When the Ṣūbaḥ of Bengal was assigned, in the shape of Jagīr, to Nawab Mahābet Khān and his son Khānāhzād Khān, they, parting company with Prince Parviz, marched to Bengal. And orders were given to the zamindars of that country to cease impeding Dārāb Khān, and to allow him to come. Dārāb Khān, without any impediment, came to Māhabet Khān. But when the news of Dārāb’s coming to Māhabet Khān reached the Emperor, the latter sent an order to Māhabet Khān to the following effect: “What expediency dost thou see in sparing that villain? It behoves you, instantly on reading this, to send the head of that mischievous rebel to the Imperial presence.” Māhabet Khān, carrying out the Emperor’s order, beheaded Dārāb Khān, and sent the latter’s head to the Emperor. And as Māhabet Khān had not sent to the Emperor the elephants that he had captured in Bengal, and had defaulted in payment of a large amount of the Imperial Revenue, the Emperor passed orders to the effect that ‘Arab Dast Ghaib* should go to Māhabet Khān, confiscate the elephants and send them to the Emperor, and tell Māhabet Khān, that if he got proper accounts, he should submit them personally to the Emperor, and pay up all Revenue arrears to the Imperial exchequer. Māhabet Khān first sent the elephants to the Emperor, and subsequently after appointing his son Khānahzād Khān to be Ṣubadar of Bengal, set out to meet the Emperor with four or five thousand blood-thirsty Rajput cavalry, and resolved inwardly that in case any harm or injury were attempted against his honour, property or life, he with his family and children would be prepared to face martyrdom. When news of his arrival reached the Emperor, order was passed that he would not be granted an audience, so long as he did not pay up the Revenue arrears to the Imperial Exchequer, and so long as he did not redress by exercise of justice the public grievances against him. Afterwards summoning to his presence Barkhurdar, son of Khwajā* Nakshbandi, to whom Māhabet Khān, without* the Emperor’s approval, had betrothed his daughter, the Emperor had him disgracefully whipped and thrown into prison, with his neck bound and head bare. In the morning, Māhabet Khān rode out with his cavalry, and without making obeisance to the Emperor, in an insolent and daring manner broke open the door of the Emperor’s Private Chamber,* entered it with four hundred or five hundred Rajputs, saluted the Emperor in hunting and travelling suit, and marched back towards his own residence.* In short as the Imperial army had gone towards Thatah, Māhabet Khān was ordered to join it there. In the meantime, Prince Parviz died. As Sharīf Khān* had entrenched himself in the fort of Thatah, Shāh Jāhān’s army marched back to the Dakhin. Māhabet Khān after reaching Thatah sent letters to Shāh Jāhān, avowing his loyalty, and Shāh Jāhān being conciliated, Māhabet Khān entered the former’s service. In consequence, the Ṣūbah of Bengal was transferred from Khānahzād Khān, son of Māhabet Khān, to Mukkaram Khān,* son of Muazzam Khān, and the Province of Patna was entrusted to Mirza Rustam Ṣafavī.* It is said that on the day the patent transferring the Ṣūbahdarī of Bengal from Khānahzād Khān to Nawab Mukarram Khān was drawn up at ShāhJahānābād (Delhi), Shāh Neamatullah* Fīruzpurī composing a Qaṣidah (an Ode) in praise of Khānahzād Khān, transmitted it to the latter, and in this Qaṣidah, there was one line which was indicative of Khānahzād’s supercession, and that line was this:—
When Khānahzād Khān perused the above lines, he anticipated his supercession, and made preparations to pack up. And after one month the Imperial order of recall was received by him.
In the 21st year of the Emperor’s accession, corresponding to 1030 A.H., Mukkaram Khān was appointed to the Nezāmat of the Ṣūbah of Bengal. Many months had not elapsed, when by chance, an Imperial firman came to his address. The Khān in order to receive it, advanced.* As the time for afternoon prayer had arrived, he ordered his servants to moor his boat towards the bank, so that he might turn to business, after finishing prayer. The boatmen attempted to take the barge towards the bank. At this time, a strong wind blew, and sent the boat adrift. A severe gale coupled with a storm-wave, caused the boat to sink. Mukkaram Khān with his companions and associates was drowned, and not a single man escaped.*
When news of Mukkram Khān being drowned reached the Emperor in the 22nd year of the Emperor’s accession corresponding to 1036 A.H., Nawab Fidaī Khān was appointed Viceroy of the Ṣūbah of Bengal. Since at that period, besides rare silkstuffs of this country, and elephants and aloes-wood and ambergris and other presents and gifts, no specie used to be presented to the Emperor, at this time, contrary to the former practice, it was settled that every year five lacs of rupees as present to the Emperor and five lacs of rupees as present to Nūr Jahān Begam— in all ten lacs of rupees should be remitted to the Imperial Exchequer.* When on the 27th* of the month of Ṣafar 1037 A.H., Emperor Nuruddin Muhammad Jahangir, whilst returning from Kashmīr, died at Rajor, his son Abul Muzzāfar Shahābuddīn Shāh Jahān (who was then in the Dakhin) marched out, and through the noble exertions of Āṣaf Jāh Āṣaf Khān* (after destroying and extirpating his brothers) ascended the Imperial throne at Delhī. Then the Ṣūbah of Bengal was transferred from Fidaī Khān to Qāsim Khān.
When Qāsim Khān succeeded to the Nizāmat of Bengal, like his predecessors in office, he devoted himself to the affairs of administration, and to the putting down of disturbances. In the sixth year of Shāh Jahān’s accession, he marched against the Christians and Portuguese who had become insolent in the port of Hughli, and after fighting expelled and defeated them. As a reward for this service, he received favours from the Emperor, but he soon after died.
After this, Nawab ‘Azam Khān* was appointed to the Nizāmat of Bengal. As he could not properly discharge the duties of a Governor, the work of administration fell into confusion. The Assamese, making an incursion, invaded and ravaged many of the pargannahs within the Imperial domains, and along with much riches and effects captured and carried away ‘Abdus Salam,* who had gone on an expedition to Gauhatī with 1,000 Cavalry and numerous infantry. When this news reached the Emperor, the latter superseded ‘Azam Khān, and appointed Islām Khān, who had much experience in the work of administration and was one of the principal ‘Omarā of Jahangīr, to the office of Ṣūbadār of Bengal.
When Nawab Islām Khān was appointed Ṣūbadār of Bengal, the Ṣūbah, he vigorously set himself to the work of administration. He organised a punitive expedition against the refractory Assamese, and also planned to conquer Kuch Behar and Assam. Marching towards those tracts and fighting many battles, he chastised those wicked tribes, recovered the Imperial mahals which had been over-run by the latter, and marched against Kuch Behar. After much fightings, he stormed numerous forts, and then extirpated the refractory Assamese. At this juncture, Islām Khān* was recalled by Shāh Jahān, for the purpose of being installed in the office of Vazir. And order was sent to Nawab Saif Khān* to the effect that the Nizamat of Bengal was assigned to Prince Muhammad Shuj‘a, and that until the latter’s arrival, he should, as Prince’s Deputy, carry on the work of Bengal administration. As Islām Khān, in the very midst of fighting, had to march back to the Imperial presence, the work of Assam conquest was left incomplete, and his departure was a signal for fresh disturbances amongst the Assamese. This happened towards the end of the 11th year of Shāh Jahān’s reign.