Nawāb Jafar Khān, hearing of the accession of Muḥammad Shāh to the Imperial throne, sent presents and tribute, and received in return patents confirming him in his former offices, and adding thereto the Ṣubahdāri of Orissa. In short, owing to the undue influence exercised over the administration by Syeds Ḥusain ‘Ali Khān and ‘Abdu-l-lāh Khān from the reign of Farrukh-sir till that period, the affairs of the Empire had suffered much in eclat, and owing to constant changes in Emperors the administration of the country had fallen into chaos. The people of Bengal were, however, free from the troubles incidental to revolutions in the kingly office, as Jafar Khān ruled over that Province with great vigour. In his time no harm ensued to Bengal at the hands of the Mahrattas. The Christian Danes who had no factory in Bengal, and carried on commercial transactions through the agency of the French, with the advice of the latter, offering nazar, applied for permission to erect a factory at Bangibāzār.* Obtaining sanad from Nawāb Jafar Khān, they erected mud-walled houses, established themselves there, and laid the foundation of a factory with strong towers, surrounded by a deep and broad moat, into which the river water flowed, and wherein sloops could move about. Working day and night, and spending much money, they set about building the same. Placing obliquely the cap of vanity on the head of pride, they gave themselves airs at the expense of other Christian nationalities, and bragged they would sell woollen-stuffs, velvet, and silk-stuffs* at the rate of gunny-cloth.* The English and Dutch Christians, seeing the loss in their own markets, conspired to have the former’s factory closed, intrigued with the Mughal merchants, and undertook to pay themselves their nazars. Relating to Ahsānu-l-lāh Khān, Faujdār of the Port of Hooghly, tales of their bloodshed and oppression in Europe and also exaggerated accounts of their having erected forts and towers with moats at Bangibāzār, and of their past misdeeds in the Emperor’s domin­ions, they induced Ahsanu-l-lah Khān to write to Nawāb Jafar Khān, and themselves petitioned the latter to issue mandates in the name of the above Faujdār to close the factory of the Danes. Although Ahsānu-l-lāh Khān sent agents to close the factory, the Danes not relying on their message, failed to close their factory; at length the Faujdār deputed his own Deputy, named Mīr Jafar, to the Danes. The Chief of the Danes, who was styled a General, mounted cannons on the heights of the ramparts, and prepared to fight. The aforesaid Mīr, erecting entrenchments facing the ramparts, commenced fighting with cannons, rockets, arrows, and muskets. But the soldiers of the Mīr could not approach the factory, owing to constant shower of cannon-balls and rockets. And the ways for the ingress and egress of the vessels of merchants in the river became closed The Christian French secretly leagued with the Danes and assisted the latter with sup­plies of shot, powder, and armaments. The Danes captured, with the secret help of the French, Khwājab Muḥammad Kamil, eldest son of Khwājah Muḥammad Fazal, who happened to pass and repass the river by boat. Owing to this, all the Mughal, Armenian, and other merchants made great exertions to effect his release, and fearing lest he might be slain, for two or three days a truce was arranged. The aforesaid Khwājah, agreeing to pay a large ransom, and also promising to bring about peace, was released from the custody of the Danes. Then the Christian French, dreading the resentment of the Faujdār, deserted the Danes. Mīr Jafar, advancing his entrenchments, with volleys of cannon-balls, rockets, arrows, and musket-balls, reduced the garrison to straits, and cut off all supplies both by land and by water. When the garrison were reduced to starvation, their Indian servants all fled, and the General alone with thirteen Danes remained in the factory. Though reduced to such straits and numbers, they with their own hands kept up a perpetual shower of cannon-balls and rockets, and allowed no opportunity to the attacking force to lift up their heads, and far less to advance out of their entrenchments or to assault the factory. For some time the fighting continued in this wise. By chance, a cannon-ball discharged from Mīr Jafar’s entrenchment hit the Danish General on the right arm, and broke it, and his hand became in consequence useless. The General* was obliged, in conse­quence, at dead of night, to scuttle out of the factory, and, embark­ing on board a vessel, he set sail for his own native country. Next morning, the factory was captured; but save and except some cannon-balls, nothing of value was found. Mīr Jafar, rasing the gateway and the tower of the factory, returned victorious and triumphant. About that time, news arrived that the Afghans, Shuj‘āit Khān and Nijāt Khān, zamindars of Tonkī