And by way of censure, to serve as a deterrent, the Emperor reduced the Prince’s manṣab by 500. The meanings of Sauda-i-Khāṣ and Sauda-i-‘Am are as follows: “All the goods which arrived on board the mercantile ships at the port of Chatgaon (Chittagong), &c., were bought up on behalf of the Prince,* and were styled Sauda-i-Khāṣ; afterwards those very goods were re-sold to the merchants of this country, when they were called Sauda-i-‘Am. When the news-letter containing the Emperor’s signature came to be perused by the Prince, the latter abandoned the afore­said trade. The Emperor Aurangzeb appointed Mirza Hadi to the office of Dīwān of the Province of Bengal, after bestowing on him the title of Kār Talab Khān. The Mīrza was a saga­cious man, and an officer of honesty and integrity. He had already held the office of Dīwān of the Ṣūbah of Orissa. In several Mahals pertaining to Orissa he had effected retrenchments in expenditure, and had thus become prominent amongst the Imperial officials. He was held matchless in probity and rectitude of purpose. Rendering eminent services, in periods of siege and war, he had got into the good graces of Emperor Aurangzeb. At that period, the reins of the administration of Financial and Revenue affairs, the power over the assessment and collection of revenue, and payments into and disbursements from the Imperial Treasury lay in the hands of the Dīwan of the Ṣubah. The Nazim had jurisdiction over the Procedure and Administration of Political affairs, such as the repression and chastisement of the refractory and the disobedient, and the extirpation of rebels and tyrants. Except with regard to the Jagīrs attached to the Nizāmat and personal Manṣabs and presents, the Nazim had no power to meddle with the Imperial revenue. Both the Nazim and the Dīwān were guided in the administration of the affairs of the Ṣubah by a Procedure Code* that was issued year after year by the Emperor, and they were not permitted to deviate from, or infringe, them by a hair-breadth. Kar Talab Khān, being appointed by Emperor to be Dīwan of the Ṣubah of Bengal, arrived at Jahangīrnagar (Dacca). After waiting on the Prince, he devoted himself to the administration of the fiscal affairs. And the remittances into, and disbursements from, the Treasury being in charge of the above­mentioned Khān, the Prince’s control over the income and expendi­ture ceased. The abovementioned Khān, finding that the country was without thorns, and fertile and rich, commenced re-assessment, and deputed sagacious and thrifty Collectors to every Parganah and Chaklah and Sarkār. And after assessing accurately the Imperial revenue and sair taxes, he remitted one Kror of rupees to the Emperor, and prepared a complete Revenue-roll of the Khalsah mahals (crown lands) and of the Jagirs. In former times, owing to the badness of the climate of Bengal, the higher officers did not care to seek for service in this Province, as they fancied it not only fatal to human lives, but as actual haunts of demons. Therefore, the Chief Imperial Dīwāns, by way of inducement, con­ferred numerous Jagīrs in Bengal on the Bengal Manṣadars. In consequence of this policy, very few Khalsah mahals were left in Bengal, so that the revenue of the mahals of this Ṣubah did not suffice to meet either the pay of the soldiers under the Prince, or that of the naqdi troops. Therefore, their pay had to be provided for from revenues of other Ṣubahs. The aforesaid Khan submitted a scheme to the Emperor suggestiug allotment of lands in Orissa on account of Jagīrs to the Bengal Manṣabdars;* and this scheine met with the Emperor’s approval. The Khān* thereon resumed all Jagirs in Bengal, together with their sair revenues, save and except such as pertained to the Nizamat and the Dīwānī,* and allotted in lieu thereof Jagirs to the Bengal mansabdars in Orissa, the soil whereof was comparatively worse, poorer, more sterile, and less fertile. By this ingenious stroke of policy, the Khān effected a big surplus in the Bengal revenue to the credit of the Emperor, and squeezed out the profits from the Bengal Zamindars and Jagirdars. And by minute attention to details, he effected considerable retrenchments under the several Heads of the Public Expenditure. Year after year, he enhanced the Revenue-assessments of the Ṣubah, and thus became the recipient of Imperial favours. When the Prince (‘Azimu-sh-Shān) found his control over the Bengal revenue diminished, he was con­stantly in a bad humour. Besides, the rewards which the Khān received for his good services from the Emperor weighed as thorns of envy on the heart of the Prince, and kindled the fire of his jealousy. The Prince schemed to kill the Khān, but failed in his aim. The Prince won over to his side the Commander of Naqdi troops named Abdul Wāhed and the Naqdi Contingent under the latter, by holding out promises of rewards and increase in pay. These naqdi troops were old Imperial servants. From pride of their strength and from confidence in their number, they did not truckle to the Nāzim or Dīwan of Dacca, and much less to others. From their conceit of being dexterous swordsmen, they fancied others no match for themselves. For their nonchalance and bravado,* they were widely known. These naqdi troops were incited to waylay the Khān when opportunity might offer, under the pretext of demand of pay, and to kill him. This wicked Contingent at the instigation of the Prince were on the look-out for an opportunity to kill the Khān. The Khān adopting precau­tionary measures, always carried in his retinue an escort of armed troops, and never failed to be on the alert whilst going to and from the Darbar. One day, however, early of a morning, he rode out unattended to wait on the Prince. On the way, a corps of naqdis, under pretext