Ziaū-d-dīn Khān, free from all anxiety, set out for the Imperial Capital, and after arrival at Delhi died. After his death, Kankar Bengali, who was the root of all this disturbance, and had his residence at Hughli, returning from the Imperial Capital, arrived in Murshidābād, and fearlessly waited on Nawab Jāfar Khan, and with the left hand saluted the latter, wishing to convey that with the hand that he had saluted the Emperor, to salute Jāfar Khan would be profane. Nawab Jāfar Khān retorted by saying: “Kankar is under the shoe.” And Kankar* with fatah on both the <Arabic> and the sakūn of the <Arabic> and <Arabic> in Hindustani means “a gravel.” Nawab Jafar Khan, feigning forgetfulness of Kankar’s past and present misconduct, and outwardly shewing reconciliation, appointed him to the office of Chaklahdar of Hughli. At the close of the year, at the time of auditing the Annual Abstract Accounts, the Nawab put him in prison on charges of misap­propriation of the current and arrear revenue collections and sair duties, and put this cat into breeches, and forced him to swal­low some laxative, and set on him a harsh collector of revenue. In the breeches continually easing himself, Kankar died. At that time Syed Akram Khān who held the office of Dīwān of Bengal died, and Syed Razī Khān, husband of Nafisāh Khanam, a daughter of Shujāu-d-dīn Muhammad Khan, (Nawab Nazim of the Ṣubah of Orissa and son-in-law of Nawab Jāfar Khān,) who was the scion of a leading Syed family of Arabia, was appointed Dīwān of Bengal. And he* was a bigoted and short-tempered man, and in collection of dues was extremely strict, and by adopting harsh measures collected the revenue. It is said he prepared a Reservoir full of filth, and as in the language of the Hindus Para­dise is called ‘Baikant,’ he sneeringly named this Reservoir “Baik­ant.” He used to thrust into this Reservoir the defaulting Zamin­dars and defaulting Collectors of Revenue. After torturing them in various ways, and making them undergo various privations, he used to collect in entirety the arrears. In that year, news of the insurrection of Sitaram Zamindar, and of the murder of Mīr Abū Tūrāb, Faujdār of the Chaklāh of Bhusnāh, in the Sarkar of Mahmūdābād, was received. The details of this affair are as follows:— Sītārām,* zamīndar of Parganāh Mahmūdābād, being sheltered by forests and rivers, had placed the hat of revolt on the head of vanity. Not submitting to the Viceroy, he declined to meet the Imperial officers, and closed against the latter all the avenues of access to his tract. He pillaged and raided the lands adjoining to his Zamindari, and also quarrelled with the Imperial garrisons and Faujdars. Mīr Abu Turab, Faujdar of the Chaklah of Bhusnah,* who was the scion of a leading Syed clan and was closely related to Prince Azīmu-sh-shān and the Timūride Emperors, and who amongst his con­temporaries and peers was renowned for his learning and ability, looked down upon Nawab Jāfar Khān. Mīr Abū Tūrab tried to capture Sītārām, but was not successful. At length, he detailed his General, Pīr Khān, with 200 cavalry to chastise Sitārām. On being apprised of this, Sitaram concentrating his forces lay in ambush to attach the aforesaid General. One day, Mīr Abu Tūrāb with a number of friends and followers went out for hunting, and in the heat of the chase alighted on Sitaram’s frontiers. Pīr Khān was not in Abū Tūrāb’s company. The zamindar (Sitaram) on hearing of this, fancying Mīr Abū Tūrāb to be Pīr Khān, suddenly issued out from the forest with his forces and attacked Mīr Abū Tūrāb from the rear. Although the latter with a loud voice announced his name, Sitaram not heeding it inflicted wounds on Abū Tūrāb with bamboo-clubs, and felled him from his horse. When this news reached Nawab Jāfar Khān, his body trembled from fear of the Emperor’s resent­ment. Appointing Hasan Ali Khān who had married Nawab Jāfar Khān’s wife’s sister and was descended from a noble family to be Faujdār of Bhūsnāh, and supporting him with an efficient force, Nawab Jāfar Khān directed him to capture that trouble­some villain (Sitaram). The Nawab issued mandates to the Zamindars of the environs insisting on their not suffering Sitaram to escape across their frontiers, and also threatening that should the latter effect his escape across the frontiers of any one, not only he would be ousted from his Zamindari, but be punished. The Zamindars from all sides hemmed him in, when Hasan Ali Khān arrived and captured Sitaram together with his women and children, confederates and adherents, and sent them with chains round their necks and hands to Nawab Jāfār Khān. The Nawab enclosing