Sarūbpūr,* in the Sarkar of Maḥmūdābād, who were notorious for their lawlessness, had plundered the revenue of Maḥmūdābād amounting to sixty thousand rupees, whilst on its way to Murshidābād. Nawāb Jafar Khān, who thirsted for the blood of thieves and robbers, hearing this news, appointed a Superintendent of Dacoity with spies under him, and after ascertaining the reality and origin of this affair, he issued an order to Aḥsānu-l-lāh Khān, Faujdār of the Chaklāh of Hughli, directing their arrest. The aforesaid Khān, ostensibly marching out on a hunting expedition, like a sudden calamity, surprised their stronghold, arrested and captured all the brigands, put them in chains and fetters, mutilated their hands and feet, tied them strongly and securely with pieces of stirrup-leather, and sent them to Nawāb Jafar Khān. The Nawāb imprisoned them for life, and confiscated their treasures. After they were thus banished and extirpated,* the Nawab settled their aforesaid zamīndārī with Rām Jivan. Levying indemnity equal to the plundered revenue from the landholders of the neighbourhood, the Nawab credited it to the Imperial treasury. During the Nawāb’s administration, the names of free-booters, night-marauders, and assassins were blotted out from the annals of the Bengal Satrapy, and the dwellers, both of towns and villages, lived in perfect peace and comfort. The Thanahs of Katwah and Murshidganj, on the highway leading to Bardwān, were established by the Nawāb, in the early part of his Nizāmat, whilst he held the title of Murshid Quli Khān. He established these Thanahs for guarding the above highway, and their control and administration was entrusted by the Nawāb to his special disciple, Muhammad Jān. In that, in the environs of Fanachor, which is on the highway leading from Nadiā to Hughli, in the plantain groves thefts took place in broad daylight, Muhammad Jān established an outpost at Pūpthal, subordinate to the Thanah of Katwah. Capturing the thieves and robbers, and chopping them into bits, Muhammad Jān hanged them on the trees of the highway, to serve as warnings to others. As in his retinue, hatchet-men used to go ahead, he became known as Muhammad Jān Kolharāh. Thieves and robbers used to tremble on hearing of his name. As a propagator of Muhammadan religion, as a strict observer of the religious injunctions, as a friend of scions of good family, as a reliever of the distressed, and as an exterminator of oppressors, Nawāb Jafar Khān was a second Amīra-l-Umarā Shāista Khān. He was strict in the enforcement of his orders, and faithful in the fulfilment of his engagements. He never neglected saying his daily prayers five times, and fasted for three months in the year, and used to completely recite the Qorān. On the 12th and 13th of the lunar months, he used to fast, and on Thursday nights he was vigilant in his prayers. Many nights he used to pass in reciting certain select portions of the Qorān, and he slept little. From morning to midday, he devoted himself daily to transcribing the Qorān. And he used to send, every year, copies of the Qorān transcribed by his hand, together with votive offerings and gifts, through the headmen of the pilgrims and other caravans bound for pilgrimage, to Mecca, Medinah, Najaf, Karballa, Baghdād, Khorāsān, Jidāh, Baṣrah, and other holy places, like Ajmir, Panduah, &c. For each of these places, he allotted votive offerings, endowments, and reciters of the Qorān. The humble author of this History has seen a torn copy of the Qorān, every chapter of which was detached, in the shrine of Hazrat Makhdum Akhi Siraju-d-din, at S‘adu-l-lahpur,* written in large characters in the handwriting of Nawāb Jafar Khān. The Nawāb had in his employ 2,500 reciters of the Qorān, who completely recited the Qorān daily, and corrected what the Nawāb transcribed from the Qorān; and their meals were supplied twice daily from the Nawāb’s own kitchen, and comprised game, birds, and other animals. He shewed a great predilection for the company of Syeds, Shaikhs, the scholarly, and the pious, and he deemed it meritorious to serve them. And from the 1st to the 12th of the month of Rabi’u-l-Awwal, which is the anniversary of the death of the Prophet Muḥammad (Peace be on him!), daily he used to feed the excellent and the venerable Shaikhs, the Ulama, the pious saints, and inviting them from the environs of Murshidābād, he used to receive them with great respect at his banquets, and till they finished their dinners, he used to stand before them in a respectful posture, and to serve them. And every night during that period, from Māhi­nagar to Lālbāgh, on the banks of the river, he used to arrange illuminations with chirāghs, in an elegant fashion, so that from the brightness of the illumination, the altars of the mosques and the pulpits, with the inscriptions of the Qorān engraved thereon, could be read from the other side of the