of demanding pay, raised a tumult, and crowded in round the Khān. The latter, displaying great nerve, faced them and drove them away. Ascertaining that the originator of this disturbance was the Prince, he in fury and rage proceeded to the latter. Discarding all official decorum, in an avenging mood, he placed his hand on his dagger, and sat knee to knee with the Prince, and added: “This riot was due to your instigation, desist from this course, or else at this moment I will take your life and give mine.” The Prince saw no way of escape, and from fear of the Emperor’s resentment he trembled like the aspen. Summoning Abdul Wāhed with his corps, the Prince publicly forbade him from creating tumult and disturbance, and set about soothing the Khān by display of courtesy and affability. The Khān, being freed from anxiety arising from the hostility of his enemies, proceeded to the Diwan-i-Am, demanded the account of naqdi troops, levied their pay from Zamĩndars, and paying them off cashiered them. And he sent the Emperor an account of their meeting, embodying the same both in the Court-Record as well as in the News-sheet.* He also submitted to the Emperor a Proceeding signed by the leaders of the riot, together with his own Report. Fearing the ill-humour of the Prince, the Khān resolved to keep himself aloof from the former, and to stay at a safe distance from him. After much deliberation and consultation, he fixed on the excellent site of Makhsusābad, where news of all the four quarters of the Ṣubah could be easily procurable, and which, like the pupil of the eye, was situate in the centre of the important places of the Ṣubah. It had on the north-west the chaklāh of Akbarnagar (Rajmahal) and the passes of Sakrigali and Tīlingadhi, the ‘Key’ to Bengal, on the south-west, Bīrbhūm, Pachit and Bishanpur, the road to Jharkand, and the forests and hilly passes for the ingress and egress of free-booters and armies from the Dakhin and Hindustān, on the south-east, the chaklāh of Bardwan, the road to Orissa, and Hughli and Hijli (ports for the arrival of ships of Christian and other traders), and the chaklāhs of Jasar (Jessore) and Bhūsnah, and on the east the chaklāh of Jahangīr­nagar (Dacca), which then constituted the Viceregal Capital of this Ṣubah, and to which pertained frontier outposts like those of Islamābād or Chittagong, and Silhat and Rangāmātī, and on the north, the chaklāhs of Ghorāghāt and Rangpur and Kuch Behar. The above mentioned Khān, without taking permission from the Prince, migrated to Makhsusabad with the officers of Zamīndars and Qanūngos and Revenue officials in charge of crown-lands, and settled down there. But when the news of the disturbance created by the naqdis reached the Emperor in the Dakhin through the medium of News-letters and Court-records, and through the Report of Kar Talab Khān containing denunciation of the Prince, an Impe­rial edict couched in threatening language was addressed to the Prince to the following effect: “Kar Talab Khān is an officer of the Emperor; in case a hair-breadth injury, in person or property, happens to him, I will avenge myself on you, my boy.” And peremptory orders were also passed by the Emperor to the effect that the Prince should quit Bengal and withdraw to Behar. Leaving Sarbaland Khān* with Sultān Farukh-sir as his Deputy in Bengal, the Prince with Sultān Karīmu-d-dīn, his household attendants and bodyguard set out from Jahangīrnagar, and reached Mūngīr (Monghyr). Finding there the elegant white and black marble edifices* built by Shāh Shuja to be in a dilapidated condi­tion, and seeing that a heavy outlay would be needed to set them in order, he did not like to fix his quarters there. And preferring the climate of Patna, which is on the bank of the river Ganges, the Prince fixed his quarters there. With the Emperor’s sanction, he improved that city, named it ‘Azīmabad after himself, and built there a fort with a strong rampart. Kar Talab Khān, at Makhsusabad, after the lapse of a year, prepared the Annual Abstract Accounts, and started for the Imperial Camp.* And preparing the Revenue-Assessment papers, the Revenue-Roll, the estate Ledgers, and the Cash-Account of Receipts and Disbursements of the Ṣubah, he desired Darab Narain, the Qanūngo of the Ṣubah of Bengal, to sign them. Taking advantage of the system then in force that the Accounts relating to the financial and internal administration of the country were not passed by the Imperial Central Dīwan, unless they bore the signatures of Qanūngos, that mischievous and shortsighted fool refused to sign the papers, unless his demand for three laks of rupees on account of his fees as a Qanūngo were satisfied. The Khān under stress of necessity promised to pay one lak of rupees on his return from the Emperor, but Darab Narain would not accept this arrrangement, and withheld his signature. But Jīnarain Qanūngo, who was a Joint-Qanūngo* with Darab Narain, using foresight, signed the Accounts. Regardless of the hostility of the Prince, and regardless of the refusal of Darab Narain to sign the Account-papers, the Khān started for the Imperial Camp, presented gifts and tributes of Bengal to the Emperor and to the Vizier and other Imperial Ministers, and also paid to the Emperor the Revenue-balances and profits of the Jagirs. And making over the Account-papers of the Ṣubah to the Mastaufi* and to the Dīwan-i-Kul,* and proving his good and faithful services, the Khān became the recipient of further Imperial favours, and was appointed by the Emperor Deputy to the Prince in the Nīzamat of the Ṣubah of Bengal and Orissa, in addition to the office of Dīwan. He was also given the title of Murshid Qūlī Khān, and further received a valuable Khilat, with a standard and a kettle-drum. His manṣab was also raised.