Muhammad Shah (1719-1748)
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MUHAMMAD SHAH (1719-1748) THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY ZAHIRUDDIN MALIK Under the Supervi•ion of PROF. SH. A· RASHID DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 1'~ Jr r.l"\.~""'_.. ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY OCTOBER, 1958 T200 T ^oo «~*~~V~-.t O^U^,^ N^TLooM ^^ ^* A t re; ^^-^t . H4W^)V, ,^ij^ Deputy Libnruu Kll.S':i:- ' : -, •.<•'> 1 1r< Cn** ' •ortU *** 19 .H " m* CHECKED 199S-97 CONTENTS. Preface. i-xvi Introduction. 1-33 1.Rival Political Factions. 2. Challenge to the Empire. 3. Marathas. 4. Repression and Reconcilation of Rajput Rajas. 5. The Jats. 6. The Bundelas. 7. Suppression of the Sikhs. 8. Deposition of Farrukh- Siyar. Chaster I. 34-63 Accession anri Early Years. 1. Early Life. 2. Accession. 3. His Relations v/ith the Saiyid brothers. 4. Compromise with Raja Jai Singh. 5. Revolt of Raja Chabella Ram and Peace made with Girdhar Bahadur. 6. Conflict between Nizamul Mulk and Saiyid brothers. 7. The Revolt of Nizamul Mulk, 8. Nizamul Hulk's victory over Dilawar Ali Khan, 9. Defeat and Death of A^lam Ali Khan. Chapter II. 64-91. The Fall of the Saiyid Brothers. 1, Assassination of Husain Ali Khan. 2. Battle of Hasanpur. 3. The Character of the Saiyid brothers. 4. The Wizarat of Muhammad Amin Khan. Charter III. 92-111. The Wizarat of Nizamul Mulk.1721-1724. 1. Opposition of Kokiji to his Reforms. Chapter IV. 112-135. Hizamul Mulk in the Deccan. 1724-1732. 1. Nizamul Mulk's victory over Mubariz Khan. 2, His interference in the affairs of Gujrat. 3. His secret Pact with the Peshwa. Chapter V. 136-167. Expansion of Maratha Power. 1. Gujrat. 2. Malwa. 3. Bundelkhand. 4. Maratha incursions on the Eastern Provinces. Chapter VIt 168-186. Ra.lputana. Rohilkhand and the Pun.lab. 1. The Revolt of Raja Ajit Singh. 2. Rise of Raja Jai Singh. 3. His Relations with the Karathas. 4. Fails to create unity among Rajput Chiefs, 5. Rohilkhand. 6. Punjab. Chapter VII. 187-237. Foreign Invasions. Nadir Shah's invasion. 1. The Frontier Provinces under Muhammad Shah. 2. The Real Motives of his invasion. 3. The invasion. 4. Causes of the Indian Defeat. 5. Aftermath. 6. Ascendency of Persian Faction in the Imperial Court. 7. The invasion of Ahmad Shah Abdali. Chapter VIII. 238-267. Administration. 1. Revenue Administration. 2. Jagir System. 3. Trade and Industries. 4. The Army - Character and weapons and Methods of war. Chapter IX. 268-307. Society and Culture. 1. Social conditions. 2. Religious conditions. 3. Revival of Religious learning. 4. Different Orders of Sufism - Chishtiah. 5. Revival of the Silslah in the 18th Century. 6. Nizamuddin Aurangabadi. 7» 7. Shah Fakhruddin of Delhi. 8. Naqshbandi Silslah. 9. Shah Wali-Ullah. 10. Khwaja Mir Dard. ll.Mirza Mazhar. 12. Literature, Growth of Urdu Literature. 13. Sauda. 14» Mir Dard. 15. Mir Taqi Mir. 16. Periian Literature. 17, Music, IS. Astronomy and Astrology. 19. Architecture. Chapter X. 308-320. Character and estimate of Muhammad Shah. Appendix - Bibliography. ABBREVIATIONS. Ashob l-'uharrmacS Baksh Ashob, Ahval ilhwai-ul-Khaqaqin Fay an I;ayan-i-V;aqai Duff Grant Duff Fathiya Tarith-i-Fathiya y Fadiqat FacHqat-ui-Alam Fazin Shaikh Fazin Imacl Im ad- us- S aad at Ijacl K.K. Khafi Khan K am war Fuhatnriacl Had! Khan Kamwar Hi* hi Is Anancl Ram Kukhlis K.U. Paasir-ul-Umra Riyas Riyas-us-Salatin. Reu ' B.P.Reu 5.P.D. Selections from Feshwa Daftar Siyar Sly arul-Kuta- Akhkhierifi ?,V. ?arikh-i-Ku?.affari. Warld Kuhamrcad Shafi v'arld. P R S F A C B. The reign of Muhammad Shah (1719-1748), constitutes an era of significant political am" cultural developments in the history of the Mughul Empire. The imperial authority at Delhi which had begun to show signs of decline during the last years of Alamgir's reign virtually collapsed during this period. Lav and order bofke down, revenue administra tion went out of gear, the state treasury became deplete, and the army lost its morale. Foreign invasions further aggravated the situation and the anti-Mughul forces gathered momentum. The Karathas led their forces into the North with greater confidence and least fear of resistance. The provincial governors became restless and adopted a defiant attitude towards the Central authority. Centrifugal tenden cies appeared in almost every sphere of political life. During this period again, foundations of those political religious and literary movements were laid which dominate the history of the succeeding period and shape its religious and political outlook. Notwithstanding^ its great significance, no attempt has so far been made to write a comprehensive and connected account of the reign of Muhammad Shah, though some good studies have appeared dealing only with particular movements or events. Dr.Dighe's Peshwa Ba.ii Rao represents the Maratha case in their long struggle with the Mughuls. Rely ing mainly on Marathi sources, the author has attempted