Sitaram’s face in cow-hide had him drawn to the gallows in the eastern suburbs of Mūrshidābād on the high-way leading to Jahangīrnagar and Mahmūdābād, and imprisoned for life Sitaram’s women and children and companions. Bestowing his Zamīndārī on Rām Jīvān, the Nawab confiscated to the State Sitaram’s treasures and effects, and extirpating his family, root and branch, he sent an account of the affair to the Emperor. As the Emperor* Aurangzeb ‘Alamgir had died in the Dakhin on Friday, 28th of Zīlqādh 1119 A.H., Muhammād Mu‘āzzam Shāh ‘Alim Bahadūr Shāh* ascended the Imperial throne of Delhi. Nawab Jāfar Khān sent presents with the tribute of Bengal, and received an Imperial Patent confirming him in the Viceroyalty of Bengal. The Nawab was also honoured with the gift of a Khillat including a fringed palanquin. Prince Azimu-sh-Shān, leaving Sar-bland Khān as his Deputy at ‘Azimabad, set out for the Imperial Capital. And that very year Sultān Farrukh-sir, prior to the accession of Bahadur Shāh, came to Murshīdābād from Jahangīrnagar (Dacca) at the invitation of Nawab Jāfar Khān, and put up at the L‘āl Bāgh palace. The above-mentioned Nawab, paying proper deference to the princely rank of his guest, rendered him due services, and defrayed the expenses of the Prince and his household; whilst according to the established practice he remitted the Revenue with the tribute to the Emperor Bahādur Shāh. After a reign of five years and one month, in the year 1124 A.H., Emperor Bahadur Shāh died, and his eldest son, Sultān Māzū-d-dīn, under the title of Jahāndār Shāh,* became Emperor, and in concert with his two younger brothers killed Prince ‘Azīmu-sh-Shān.* After removing the causes of anxiety, and with the exertions and help of Asad Khān the Prime Minister and Amīru-l-Umarā Zū-l-fuqār Khān, the new Emperor killed his other two brothers.* Indeed, after Bāhādur Shāh’s death, within the space of eight days, he killed almost every one of the Imperial scions numbering more than thirty persons, and after torture and imprisonment of those who escaped the sword, Jahandar Shāh mounted the throne. He appointed the ‘Amīrū-l-Umarā who was Pay-Master-General of the Army to the office of Grand Vīzīr and Amīrū-l-Umarā’s father ‘Asāfu-d-daulāh ‘Asad Khān to the office of Vakil-i-Kul or Supreme Regent of the Empire. According to the established practice, the new Emperorsent message of confirmation to Nawab Jāfar Khān. The aforesaid Khān, shewing submission, remitted presents and tribute to the Emperor. In order to assert his claim to the Imperial throne, Sultān Farrukh-sir, the second son of Prince ‘Azīmu-sh-Shān, who resided in the Province of Bengal as Deputy Nazim of the Ṣubah resolved to fight with Sultān Māzu-d-dīn, planned to start for Shāhjāhānā­bād (Delhi), and demanded money and troops from Nawab Jāfār Khān. The latter gave the following straightforward answer: “I as an Imperial servant am subject to the Crown and Throne of the Sovereign of the Imperial Capital. To submit to any one save and except the person who descended from the Tīmūride House sits on the Throne of the Empire of Delhi, would be an act of treachery. Since M‘āzū-d-dīn, your uncle, is in possession of the Crown and the Throne, the Imperial revenue cannot be paid to you.” Despairing of obtaining the treasures and troops of Bengal, but remembering the injunction in the Qoran “I put my trust in my Lord God” Farrukh-sir took heart,* and marched out with a small force of old and new comrades who were in his company, on an expedition against Sultān M‘azu-d-dīn. Summoning his own army and artillery from Jahāngīrnagar, Farrukh-sir set out for Shāhjāhānābād, and by the time he arrived at ‘Azīmābād (Patna) a large army collected under him. Levying money in the way of tax from the bankers of that town, he reduced the Ṣubah of Behar to his subjection. Collecting paraphernalia of royalty, he mounted the throne, and unfurling the Imperial Umbrella he whirled it over his head. Raising the standard of march from Patna with Royal pomp and splendour, he cast the shadow of peace and tranquillity on the residents of Banaras. And raising a loan of one kror of rupees on the security of the Empire from Nagar Set and other leading bankers of Banares, he raised a levy of efficient troops. Syed Abdūllāh Khān and Syed Husain Ali Khān,* the two Syed brothers of Barhā, who were Nazims of the Ṣubāhs of Oudh and Allahabād and were matchless in courage and heroism had been dismissed by Sultān M‘azū-d-dīn, and conse­quently were smarting under a sense of wrong. They, therefore, espoused the cause of Sultān Farrukh-sīr, and tied the girdle of devotion and