river by spectators, to their great amazement. It is said that he employed more than one lak of labourers to light the chirāghs under the supervision of Nāzir Aḥmad. After sunset, as soon as the gun was fired to signal that the illumination should commence, all the chirāghs were simultaneously lit up in one instant, producing an illusion as if a sheet of light had been unrolled, or as if the earth had become a sky studded with stars. And he constantly consecrated his life to seek the approbation of his Creator and to seek the well-being of his subjects, and to redress the grievances of the oppressed. He used to sign his name with the Shangarfi pen. He exerted himself to render the prices of food-grains cheap, and did not allow rich people to hoard up stocks of grains. Every week, he had the price-current reports of food-grains prepared, and compared them with the prices actually paid by the poor people. If these latter were charged one dām over the prices stated in the price-current reports, he had the dealers, mahaldārs, and weighmen punished in various forms, and had them patrolled through the city, placed upon asses. During his administration, the ruling price of rice was 5 or 6 maunds (of the standard market weight) per rupee, and other articles were similarly cheap, so much so that by spending one rupee in a month, people ate polāo and qaliah daily.* Owing to this cheapness, the poor lived in ease and comfort. And the captains of ships were not permitted to export on their vessels food-grains beyond those needed for actual consumption by those on board the ships. At the period of disembarkation of ships, the Faujdār of the port of Hughli deputed to the harbour a Preventive Officer for the inspection and attachment of the food-grains, in order that no food-grains beyond what were needed for actual consumption on board the ships might be exported. And the Nawab had so much reverence for the Imperial authority, that he never travelled on any of the Imperial flotilla of boats. In the rainy seasons, when the Imperial war-vessels came for review from Jahāngirnagar (Dacca) he used to go up to receive them, and turning his face towards the Imperial Capital he used to offer his salute and presents. And in obedience of the Sacred Law he never indulged in intoxicating liquors, and eschewed things prohibited by the sacred law, neither he saw dancings nor heard singings. In his whole lifetime, besides his one wedded wife, he kept no mistress, and never bestowed his attention on any other woman. Owing to his extremely nice sense of honour, he did not allow eunuchs and women who cannot be lawfully seen to enter his ḥarem. If a female slave went out of his ḥarem once, he did not allow her access to the ḥarem again. In every branch of learning, art, and science he had great profi­ciency. He abstained from delicious and luxurious dishes; nor did he taste anything of luxury except ice-water and ice-preserves. And Khizr Khān, Deputy of Nāzir Muḥammad, was deputed for four months in winter to the mountains of Akbarnagar for storing ice. The Nawab had stores of ice full for twelve months, used ice daily and received his supplies of ice from Akbarnagar. Similarly, in the season of mango-fruit, which is the best of the fruits* of Bengal, the Superintendent of mango-supplies was posted in the Chaklah of Akbarnagar, and he, counting the mangoes of the Khāṣ trees, entered them in the accounts, and shewed their collec­tion and disposal, and the watchmen and carriers, levying the expenses of carriage from the zamindars, sent the sweet and deli­cious mangoes from Maldāh, Katwāh, Ḥusainpur, Akbarnagar, and other places. And the zamīndārs had no power to cut down the Khas mango-trees; on the contrary, the mangoes of all the gardens of the aforesaid Chaklah were attached. And this practice was more rigorously observed in the times of previous Nāzims of Bengal. Even at present,* when the administration of Bengal is virtually in the hands of the Christian English, and only the nominal Nizāmat rests with Nawāb Mubāraku-d-daulah, son of Nawāb J‘āfar Alī Khān,* in the mango-season the Superintendent of the Khāṣ mangoes proceeds to Māldāh on behalf of the aforesaid Nawāb Mubāraku-d-daulah, attaches the mangoes of the Khāṣ trees, and sends them to the Nawāb, and the zamindārs do not go near the Khaṣ mango-trees. But the Superintendent no longer obtains the carriage expense from the Zamindars, nor does he enjoy his former prestige and respect. The roots of oppression were so thoroughly extirpated in the time of Nawāb J‘afar Khān, that the agents of zamindars used to loiter about— from the Naqār Khānah to the Chehal satun,* in quest of the oppressed and of com­plainants. Wherever they came across an oppressed man or a com­plainant, they amicably settled matters with him, and did not leave him to complain to the Nawab. And if the officers of the Courts of