to study the Maratha-Mughul relations. Dr.Sriv&stava's First Two Nawabs of Oudh and Dr.Khan's Nlzaraul M^lk Asaf Jah, First, deal with the history of only two provinces of the -ii. Empire. Notwithstanding the thoroughness and accuracy which characterise the study of his Later Kughulst Irvine, has merely collected extracts -"rem Fersian texts and narrated the political events without trying to interpret* them. He has not touched the social and cultural problems of the period, nor has he discussed the administrative and economic issues. The age of I'uh&mmad Shah is important from the point of view of pclitical upheavals, but the degenerate culture, religious revivalism and literary progress add their own interest to it. I have tried to make an exhaustive study of the history of this period, in all its aspects - political, economic, social, religious and cultural-on the basis of original sources. I have surveyed political events and general conditions of the period fro.-* the foot of Muhammad Shah's throne. For it was in the Court and the camp that a historian has to look for the rapidly changing political and military changes as well the social, cultural and economic set apt of Indian society. The Patna, Haiderabad, illigara, and Sitamau libraries have yielded abundant material which had not so far been utilised for writing history of this period. This material may be classified as under: 1. Contemporary Fersian Records* (a) Jaipur Papers i.e. collection of letters, Farraans, Arsdasts etc, relating to the history of the Empire in general, and Rajputana in particular. (b) Large number of original documents in the 4sfia State Library and Daftar-i-Diwani of haiderabad. (c) Manuscripts pertaining to political and cultural -iii- history of the period in the Orlential Public Library, Bankipore, (d) Books relating to the Rohillas and the Afghans in the (Abdul-Salam and Subhan-allah Collections* M.U. Aligarh. (e) Rotographs of relevant KSS. belonging to Eritish Museum. II* Selections from the Peshwa Daftar and Aetihasik Patra - Vyavahar (in Marathi). III, Urdu and Persian Tasskirahs .and Divans composed during this period, IV. Religious Literatura - Works of Shah Wall--Oil ah, Khwaja Kir Dard, Kulla Niaamuddin of Fr.angi Mahal, and of Shah Kalimullah and Shah Fakhruddin, These works have been examined and utilized in the preparation of this work. The contemporary Urdu and Persian literature and religious works have been for the first time used here for historical purposes. They are a store-house of valuable information regarding not only political events but social and cultural matters. This literature has proved fruitful in correcting the views and reflections of most of the contem porary writers, who wrote for their patrons and criticised their rivals. A careful study of this source material has led to conclusions different from those derived from reading works by partisan writers. In the following pages an attempt has been made to present a comprehensive account of the life of Muhammad Shah and the events of his reign. In introduction, a general survey of the conditions, political and economic, that pre- -iv- vailed in India at the time of Muhammad Shah's accession has been made and the problems with which he was confronted have been discussed. The first two chapters deal with the Smperor's friction with the Saiyii brothers and their ultimate downfall. In the light of the newly discovered material, it has been proved that for Muhammad Shah there was no other alternative but to use the parties hostile to the Saiyids to bring about their downfall. The third and fourth chapters contain a detailed account of ITizamul Kulk, his Wisarat, his attempts to improve conditions of the government, his conflict with Muhammad Shah and the establishment of an independent Kingdom in the Deccan. The fifth chapter on Maratha expansion is based on a careful study cf the contemporary Persian and Marathi sources, k fairly detailed account of Maratha invasions of Malwa, Gujrat, Bundelkhand, Bengal and Orissa and an estimate of their effects on the political set-up of the Snipire has been attempted. It has been shown that the real motives of the Marathas v/ere political and economic and not religious, and they miserably failed in establishing a stable power which could guarantee peace and order in the conquered territories. The question why the imperial armies, one after another, suffered crushing defeats at the hands of of the Marathas has been examined. It was generally held that Muharamad Shah was entirely responsible for this, but a care ful study of the sources has proved that the corrupt and clique-ridden bureaucracy was the main cause of this. In the sixth chapter an attempt has been made to indicate the Mughul-Rajput relations and their bearing on the general history of the period; the rise of Raja Jai Singh, his rela- -v- tions with the Marathas, and his friendship with Samsam-ud- Daulah, the leader of the Indian party.