but resenting Ghazi's breach of promise to the prince, and not being regularly paid, he now thought of plundering the country under the sanction of Ali Gohar's name. He received him, therefore, with very great respect, and promised to support him.
The prince, and Ittul Raw, accordingly continued, for the space of six months, to raise contributions on the provinces to the south of Delhi: but as the petty chiefs of villages had, during the confusions of the empire, constructed mud forts, whither they retired with their families and effects, at the approach of danger, the Mahrattors found great difficulty in supporting themselves, as none of those forts could be reduced without a regular siege, in which they were very little skilled. Ittul Raw, tired of this kind of unprofitable war, proposed to the prince to retire to Gualiêr, where the Mahrattors had now established a government, promising to give him a tract of country for his maintenance. Ali Gohar thanked the Mahrattor for his generous proposal, but declined to accept of it.
His eyes were now turned to another quarter. Nigib ul Dowla, who had, at the king's request, betrayed Ghazi ul Dien to Abdalla, was, upon the reinstatement of the vizier in his office, obliged to fly to his jagier of Secundra, between the rivers, about forty crores below Delhi. The prince looked upon him as the most proper person to conduct his affairs. He accordingly took leave of Ittul Raw, crossed the Jumna, arrived at Secundra, and was received with great respect by Nigib ul Dowla, who, however, did not think proper to join heartily in his cause.
To return to the transactions at Delhi: Ahmet Abdalla had no sooner settled his affairs, than he prepared for another expedition into Hindostan. He resolved to support his army with the plunder of that country, and to keep them in action there for other enterprizes more arduous. He accordingly marched from Candahar, and, in the month of Ribbi ul awil, 1174, arrived in the environs of Delhi. The unhappy Allumgire applied to him for relief; and, if possible, exaggerated his own misfortunes, and the unheard of villainies of his vizier. He, at the same time, by his emissaries, stirred up factions in the army of Ghazi, who had marched out of the city to give battle to Abdalla. The discerning mind of that minister soon penetrated into the king's machinations against him. He did not for a moment hesitate what to do; his hands had already been imbrued in blood, and he started not at murder. He resolved to take off the king, and then to let future events direct his line of action.
Though the king was in some measure a prisoner, he was permitted to keep his guards and a great retinue of servants. They pitied his misfortunes, and became firmly attached to his interest. Abdalla, who was near with his army, seemed to give some encouragement to Allumgire, and that prince's party acquired strength every day. The vizier saw himself hemmed in upon all sides by enemies; he, therefore, thought it high time to assassinate his master.—He knew the weakness and superstition of the mind of Allumgire. He, therefore, trumped up a story concerning a Fakier, who prophesied and wrought miracles at the Kottulah of Ferose Shaw. The poor enthusiastic king, just as Ghazi expected, expressed a great desire to see the holy Fakier. As it would derogate from the reputation of the pretended saint, to pay a visit, even to a king; Allumgire resolved to confer upon him that piece of respect.—But he had no sooner entered the apartment where the holy impostor sat, than two assassins started from behind a curtain, cut off his head with a scimiter, and threw his body, out of a back window, upon the sands of the Jumna. It lay there two days without interment; none daring to pay the last office to the remains of their unfortunate king. This tragedy was acted at Delhi, in the month of Ribbi ul Sani, 1174.
Such was the end of Allumgire, who, in an age of peace and tranquillity, might have lived with some reputation, and have died with the character of a saint. But the times required uncommon abilities in a king, and the most vigorous exertion of the manly faculties of the soul; neither of which that unhappy monarch in any degree possessed. His struggles, therefore, against the ambition of Ghazi, were puerile and impotent. Had he employed the assassin against the breast of that treacherous minister, justice would have warranted the blow; had he possessed courage to have aimed it with his own hand, a thousand opportunities were not wanting. What then can be said in favor of a man, who durst not make one manly effort for his authority, or resent indignities which he daily received in person?
The perfidious vizier ordered the body of the king, after lying two days exposed on the sand of the Jumna, to be privately interred. He then took another prince of the blood, and placed him upon the throne, by the name of Shaw Jehan.