1 Ahmad Shah pro-
2 claimed emperor, 1748,
3 He confers the office
4 of wazir on Safder
5 Jang.
6 The empress-mother,
7 The power of the
8 eunuch, Jawed Khan,
9 The new emperor
10 gives himself up to the
11 pleasures of the harem,
12 Mir Mannu governs
13 the Panjab with vigour,
14 But the Sikhs re-
15 appear with increased
16 strength.
17 _And proclaim the
18 birth of a new power
19 iu the State.
20 b
21 Mannti adopts
22 then, °° S'S atguru J agjit Singh Ji eL
23 220 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
24 Sultan Ahmad, on receiving intelligence of his father’s death, set. out im-
25 mediately for Delhi, leaving Nizim-ul-Mulk in charge of the affairs of -the
26 Panjab.
27 , CHAPTER XXIII,
28 MOJAHID-UD-DIN ABUL NASIR AHMAD SHAH.
29 N less than a week after his father’s death, Ahmad Shah, having
30 assumed the imperial umbrella-‘and all the insignia of royalty, was pro-
31 claimed emperor under the title of Mojdéhid-ud-din Abul Ndsir Ahmad
32 Shah Ghazi. The ceremony of inauguration took place at Panipat on 2nd
33 Jamadi-ul-awal, 1161 H. (or April 18th, 1748), Abul Mansdir Khan Safdur
34 Jang, nephew and son-in-law of the late Saidat Khan, viceroy of Oudh,
35 assumed the titular functions of wazir, though the power was, to a great
36 extent, exercised by the empress-mother. She was a Hindu dancing girl,
37 and, having been introduced into Muhammad Shah’s harem in the begin-
38 ning of his reign, received the title of Udham Bai, She was afterwards
39 called “ Bafjid Sahiba,” and then “the parent of the pure, the lady of the
40 age, Sdhibjee Sahiba, on whom be peace.” On becoming the mother of
41 the heir-apparent, she assumed the title of Nawab Kudsia Begum. She
42 was entirely governed by the head eunuch, Jdéwed Khan, a man about fifty
43 years old, who could neither read nor write. He was created “ Nawab
44 bahddur,” with a Ifansab, or rank of 6,000, and in concert with Ahmad
45 Shah’s mother, undertook the management of the realm. The new emperor,
46 who had been brought up in the recesses of the seraglio, and had no
47 experience of public business, became absorbed in youthful pleasures, and
48 gave up the whole of his time to pastimes, sport and debauchery, frivolities
49 inherited by him on both sides. He extended his zandndé so that it occu-
50 pied a space of a mile. He lived in gardens for one and two months at a
51 time, and would remain without seeing the face of any male being for a
52 week together.
53 During the early period of Ahmad Shah’s reign, the Panjdéb continued
54 to enjoy peace and prosperity. The new governor of the province, Mir
55 Moin-ul-Mulk, was a man of vigour and activity. He confirmed Koura Mal
56 as judicial dewdn and his deputy, and retained the services of the experi-
57 enced Adina Beg Khan, who governed the Jalandar Doab with much tact
58 and judgment. The Sikhs, in the meantime, again became troublesome.
59 The invasion of the Abdali was a matter of all-absorbing interest, upon which
60 the attention of the whole empire was concentrated, and it afforded the
61 ever vigilant Sikhs a favourable opportunity of spriaging up in numbers
62 and renewing their acts of depredation. They again began to pay visits to
63 the holy tank and shrines at Amritsar, and had even the audacity to throw
64 upa fort of nud which they called Ram Rouni, and which is now called Ram-
65 garh, in the vicinity of Amritsar. Jassa Singh, the Kalal, one of their
66 number, rose into power and ventured to proclaim that the “Dal” of the
67 “ Khdlsd,” or the army of the theocracy of “Singhs,” would be the new
68 power that should govern the State. Fanatic confederacies of the Sikhs
69 were now seen roving in all directions, ravaging the country and devastat-
70 ing the very suburbs of Léhore. Firmly established in his authority, Mir
71 Manni considered the best d ISIE, ikhs, Hi :
72 anah it tbrary mode of | pra tsing | PS ai aitddin fst ane