Šāhnavāz Ḫān Awrangābādī, Navvāb Ṣamṣām al-Dawlah Mīr ʿAbd al-Razzāq d. 1171/1758

Mīr ʿAbd al-Razzāq Awrangābādī (entitled Navvāb Ṣamṣām al-Dawlah Šāhnavāz Ḫān) entered the service of the Niẓām al-Mulk Āṣaf Jah (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 Jah’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 Diwan 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.

Works

Maʾāir al-umarāʾ     Literary Works on the Rulers

Completed 1194/1780 by ʿAbd al-Ḥayy.

Maʾāir al-umarāʾ is a collection of biographies of eminent Mughal nobles from the time of Akbar to the author’s own times. The work remained unfinished at the time of the author’s death and was completed by Ğulām-ʿAlī “Āzād” Bilgrāmī. In 1194/1780, Šāhnavāz Ḫān’s son (ʿAbd al-Ḥayy) completed an enlarged second edition of the work.

Munšaʾāt     Compositions

Munšaʾāt is “a collection of historical letters”.