I am not informed which Governors succeeded Nusret-yar-qhan in the government of that province. I only know that in the year 1140, Fahr-eddö8lah, brother to Zaafer-qhan, having obtained the government of that province, remained five years in it; but as he was a man that could neither read nor write, and was light-headed besides, his actions savoured of neglect and ignorance. He was also very proud, and very prone to anger, and at the same time so inconsiderate, that for a small subject, he fell out with Sheh-abdollah, a man of consequence in those parts, who seemed to be the main hinge of all the Government business in that province, for he had been for a length of time always employed by every Governor, either as his deputy, or as a general-farmer of the revenue. He had connections with almost all the Zemindars, was greatly respected by every one of them, and had acquired the good-will of the troops, as well as of every individual in the province, where he was universally respected. Fahr-eddö8lah incited by a sense of jealousy, set up several chicanes against him, and he made him so uneasy, that the other thought it expedient to quit his house at Azim-abad (a house which he had bought with his own money), and to repair to the other side of the Ganga, where he had built a mud-fort, about the town of Sevan, and bought several villages with a deal of ground, where he now retired much discontented. The Governor not satisfied with this retreat, crossed the river after him, and besieged him in the said castle; and he wanted no less than to obtain possession of the fort, and to seize and ill use his person. The man reduced to extremities, applied to Saadet-qhan, Governor of A8d, his next neighbour, to whom he exposed his situation, with the subject of the difference; and on his being sent for by him, he sallied out of the fort, forced bravely his passage through Fahr-eddö8lah’s camp, and effected his retreat by a valorous action, in which he eluded Fahr-eddö8lah’s inimical designs, and approved himself a soldier as well as a financier. Sheh-abdollah being arrived at Saadet-qhan’s court, was received with distinction and honour; and the inimical Governor having missed his prey, returned to the capital, where he some time after commenced a quarrel with Qhadja Mutaassem, whom he greatly disobliged. This Qhadja or fakir was no less a man than a brother of Qhandö8ran’s, who under the garb of a fakir, and the resignation of a religious retired from business, lived at Azim-abad in all the splendour of a noble­man of the first rank. Shocked at the imprudence and the imperiousness of the Governor’s behaviour, and at the levity of his actions, he quitted Azim-abad, and repaired to the capital, where on his brother’s enquiring about the subject of his coming, the other informed him of the Governor’s tyrannical conduct. The Minister who had already heard of it, procured Fahr-eddö8lah’s dismission from his appointment, and having annexed the Government of Azim-abad to that of Bengal, he sent the patents of it to Shudjah-qhan, who on the demise of Djaafer-qhan, his father-in-law, had Introduction to the revolu­tions in Ben­gal. succeeded him in that government. And as those Eastern countries are now going to cut a capital figure in our history, it will not be improper to introduce their actual ruler to the reader’s acquaintance.

Shudjah-eddö8lah,* alias Shudjah-qhan, the then S8bah­dar or Viceroy of Bengal, was a native of B8rhanp8r, a city in Decan, and by origin an Afshar, which is a tribe of Turks dwelling in Qhorassan, a province of Iran.*. He was one of the principal men of that city, and having contracted an alliance with Djaafer-qhan, another man of consequence of the same city, he lived with that nobleman, who in Aoreng-zib’s time had become Divan of Bengal, and in process of time had obtained likewise the Nizamet or Military Government of the same prov­ince.* By means of the alliance between them, every prefer­ment obtained by Djaafer-qhan proved an accession of influence to the son-in-law likewise, and the father-in-law having joined in his person the distinct offices of Divan and Nazem of the two Governments of Bengal and Oressa, procured the S8bahdary or Viceroyalty of the latter province for Shudjah-qhan, who went and established his residence there, not only in order to inspect himself the affairs of his government, but also because there had arisen such a diversity of tempers and opinions between these noble persons, that they could no more live together upon those terms of concord which decency prescribed. The son-in-law therefore wished to live at a distance from his father-in-law. He was a man of a moderate temper and a lover of justice, and he bore a character for