1 He offends the
2 Afghans by his
3 conduct.
4 Shah Ayub is in-
5 stalled on the throne
6 of Kabul.
7 Shah Shujd flies from
8 Kabul to Shikarpur.
9 The battle of Nou-
10 shera and the death
11 of Muhammad Azim
12 Khan, 1823,
13 Habibullah Khan,
14 gon of Muhammad
15 Azim Khan.
16 The division of the
17 country among the
18 Barakzai family.
19 Balkh and Herat
20 slip out of the king~-
21 dom of Afghanistan,
22 And Sindh becomes
23 independent.
24 Shah Ayub’s flight to
25 the Panjab.
26 The dismemberment
27 of the Dwrani king-
28 dom.
29 The chiefship of
30 Peshawar held by
31 Sultan Muhammad
32 Khan in the name of
33 the Sikhs,
34 The chiefship of
35 Kabul with its depend-
36 ency Ghazni and
37 Jallalabid held by Dost
38 Muhammad Khan.
39 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary
40 460 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
41 This inconsiderate act inflamed the whole of the Barakzai family, who con-
42 sidered their honour involved in the affront, and it was now resolved to place
43 a more complaisant master on the throne. Ayub, a brother of Shujd,
44 availing himself of the opportunity, advanced his own claims to the throne.
45 Having entered the camp of Azim Khan, he assumed the demeanour of the
46 most abject of slaves. “Make me but king,” he exclaimed, “and permit
47 money to be coined in my name, and the entire power and resources of the
48 kingdom shall rest with yourself; my ambition will be satisfied with bread, and
49 the mere title of king.” His prayer was accepted, and he was installed on
50 the throne. He was a mere tool in the hands of the wazir, who exercised
51 supreme power, the puppet king implicitly obeying all his directions and
52 acting on his counsel in all affairs of State. So debased was the condition
53 of royalty in Kabul at this time, that even the robe of honour granted to
54 the wazir on his installation in office was a portion of his own property and
55 was privately sent to the king, who conferred it on the wazir, with all the
56 pomp and show -of royalty. Several young princes of the royal blood who
57 aspired to sovereign power were made over to the new king, and put to
58 death by him. Shujé immediately fled to Peshdwar, and thence made his
59 way to Shikdrpur.
60 The battle of Noushera,* fought between the Sikhs and Afghans in
61 1823, sealed the fate of Muhammad Azim Khan, The supremacy of the
62 Sikhs was established over the whole country lying between the Indus and
63 Peshawar, and Muhammed Azim Khan died of a broken heart immediately
64 after his return to Kabul, in May of the same year. He left a treasure little
65 short of three millions sterling in value, which was inherited by his eldest
66 son, Habib-ulla Khan, who succeeded to the supremacy which Muhammad
67 Azim Khan and Fateh Khan had both exercised. But the youthful sardar
68 soon became an object of jealousy to the brothers of the deceased. A cabal
69 was formed against him, and his mother was induced by the threat of hav-
70 ing her son blown from the mouth of a cannon, to deliver up the treasure.
71 Sher Dil Khan, a brother of Muhammad Azim Khan, carried away about
72 half a million sterling, and established for himself an independent chief-
73 ship of Kandahar; another was formed at Peshdwar, under Sultan Muham-
74 mad Khan, another of the brothers, and the vassal of Ranjit Singh ;
75 while K4bul itself, together with Ghazni and Jalldldbdd, fell to the share
76 of the crafty Dost Muhammad Khan, also a brother of the late waafr.
77 Balkh was annexed to the dominions of Bokhdrd, and Herat was held by
78 Kamran, the son of Shah Mahmiad ,who had given his allegiance to the
79 throne of Persia; and the Sindhiaus, observing that there was now no
80 member of the family of Shah Mahmtid left who had power to enforce
81 tribute from them, threw off the yoke of submission to the Kabul throne.
82 Ayub, the puppet king of Kdbul, having lost his son in these scenes of
83 anarchy, fled in the direction of the Panjab, and, in 1822, found an asylum
84 at the Court of Lahore. Thus fell the great Durrdvi family, which had been
85 founded by the genius of Ahmad Shah, seventy-six years previously.
86 The Sikhs levied yearly tribute in horses and rice from Sult4n Muhammad
87 Khan, for the chiefship of Peshdwar, held by him. He shared its revenues
88 with his two brothers Pir Muhammad Khan and Said Muhammad Khan.
89 The net revenue about this time (1832 A.D.) was a little less than five lakhs
90 of rupees. .
91 The same circumstances which dismembered thé Durréni government,
92 led to the establishment of Kabul ag a distinct principality, and that terri-
93 tory, with its dependency of Ghazni and Jalldldbdd, fell, in 1826, into the
94 * Vide paRraffalfate library@ gmail.com