English
And every night during that period, from Mahi- uagar to Lalbagh, on the banks of the river, he used to arrango illuminations with chiraghs, in an elegant fashion, bo that from the brightness of the illumination, the altars of the mosques and the pulpits, with the inscriptions of the Qoran engraved thereon, could be read from the other side of tho river by spectators, to their great amazement. It is said that he employed more than one lak of labourers to light the chirighs under the supervision of Nazir Ahmad. After sunset, as soon as the gun was fired to signal that the illumination should commence, all the chiraghs were simultaneously lit up in one instant, producing an illusion as if a sheet of light had been unrolled, or as if the earth had become a sky studded with stars. And he constantly consecrated his life to seek the approbation of his Creator and to seek the well¬ being of his subjects, and to redress the grievances of the oppressed. He used to sign his name with the Shangarfi pen. He exerted himself to render tho prices of food-grains cheap, and did not allow rich people to hoard up stocks of grains. Every week, lie had the price-current reports of food-grains prepared, and compared them with the prices actually paid by the poor people. If these latter were charged one dam over the prices stated in the pi ice-current reports, he had the dealers, maholdars, and weighmen punished in various forms, and had them patrolled through the city, placed upon asses. During his administration, tho ruling price of rice wus 5 or 0 mauuds (of the standard rnaikct 281 weight) per rupee, and other articles were similarly cheap, so much so that by spending one rupee in a month, people at epolHo and qaliah daily.* Owiug to this cheapness, the poor lived in ease and comfort. And the captains of ships were not permitted to export on their vessels food-grains beyond those needed for actual consumption by those on board the ships. At the period of disembarkation of ships, the Fanjdar of the port of Hnghli deputed to the harbour a Preventive Officer for the inspection and attachment of the food-grains, in order that no food-grains beyond what were needed for actual consumption on board the ships might be exported. And the Nawab had so much reverence for the Imperial authority, that he never travelled on any of the Imperial flotilla of boats. In the rainy seasons, when the Im¬ perial war-vessels came for review from Jahangiruagar (Dacca) he used to go up to receive them, and turning his face towards the Imperial Capital be used to offer his salute and presents. And in obedience of the Sacred Law he nevor indulged in intoxicating liquors, and eschewed things prohibited by the sacred law, neither he saw dancings nor heard singings. In his whole lifetime, be¬ sides his one wedded wife, he kept no mistress, and never bestowed his attention on any other woman. Owing to his extremely nice sense of honour, he did not allow eunuchs and women who cannot be lawfully seen to enter his harem. If a female slave wont out of his harem once, he did not allow her access to the b&rem again. In every branch of learning, art, and science he had great profi¬ ciency. He abstained from delicious and luxurious dishes ; nor did he taste anything of luxury except ice-water and ice-preserves. And Hiizr Khan, Deputy of Nazir Muhammad, was deputed for four months iu winter to the mountains of Akbarnagar for storing ice. The Nawab had stores of ice full for twelve months, used ice daily and received his supplies of ice from Akbaruagar. Similarly, in the season of mango-fruit, which is the best of the fruits 8 of Beugal, the Superintendent of mango-supplies was posted in the 1 This would indicate wondeiTal economic and ngricultnnil prosperity in Bengal daring tho Vioeroyalty of Mur Shid Quli Kirin. Poldo and Qaliah are rioh Hindustani dishes. See im-i-Ak&ari (Bloch’s Tr., Vol. I, pp. 59and 62) for a list of Hindustani 'menu, and also for statistics of prioes of certain articles in Akbar’s time. 8 For a detailed description of tho Fruitery in India, in Akbar's time, see Ain-i-Akbari (Bloch’s Tr., p. 64.) 