self-sacrifice to the waists of their hearts. And intercepting the treasure from Bengal remitted by Nawab Jāfar Khān, which owing to the revolution in government Shūjan-d-dīn Mūhāmmād Khān, Darogha of Allahabād (unyoking the bullocks in the garden of the town) guarded with 300 troops, Farrukh-sír detailed a large force to guard it. Having satisfied himself about the security of the treasure and the efficiency of the force which he had detached to guard it, Farrukh-sir bestowed the office of Vizarat on Syed Husain Ali Khān, and had the Khutbah of sover­eignty recited after his own name. “When God wills a thing, the conditions for its accomplishment are also provided.” As Farrukh-sir was displeased with Jāfar Khān, he appointed Rashīd Khān,* elder brother of Afrasiab Khān Mīrzaī-Ajmīrī, who was the scion of an ancient and noble family of Bengal and was brought up in the Imperial household, and who in physi­cal prowess was equal to a Rustam or an Isfandiar, and who used to hurl down rogue elephants— to supersede Jāfar Khān in the Ṣubāhdāri of Bengal. It is said that when Sultān Farrukh-sir set out from Akbarnagar (Rajmahal) towards ‘Azīmābād (Patna), the cannon of Malik Maidan* which required a maund weight of cannon-ball and 150 bullocks and two elephants to move it, was stuck in the mud in a hollow ditch near Sakrigali. Although an attempt was made to drag it out with the help of bullocks and elephants, it could not be moved. Farrukh-sir himself going up to the cannon brought into requisition the ingenuity of Christian gunners, but even that was of no avail. Mīrza-i-Ajmīrī making his obeisance, said: “If ordered, thy slave might try his strength.” The Sultān gave permission. Mīrzā-i-Ajmiri, tying the hem of his garment round his waist and putting both of his hands beneath the cannon-frame, lifted up the cannon together with its frame on his chest, and said “wherever ordered, I will put it.” The Sultān ordered it to be placed on a high ground. The Mirza removed the cannon from the ditch to a high ground. From the strain of his physical power, drops of blood were about to ooze out from his eyes. The Sultān applauded him whilst the assembly, sent up shouts of praise and choruses of applause to the skies. The Mīrzā at that very moment was rewarded with the manṣab of a Sih hazāri together with the title of Afrasiāb Khān. Rashid Khān set out with a large army for Bengal, and entered it viâ the passes of Tilīāgadhi and Sakrigali. On hearing the news of his entry, Jāfar Khān shewed no signs of anxiety. Besides the regular war-establishment of the Ṣubah he mobilised no extra troops. Rashid Khān reaching three kroh distant from Murshidābād arrayed his troops for battle. Next morning, Nawāb Jāfar Khān detailed Mīr Bangalī and Syed Anwar Jaunpurī with two thousand cavalry and infantry to encounter Rashid Khān, whilst the Nawab himself, according to his daily practice, set to copying the Qurān. When the two forces encountered each other, a battle ensued. Syed Anwar, in the thick of the fight, was killed, but Mīr Bangalī, with a small force, bravely stood his ground on the battle-field, till the army of Rashid Khān surrounded him from all sides. Although these tidings reached Nawab Jāfar Khān, the latter remained unconcerned and quietly went on with his work of copying the Qurān. At last the news of Mīr Bangalī’s retreat arrived. It was then that the Nawab detached his special disciple, Muḥammad Khān, who was Faujdar of Murshidabad and an Officer of the Army, to reinforce Mīr Bangalī. The former with the swiftness of lightning and breeze joined Mīr Bangalī, and threw in the auxiliaries. Subsequently, Nawab Jafar Khān, after having finished his work of copying the Qurān, recited the Fatiha-i-Khair and armed himself for battle. And mounting an elephant, with a force of cavalry and a retinue consisting of kinsmen and Turkish, Georgian and Abyssinian servants he encountered Rashid Khān on the field of Karimābād outside the City, and commenced chanting the Duai-Saifī.* It is said that he had so persistently practised the Duai-Saifī, that when he commenced chanting it his sword of itself unsheathed itself from its scabbard, and through invisible help he vanquished the enemy. On the arrival of Jafar Khān, the courage and boldness of Mīr Bangalī and his army increased ten-fold and hundred-fold. With his clamorous force Mīr Bangalī attacked the centre of the enemy. Rashid Khān, who considered Jafar Khān no match for himself, swaggering of swordmanship and his capacity to easily rout the enemy, mounted a rogue elephant, and charged Mīr Bangalī who was in the van. The aforesaid Mīr who was an unerring marksman