86The Emperor and the Nobility By the time Muhammad Shah came to power the nature of the relationship between the emperor and the nobility had almost changed (p.46) totally. Individual interests of the nobles had openly guided the course of politics and state activities. The end of the ascendancy of the Saiyid Brothers meant only a decline in their power and the ascendancy of the ‘Turani’ faction, and not the assertion of imperial authority. In 1720, the replacement as wazir of Saiyid Abdullah Khan by Muhammad Amin Khan, the leader of the Turanis at the court, was decided not by the emperor but Muhammad Amin Khan himself. After Amin Khan’s death (27 January 1720), the office of wazir was occupied by Nizam-ul- Mulk, a cousin of his, for a brief period, till his (Amin Khan’s) son Qamar-ud-Din Khan (appointed on 22 July 1724) held the office almost on account of hereditary
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right. But since no faction of the nobility, nor for that matter the nobility as a whole, was in a position to rule on its own, due to either a continuation of the myth of the paramountcy of the Mughal dynasty or the inherent inability of the nobility to act in unison, the symbols of imperial power together with the dynasty and the person of the emperor had to be retained with a rather exaggerated emphasis. The nobles in control of the central offices still had an all-empire outlook, even if they were more concerned with the stability of the regions where they had their jagirs. Farmans to governors, faujdars and other local officials were sent in conformity with tradition, in the name of the emperor. The emperor’s routine seems to have been carefully followed till at least the end of 1722.65
Gradually a sort of functional, rather dysfunctional, mutuality emerged in the wake of the emerging powers of the nobles while sustaining the symbolic position and role of the emperor. As a result, a position at the Mughal centre no longer depended on administrative (p.47) ability, office or military achievements. This is amply illustrated from Koki Jio’s influence on Muhammad Shah and the rise of her relations and associates, better known as the emperor’s favourites, to high offices. One of Koki Jio’s brothers, Ali Ahmad Khan, looked after the service seekers’ renewed petitions and the ensuing confirming orders (darogha of arz-i mukarrar), while her other brother, Ali Hamid Khan, was superintendent of postal department (darogha of dak) and her third brother, Ali Asghar Khan, possibly held the faujdari of the Doao in the Punjab. Notwithstanding the emperor’s signature and recommendation, no new mansab or promotion could be procured without offering a bribe to Ali Ahmad Khan. Similarly, Ali Asghar Khan came into direct conflict with the governor of the Punjab over jagir questions. How the information and news channels began to deteriorate under Ali Hamid Khan is a matter of conjecture. Roshan-ud-Daulah, Zafar Khan, the third bakhshi and the bakhshi of the gentlemen troopers under the direct command of the emperor (ahadis) was one of Koki’s confidants. Since he was very close to the emperor, he became the agent (vakil) of some nobles and governors of distant provinces, such as, Bengal, Kabul, Thatta and Kashmir, secured mansabs, promotions and other favours for them and thus accumulated crores of rupees. Hafiz Khidmatgar was another confidant of the emperor whose opinion weighed heavily in the appointment and dismissal of the governors. Nobles with ability and strength thus sought to build a base for themselves in a province.
The emperor’s favourites were little concerned with the problems of the empire; their main endeavour was to amass wealth and to keep their positions on a secure footing. Zafar Khan is reported to have been in possession of a treasury ‘beyond the imagination of even the Pharaoh’. According to Warid, whatever revenue came from the provinces, the emperor’s favourites, namely Zafar Khan, Koki Jio and Abd-ul-Ghafur, instead of depositing it with the imperial treasury, took it themselves. The amount so misappropriated can be gauged from the fact
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that when Abd-ul-Ghafur was censured, over twenty lakh rupees were discovered from his house. Half of the sum of Rs 12,00,000 which was handed over to Zafar Khan each month for the emoluments of the imperial army in Kabul were misappropriated (p.48) by him. In 1732 it was discovered that over two crore rupees had till then been embezzled by him.66