CHAP. X. Unpardonable affront to Jagat Seit. Intrigues and conspiracies. not dismiss the three ministers, Haji Ahmad, Alam Chand Rai, and Jagat Seit, but he treated them with a contemptuous arrogance which was intolerable. He abused Haji Ahmad in the foulest language, and taunted him with having been the pander to Shuja Khan. He even treated Alam Chand with indignity because that venerable Hindu ventured to remonstrate with him on the bitterness of his tongue. Soon after his accession Sarfaraz Khan gave mortal offence to Jagat Seit. The grandson of the Hindu banker was married with great pomp, and the Nawab persisted in seeing the face of the bride without a veil. Jagat Seit implored him to abandon the idea, as the exposure of a girl's face to a strange man would render her impure in the eyes of the family. But the Nawab was deaf to every entreaty. He sent a party of horsemen to surround the house of Jagat Seit and bring away the girl to his palace. She was sent back the same night without further injury; but the whole family was overwhelmed with the disgrace, whilst the unfortunate bride was condemned to widowhood for the remainder of her days. Under such circumstances there was treason in the air. Every one was eager to plot against the Nawab, but afraid of exciting his suspicions. Haji Ahmad sounded Jagat Seit and Alam Chand Rai, and found they were ripe for revolt; whilst the Nawab's master of the ordnance arranged to load the artillery with nothing but dust and powder. At last a conspiracy was formed for dethroning Sarfaráz Khan and setting up Ali Vardi Khan as his successor in the Nawabship of Bengal and Orissa, in addition to Behar. CHAP. X. the conspirators. The troubled state of Hindustan was singularly favourable to the conspirators. There was nothing to Fortune favours fear from Delhi, for the imperial authority had been shattered by the invasion of Nadir Shah, and the Moghul court was in a state of stupor. There was nothing. to fear at Murshedabad so long as Sarfaráz Khan was kept lulled in a false security. There was more difficulty about opening up a communication with Ali Vardi Khan at Patna, as letters might be intercepted; but the two Hindu ministers prevailed on Sarfaráz Khan to send Haji Ahmad into exile, and thus the latter was enabled to make his way to Patna without exciting suspicion or alarm. at Patna. The two brothers soon organised a rebellion at Secret rebellion Patna. Both indulged in a little preliminary duplicity. Haji Ahmad exaggerated the indignities he had received at Murshedabad. Ali Vardi Khan lamented that the safety of his family could only be ensured by rebelling against the son of his patron and benefactor. Ali Vardi Khan also sent a crafty letter to Sarfaraz Khan, imploring him to forgive the unfortunate Haji Ahmad, and to restore him to his former favour. ing-in of officers. Ali Vardi Khan had no intention of waiting for a solemn swear. reply to this letter. He assembled all his officers, and obliged the Muhammadans to swear on the Koran, and the Hindus to swear on a vessel of Ganges water, that they would be faithful to his cause and would follow him to the death. He then told them that he was about to march against the Nawab Sarfaráz Khan to redress the wrongs committed on his family. The officers were staggered at the idea of rebellion, but they had taken the oath; and Ali Vardi Khan clenched the business by promising to discharge СНАР. Х. Sikliguli pass from Behar into Bengal. An empty treasury. Services of all arrears of pay, and to distribute an additional sum of three hundred thousand rupees the moment they had marched through the pass of Sikliguli and entered the plains of Bengal. The possession of this pass was of the utmost importance to Ali Vardi Khan. It was supposed to be the only passage leading from Behar into Bengal. It was of considerable length, but only ten or twelve feet wide, and was bounded on one flank by an impenetrable forest, and on the other by the river Ganges. Had Sarfaráz Khan been alive to the coming rebellion, he might have blocked up the pass with a small body of men. hurried through by forced marches for the sake of the promised money, and entered the plains of Bengal before Sarfaráz Khan was aware that it had left Patna. As it was, the rebel army When, however, Ali Vardi Khan had escaped the perils of the pass he encountered a new danger. His treasury was nearly empty, whilst his officers were clamouring round his tent, and refusing to march a step farther without the money. He dismissed them with an air of authority, assuring them that they would be paid at once, whilst he was well aware that he could not satisfy a tenth of their claims. He had a secret conference with his confidential servants. Some proposed sending to Murshedabad and borrowing the money of Mir Jafir. Others saw no alternative but to beat a retreat and return to Patna. Accordingly Ali Vardi Khan was in despair. At this crisis a Patna banker named Omichund solved the difficulty. Omichund had accompanied the army to carry on his usual money-lending business with the officers and men. He had only twenty thousand rupees CHAP. X. death of Sarfaraz The fighting which followed was a farce. There sham battle: was much smoke and confusion, but very little Khan. slaughter, except amongst the faithful few that remained staunch to Sarafáz Khan. At last Sarfaráz Khan and most of his adherents were slain, whilst his brother-in-law, Murshed Kuli Khan, fled away to Orissa to hold that province against the conqueror. The death of Sarfaraz Khan put an end to the СПАР, Х. Alivardi Khan enthroned at battle. Ali Vardi Khan permitted the rebel soldiers to plunder the Bengal camp, but sent his brother, Murshedabad. Haji Ahmad, to Murshedabad, to secure the city and treasures. After two days Ali Vardi Khan entered Murshedabad in triumph, and took his seat upon the throne in the hall of forty pillars. The kettledrums and trumpets proclaimed the accession of a new Nawab, and all the chief men of the city hastened to pay their homage and present their nuzzirs to the conqueror. Alam Chand Rai was the foremost amongst these time-servers, but when he returned to his house he was reproached so bitterly by his wife for his disloyalty towards the fallen family, that he put an end to his life by swallowing diamond powder. Faith in Mustafa Khan, the Afghan general. Establishes his authority in Bengal. Ali Vardi Khan had gained his victories by the aid of his Afghans, and despised Bengali soldiers as cowards and traitors. His leading general was an Afghan soldier of fortune, named Mustafa Khan; and he put his trust in Mustafa Khan, and treated him as his right-hand man. Accordingly he Ali Vardi Khan had no sons. adopted three nephews, the sons of his brother Haji Ahmad, and gave to each of them one of his daughters in marriage. He left the youngest at Patna as Deputy Nawab of Behar, and he appointed the eldest to be Deputy Nawab at Dacca; and he proposed to set up the middle one as Deputy Nawab of Orissa by driving out Murshed Kuli Khan. Mean 9 An Asiatic throne in the eighteenth century was not a chair of state, but a kind of mattress of carpets, quilts, and tapestries, which was spread upon the floor. The Nawab sat cross-legged between richly embroidered cushions, with a sword of state on one side and a dagger on the other. Before him was a cambric handkerchief carefully folded, a small knife to open letters, and a vessel of prepared betel. |