many valuable qualifications that had acquired him the esteem and respect of all the world. Djaafer-qhan was the very reverse of him, and universally known for such. Another subject of difference was the dislike taken at Shudjah-qhan by his consort, Zinet-en-nessa-begum,* daughter of Djaafer-qhan, and mother of Ser-efraz-qhan. This Princess, who was of a virtu­ous disposition, and a pattern of chastity, had her heart alienated from her husband, not only on account of his being upon such bad terms with her father, but especially on account of his exces­sive proneness to the love of women. She parted with him, and taking her son with her, she chose her residence in Moorshood-abad, a city founded by her father, and named with his title which was Moorshood-c8ly-qhan, where she lived in great splendour, and where she would have probably continued to enjoy tran­quillity, had not fate suscitated a man predestined to overturn her family, and to change the face of these countries. There appeared at this time at court a person called Mirza-mahmed, husband to a lady, who being herself of the Afshar tribe, was allied to Shudjah-qhan. This Mirza-mahmed had with him an elder son Origin of Aali-verdy­qhan’s family and power. of his, by name Hadji Ahmed, and a younger son, Mirza-mahmed-aaly, since known under the name of Aaly-verdy-qhan, and the title of Mehabet-djung. This Mirza-mahmed had been in the service of Aazem-shah the forgiven; and on his master’s death, he was reduced to the utmost poverty and distress, hav­ing lived a long time out of employment, and being obliged to support a family equally numerous and indigent. In this extremity Mirza-mahmed-aaly, son to Mirza-mahmed, betook him­self to the expedient of sending his mother and father to the court of Shudjah-qhan, and this happened in the beginning of Mahmed-shah’s reign. That Governor glad to oblige a relation, conferred several favours on Mirza-mahmed, took him into his service, and shewed him so much kindness, that Mirza-mahmed-aaly, the son, resolved to repair likewise to the court of Bengal and Oressa, a resolution which he effected with the utmost diffi­culty, on account of his being entirely destitute of the means of performing so long a journey. He at last arrived at the court of Oressa, and being a man of a keen genius, of an insinuating Aali-verdy approves him­self a man of great and manifold abili­ties. turn of mind, and of a temper capable of the most delicate affairs, to the niceties of which he knew how to adapt himself, he soon joined to these civil qualifications, the military ones of an intrepid bravery, and an undaunted prowess, and he acquired so great a character, that Shudjah-qhan congratulated himself on the acquisition of so excellent a subject, and looked on his arrival as upon an event of unexpected good luck, that prognosticated the rise of his protector’s family; insomuch that Mirza-mahmed-aaly rose in favour and in credit from day to day, and was promoted to the highest offices; and now the plant of inclination and attachment having taken a firm footing between these two persons, and its strength having been tried and confirmed by experience, Mirza-mahmed-aaly sent for his brother, Hadji Ahmed, with the consorts, children and relations of the whole family, which then lived at Shah-djehan-abad; and the latter having accordingly assembled the whole of them, he travelled into Bengal, from whence he repaired to the court of Oressa, where being arrived, he was, as well as his younger brother, taken into favour, and promoted to offices and employments; and as the two brothers were both men of abilities, of much versatility of mind, and of such a preseverance as was capable of surmounting the great­est difficulties, they strengthened so much Shudjah-qhan’s govern­ment, as to become the foundation of that elevation to which it rose in the sequel. Particular arrangements were introduced into the department of finances, and the revenues greatly aug­mented by their application and their industry; but Mirza-mahmed-aaly, who to the political abilities of his brother, joined a brilliant character, as a soldier, and had always displayed a greater extent of genius, than either his father or brother, came soon to eclipse all his relations, as well as all the persons in Shudjah-qhan’s service, in so much that he became in time exposed to the shafts of envy, both from relations and strangers. This envy had risen to a pitch, when his protector, who kept several of his agents at court, obtained for him a grade of honour with the appellation of Mahmed-aaly-verdy-qhan,* a distinction which jealousy could not bear.

Djaafer-qhan, Gover­nor of Bengal, thinks of pro­curing his patent for his own grandson Ser-efraz-qhan.