Nawab Jafar Khān returning triumphant caused the music of victory to be struck up, entered the Fort, and ordered that a minaret should be raised entombing the heads of the slain on the highway leading towards Hindustan, so that it might serve as a warning to others. The prisoners of Rashid Khān’s army said that on the advance of Jafar Khān green-dressed soldiers with drawn swords descended from the clouds, attacked the force of Rashid Khān, and afterwards vanished. Sultān Farrukh-sir who had not yet finished settling his accounts with Sultān M‘azu-d-din, on the way receiving news of Jafar Khān’s victory and Rashid Khān’s defeat was depressed. In short, when near Akbarā­bād (Agra) a battle* ensued between Farrukh-sir and Sultān M‘azu-d-din Jahāndār Shāh, the Syeds of Barha,* on the side of Muḥam­mad Farrukh-sir, displaying self-sacrifice, exhibited heroic valour. On the side of M‘azu-d-din, Khān Jahān Bahadur Kokaltash Khān, who was the Pay-Master General of the Army, was killed, owing to the carelessness of the Amīru-l-Umara Ẕu-l-fuqār Khān.* And M’azu-d-din’s other noblemen, especially the Mughal noblemen, being in conspiracy with the noblemen of Farrukh-sir, exhibited treachery during the battle. In consequence, great confusion arose in the army of M‘azu-d-din Jahāndār Shāh. Becoming depressed by observing the fate of Khān Jahān Bahādur, Jahāndār Shah fled straight to Shāhjahānābad to the house of ‘Aṣad Khān Āṣifu-d-daulah,* the Chief Minister of the Empire. Immediately after, Amīru-l-Umarā, son of Āsifu-d-daulah, presented himself before his father, and counselled the latter to shelter the Emperor. The father, not considering it expedient to throw in his lot with Jahāndār Shāh, kept the latter under surveillance. Then Sultān Muhammad Farrukh-sir, without encountering any further opposi­tion, ascended the Imperial throne at Akbarābād (Agra), towards the end of the year 1124 A. H. From Akbarābād (Agra), Farrukh-sir swiftly marched to Shāhjahānābād (Delhi), where he slew Jahāndār Shāh and the Amiru-l-Umarā.*

ACCESSION OF SULTĀN FARRUKH-SIR TO THE THRONE OF DELHI.

On hearing of the accession of Emperor Farrukh-sir, Nawāb Jafar Khān sent presents and tribute, and remitted the entire balance of the Imperial revenue. In return, the Nawab received patents confirming him in the united offices* of the Nizāmat and Dewani of the three Ṣubahs of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. The Nāwab was also recipient of a rich Khilat. The Nawāb’s repre­sentations to the new Emperor continued to receive attentive consideration, as during former regimes. The Nawāb became an object of envy to his contemporaries and peers. For instance, on Jafar Khān’s representation to the Emperor, Nagar Set’s uncle and agent, Fateḥ Chand Sahu, whose services had won the good graces of the Khān, was invested with the title of Jagat Set, and appointed to the office of Treasurer-General of Bengal. Syed Ḥusain ‘Ali Khān, the Paymaster-General, who was a brother of Qutb-ul-Mulk ‘Abdullāh Khān Vazir, aspired after the title of Naṣirjang, which title Jafar Khān held. As it was not consonant with the Imperial regulations that two persons should simultaneously hold one title, an Imperial mandate was issued to Jafar Khān, suggesting an exchange of titles. Although the Syed brothers were personages of immense influence and power, Jafar Khān resented their impudence, declined to exchange his title, and sent the follow­ing manly reply to the Emperor: “This old servant has no hanker­ing after names or titles; but the title which it pleased the late Emperor ‘Alamgir (Aurangzeb) to confer on him, he declines to barter.” When Syed Razī Khān died, at the desire of Jafar Khān, Emperor Farrukh-sir conferred the Diwānī of the Ṣubah of Bengal on Mirza Asadu-l-lāh, son of Shujā‘u-d-dīn Muḥammad Khān, Nazim of Orissa, by the daughter of Jafar Khān, bestowing at the same time on the Mirzā the title of Sarfarāz Khān. As Jafar Khān had no son, and Sarfarāz Khān was his maternal grandson, shewing foresight, he purchased from the income of his personal jagīr the zamindāri of Qismat Chunahkhalī in Parganah Kholhar­bah in the district of Murshidābād from Muḥammad Amān, the Taluqdar of the aforesaid Qismat, in the name of Mirzā Asadu-l-lāh Sarfarāz Khān, named the said zamindari Asadnagar, and caused it to be entered in the Imperial and Provincial Qānungo’s registers. This estate came to be known as Khāṣ Taluq, so that after his death it might afford subsistence to his descendants, and after the pay­ment of revenue from its income its surplus might be at their disposal. And in the same year, the Deputy Governorship of Jahāngirnagar (Dacca) was bestowed on Mirzā Lutfu-l-lāh, a son-in-law of Shuja‘u-d-dīn Muḥammad Khān. The Mirzā at the same time received the title of Murshid Quli Khān. In that on the 9th Rabiu-l-Ṣani 1131 A.H. the Emperor Farrukh-sir was slain,* through the treachery of ‘Abdullāh Khān the Vizir and Ḥusain ‘Ali Khān, the Paymaster-General, the Syeds of Barha raised Sultān Rafi‘u-d-darajāt,* son of Prince Rafi‘u-sh-shān, son of Bahādur Shāh, to the throne. For four or five months, ruling nominally, this Emperor died of consumption. After this, Rafi‘u-d-darajāt’s second brother, named Sultān Rafi‘u-d-daulāh,* was brought out from captivity, and placed on the throne, and was styled Shāh Jahān the Second. The latter also, like his elder brother, for five or six months sat nominally on the throne. At the time when the Imperial army was engaged in repelling Sultān Neko Sīr, son of Sultān Akbar, and grandson of Emperor Alamgir, who had invaded Akbarābād (Agra), Shāh Jahān the Second also died. And the Syeds of Barha and other Imperial noblemen, at the end of the year 1131 A.H., bringing out Sultān Raushan Akhtar, son of Jahān Shāh, from the citadel of Shāhjahānābād (Delhi), and marching with him day and night, reached Akbarābād (Agra), and in the beginning of 1132 A.H. they placed him on the Imperial throne, and styled him Abu-l-Fattāḥ Naṣiru-d-dīn Muḥammad Shāh Ghazī.* A poet has said:—

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“He was a bright star, now he has waxed into a moon,
Joseph has returned from captivity, and has become a king.”