36 282 Chaklah of Akbarnagar, and lie, counting the mangoes of the Kljas trees, entered them in the accounts, and shewed their collec¬ tion and disposal, and the watchmen and carriers, levying the oxpenses of carriage from the zamindars, sent the sweet and deli¬ cious mangoes from Maldfth, Katwah, Husainpur, Akbarnagar, and other places. And the zamindars had no power to cnt down the lOtas mango-trees ; on the contrary, the mangoes of all the gardens of the aforesaid Chaklah were attached. And this practice was more rigorously observed in the times of previous Nazims of Bengal. Even at present, 1 when the administration of Bengal is virtually in the hands of the Christian English, and only the ** ^ t ^ t with Nawab Mubaraku-d-daulah, son of ^lawab J'afar Ali Khan,* in the mango-season the Superintendent of the Khus mangoes proceeds to Maldah on behalf of the aforesaid Nawab Mubaraku-d-daulnh, attaches the mangoes of the Kha? trees, and sends them to the Nawab, and the zamindars do not go near the Khas mango-trees. But the Superintendent no longer obtains the carriage expense from the Zamindars, nor does he enjoy his former prestige and respect. The roots of oppression were so thoroughly extirpated iu the time of Nawab J'afar IDiaii, that the agents of zamindars used to loiter about—from the Naqir Khanah to the Chehal satun , 3 in quest of the oppressed and of com¬ plainants. Wherever they came across an oppressed man or a com¬ plainant, they amicably settled matters with him, and did not leave him to complain to the Nawab. And if the officers of the Courts of justice shewed partiality towards the oppressors, and if the oppress¬ ed carried their complaints to the Nawab, the latter instantly re¬ dressed their grievances Iu administering justice, he did notallow consideration and partiality to be shewn to anyono; he weighed the high and the low evenly in the scale of justice. For instance, it is well known that to ayeugc the death of an oppressed man, he executed his own son, 4 and obtained the title of “ 4 Addlat Gastar ” (or Justicc-^trcw et). He used to dispense justice, basing his orders % 1 i.e., when tbur.mstory was written (1788 ) * i.e.y Mir Jafar Ali Khan. 8 The Qbihel Satun was a Pablio Audience Hall built by Mnrshed Q al > Khan, at Murshidabad. . “ ♦ This incident of stern and blind justice recalls to memory the *l°no B career of another Musalman sovereign in the far West—that is, of A ur Hahmau, the Khalifa of Spain. (See Amir All’s history of the Saracens, p.6l ) 283 on the injunction of the QorSu, and on the expounding of the law by Qizi Muhammad Sharf, who had been appo.nted to the office of Oazi by Emperor Aurangzeb, and who was an upright ]u ge an great scholar, free from hypocrisy. It is related that a mendican at Chunakhall begged for alms from Bmdrabaii, the Talqudar. The latter got annoyed, and turned him out from his hoaso. >e mendicant on his (Bindraban’s) route of passage collected some bricks, laid them one over the other like the foundation of a wall, and named it a mosque, and shouted out the call to prayer, and whenever the palanquin of Bindraban passed that way, he shouted out still more loudly the call to prayer. Bindraban, becoming annoyed by this, threw down some brickbats from that foundation, aud abasing the mendicant drove the latter from that place. The mendicant lodged a complaint at the Court of justice of Nawab J‘afar Khan. Qazi Muhammad Sharf, with the concurrence of other Ulama, acting on the injunction of the sacred Law, ordered the execution of Bindraban. J‘afar Kljan, not acquiescing in the sentence of execution, enquired thus from the Q izi as to whether ho could be let off: ‘Can in any way this Hindu ho saved from th^ deatli- Bentence?’ The Qazi replied: “Only so much interval may be allowed in the execution of his death-sentence as may be taken up in the execution of his interceder; after that, he most be executed.” 1 Prince ‘Azimu-sh-slian also interceded for Bindraban; but that, too, wa9 of no avail. The Qazi killed him by shooting him with an arrow with his own hand. Azirau- gh-§h$n wrote to Emperor Aunmgzeb as follows: “Qazi Moha¬ mmad Shkrf has turned mad ; for nothing he has killed Bindra- ban with his own hand.” The Emperor remarked on the report of the Prince thus: “ This is a gross* calumny; the Qazi is on 1 A wonderfully upright and fearless Judgo Qazi Mol;ammnd §harf mast have been. * Mark the pan on the word 11 Atim ” in the toxt, u Atim ” means f great 1 as well as it may refer to the name c Azimnshshan\ So it mny mean u it is a great or gross calumny” and also u it is a calumny on tho part of Azim (Aximuahan).” Aurangzeb, even whilst angry, was not free from flashes of wit (often sarcastic wit) in his epistles. A9 I am afraid, in this English garb, the reader may miss the relish of the original, I give the original in Annmgxeb’s language:— 284 the side of God.” Till the close of the reign of Emperor Aurang- zeb, Qazi Sharf continued to hold the office of Qazi. On the death of the Emperor, the Qazi resigned his office; though J‘afar Khan pressed him to continue, he did not. And during the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb and during the Nizamat of J‘afar Khan* only the nobility, the scholars, the learned, and the excellent who passed examinations were appointed to the office of Qazi, which was never bestowed on the illiterate or the low. No changes or transfers in the offices of the pious and hereditary Qazis existed, nor was auy tax levied from them ; in fact, they were subordinates to no superiors, nor answerable to any.