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ud-in Khan.137 Safdar Jang together with Najm-ud-Daulah Muhammad Ishaq Khan II whose sister had been married to his son, Shuja-ud-Daulah138 (then Jalal-ud-Din Haidar), thus emerged as the leader of a new group of the emperor’s favourites, followed by the death of Amir Khan in mysterious circumstances.139
(p.289) After the death of Amir Khan, Safdar Jang became a pre-eminent noble at the court, next only to the wazir who was senior to him in age and service. In Rajab 1160/June-July 1747, Najm-ud-Daulah who was now his closest associate was appointed diwan-i khalisa.140 In January 1748 when Safdar Jang was deputed to fight under Prince Ahmad Shah against Ahmad Shah Abdali, he was given Ambala and some other parganas from the province of the Punjab in jagir, and also an amount of Rs 8,50,000 towards the expenditure of his troops.141 In the meanwhile, Qamar-ud-Din Khan, the wazir, died in the battle against Abdali. Subsequently, on 28 April, on the occasion of his accession, Ahmad Shah, the new emperor, promised him the office of the wizarat which he virtually held till 29 June when he was formally appointed the wazir of the empire. His son, Jalalud-Din Haidar, now entitled as Shuja-ud-Daulah, succeeded him as the mir atish.142
With the death of Amir Khan also emerged a situation in which Safdar Jang ensured his undisputed control over the province of Allahabad. Amir Khan’s nephew, Baqaullah Khan who had every chance to succeed him in the province obtained only the niyabat, Safdar Jang himself acquiring the full-fledged subadari.143 In 1748, in the wake of the new appointments (p.290) and promotions at Ahmad Shah’s accession to the throne, Sa‘adat Khan Zulfiqar Jang was appointed the governor of Allahabad while Safdar Jang got the suba of Ajmer. An unprecedented incident took place at this juncture. Without publicly defying the emperor’s order Safdar Jang accepted the reshuffle and then exchanged his new assignment in Ajmer with Zulfiqar Jang’s in Allahabad. Zulfiqar Jang perhaps recognized the difficulties of governing Allahabad without Safdar Jang’s cooperation. The exchange highlighted the nobles’ attempt to adjust the distribution of administrtive power with the nominal authority of the emperor.
The new subadar was thus involved in court politics even in the last phase of our period. But at this stage, his involvement in court politics had as its objective an attempt at reinforcing his well-entrenched authority in the province, while earlier it had been intended to provide him with a base at the centre where he could return in case of failure in the province.
II The Punjab
Abd-us-Samad Khan, the new subadar of the Punjab, like his counterpart in Awadh, treated the province as his personal domain, making every possible effort to secure his authority there. When his rivals at the court, in a bid to
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weaken his power in the Punjab, secured his transfer to Kabul, he refused to leave the Punjab to take up his new assignment.
However, the differences in the respective positions of the new subadars in Awadh and the Punjab are unmistakable. Burhan-ul-Mulk and Safdar Jang’s involvement in court politics was guided by their interests in the province; they held premier positions in their factions, and their association with the court had little bearing on their decisions in provincial matters. On the other hand, since Abd-us-Samad Khan and Zakariya Khan, the new subadars in the Punjab, belonged to the close ‘Mughal’ kin group, led by no less a person than the wazir himself, factional strife at the court affected developments in the Punjab. While association with a court faction, in the case of Burhan-ul-Mulk and Safdar Jang, in a measure helped them strengthen their gains in Awadh, (p.291) in the case of Abd-us-Samad Khan and Zakariya Khan it tended to limit their freedom. These factors by themselves carried enough weight to influence, but, of course, not to determine, the course of political formations in Awadh and the Punjab. They also acquired particular import as there was a glaring contrast in the social and economic conditions of the two provinces. The continued growth in and around Awadh from the seventeenth through the eighteenth century lent strength to the governor to act independently; while the steadily increasing instability in the economy of the Punjab, its links with the north-west frontiers of the empire, the invasions and the magnitude of its internal problems was a serious setback to the process of growth of the new subadari in the province.