Šāhnavāz Ḫān Awrangabādī

Mīr ʿAbd al-Razzāq Awrangabādī (entitled Navvāb Ṣamṣām al-Dawlah Šāhnavāz Ḫān) entered the service of the Niẓām al-Mulk Āṣaf Jāh (Niẓām of Haidarabad) at an early age. From then on, he became heavily involved in the exigencies of Deccan politics and oscillated from positions of honor and ostracism, which began with his relationship with Āṣaf Jāh’s rebel son and eventual successor, Naṣīr Jang. Throughout his career Šāhnavāz Ḫān held various positions associated with the ruling Niẓām’s, the highest position being that of Dīwān of the Deccan under Naṣīr Jang. In the end, however, Šāhnavāz Ḫān fell to the conspiratorial plans of his enemies and, with the help of the French, was murdered in 1171/1758.