1 (- 191 }
2 CHAPTER XXf.
3 ABUL FATHA ROUSHAN AKHTAR NASIR-UD-DIN MUHAMMAD
4 7 SHAH.
5 w the death of Rafi-ud-doula, the Sayad ministers called Roushan Akhtar,
6 son of Khajasta Akhtar Jahén Shah, one of the sons of Bahddur
7 Shah, then in confinement, to the throne. Since the death of his uncle,
8 Jahdndar Shah, this prince, with his mother, Mariam Makani, a princess of
9 uncommon spirit and tact, had lived in obscurity in the fort of Delhi. He
10 was born on Friday, the 28rd of Rabi-ul-awal, 1114 aH, or 5th August
11 A.D. 1702, in the neighbourhood of Ghazni; and, at the time of his being
12 called to the throne,- was a handsome youth of eighteen. Great care had
13 been bestowed on his training, and his benevolent countenance seemed to
14 prognosticate future greatness. Availing himself of a fortunate hour, he
15 ascended the throne on 15th Zikadd, 1138] a.w. (October 1719 AD), and
16 assumed the title of Abul Fatah Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah Badshah
17 Ghazi.* Brought up in the sehool of adversity, and fully sensible of the
18 delicacy of his situation, the young emperor had the forbearance to conform
19 to the guidance of the two rival politicians t6 whom he owed his elevation.
20 But it was not long before he felt their yoke burdensome and formed a plot
21 to get rid of them. While Husein Ali was marching an army towards the
22 Dekkan to subdue a refractory chief, a hired assassin, by name Mir Hyder, a
23 Calmuc, approaching his palanquin, attracted his attention by waving a
24 petition in his hand. The minister was then going to his tent. He made
25 a sign to his servants to allow the man. to approach, and, taking the petition
26 from his hand, began to read it, when Hyder dexterously plunged his dagger
27 into his heart. The blow was fatal, and the minister rolled over a corpse
28 from the opposite side of his litter.t He had only time to say “ Kill the
29 emperor,” thereby showing his suspicions of his sovereign’s complicity ; and
30 his nephew made a desperate attack with his troops on the emperor, in
31 deference to the dying injunctions of his uncle, but was himself shot in an
32 attempt to penetrate the king’s tents, and his followers dispersed. Abdulla,
33 hearing of his brother's fate, marched against the emperor, at the head of a
34 large army, but he was defeated and taken prisoner. Muhammad Shah, now
35 a free sovereign, entered his capital amidst the shouts of his people. Three
36 favs after his fall, Sayad Abdulla died in obscurity, on 19th Septeraber,
37 1728,
38 * The Lord of Victory, the Champion of the Faith Muhammad Shah, the King Hero (liter-
39 ally one who fights against the infidels).
40 Muhammad Shah being very handsome at the time of his accession to the throne, a poet
41 composed the following verse in commemoration of this event :—
42 a Ps
43 - dS gle Wefys ods GP gogyt — dd xle wast dg) KAT dD
44 i “It was a bright star, now it became the moon. Joseph came out of prison and was
45 CIN.
46 “Nore.—The eastern poets callJoseph, the moon of Egypt. Muhammad Shah is here com-
47 Tate to Joseph, and the prison has reference to the king’s confinement before coming to the
48 rone. ,
49 + The assassin was instantly cut to pieces by the fury of the attendants,
50 The princess Mari-
51 am Makani.
52 Birth of Muhammed
53 Shah, 1702,
54 He ascends the
55 throne, 1719,
56 The new emperor
57 feels the burden of
58 the Sayad brothers’
59 yoke,
60 ‘
61 Assassination of
62 Tiusein Ali, October,
63 1720.
64 Abdullah taken
65 prisoner, 1720.
66 Death of Sayad
67 Abdullah, 1723,
68 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh J i eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com