justice shewed partiality towards the oppressors, and if the oppressed carried their complaints to the Nawab, the latter instantly redressed their grievances. In administering justice, he did not allow consideration and partiality to be shewn to anyone; he weighed the high and the low evenly in the scale of justice. For instance, it is well known that to avenge the death of an oppressed man, he executed his own son,* and obtained the title of “‘Adālat Gastar” (or Justice-Strewer). He used to dispense justice, basing his orders on the injunction of the Qorān, and on the expounding of the law by Qāzi Muhammad Shārf, who had been appointed to the office of Qāzi by Emperor Aurangzeb, and who was an upright judge and a great scholar, free from hypocrisy. It is related that a mendicant at Chunākhalī begged for alms from Bindraban, the Talqudar. The latter got annoyed, and turned him out from his house. The mendicant on his (Bindraban’s) route of passage collected some bricks, laid them one over the other like the foundation of a wall, and named it a mosque, and shouted out the call to prayer, and whenever the palanquin of Bindraban passed that way, he shouted out still more loudly the call to prayer. Bindraban, becoming annoyed by this, threw down some brickbats from that foundation, and abusing the mendicant drove the latter from that place. The mendicant lodged a complaint at the Court of justice of Nawāb J‘afar Khān. Qāzi Muhammad Sharf, with the concurrence of other Ulama, acting on the injunction of the sacred Law, ordered the execution of Bindraban. J‘afar Khān, not acquiescing in the sentence of execution, enquired thus from the Qāzi as to whether he could be let off: ‘Can in any way this Hindu be saved from the death-sentence?’ The Qāzi replied: “Only so much interval may be allowed in the execution of his death-sentence as may be taken up in the execution of his interceder; after that, he must be executed.”* Prince ‘Azimu-sh-shān also interceded for Bindrāban; but that, too, was of no avail. The Qāzi killed him by shooting him with an arrow with his own hand. Azimu-sh-shān wrote to Emperor Aurangzeb as follows: “Qāzi Muḥammad Shārf has turned mad; for nothing he has killed Bindrā­ban with his own hand.” The Emperor remarked on the report of the Prince thus: “This is a gross* calumny; the Qāzi is on the side of God.” Till the close of the reign of Emperor Aurang­zeb, Qāzi Sharf continued to hold the office of Qāzi. On the death of the Emperor, the Qāzi resigned his office; though J‘afar Khān pressed him to continue, he did not. And during the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb and during the Nizāmat of J‘afar Khān, only the nobility, the scholars, the learned, and the excellent who passed examinations were appointed to the office of Qāzi, which was never bestowed on the illiterate or the low. No changes or transfers in the offices of the pious and hereditary Qāzis existed, nor was any tax levied from them; in fact, they were subordinates to no superiors, nor answerable to any.* For instance, Aḥsanu-l-lāh Khān, Faujdār of the port of Hughli, grandson of Bāqir Khān, the Senior (after whom a kind of Indian bread has acquired the name of Bāqir Khāni), was a protegè of Nawāb J‘afar Khān, and he possessed great influence with the Nawāb. During his adminis­tration, Imamu-d-dīn, Kotwāl (Police Superintendent) of the port of Hughli, who had acquired a high position and much influence, enticed away the daughter of a Mughal from the latter’s house. The aforesaid Aḥsanu-l-lāh Khān, conniving at this offence, shewed par­tiality towards his Kotwāl, and stood surety for his future good behaviour. The Mughals carried their complaint to Nawāb J‘afar Khān. The Nawab, according to the injunctions of the Holy Book, had the Kotwāl stoned to death, and did not listen to the inter­cession of Aḥsanu-l-lāh Khān for the offender. Towards the close of his career, on the eastern plain of the city of Murshidābād, on the grounds of his Khas T‘aluq, the Nawab erected a Treasury, a Katrah, a Cathedral mosque, a monument, a Reservoir, and also sank a large well, and under the staircase of the mosque, he located his own tomb, so that it might be safe from damage, and might also, owing to the proximity of the mosque, be blessed with perpetual benedictions for his soul. When his life drew to its close, finding that he had no son, he proclaimed Sarfarāz Khān, who was his maternal grandson, and who had been brought up by him, as his heir and successor, and he entrusted to him charge of the treasures and effects and the control of both the Nizāmat and the Imperial offices. In 1139 A.H. he died. From the following Miṣr‘a, the date of his death is obtained:—

(Translation) From the Imperial Capital, the rampart has fallen.

When the numerical value of the word <Arabic> is deducted from the word <Arabic> the date of his death is obtained.